1. Bills, Resolutions & Letters
2. Hearings
3. On the Record

Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked is trying to sell the argument that her pending “NGO transparency” bill is no different than a U.S. law called the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA. In reality, the two pieces of legislation are worlds apart in intent and effect, and the differences go to the heart of the problems with Shaked’s bill.

First, FARA applies to all foreign funding – governmental and private – of U.S. persons or organizations, ensuring transparency about any foreign donor’s efforts to sway U.S. policy. The Shaked bill applies only to funding from foreign governments – funding that is already transparent under existing Israeli law. The measure does not apply to funding from nongovernmental foreign sources.

This distinction is neither accidental nor trivial. Israel’s progressive nongovernmental organizations are the main recipients of funding from foreign governments that support the progressive, democratic values embodied by these NGOs. Shaked, who has made clear her desire to quash dissent, has crafted her bill to target only these NGOs while permitting those that promote agendas more in line with her own views to continue to operate as always. The discrimination implicit in this bill is so clear that even Israeli Knesset member Michael Oren, a former U.S. ambassador, has criticized its “one-sided exposure, which ignores the funding sources of extreme-right nonprofits.”

Assaf Orion and Udi Dekel / INSS (2016)
Article presenting the infrastructure and conditions necessary to create an environment for successful peace negotiations. Read More >

Ofir Winter / INSS (2016)
Article discussing the political process towards peace from an Arab standpoint and unsuccessful attempts to revive the political process, specifically from Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Further assesses the factors that resist political progress and towards improving relations with Israel. Read More >

1. Omnibus: DOD Appropriations
2. Omnibus: ForOps Approps
3. Omnibus: Other stuff

NOTE: FOR INFORMATION ON ALL OTHER LEGISLATION, HEARINGS, ETC, SEE PART 1 OF THIS WEEK’S ROUND-UP

Brian K. Barber et al. / Institute for Palestine Studies (2015/2016)
This article provides an overview of the PAL project, which sought to thoroughly understand the youth of the first intifada as they have grown into adulthood. This article reviews how the methodology of the PAL project has enabled the discernment of crucial information about the complexities of living under occupation through youth and adulthood, including unique insights into the nature of suffering under occupation. By design, it examines lives holistically; that is, it concentrates on the full scope of everyday-experience, including the psychological, social, economic, and political. Read More >

1. New Bills, Resolutions, and Letters
2. Settlements = Israel, the Congressional Campaign Continues
3. New Iran Battles in Congress – What to Expect in 2016
4. Hearings
5. On the Record

NOTE: FOR DETAILS OF THE FY16 OMNIBUS, SEE PART 2 OF THIS WEEK’S ROUND-UP

Today, APN sent the following message to foreign policy staffers in the offices of members of the House of Representatives:

On behalf of Americans for Peace Now (APN), America’s veteran grassroots, Jewish, Zionist, pro-peace organization and the sister organization to the Israeli Peace Now movement (Shalom Achshav), I’m writing to urge your boss to refuse to cosponsor H. Res. 567 – a resolution that would reverse almost 5 decades of U.S. policy with respect to Israeli settlements – and to oppose this resolution if it is brought to a vote.

1. Bills & Resolutions
2. Hearings
3. On the Record

NOTE: Apologies for the erratic Round-Up schedule. Travel etc. Next edition will be mid-week next week.

1. Bills & Resolutions
2. Settlements = Israel: 2015 in Review
3. Hearings
4. On the Record