APN Director of Policy and Government Relations Debra Shushan in Haaretz: May 16, 2018
"The Day Donald Trump Was Crowned King in Jerusalem"

For Jews around the world, the opening of the U.S. embassy to Israel in Jerusalem should have been an occasion for jubilation and pride. And while for some it was, many of the rest of us watched the ceremony feeling a combination of nausea and cognitive dissonance. There were at least three reasons to feel ill. Read More >

Haaretz: May 16, 2018
"How Trump went from rebuffing top Jewish Republicans on U.S. embassy move to ‘King of Israel’", News analysis generously quotes op-ed by APN's Debra Shushan.

New Jersey Jewish News: May 16, 2018
"Experts wonder if move precludes possibility of deal," APN's Ori Nir quoted in article about the feasibility and desirability of a White House Israeli-Palestinian peace plan.

Jerusalem Post: May 15, 2018
"U.S. Jewish groups laud Trump's 'courageous' embassy move," News story on embassy inauguration generously quotes APN press release.

Jerusalem Post: May 15, 2018
"U.S. Jewish groups laud Trump's 'courageous' embassy move," News story on embassy inauguration generously quotes APN press release.

APN Director of Policy and Government Relations Debra Shushan and APN Board Member Peter Weiss in the New York Jewish Week: May 14, 2018
"Israeli Annexation Of West Bank Would Violate International Law"

The Israeli government is on a reckless mission to extend permanently its control over the West Bank by annexing by force all or parts of the occupied territory. Developments over the past year, facilitated by the permissive attitude of the Trump Administration, are particularly alarming. Read More >

APN Board Member Kathleen Peratis in the Forward: May 11, 2018
"My Zionism Is Fading, One Expulsion At A Time"

I feel like I am standing on a melting ice floe. For decades, I have loved Israel. I want it to thrive as a shining, rights-abiding country. And yet, increasingly, I find I can envision a day when I (or maybe my children) will not want to go there anymore. My Jewish life, which began 25 years ago when I was nearly 50, was always built around that vision of Israel and my deep conviction that it could be the reality. Read More >

Cleveland Jewish News (JTA story): May 2, 2018
"Mahmoud Abbas’ remarks on the Holocaust explain why two-state solution is dying," APN among Jewish organizations criticizing Abbas for anti-Semitic comments.

Times of Israel: May 2, 2018
"German Palestinian group slams Abbas Holocaust speech," APN among Jewish groups condemning Palestinian President Abbas for anti-Semitic comments.

Algemeiner: May 2, 2018
"US Jewish Groups From Across Political Spectrum Blast Palestinian Leader Abbas Over Antisemitism," APN among groups condemning Abbas for anti-Semitic comments.

Haaretz: May 1, 2018
"U.S. Officials and Jewish Groups Denounce Abbas' Speech, Accusing Him of anti-Semitism,"APN denounces Abbas' antisemitic statements; Tweets in English, Hebrew and Arabic.

Jerusalem Post: May 1, 2018
"U.S. Jewish groups hail Israeli intel after Iran nuke revelations," APN's statement on Netanyahu's speech re: Iran nukes quoted.

JTA: April 26, 2018
"A pro-Israel leader mocked Natalie Portman as beautiful but not ‘too bright.’ Twitter wasn’t amused." APN's Debra Shushan quoted in story on Mort Klein's scandalous comment re: Portman.

JTA: April 24, 2018
"Does Natalie Portman’s snub of Netanyahu make her the face of liberal Zionism?," APN's Debra Shushan and APN Board Member Mik Moore are quoted in a story on the Natalie Portman controversy.

The Israeli government is on a reckless mission to extend permanently its control over the West Bank by annexing by force all or parts of the occupied territory. Developments over the past year, facilitated by the permissive attitude of the Trump Administration, are particularly alarming.

