--Haaretz's Gideon Levy in today's Op-Ed.
The more Netanyahu hitches his wagon to the White House, the more he and Trump resemble each other, the more American Jews will actively resist both.
Israel’s newly adopted, patently unconstitutional “Regularization Law” further distances most American Jews from the government of Israel and the State of Israel.
It does so by further underscoring the similarities between Israel’s leadership and U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign of constitutionally controversial executive orders. It thus further deepens the sense of dissonance in the minds of American Jews regarding the U.S.-Israel relationship.
Tu Bishvat, a holiday in which Israelis cherish the fruit of the land and plant trees, begins this Friday evening. But in the West Bank, extremist settlers have made it a national sport to destroy olive trees belonging to Palestinian farmers. And when the settlers need a new bypass road, it is the government of Israel which uproots Palestinian-owned olive trees by the hundreds, as is happening these days near the West Bank town of Qalqilya – just to make more room for settlements and allow the settlers easy access to Israel.
In his meeting with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Donald Trump will have a valuable opportunity to assert long-held US policy on the settlements in particular and on America’s policy toward resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. That includes recent approvals for constructing more than 5,500 homes in West Bank settlements, Knesset bills to annex large parts of the West Bank to Israel, and bills to retroactively legalize settlement construction that violates Israeli law.
Please join APN for a briefing call with strategic affairs expert Yossi Alpher on
US-Israel relations, days before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s first meeting in Washington with Donald
Trump as President.
Yossi Alpher, an independent security analyst, is the former director of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University, a former senior official with Israel’s Mossad, and a former IDF intelligence officer. He is the author of Hard Questions Tough Answers, APN’s weekly analysis of Israeli and Middle Eastern strategic affairs.
The details of the call are as follows:
Date: Thursday, February 9th
Time: 12:00 PM (Eastern Time)
Dial-in Number: 951-797-1058
Participant Access Code: 147414
The call will be recorded. The audio recording will be posted on APN’s website.
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.
This week, Alpher discusses the completion of the Amona evacuation, which occurred with relatively little violence, and its significance; the upcoming meeting between President Trump and PM Netanyahu and possible agenda items; and the bottom line regarding US-Israel relations in the Middle East context in the Trump era.
Fox News: February 3, 2017
"Trump to Israel: Settlements 'May Not Help' Achieve Peace in the Middle East," in the wake
of Netanyahu's promise to build new West Bank settlements after the evacuation of Amona, Peace Now reports that
Israel has not built new settlements since 1992, but has only expanded upon existing ones.
Deutsche Welle: February 2, 2017
"'Israeli Settlements are Not an Obstacle for Peace,'" Peace Now reports that more than 130
Israeli settlements and 909 outposts have been built without government approval in the West Bank since 1967,
threatening the viability of two states living side by side in peace and security.
Washington Jewish Week: February 1, 2017
"Israeli peace camp must respond to people's fears, says Peace Now head," David Hozel
features Avi Buskila, Peace Now's new director general, in a piece for the Washington Jewish Week.
Haaretz: February 1, 2017
"Amona Live Updates: After Years of Delay, Israel Evacuates Illegal West Bank Outpost," Peace
Now condemns Netanyahu's decision to build new settlements in the West Bank for settlers recently evacuated from
Amona.
CNN: February 1, 2017
"Israel to Build Entirely New Settlement in West Bank," according to Peace Now, Netanyahu's
announcement of 2,500 new housing units marks one of the largest settlement expansions since 2013.
Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata: February 1, 2017
"Peace Now 'Alarmed' by 3,000 More Settler Homes in West Bank," Peace Now speaks out against
Prime Minister Netanyahu's recent settlement expansion in areas not likely to be under Israeli jurisdiction in
future agreements.