APN's daily news review from Israel - Thursday November 12, 2020 

Quote of the day:

"Gantz feared that his voters would punish him for joining hands with the [mostly Arab] Joint List. So he gave up an historic opportunity to replace Netanyahu, and no less importantly, to write a new chapter in the State of Israel's relations with its Arab citizens. The absurdity is that most Kahol-Lavan voters were actually in favor of this move."
--New Israel Fund Director, Mickey Gitzin, writes about how Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is now connecting with Arab MK Mansour Abbas of the Islamic Movement's Ra'am party, a party he in the past referred to as 'terror-supporting,' and how Gantz didn't dare do so as not to appear 'too leftist.'*

APN's daily news review from Israel - Wednesday November 11, 2020

Quote of the day:

“Biden was careful to be moderate in his approach, behavior and rhetoric, but not in his values. He didn’t sell out his camp’s principles, kowtow to the rival side or make believe he was essentially a Republican.”
—Shai Agmon writes that the Israeli center-left (Labor party and Kahol-Lavan) should learn from US President-elect Joe Biden not to ingratiate itself on right-wingers and not to give up on or flee from left-wing ideology: peace vs. settlements and matters of religion and state.*

You Must Be Kidding:
"Winking to the settlers? Kahol-Lavan works to legalize 1,700 homes in Judea and Samaria"
--Headline in Yedioth newspaper, which revealed that Defense Minister Benny Gantz, leader of the center-left Kahol-Lavan party, which seeks peace with the Palestinians, is working to legalize settlement homes built without Israeli government approval in the West Bank.**

"(Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian leadership have) unfortunately not yet understood that the time has come to put away the excuses, return to the negotiating table, coordinate security and work together to create solutions...(they must) abandon policy illusions and act for another better reality for both peoples."
--At the Knesset, Defense Minister Benny Gantz, the leader of the center-left Kahol-Lavan party, accused the Palestinians of not acting for peace.**

APN's daily news review from Israel - Tuesday November 10, 2020

Quotes of the day:
“With regard to Israeli activity beyond the Green Line, there may be an uncomfortable atmosphere for Israel. The only time Biden, then chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, spoke harshly in conversation with me was when a new settlement was established. It is also clear that the issue of Israeli sovereignty in the territories will be frozen for the next four years…”
—Former Likud member of Knesset and Israeli former ambassador to the US, Zalman Shoval, writes in Maariv today that Israel must rehabilitate bilateral support for Israel in Congress to benefit its long-term goals.*

“The enslavement was so absolute that the moment came when the state established from the ashes of the Holocaust became a state in the shadow of a man who thinks that there are good people among the Nazis, as well. In the state of Trump-Israel, a cynical prime minister imitates an inciting and divisive American president. In the state of Trump-Israel, anyone who protests against government policy is considered anti-Zionist at best or is simply anti-Semitic. In the state of Trump-Israel, free media is the enemy of the people.”
—Yedioth journalist Tzipi Shmilovich writes that the Israeli government and its leader emulated the US President and will pay for it both in the US and in Israel in the future.**

Breaking News:
Saeb Erekat, Top Palestinian Peace Negotiator, Dies at 65 After Contracting COVID
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared three days of mourning. Tributes for Erekat poured in from right-wing and left-wing Israeli politicians and from around the world. Former Likud minister and Kadimah chairwoman, Tzipi Livni, expressed grief over Erekat’s death, writing on Twitter: “I’m saddened by the death of @ErakatSaeb. Saeb dedicated his life to his people. Reaching Peace is my destiny he used to say. Being sick, he texted me: “I’m not finished with what I was born to do”. My deepest condolences to the Palestinians and his family. He will be missed.” Peace Now called his death “a sad day for all supporters of peace in Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Erekat, the 'man of peace,' was part of every process between Israel and the PA and fought to build real trust between Israelis and Palestinians until his last day.”

Americans for Peace Now (APN) sends its deepest sympathy to the Erekat family and to the Palestinian people as they mourn the death of Dr. Saeb Erekat, the Secretary General of the Executive Committee of the PLO, and the former chief Palestinian negotiator in peace talks with Israel.

A proud Palestinian patriot, Erekat was one of the leading voices in support of a diplomatically negotiated peace agreement with Israel. He often noted that no other Palestinian diplomat had spent more hours negotiating the terms of Israeli-Palestinian political relations and the terms of a future Israeli-Palestinian two-state peace accord.

Donald Trump's administration greenlighted a surge in settlement construction and planning and attempted to set in motion Israel's formal annexation of the West Bank by Israel.

Trump's unprecedented departure from decades-long US policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has made the two-state solution more difficult to attain and has significantly complicated the efforts of future U.S. administrations to help broker peace between Israel and its Palestinian neighbors.

APN's daily news review from Israel - Monday November 9, 2020

Quotes of the day:

"But Trump and Netanyahu have turned their lack of credibility into their art. Both use the phrase “Fake News" to fend off proven truths. One should not deal with the facts, but only claim that that those telling them are liberals or leftists."
--Dr. Baruch Leshem, the author of a book about Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's political marketing skills, writes today in Ynet Hebrew that, like with US President Donald Trump, the public may be tired of the spin.*

"So, yes, thanks to Trump the right-wing should understand that even Israel's greatest friend in the world is not buying the vision of non-stop settlements that will lead to one country. But according to what was reflected in the media we became thankless."
-Yedioth's right-wing columnist, Ben-Dror Yemini, writes that even leftists should be thankful to outgoing US President Donald Trump, despite the things Trump did that leftists oppose.**

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.

APN's daily news review from Israel - Sunday November 8, 2020
 

Quotes of the day:

"Not only has (Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu) just lost his open door to the Oval Office, his stature has been diminished overnight both on the international stage and at home. It’s impossible to exaggerate how much street-cred he accrued over four years by being known as the foreign leader with the closest ties to the president of the United States...It is probably too much to hope for, that Trump’s defeat in the U.S. will bring also an end to Israeli Trumpism, to the lies, smears, the broken promises and lack of shame proudly flaunted by his admirers."
--Journalist, commentator and author of "Bibi: The Turbulent Life and Times of Benjamin Netanyahu," Anshel Pfeffer takes a look at the local effects of US President Donald Trump's defeat.*

"Government? Demonstration? Peace? All in one sentence? The only 'peace' people my age have experienced is the series of diplomatic accords with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan. Accordingly, when we hear a prime minister say 'peace,' we realize he means an agreement that will let the government sell planes or other weapons, or repatriate asylum seekers who fled genocide and put their lives back at risk."
—Journalist Lee Yaron writes about the perspective of an Israeli millenial.**

You Must Be Kidding: 

“They have almost full control of the press, unions and other segments of the society.”
—Eduardo Bolsonaro, the son of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, on left-wingers in Brazil.
“They took control of almost 100% of the mainstream media and academia. They are brainwashing, indoctrinating.”
-Yair Netanyahu, son of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, says of the "most radical left, that represents maybe 5 or 10% of” Israel.
---Yair Netanyahu and Eduardo Bolsonaro commiserate in the first episode of Yair's new podcast, “The Yair Netanyahu Show.”**

Americans for Peace Now (APN) congratulates Joseph Biden on his election as the 46th President of the United States, and Kamala Harris, our nation's next Vice President, and wishes them success in their pursuit of a more just and responsible foreign policy.

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

Produced by the Foundation for Middle East Peace in cooperation with Americans for Peace Now, where the Legislative Round-Up was conceived. Views and positions expressed here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily represent APN's views and policy positions.