New Poll of Americans Indicates Backlash Against Israeli Government Policies Toward Palestinians

by admin_as_editor 12/12/18
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A poll just released by the University of Maryland under the direction of Professor Shibley Telhami should capture the attention of the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli public. The following is a summary of the key findings of the poll:

  • IF A TWO-STATE SOLUTION TO THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT IS NOT AN OPTION: A large majority of Americans favors a democratic Israel with citizenship and full rights for all (64%) over a Jewish Israel in which Palestinians are disenfranchised (26%). This preference was particularly strong among Democrats (78% to 12%). Even a plurality of Republicans (48% to 42%) shares this view.
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News Nosh 11.28.18

by admin_as_editor 11/28/18
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APN's daily news review from Israel
Wednesday November 28, 2018

NOTE: News Nosh will be published in a truncated version from December 2nd-13th.

 
Quote of the day:
"Isolating the Palestinians and rendering them irrelevant is a central pillar of Netanyahu’s campaign to push them into a corner, crush their aspirations, smash their expectations and bring them back, with a thud, to a reality in which they must make do with the status quo for the time being and with an administrative autonomy, at best, as a permanent solution. In order to weaken the Palestinians further, Netanyahu is playing divide and rule between Gaza and the West Bank, even if this requires an accommodation with Hamas that disappoints his right-wing base."
--Haaretz's Chemi Shalev writes that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's policies could explode in Israel's face.*
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Facts on the Ground: The APN Settlements Map Project

by admin_as_editor 11/12/18
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Download APN’s Facts on the Ground for FREE on iPhone or Android.

The new Facts on the Ground is a completely revamped and upgraded version of the groundbreaking settlements map app.

With the help of Peace Now‘s Settlement Watch – the most authoritative, credible source on settlements – Facts on the Ground gives users the ability to track, explore, and gain a comprehensive understanding of the settlements. As a mobile app designed to be used by policymakers, diplomats, journalists, teachers, students, and anyone else interested in the Israeli settlement enterprise, Facts on the Ground is truly one-of-a-kind.

Download Facts on the Ground for iPhone
Download Facts on the Ground for Android

No Surprise: Majority of US Jews Support Israel and Are Critical of Its Government’s Policies

by admin_as_editor 10/17/18
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A poll published today yet again confirms that – just like Americans for Peace Now – a majority of American Jews are critical of Israeli government policies, even as they support Israel. The poll, conducted this month by the Mellman Group, finds that a solid majority (59 percent) of Jewish voters are pro-Israel and critical of at least some of Israeli government policies. Only 32 percent indicated that they are “pro-Israel and supportive of policies.” Three percent reported that they are “generally not pro-Israel.”

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APN's Debra DeLee on Sara Ehrman and "The Sara Fund"

by admin_as_editor 08/28/18
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Encountering Sara Ehrman — whether for a single conversation, or a lifetime of friendship — was a life-altering experience. Sara was smart, funny, strategic, irreverent, and relentless. She crossed generations, status, gender, and just about every arbitrary boundary, excluding ideology. And for the ideology, values and organizations that Sara unwaveringly supported, she was a ferocious advocate. What a gift for APN that we were a beneficiary of that commitment and incredible life force. Sara committed herself to peace between Israel and Palestine as a teenager and had not backed away from that work as she began her 97th year!

Because I not only loved Sara Ehrman, but because I admired, respected, trusted and was in awe of her, I cannot think of any legacy that I would rather leave of my 21 years at APN, than a fund in Sara's name to support programs that celebrate and promote the cause of peace that Sara believed in and fought for. And so, APN has established The Sara Fund. Monies contributed to The Sara Fund will be used to support programs, both in the US and Israel, that foster intergenerational engagement on the issue of peace between Israel and her Palestinian neighbors, particularly focusing on women — from the youngest advocates, to the oldest among us.

I urge you to support The Sara Fund, not only because it will promote and support important and meaningful programs, but because it is an appropriate tribute to this remarkable woman. To quote my dear friend Sara, "I'm hanging up now".

— Debra DeLee, APN President & CEO

My last week and our New Year's letter to you

by admin_as_editor 08/28/18
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Debra and JimI’ll make it quick – I would rather have you read the letter below – but I do have news for you, both bad and good.

The bad news: our beloved CEO Debra DeLee has retired from APN after 21 years.

The good news: APN will remain a vibrant important player working for you as a preeminent voice for a two-state solution. And APN will continue speaking the truth in the New Year – as is our hallmark.

We will miss Debra dearly – she’s truly one of a kind. You can tell this by just reading her letter below. But we must move on and persevere, and grassroots donations from supporters like you are the foundation of our existence and efforts.

