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News Nosh 09.15.16

APN's daily news review from Israel
Thursday September 15, 2016 
 
Quote of the day:
“This is proof that Netanyahu is leading Israel toward the establishment of a bi-national state and is investing the public’s money in the settlements at the expense of the Negev, the Galilee and the rest of the country.”
-- Peace Now group responded after data was released showing that housing starts increased 17% over the Green Line while falling 7% across Israel.*
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APN Weekly Update - Challenging Bibi on "ethnic cleansing", taking action, Camp David anniversary, and more

Americans for Peace Now
Americans for Peace Now: September 14, 2016


"Like the term 'genocide,' the term 'ethnic cleansing' should be restricted to actually describing the atrocity it suggests - rather than distorted to suit political ends."

Jonathan A. Greenblatt, CEO and national director of the Anti-Defamation League, in Foreign Policy: Sorry Bibi, the Palestinians Are Not 'Ethnic Cleansing' Jewish Settlers


Hard Questions, Tough Answers with Yossi Alpher

 

Yossi Alpher is an independent Israeli security analyst. Views and positions expressed here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily represent APN's views and policy positions.

September 12, 2016 - New two-state peace initiatives coming up?

Q. The informed press and academia are rife with discussion of three new Israeli-Palestinian peace initiatives that are reportedly being incubated: a set of "Obama principles", a Moscow summit, and an Israeli referendum. Can you discuss each in terms of potential content and advantages and disadvantages?

A. I first heard about the idea of President Obama presenting his own outline for Israeli-Palestinian peace about two years ago...

Q. Still, suppose Obama is determined to leave behind his own peace formula as part of his legacy. What would you recommend it contain? What should the concept be?

A. I would strongly counsel against another set of "Clinton parameters" presented in a presidential speech...

Q. PM Netanyahu seems to be contemplating steps to dissuade Obama from moving in this or any other direction, including a possible Moscow summit with Palestinian leader Abbas...

A. Netanyahu apparently genuinely fears an international initiative that attempts to dictate concessions he cannot or will not make...

>Q. You have an intelligence background. What do you make of these allegations (Mahmoud Abbas is somehow too intimate with the Russians)?

A. If the report is based solely on a document in Russian with two lines, as the Israeli scholars allege, I'm inclined to doubt its veracity...

Q. And the third initiative?

A. ..."Decision at 50" is a dynamic and intriguing idea...

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"Decision at 50" Initiative launched by Peace Now with other Israeli organizations

In the 50th year of the occupation, the initiative demands a referendum on the future of Israel's rule over the West Bank and on peace with the Palestinians.

Go HERE to learn more about Decision at 50 and to sign up for updates.

Go HERE for APN's call to all Americans to support the referendum.


Recommended Reading

APN Board Members Steven Kaplan and Sandy Weiner Oped in L.A. Jewish Journal "Governor Brown should veto flawed BDS law"

The BDS controversy is best left to those who can educate, persuade and influence. This is an issue for public discourse, not confusing and muddled legislation.

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Action Alert

Repudiate Netanyahu, Stop Israel land grabs and settlement expansion, Save a Palestinian village

Urge America's Jewish organizations to repudiate Netanyahu's "ethnic cleansing" comments

American Jewish organizations must condemn Prime Minister Netanyahu's outrageous comments for what they are: Cheap demagoguery, which exploits and minimizes horrible tragedies that Jews and others have suffered throughout history.

Following the release of this APN action alert, the ADL's CEO and National Director repudiated Netanyahu in Sorry Bibi, the Palestinians Are Not 'Ethnic Cleansing' Jewish Settlers


Sign our Petition: Tell Israel - Stop the land grabs, stop the settlement expansion.

Add your name to the message being sent to world leaders.


Save the Palestinian village of Sussya

This West Bank Palestinian village is on land long coveted by Israeli settlers and is slated for destruction.


Recommended Reading

APN's Lara Friedman in The Times of Israel: Bibi, Settlements and the "Ethnic Cleansing" Canard

It seems there is no line Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won't cross to defend settlements.

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APN on the fallacy of settlement removal being ethnic cleansing

APN's online publication succinctly covers why removing Israeli settlers from occupied territory is not ethnic cleansing, but rather a necessary step for the Jewish State of Israel.

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President Jimmy Carter, Convener of the Camp David Peace Agreement, 38 years ago this week

The Israel-Egypt peace agreement was signed on September 17, 1978, and without President Jimmy Carter, Israel's first and most crucial peace agreement would not have been secured.

Go HERE for President Carter's quote on his personal commitment to peace in the Holy Land


APN Mourns the Passing of Stanley Sheinbaum, Board Member and Liberal Activist

"For a while, I was the most hated Jew in America ... by other Jews anyway. (But,) I didn't waste time agonizing." -- Stanley Sheinbaum

APN President and CEO Debra DeLee: "Stanley broke barriers in so many arenas, particularly as relates to Middle East peace...he led a delegation of American Jews, most of them members of the APN family, to open the first discussions with the PLO. We owe much to his leadership and to his bold and fearless pursuit of peace. It will be hard to imagine this world and peace activism without him."

