APN's 2019 Study Tour, which runs from November 5-13 -- includes visits to Jordan's capital Amman and Petra, Israel, and the West Bank.
See pictures, and for live tweeting, go to the feed of APN's Ori Nir.
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
Monday November 11, 2019
Quote of the day:
"The days before Rabin’s murder were days of intense and legitimate public debate, that descended in
some cases to criminal incitement and defamation that motivated the murderer to try and assassinate Israeli
democracy. We mustn’t forget the slippery slope from incitement and hate to bloodshed.”
—Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said Sunday, imploring all political camps not to "fuel hate."*
"It is enough to listen again, and again, to the speech 'their children and our children' by the mutation called 'Erez Tadmor,' spokesman for the Likud campaign and a close associate of Netanyahu, to realize that the real threat to the Zionist vision established here 71 years ago is what grew here, within us."
-Top Maariv political commentator Ben Caspit in a chilling Op-Ed about hate-speech coming from those in office.**
You Must Be Kidding:
Police had to escort the audience to their cars to physically protect them from right-wing protesters who forced to cut short the screening of the film, "The Advocate," about human rights lawyer, Lea Tzemel, who represents in court Palestinians accused of terror acts.***
Front Page:
—Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said Sunday, imploring all political camps not to "fuel hate."*
"It is enough to listen again, and again, to the speech 'their children and our children' by the mutation called 'Erez Tadmor,' spokesman for the Likud campaign and a close associate of Netanyahu, to realize that the real threat to the Zionist vision established here 71 years ago is what grew here, within us."
-Top Maariv political commentator Ben Caspit in a chilling Op-Ed about hate-speech coming from those in office.**
You Must Be Kidding:
Police had to escort the audience to their cars to physically protect them from right-wing protesters who forced to cut short the screening of the film, "The Advocate," about human rights lawyer, Lea Tzemel, who represents in court Palestinians accused of terror acts.***
Front Page:
APN's daily news review from Israel
Sunday November 10, 2019
You Must Be Kidding:
"Just so we're all on the same page… the instructions to the police are not to be near the schools
during arrival hours in the morning or at the leaving hours in the afternoon. Other than that, patrols will
move through the neighborhood freely and as needed."
--Text message written by Israeli police and sent to Palestinian parents in Issawiyah neighborhood of E. Jerusalem. The parents showed Haaretz+ the message after the police violated the agreement and deployed Border Police at the schools and denied it ever made an agreement.*
Front Page:
--Text message written by Israeli police and sent to Palestinian parents in Issawiyah neighborhood of E. Jerusalem. The parents showed Haaretz+ the message after the police violated the agreement and deployed Border Police at the schools and denied it ever made an agreement.*
Front Page:
Avner Gvaryahu is the executive director of Breaking the
Silence, an organization of veteran soldiers who have served in the Israeli military since the start of the
Second Intifada and have taken it upon themselves to expose the Israeli public to the reality of everyday life
in the Occupied Territories.
APN’s Debra Shushan and Ori Nir spoke with Avner on October 30th, 2019.
Vist Breaking the Silence’s website and follow Avner on Twitter at @AGvaryahu.
APN's daily news review from Israel
Thursday November 7, 2019
Quote of the day:
"Today it’s foreigners, tomorrow it will be Israelis. Because what’s the difference? If an opinion is
dangerous, it should be forbidden to all."
--Haaretz commentator Gideon Levy writes against the High Court decision to allow the deportation of a human rights organization director because of his support for boycotting settlements.*
You Must Be Kidding:
“The main reason I went to social media is because I can’t tolerate injustice. I’ve been quiet my whole life in the face of evil and injustice, and now I have a tool to balance it, sort of.”
—Son of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Yair Netanyahu, who has used his online presence to defend his father with often incendiary social media posts, which he has had to delete on multiple occasions and which even cost him his job as a social media coordinator at Shurat Hadin, a right-wing Israeli advocacy legal organization.**
Front Page:
--Haaretz commentator Gideon Levy writes against the High Court decision to allow the deportation of a human rights organization director because of his support for boycotting settlements.*
You Must Be Kidding:
“The main reason I went to social media is because I can’t tolerate injustice. I’ve been quiet my whole life in the face of evil and injustice, and now I have a tool to balance it, sort of.”
—Son of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Yair Netanyahu, who has used his online presence to defend his father with often incendiary social media posts, which he has had to delete on multiple occasions and which even cost him his job as a social media coordinator at Shurat Hadin, a right-wing Israeli advocacy legal organization.**
Front Page:
Dr. Marwan Muasher, currently the Amman-based Vice President for Studies at the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace, was Jordan's foreign minister, deputy prime minister, information minister, Jordan's
ambassador to the United States and its first ambassador to Israel. He was deeply involved in the peace process,
and helped compose the Arab Peace Initiative.
We met him in Amman as part of Americans for Peace Now's study tour to the region.
This episode is an edited version of our conversation with him. Due to technical difficulties, questions asked by members of our group could not be recorded. Some of Dr. Muasher's comments are in reply to questions that are not in this recording, which sometimes makes his remarks a bit difficult to follow.
Dr. Muasher, recorded on November 5th 2019, refers to meetings that our group was to have the next day (in his words "tomorrow") with Jordanian government officials.
APN's daily news review from Israel
Wednesday November 6, 2019
Quote of the day:
“I don’t know whether to describe myself as an Israeli Arab or a Palestinian. I’m Palestinian to the
same degree that I’m Israeli. I’m Palestinian as a fact, and in my identity, but I live in the State of Israel.
But what’s important is that food enables people to reveal themselves to one another.”
--Osama Dalal, an Israeli Arab chef from Acre, who has been chosen by the Jewish-Israeli owners of '12 Chairs Cafe,' one of the most popular Israeli eateries in Manhattan, to demonstrate the wonders of Palestinian cuisine in a private room at
the restaurant, for one week beginning today.*
Front Page:
--Osama Dalal, an Israeli Arab chef from Acre, who has been chosen by the Jewish-Israeli owners of '12 Chairs Cafe,' one of the most popular Israeli eateries in Manhattan, to demonstrate the wonders of Palestinian cuisine in a private room at
the restaurant, for one week beginning today.*
Front Page:
Today, thirteen organizations – the coalition members of The Progressive Israel Network (PIN), the Israel Policy Forum, the National Council of Jewish Women, and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association – sent a letter to the heads of Israel’s political parties calling on them to refuse any kind of unilateral annexation of the West Bank or parts of it.
Letter to Israeli Political Leadership Opposing Annexation
As heads of American Jewish organizations who care deeply about the State of Israel and are committed to safeguarding its future as a democratic homeland for the Jewish people, we implore you to consider the costs of any unilateral annexations in the West Bank, and ask that you refuse to support annexation as a policy guideline for any government that your party may join.
APN's daily news review from Israel
Tuesday November 5, 2019
Quote of the day:
"How tense is the business here right now? It's hanging by the thread. But neither side wants to go down
that slope, and (both) make efforts so it doesn't happen. We want to end incidents while maintaining the upper
hand. They, on the other hand, try to avoid incidents from happening and we try not to give them
reasons."
—Lt. Col. Yoav Schneider commander of Battalion 82 explains why Israel bombs Hamas military
lookout posts when they are empty and why soldiers don't shoot more Palestinians on the border fence.*