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 Labor party leader Isaac “Bougie” Herzog's partial measure for the Palestinian issue and whether it is any more feasible than the two-state solution; is it better than nothing; if a possible Hamas initiative to start another Gaza war is a possibility; and where he envisages regional conflict escalation and how relevant this is for Israel and the US.

Lara Friedman: Senator Cotton's "Made in Israel" bill: latest salvo in campaign to change US settlements policy (The Hill, 2/4/2016)

Lara Friedman: The Obama Administration is right to reject the "settlements=Israel" conflation (LobeLog, 2/1/2016)

Lara Friedman quoted in story on bill that would allow West Bank and Gaza products to be labeled "Made in Israel" (Huffington Post, 2/1/2016)

As Peace Now ramps up lobbying against anti-NGO bill, Knesset postpones vote (Haaretz, 2/1/2016)

Peace Now among Israeli groups and artists defiantly protesting blacklisting of progressives (JewSchool, 2/5/2016)

Peace Now protests new Knesset statue honoring settlements removed from Gaza Strip in 2005 (JTA, 2/2/2016)

Peace Now's Yariv Oppenheimer protests Knesset monument commemorating Gaza disengagement (Haaretz, 2/1/2016)

Knesset dedicates Gaza disengagement memorial despite Peace Now's protest (Jerusalem Post, 2/1/2016)

Peace Now's request not to place Gaza disengagement monument in the Knesset rejected by Knesset attorney general (Arutz 7, 2/1/2016)

Op-ed: As Im Tirtzu's supporters saw last week, the fervent quest to implicate others as traitors can quickly go too far. Israel's witch hunters need to stop now, before it's too late.

"Let there be no hope for informers", says the Shemoneh Esrei prayer. That harsh saying has many different and interesting religious interpretations, but when I was young, me and the other kids at a secular school in Tel Aviv took it literally: Bad things are in order for people who inform on their buddies. We wrote the words on a large piece of cardboard paper, and hung it on the wall next to the principal's office.

Since his office was near the restrooms, one child made a slight change to the sign, switching the Hebrew words to mean "Let there be no hope for those who pee." It created a small controversy, one of many. The school itself closed down years ago. Its restrooms now service the coffee shop that has since opened nearby. Whenever I schedule a meeting there, I make sure to give that wall a respectful visit. Not because of the restroom: Because of the informers.

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APN & Peace Now on the NGO bill

7/12/16: APN condemns new anti-democratic Israeli law
1/21/16: APN Q&A: Israel’s new NGO Bill – what it is, what it means
12/27/15: APN Statement: Anti-NGO Bill - Hate Crime against Democracy
1/11/16: Lara Friedman for JTA: No comparison b/w NGO bill & US law   
1/10/2016: Peace Now's Anat Ben Nun for Newsweek: Israel's NGO Bill is an Attempt to Crush Critics of the Government
1/4/16: Peace Now report: Who is Funding Israeli Right-Wing NGOs?
12/31/15: Briefing Call: The threats facing Israeli democracy w/ Prof. Mordechai Kremnitzer