To honor Debra and APN, I am offering to double your donation of up to $25,000 until the end of this month. It is with your help that our truths will continue to be heard.

Shanah tovah,

Jim Klutznick
Chair, APN Board of Directors

 

 

A version of this essay also appeared in The Forward on August 29, 2018

By the time you receive this letter, I will have stepped down from my position as President and CEO of Americans for Peace Now (APN), after serving in this capacity for 21 years. However, I’m writing this with six weeks left in my tenure at APN, and I’m anxious to share my thoughts and feelings with you, this being the last time I will have this forum through which to speak to you.

I was hoping to put into words the many feelings I’m experiencing at this time:

Gratitude: for having the honor to serve the dedicated and supportive APN Board, my talented APN colleagues and you, our generous and committed supporters.

Pride: in the important work that APN does both here and in the Middle East.

Awe: at our colleagues in Shalom Achshav (Peace Now, the Israeli peace movement) — many of them among the signers of the original officers’ letter establishing the organization in 1978 — who work tirelessly for a future that their children, grandchildren and those of their Palestinian neighbors deserve.

Excitement: about new possibilities ahead.

But, sadly, I am also feeling rage. The targets of my rage are those who know right from wrong, yet have chosen wrong for personal or political expedience.

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APN's Debra Shushan in the Forward: Want To Stop Hemorrhaging Diaspora Support, Israel? Here’s What We Need

by admin_as_editor 08/23/18
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It has become axiomatic that a widening schism exists in relations between Israel and Diaspora Jewry. Relations with American Jews (who constitute over 70% of Diaspora Jewry) are increasingly fraught. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seems unperturbed. After all, who needs American Jews when (in his view) evangelical Christians are better friends to Israel? Against that backdrop, Israelis who are concerned about the rift, like former IDF spokesperson Peter Lerner, deserve kudos.
Unfortunately, the proposals Lerner advances in his recent piece (“4 Things Israel Can Do To Heal The Divide With The Diaspora”) are woefully inadequate. Lerner focuses on tools the Israeli government could use to pull Diaspora Jews closer to Israel. These include well-worn ideas like de-emphasizing Aliya and focusing instead on spreading awareness of Jewish culture and offering Hebrew classes in the Diaspora – this time through a new NGO dubbed the Jewish World Alliance. He envisions a new Jewish Global Assembly, convened annually to discuss challenges and opportunities; the creation of “global virtual meeting place” for Jews worldwide; and programs for young Jews in Israel and the Diaspora to cultivate relationships.

It is not tools — new organizations and programming — that are lacking. It is a willingness to listen to Diaspora Jews and change course from policies and attitudes which repel us.

As a whole, we hold a deep affinity for Israel. According to a 2018 American Jewish Committee survey, 70% of US Jews feel that “caring about Israel is a very important part of my being a Jew.” Similarly, 79% believe a “thriving State of Israel is vital for the long-term future of the Jewish people.” While we are loyal American citizens and (with few exceptions) have no intention of making Aliyah, many of us regard Israel as the state in which our national self-determination is realized. To a growing number, sadly, it feels like Israel is pushing us away.

If Israel cares to bridge the gap, what should it do?

Learn to Tolerate (and Appreciate) Critical Engagement

Through its 2017 Entry Law that denies entry to Israel by those who promote boycotts against Israel (defined to include boycotts against Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories), Israel conveyed clearly that it has a political litmus test for admission to Israel.

The uptick in Shin Bet interrogations at Ben-Gurion Airport of American Jews who support Palestinian rights — including avowed Zionists like Peter Beinart and Meyer Koplow — shows that Israel is moving in the wrong direction.

While many Diaspora Jews maintain a love for Israel, we are increasingly shedding an Israel-right-or-wrong attitude in favor of critical engagement.

Israel can harass or even ban us. But if Israelis care about the Diaspora, we must be able to engage each other.

Work for Palestinian Statehood and an End to the Occupation

Lerner emphasizes listening to young people, and rightly so. But Israel must be prepared to hear them.

What young Jews joining J Street U chapters on campuses and starting organizations like IfNotNow in the US and Na’amod: British Jews Against the Occupation are saying is that their Jewish values and love for Israel inspire them to work for Palestinian human rights and an end to the Occupation.

While Israel is not solely to blame for lack of peace with Palestinians, as long as the Netanyahu government pushes toward annexing the West Bank and maintains a punitive closure of Gaza, the drift from Israel by young Diaspora Jews will continue.

