|
--Renowned Israeli author and President of The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Sami Michael, 90, writes in a biting Op-Ed examining where the country has gone since he immigrated in 1951 full of hope.**
--Arab MK Ahmad Tibi said at a tribute to Jewish author Shai Agnon.*
News from Peace Now:
--MK Eli Alaluf, chairman of the Knesset Labor and Social Welfare Committee, blamed the government for the poverty of one-third of the population and said he won’t run again for elections.*
Following statements by aides to President-elect Donald Trump regarding his wish to move America’s Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Americans for Peace Now (APN) is urging Trump and members of his transition team to avoid controversial, inflammatory statements on this sensitive foreign policy question.
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 what the ramifications are for Israel and the region of Aleppo's falling to the Assad regime and its allies, Russia, Iran and Hezbollah; if that means the end of the war; what will happen to Assad’s Russian, Iranian and Hezbollah allies as his regime regains control; how this is affecting Lebanon; what sort of Turkey is emerging from recent years’ revolution in neighboring Syria and recent months’ abortive revolution in Turkey itself; what sort of regime we can now expect to develop in Syria; where all this leaves Israel; how it contributes to Israeli-Sunni Arab relations; and how Syria affects the Palestinian situation.
NOTE: For full details of APN's policy - which advocates boycotts of settlement products and supports other activism targeting the occupation - see our dedicated policy webpage, here.
It took me a couple of seconds to realize that this was neither a joke, nor the latest satirical
"Borowitz Report.” The invitation to the Hanukkah celebration of the Conference of Presidents of Major American
Jewish Organizations joyfully noted that the party will be co-sponsored by the Republic of Azerbaijan, will be
celebrating religious freedom and diversity, and will be held at the Trump International Hotel. REALLY???
When I realized that it was neither a joke nor a hoax, I wrote a letter, together with my friends Jim Klutznick and Marty Bresler, the current Chair and the immediate past Chair of APN'S Board of Directors, explaining to the leaders of the Presidents’ Conference why they should count us out unless they change their choice of partner and venue. And, after sending the letter to the Conference’s Stephen Greenberg and Malcolm Hoenlein, we made it public.
--Dr. Uri Weiss, a lecturer who is behind a petition signed by over 300 academics saying they will ignore any recommendations in the new ethics code over political statements in academia, which was commissioned last week by Education Minister Naftali Bennett.*
You Must Be Kidding:
"I'd rather the Arabs don't go to the polls in droves, and don't come to the polls at all."
--Coalition Chairman MK David Bitan (Likud) in an anti-democratic statement at a public event Saturday.**