Go HERE to read the Jewish Journal's article about Stanley's remarkable life and accomplishments.


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News from Peace Now's (Israel) Settlement Watch:

The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (ICBS) published its data on construction starts earlier today. The Data shows that in the first six months of 2016, 1,195 housing units started to be constructed in the settlements. This is an increase of 40% in comparison to the previous six month (July-December 2015), during which 850 housing units began to be constructed. In contrast, a 3% decrease in construction starts was noted in Israel proper (23,691 housing units in the first half of 2016 as opposed to 22,898 housing units in the second half of 2015).

Peace Now: "Netanyahu is the Prime Minister of one sector only - the settler sector, which comprises of less than 5% of the Israeli population. His investments in the settlements do not only come on the expense of the Negev, the Galilee and the rest of Israel but also lead towards a one state reality.

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Earlier this week, we called on Jewish organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, to speak out against Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement that demanding a future Palestinian state free of Israeli settlements is supporting “ethnic cleansing.” We called on our activists to urge these groups to speak up. The ADL’s CEO and national director Jonathan Greenblatt did just that in an excellent article in today’s digital edition of foreign policy.

We commend Greenblatt and the ADL for speaking up, and thank our activists for taking action. To urge other national Jewish groups to follow ADL’s suit click here.

 

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News Nosh 09.14.16

APN's daily news review from Israel
Wednesday September 14, 2016 
 
Quote of the day:
"For a while, I was the most hated Jew in America ... by other Jews anyway. (But,) I didn't waste time agonizing."
--Stanley K. Sheinbaum, a former economics professor whose drive for Mideast peace had him mingling with presidents, royalty and movie stars, said in 2011. He died Monday at age 96.*
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President Jimmy Carter, Convener of the Camp David Peace Agreement, Signed September 17, 1978

The latest in APN's series of security validators is President Jimmy Carter. The thirty-ninth president of the United States, he is, unusually, perhaps known best for his extraordinary post-presidency humanitarian work, including the Carter Center, founded in 1982 as his base for advancing human rights, extensive travel to conduct peace negotiations, observe elections, and advance disease prevention and eradication in developing nations.

You can support additional ads by donating here.

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News Nosh 09.13.16

APN's daily news review from Israel
Tuesday September 13, 2016 
 
You Must Be Kidding: 
“Studying Judaism and excelling in it is more important to me than studying math and sciences.”
--Israel's Education Minister Naftali Bennett said at an event marking the 40th anniversary of the Tali Foundation, which funds Jewish enrichment studies in secular schools.**


Breaking News:
Syrian Army Fires Two Missiles at Israeli Aircraft; Israel Denies Successful Hit
Syria reports to have downed Israeli aircraft, allegedly at least one unmanned aerial vehicle; Israeli military spokesperson refutes Syrian claims, saying that the Syrian missiles missed their targets. (Haaretz, Maariv, Ynet) The incident today comes in the wake of an Israeli attack yesterday on artillery belonging to the Assad regime, which was a response to mortar fire from Syria that hit the Israeli Golan Heights in an apparent civil war spillover.
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Update: this action, now closed, ran in September 2016. 

Last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a video statement in which he claimed that evacuating Israeli settlements from the West Bank in the context of a future Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement is tantamount to “ethnic cleansing.” This statement, trivializing crimes against humanity and genocide, should outrage anyone who cares about international affairs and who cares about Israel.

Applying terminology borrowed from the darkest days of European history to a scenario in which Israeli settlements would be withdrawn to allow for a peace accord between Israelis and Palestinians, reached by the sovereign governments of both peoples, is abhorrent. It merits the US Jewish community’s rejection and repudiation.

Every U.S. President since 1967, both Republican and Democrat, has accepted that settlements would be removed as part of a peace agreement. Menachem Begin, who evacuated all of Israel’s settlements in Sinai as a part of a peace agreement, and Ariel Sharon, who unilaterally removed all the settlements from the Gaza Strip and a handful in the northern West Bank, made a sovereign decision to do so out of national security considerations. Controversial as these moves may have been at the time, they were not “ethnic cleansing.”

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Kaplan_Weiner_JewishJournal

Since March, the California legislature has struggled to draft a bill aimed at thwarting BDS - the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.  As readers of these pages know, BDS is a movement that promotes South Africa-style boycott and divestment strategies to oppose Israel and its policies. For many of its supporters, BDS is a way to challenge the very legitimacy of the Jewish state.

After a torturous path of amendment and revision, the State legislature now has in AB 2844 something it thinks it can live with.  But the revised bill, however well-intentioned, remains seriously flawed.  Governor Brown should veto it.

Earlier versions of the bill would have created a list of companies that participate in BDS – defined to include boycotts targeting Israel or settlements – and prohibited companies on the list from becoming state contractors (a blacklist). After being cautioned by its own legal counsel that economic boycotts qualify as protected free speech under the First Amendment, the legislature abandoned its original scheme and converted AB 2844 into a generic anti-discrimination law.

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