Today, Representative Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) led 21 of her colleagues in sending a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, expressesing serious concern for the six Palestinian human rights organizations Israel designated as “terrorist organizations” last fall.

The letter requests an inter-agency briefing to discuss this designation and the secret evidence distributed by the Israeli government. The letter urges Secretary Blinken and Director Haines to; call on the Israeli government to reverse course; to confirm a date for an inter-agency briefing with members of Congress; and provide a report to Congress on these efforts within 30 days, and ultimately to publicly reject this decision.

Yossi Alpher is an independent security analyst. He is the former director of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University, a former senior official with the Mossad, and a former IDF intelligence officer. Views and positions expressed here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily represent APN's views and policy positions.

Yossi Alpher is an independent security analyst. He is the former director of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University, a former senior official with the Mossad, and a former IDF intelligence officer. Views and positions expressed here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily represent APN's views and policy positions.

Everyone likes ice cream. And everyone believes that they support peace. It’s just a question of what that peace looks like. And in the case of the American Jewish community, and American political leaders, the vast majority of people will tell you that the peace that they support is a two-state solution, with Israel and Palestine living side-by-side as independent nations. Sounds good, right?

But alas, while many of our national organizations and political leaders espouse their belief in peace and two states, when it moves from the realm of the theoretical into the practical, when someone has the nerve to point out that in the two-state solution, one of those states is Palestine, then things get “complicated.” And, of course, “complicated” is a polite code-word for “I have no good answer for why I suspend my erstwhile values and support endless illegal occupation, but I would still like to call myself progressive.”

A two-state solution isn’t the only possible option for Israeli-Palestinian peace, but it is the one with the broadest support. But let’s be clear. If you (honestly) support two states, that means supporting the creation of a viable, independent Palestine. And where do you think that is going to be? Hint, it isn’t Uganda. In order for that thing that you theoretically support (a 2SS) to happen, the Occupation has to end. In order for that to happen, we must be clear that the Occupied Territories are not Israel.

You know who did just that? Ben & Jerry’s. That’s right, an ice cream company has, at considerable cost, used its  voice and its business to remind people that the Occupied Territories are not Israel. They were clear and honest about what they believe. They support Israel, and they oppose the Occupation.

Yossi Alpher is an independent security analyst. He is the former director of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University, a former senior official with the Mossad, and a former IDF intelligence officer. Views and positions expressed here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily represent APN's views and policy positions.

Produced by the Foundation for Middle East Peace in cooperation with Americans for Peace Now, where the Legislative Round-Up was conceived.

Last fall, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz declared that six prominent Palestinian rights groups were “terrorist organizations.” These civil society groups, Al Haq; Addameer; Defense For Children International-Palestine; Bisan; the Union of Agricultural Work Committees; and the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees, work directly with Palestinian women and girls, children, low-income families, prisoners, and civil society activists, providing direct services and monitoring human rights abuses by both Israeli and Palestinian authorities.