--Words written on shirts ordered by IDF Nahal officer and soldiers for their army unit.*
--Words written on shirts ordered by IDF Nahal officer and soldiers for their army unit.*
by Jessica Montell, JTA
According to press reports, the crowd at a recent Republican Jewish Coalition conference “noticeably gasped” when New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie referred to the West Bank as “occupied territories.” Christie promptly apologized to the event’s host, mega-donor Sheldon Adelson, clarifying that his remarks “were not meant to be a statement of policy,” a source said.
Growing up, Passover was my favorite holiday. I loved the Passover story about the Jews being saved from the evil Pharaoh in Egypt. I loved the miracle of the parting of the sea and survival crossing the desert (as a kid raised in the Arizona desert, I felt a special kinship with those early Israelites). I loved the Seder — especially the part where we dipped our fingers in the wine as we enumerated each plague. And I of course loved the food, particularly my mother’s matzo balls (sinkers, not floaters) and the red horseradish that always made me sniffle and sneeze — and which, invariably, somebody spilled on the tablecloth to leave a permanent beet juice stain.
--Renowned Israeli author Amos Oz writes a letter to the Editor.**
It’s time for the secretary of state to insist on America’s position on Middle East peace.
By ZBIGNIEW BRZEZINSKI, FRANK CARLUCCI, LEE HAMILTON, CARLA A. HILLS, THOMAS PICKERING and HENRY SIEGMAN
We commend Secretary of State John Kerry’s extraordinary efforts to renew Israeli-Palestinian talks and negotiations for a framework for a peace accord, and the strong support his initiative has received from President Barack Obama.
We believe these efforts, and the priority Kerry has assigned to them, have been fully justified. However, we also believe that the necessary confidentiality that Secretary Kerry imposed on the resumed negotiations should not preclude a far more forceful and public expression of certain fundamental U.S. positions:
APN's daily news review from Israel
Wednesday April 09, 2014
Quote of the day:
"The situation in Yitzhar can escalate to shooting soldiers."
--Maj.-Gen. (res.) Avi Mizrahi said the Israeli authorities were responsible for the settlers' attack on an IDF outpost.**
Israeli strategic affairs expert Yossi Alpher, the author of APN's Hard Questions, Tough Answers, was our guest on an April 8 briefing call, mainly focusing on the crisis in the US-led Israeli-Palestinian negotiations process.
APN's daily news review from Israel
Tuesday April 08, 2014
Quote of the day:
"Can you imagine revoking the citizenship of a Jew? Did you revoke the citizenship of Yitzhak Rabin's
murderer?"
--Arab MK Ahmed Tibi lashed out at government for suggesting revoking the citizenship of Israeli Arabs meant to be
released in Palestinian prisoner deal.**
Esmat Mansour, who helped 3 older teens stab an Israeli man to death in 1993, was freed in August 2013 in the first of the prisoner releases.
by AP
Facing a classroom of Palestinian 10th graders, Hebrew teacher Esmat Mansour asks his students who is for and against learning the language. A few raise their hands in favor, others against and he asks both sides to explain.
Mansour believes such debates will help motivate young Palestinians to study Israel's dominant language. They need to know Hebrew to be able to deal with "the Israeli occupiers," but also to build bridges in the future, he says.
We must not allow the messianisms of the religious right cloud the call from our greatest religious authorities to return the territories, for the sake of saving life.
By Rabbi Daniel Landes
For the religious Zionist Jew who wishes to grasp Israel’s present situation in a rational way, the hardest act is to shake off the messianisms that envelop his society - ranging from overt and imminent “end-time” scenarios, to the hazy metaphor of the “beginning of the dawn of our salvation”.
What they share and engender is an optimistic feeling of ultimate victory and security. We are assured that the Jews’ political failure and physical catastrophe is as finished as the Galut (Exile). But in the actual psyche of the religious Zionist, the persistently suppressed horror of that past repeating itself propels us further - into a delusional messianism that needs to be coupled to a secular rightwing ideology promising salvation by standing ‘strong’ and ‘proud’, that is confirmed by our increasing isolation.