While proposals for annexation of all or part of the West Bank had previously been confined to the extreme right-wing fringe of the Israeli political spectrum, members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party are now submitting such bills to the Knesset. In December 2017, Likud incorporated into its party platform a resolution that would effectively extend Israeli sovereignty over West Bank settlements. And at the direction of Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked of the Jewish Home Party, the government is moving to apply Israeli laws in the West Bank – to Israeli settlers only.

D'var Torah from Barbara Green. long-time activist with Americans for Peace Now.

Shavuot is a joyous holiday representing the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai. The event itself is thought of as the moment when the ragtag group of Hebrews who had been wandering in the desert truly became a people -- the Jewish people.

A reading of the law, or the mitzvot as they are known in Hebrew, gives one the impression of a moral and ethical society. We are directed to remember the widow and orphan and stranger among us. One law is to serve both citizen and non-citizen alike. Wages must be paid before the sun goes down. And my favorite: If you see your enemy's ass lying in the road, you are to help it get up. Imagine: not only concern for an animal but for the enemy's animal.

And yet, selective reading of each of the major religions' holy books can be deceptive. Some of the laws are in conflict with others. Emphasizing some at the expense of others has created grave injustices.

And subverting the law by using it for crass political purposes, as the settler movement and its allies have done, tears at the basic precepts found in the Torah.

In Israel today, there is tension between those who believe strongly that man is made in the image of God (b'tselem Adonai) and those who privilege the land of Israel (the "Greater Israel" movement) above all else. Rabbi Michael Melchior has written: "I believe that those who censor the Torah of such concepts as the natural morality of man, as the belief that God has created every human being in His image, and as the basic human right to respect and dignity which stems from this belief, are desecrating the holy name of God." He continues: "Torah, Judaism, Zionism, and at times even God himself have been hijacked."

Those of us who have worked for decades for the establishment of Palestine next to Israel watch in horror now as that idea seems to be disappearing over the horizon. The Greater Israel folks are in the ascendancy with Benjamin Netanyahu as their leader and the U.S. as their enabler. But the struggle now is for more than the right of the Palestinians to a state of their own, or for the relief of the Gazans who suffer a humanitarian crisis of indescribable proportions. It is increasingly about the soul of the Israeli people. Are we still the people of justice and compassion set forth in the law? Have we foregone the ability -- or even the desire -- to help uplift our enemy's ass if it is lying in the road?

As we prepare for the holiday of Shavuot with its festive air, let’s be mindful of the need to live in a just and humane society -- and to extend those concepts to the citizen and stranger alike. The Torah the Jews received at Sinai still holds precepts we can all embrace.  

A conversation with Gadi Baltiansky and Nidal Foqaha, the Israeli and Palestinian directors of the Geneva Initiative talk about their Two-State Index, a new tool to measure the feasibility of an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement based on the division of the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean into two states, Israel and Palestine, living in peace and security alongside each other.

Friedman Watch is bursting at the seams this week, with David Melech Friedman busy as a beaver. Here is the rundown of what the US Ambassador to Israel has been up to.

• Master of Ceremonies: Friedman’s centrality in orchestrating the US embassy move to Jerusalem was underscored by the Ambassador’s headlining role at the opening ceremony. Opening the fête, Friedman said, “Make no mistake: Today's historic event is attributed to the vision, the courage, and the moral clarity of one person to whom we owe an enormous and eternal debt of gratitude: President Donald J. Trump.” On the heels of the celebration, Friedman received the Friends of Zion Award from the evangelical Christian group that festooned Jerusalem with “Trump Make Israel Great Again” signs. For more on why the ceremony might have turned your stomach and/or made your head explode, don’t miss the latest op-ed from APN’s Debra Shushan in Haaretz.

Americans for Peace Now calls on both Israelis and Palestinians to exercise responsibility and restraint tomorrow to avoid further bloodshed and deterioration toward another Israel-Hamas war.

Today's death toll on the Gaza border, 58 Palestinians killed and some 2,000 injured, of them eighty severely injured – seems to be the preamble for even heavier bloodshed tomorrow as Palestinians commemorate the 70th anniversary of the 1948 Nakba, which Palestinians observe as their national catastrophe.