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APN Update: Alpher on Azaria case, listen and subscribe to "Peacecast", Huffington Post op-ed, Bubis lecture video and more
--Speaking at a Yisrael Beiteinu meeting earlier this week, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman revealed that international diplomacy against Israel caused Israel to shelve the controversial 'outpost legalization' bill.*
"(It shows a) lack of integrity in issuing a bill under the circumstances."
--The State of Israel said regarding about the Kiryat Arba settlement local council after the council threatened to take the land belonging to two Palestinian brothers, Abdul Karim and Zaidan Jabari, if they didn't pay municipal taxes to the settlement council, despite the fact that settlement councils have no authority over Palestinians. Settlers also had the gall to build a synagogue on the Palestinian brothers' land – 48 times. Each time it was demolished by Israel for being built on private property not belonging to them.
--Former defense minister Moshe Yaalon accuses the Israeli leadership of using the conviction of Sgt. Elor Azariya for political purposes.*
The Bubis Lecture was established by the Americans for Peace Now board of directors upon the retirement from the board of Gerald “Jerry” Bubis (z”l), who was a seminal leader from its founding, including as a national co-chair and other leadership roles in Southern California. The Valley Beth Shalom Congregation, spiritual home to the Bubis family for decades, is a co-sponsor and host of this event.
Lara Friedman, APN Director of Policy and Government Relations, was the guest speaker for this event. She had recently provided the APN testimony at a United Nations Security Council special session on Israeli Settlements.
Time markers for the video:
8:40 – Remarks from APN Chair Jim Klutznick
15:50 – Remarks from Lara Friedman, APN Director of Policy and Government Relations (done “in conversation” with Rabbi Ed Feinstein of Valley Beth Shalom)
College of Jewish Studies: November 30, 2016 from Valley Beth Shalom Synagogue.
--An incensed IDF officer cadet who was present at the truck-ramming attack in Jerusalem wrote afterward on Facebook in refute of allegations that her fellow soldiers hesitated to fire for fear of prosecution, following the conviction of Sgt. Elor Azariya, who executed a wounded and prone Palestinian assailant.*
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 why last week's conviction in military court of a soldier of manslaughter in the killing of a wounded and neutralized terrorist in Hebron caused such a commotion in Israel; whether Azaria really benefited from such overt due process or if it were more of a Dreyfus process; how this affects Israeli society; whether with all the relevant figures now lining up behind the next steps: sentencing and either reduction of sentence or a pardon, this is becoming “old news;” and if there are broader ramifications to the Azaria case.
Back in 2012, I warned a friend who was working on international trade issues: pay attention to what’s happening with the Palestinians at the UN, because it could cause problems for the U.S. on a wide range of issues, including the ones you deal with. I recall clearly his response, mainly because it was so patronizing. In essence, he told me: “don’t kid yourself – nobody is going to let a boutique issue like Israel-Palestine harm truly important U.S. interests (like trade).”
Now, five years later, President-elect Trump and his surrogates are dropping heavy hints about plans to break with longstanding U.S. positions vis-à-vis the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in the direction of changes that both Israelis and Palestinians would view as turning away from a negotiated peace agreement. And like my friend in 2012, few people today seem to grasp the consequences – entirely unrelated to Israel and the Palestinians – such changes are set to unleash, or the profoundly negative implications they would have for all Americans.
--Salah Haj Yahya, an Arab Israeli who leads delegations from Israeli NGO 'Physicians for Human Rights' to the Gaza Strip. *
“Someone should take a grenade and blow her up and spread the remaining bits of her around so that her body will be eaten by dogs. G-d will pay her back for this!!!!”
--Post written in social media network by an Israeli angry at military judge Maya Heller who convicted Sgt. Elor Azariya of manslaughter in the execution of Palestinian assailant Abdul Fattah Al-Sharif. Israel's Chief Justice warned that the incitement against judges endangered Israeli democracy.