Respect Non-Orthodox Streams of Judaism

Only 11% of American Jews classify themselves as Haredi or Modern Orthodox, with the rest identifying with different denominations or as “other.” An overwhelming majority of American Jews believe Israel should respect religious pluralism. Prime Minister Netanyahu’s cancelation of an agreement to create a mixed-gender prayer area adjacent to the Western Wall and the recent arrest of a Conservative rabbi in Haifa for performing a wedding exacerbate the Israel-Diaspora divide.

The decision by lawmakers to leave out of the new Nation-State Law language which would have acknowledged a role for world Jewry in Israel was yet another swipe at Diaspora Jews.

Taking steps toward recognition of religious pluralism would go a long way toward earning the good will of Diaspora Jews.

Affirm Social Justice and Democracy as Shared Values

Minority status is part and parcel of the Diaspora Jewish experience. Liberal democratic protections of minority rights and civil liberties are dear to American Jews and dovetail with the Judaism on which we were raised, which emphasizes social justice and tikkun olam.

The undeniable erosion of liberal democracy in Israel is raising alarm not only among political progressives but also by conservatives like Ron Lauder, a longtime Netanyahu supporter, who recently decried actions by members of Israel’s coalition government to “unintentionally undermine the covenant between Judaism and enlightenment.”

Disturbing efforts by the Israeli government to curtail freedom of speech regarding Israel on American college campuses in the name of combating Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions teach young Diaspora Jews that Israel’s growing illiberalism doesn’t stop at its border. And that does not bode well for future Diaspora-Jewish relations.

Stop Coddling Foreign Leaders Who Endanger Diaspora Jews

What message does it send to American Jews, the majority of whom disapprove of Donald Trump and feel our status is less secure since he became president, when Netanyahu lionizes Trump by comparing him to Cyrus the Great?

It is a similar message to the one received by Hungarian Jews when Netanyahu engages in an “illiberal bromance” with their Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who made anti-Semitic attacks on George Soros a feature of his re-election campaign.

While Israeli leaders should conduct foreign policy in Israel’s national interests, they should do so with an eye to the security and sensitivities of Diaspora Jewish communities.

Diaspora Jews care greatly about Israel and are distressed over the growing Israel-Diaspora rift. Some have come to the conclusion that Israel just doesn’t care about us. So it’s encouraging to find Israelis like Peter Lerner for whom ties to the Diaspora still matter a great deal.

The question is: Will Israel listen to our concerns and meet us halfway?

This article appeared first on the Forward on August 23, 2018

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News Nosh: 8.22.18

by admin_as_editor 08/22/18
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APN's daily news review from Israel
Wednesday, August 22, 2018

You Must Be Kidding: 
An Israeli military court in the West Bank sentenced Waed Tamimi, the brother of the well-known former Palestinian teen prisoner Ahed Tamimi, to 14 months in prison for throwing stones at Israeli Border Police, the same amount of time that former soldier Elor Azaria sat in prison, for shooting in the head and killing an already shot, injured and incapacitated Palestinian assailant.**


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News Nosh: 7.27.18

by admin_as_editor 07/27/18
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APN's daily news review from Israel
Friday, July 27, 2018

You Must Be Kidding: 
The Jerusalem Report Magazine fired its cartoonist, Avi Katz, for a cartoon depicting Netanyahu and colleagues as ‘Animal Farm’ pigs in criticism of the new Jewish Nation-State law they passed. (However, 38 years ago, Haaretz published a similar cartoon depicting Israeli leaders as pigs and nobody got fired.)
 
Quote of the day:
“I cannot be associated with a publication that dumps a staff member simply because his work has upset some readers. Journalism, when done well, always angers some readers, and it is the duty of the newspaper or magazine’s editors and managers to stand by writers and other members of the staff when readers complain about the analysis and opinions expressed by its staff. This is all the more true in the case of editorial cartoonists, whose very job is satire – and a good satirist never pauses to worry about angering the citizenry. "
--Journalist Haim Watzman quit his job at a Jerusalem Post-owned publication on Thursday, saying in a letter he was doing so in protest of the dismissal of cartoonist Avi Katz.
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News Nosh: 7.26.18

by admin_as_editor 07/26/18
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APN's daily news review from Israel
Thursday, July 26, 2018

You Must Be Kidding: 
"I want to hug my son and they won’t let me. Every day my son asks me, 'Dad, when will you come home? I want to kiss you and play with you.' When I hear that I start to cry. I worked in Israel without a permit, but it was only to support the family. I never hurt anyone. I am an honest man.”
—Atia Shenran, 25, who lives in Gaza, wants to visit his son, who lives in the West Bank and whom he has never met, but Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories said that Shenran does not meet the required criteria in order to receive the needed entry permit.**
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