Americans for Peace Now (APN) strongly condemns an initiative by four Republican Senators to label products made in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank as being “Made in Israel.” 

The four, Tom Cotton (AR), Kelly Loeffler (GA), Marco Rubio (FL), and Ted Cruz (TX), sent a letter Monday to outgoing President Trump, with copies to the Secretaries of State, the Treasury, and Homeland Security, urging Trump to allow “Israeli goods produced in Judea and Samaria to be labeled as ‘Made in Israel.’” Judea and Samaria is the biblical term used by Israeli religious nationalists and their supporters to refer to the West Bank.

APN's daily news review from Israel - Wednesday November 18, 2020

Number of the day:

71.
— Percentage of Israelis who reported being satisfied with the US election results, according to a new poll.*

Breaking News:
10 said killed, including Iranians, in IDF strikes in Syria
In a rare move, Israeli military claims airstrikes against Iranian Quds Force sites near Damascus, targeting central command of Iranian forces near capital's airport and compound housing high-level Iranian visitors; strike comes day after Israel uncovered explosives on its side of Syrian border. (Israel Hayom and Ynet)

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In an effort that APN supported, Representative Pocan led a letter of 40 Democrats to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo demanding condemnation of the Israeli government’s demolition of 76 structures in a Palestinian Bedouin community, displacing 73 people including 41 children.

Congressman Pocan: "Demolishing Palestinian homes, in occupied territory, by the Israeli government is a violation of international law and must be condemned by the United States government... There is no excuse for the de facto annexation of Palestinian land..."

Go HERE to read the letter to Secretary of State Pompeo.

Photo L: The belongings of 73 people who were forcibly displaced by Israeli forces stand in the Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank. Photograph: United Nations /  R: Congressman Mark Pocan

The resumption of security and civilian cooperation between the Palestinian Authority and the government of Israel is good news for Israel, the Palestinians, and all stakeholders in the conflict.

Tuesday November 17, 2020
- Quote of the day:

“Appointing Effi Eitam as Chair of Yad Vashem would turn an internationally respected institution devoted to the documentation of crimes against humanity and the pursuit of human rights into a mockery and a disgrace.”
—From a petition signed by 160 Holocaust historians and researchers and survivors from around the world against the appointment of Effi Eitam, who has called to deport the majority of the Palestinians from the West Bank and to exclude Arab Israelis from the political system. Eitam was also accused by his soldiers of giving them the order to beat a Palestinian to death.*

You Must Be Kidding: 
“He is a worthy man."
— Higher Education Minister Zeev Elkin (Likud) said of Effi Eitam, on the proposal that the far right-wing former politician head the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial and research institution.*

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.

Following media reports that outgoing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo intends to visit an Israeli settlement on an upcoming trip to the region this week, APN urges Sec. Pompeo to cancel this detrimental gesture.

The seventy-day transition period to a new administration is not the time to break with decades of bipartisan American policy and set diplomatically consequential precedents. An official visit by a US secretary of State to a West Bank settlement – the first ever – is damaging in several ways.

APN's daily news review from Israel - Sunday November 15, 2020

Quote of the day:

“How is it that you always think the judges we propose aren’t as good, and that the judges you suggest are all wonderful? What do the conservative judges we propose eat that makes them not as good?”
--Transportation Minister Miri Regev (Likud) reportedly said to High Court Chief Justice Esther Hayut in discussions over promotion of a conservative judge to the District Court, whom Regev said takes a hare line against Bedouin Israelis. Hayut reportedly rejected Regev's allegations, saying judges are promoted based on merit.*

1. Bills, Resolutions & Letters
2. FY21 SFOPS – Senate
3. Hearings & Markups
4. 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.