Thirty seven years
ago, on February 10th 1983, Peace
Now activist Emil Grunzweig was murdered by an extreme right Jewish terrorist at a Peace Now demonstration in
Jerusalem.
Not far from the Prime Minister’s Office, the terrorist, Yona Avrushmi, lobbed a hand grenade at the front row of the Peace Now marchers. It killed Emil and injured nine of his friends.
Americans for Peace Now (APN) is alarmed at the sharp increase in Palestinian-Israeli violence since the Trump administration released its “vision” for Israeli-Palestinian relations last week.
You may have missed it.
While most Americans were recovering from Christmas and American Jews were digesting Chinese food, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was vowing to his base that he would “deliver an American recognition of applying our sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and the north of the Dead Sea,” followed by “delivering an American recognition of applying our sovereignty over all the settlements in Judea and Samaria. All, bar-none.”
Had Secretary of State Mike Pompeo joined me and my APN
colleagues on our West Bank study tour last week, we would have shown him how fraught with illegality and
illegitimacy West Bank settlements are.
Americans for Peace Now signed on to a letter sent by T'ruah, The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, to Israel's High Court of Justice ahead of the Court's hearing of Human Rights Watch's Omar Shakir against the government of Israel's decision to deport him from Israel:
24 September 2019
Israeli Supreme Court Chief Clerk, Idit Malul
Supreme Court Justices and Registrars
Sha’arei Mishpat St
Jerusalem 9195001 Israel
Dear Ms. Malul,
We write on behalf of five American Jewish organizations in support of Omar Shakir, the Israel and Palestine Director of Human Rights Watch. We call on the Israeli government to cease its efforts to deport Shakir and on the Israeli Supreme Court to reverse the lower court ruling that upheld the deportation.
On September 17th, Ori Nir participated in two
special events at Cornell University and Ithaca College together with Nizar Farsakh, the chair of the Board of
the Museum of the Palestinian People in Washington DC.
Farsakh is the former General Director of the PLO Delegation in Washington DC, and a former adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and to former Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.
Progressive Israel Network Opposes Netanyahu’s Annexation Pledge
Responding to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement of his intent to extend Israeli sovereignty over large parts of the West Bank, the Progressive Israel Network released the following statement:
Americans for Peace Now calls on the Trump administration, Congress, and fellow American Jewish organizations to act to prevent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from carrying out his declared intention to annex wide swaths of the occupied West Bank immediately after next week’s Israeli elections.
Such a step would be an existential threat to Israel’s security and wellbeing. Particularly if endorsed by the United States, it would likely destroy future efforts for a negotiated Israeli-Palestinian peace, upon which Israel’s future as a democracy and a Jewish national home relies.
Americans for Peace Now is outraged by President Trump's statement suggesting that the vast majority of American Jews are disloyal, and strongly condemns it. This outrageous, anti-Jewish slur fans the flames of Jew hatred in the US and puts American Jews in danger.
Trump's comment also poisons US-Israel relations, attempting to shatter bipartisan US support for Israel's security and wellbeing, for Trump's own political gain.
Americans for Peace Now (APN) strongly condemns the decision of Israel's government to deny two US members of Congress entry to Israel. APN calls on the government of Israel to reverse its decision.
For the government of Israel to deny entry to these two US elected officials is outrageous and self-defeating for several reasons:
Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MN) and Ilhan Omar (D_MI) are democratically elected members of the US Congress, which represents the people of the United States, and is Israel's staunchest supporting institution, bar none. Snubbing them is not only an affront to these two politicians but a blow to the institution and to Israel's relations with the American people.
