Americans for Peace Now (APN) is alarmed and appalled by the Israeli Cabinet's approval today of a bill aimed at intimidating and silencing progressive Israeli non-profit organizations such as our sister-organization Peace Now (Shalom Achshav), Israel's preeminent peace movement.

The bill, introduced by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked of the far-right Jewish Home party compels representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs, or non-profit organizations), which receive funding from foreign governments, to wear special tags on their clothing whenever visiting the Knesset, and to provide details about their foreign funding in any communication with elected officials.

This week, Alpher discusses why the most senior ministers of Israel’s right-wing coalition are taking a strong stand against terrorist attacks by extremist fringe settlers, even though it is a pro-settler coalition; whether new political and ideological lines have been drawn and the political right woken up to the excesses of the settlement enterprise; what are the new regional dynamics and alignments emerging from the Islamic State challenge to the Middle East across the region, with Turkey and Israel talking again, Saudi Arabia establishing a 34-member Islamic coalition, and Israel reportedly assassinating a Hezbollah terrorist in the all-but-occupied (by Russia) Syrian capital of Damascus; and where Israel is in this dynamic.

News from Peace Now's (Israel) Settlement Watch:

A Settlement Watch Report

Out of respect for your inbox overload, we typically don’t share our press releases with you. But this one we just had to send to you. This one is about an attack on our colleagues at Israel’s Peace Now movement, an attack by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

Washington, DC – Americans for Peace Now (APN) is alarmed by new evidence, exposed today by our Israeli sister organization Peace Now, indicating that the Israeli government is planning massive new settlement construction in the West Bank, including in an area known as “E-1” adjacent to East Jerusalem. Settlement construction in E-1 would likely be a death blow to the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It has therefore been consistently and vehemently opposed by both Republican and Democratic administrations, and by the international community.  

The new evidence, some 200 pages Peace Now obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, shows that for the past year, Israel’s Ministry of Housing has been actively working outside of the public's eye to advance plans for 55,548 new homes in West Bank settlements.

The Israeli government’s gift to Washington this holiday season was the gift of occupation. Literally so. You may have missed the story because of the holiday, but shortly before Christmas, Benjamin Netanyahu’s ambassador to Washington, Ron Dermer, proudly announced that this year, instead of sending products made in Israel to American friends, he is breaking with tradition and sending gift boxes  containing products made exclusively in settlements in the occupied territories.

Allegedly, this was intended as a message to those who call for punitive economic measures against Israel (ironically, it plays into their hands), but it clearly was aimed at the Obama administration’s rejection of Netanyahu’s settlement policies. Another Netanyahu finger in the eye of an American administration that had the audacity to attempt to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians.