Rabbi Alana Suskin spoke about the prospects for peace following Israel's elections, the work of Peace Now in
Israel and what the challenges are at this time, and what, as American Jews, our role can be in helping Israel
achieve peace and security with her neighbors
"I frankly do not know if it is already too late."
--Outgoing Middle East Envoy Robert Serry calls on the UN Security Council to intervene to restart
Israeli-Palestinian negotiations for a two-state solution.**
"He who fears the votes in the ballot boxes will end up with stones thrown in the
streets."
--Israeli President Reuven Rivlin gave another jab at Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for the
latter's 'Arabs are voting in droves' statement on Election Day.**
"I don't think that a student can reach deep into the Israeli educational system when 20 percent of the
students have an ethos, a specific story, and he does not know that story."
Former education minister Shay Piron said he supported teaching the Nakba - the Arabic word for
"catastrophe," which the Palestinians use to refer to Israel's War of Independence - to all Israeli students.**
There were only a handful of Israeli settlers beyond the Green Line in 1968, when Lyndon Johnson
became the first American president to express opposition to settlements in the West Bank. Now, despite protest
from every subsequent administration, there are more than 350,000 Israelis living in the West Bank and 200,000
in East Jerusalem. President Johnson’s prediction that settlements would “prejudice a peace settlement” has come
true, as the dramatic rise of the settler movement—in both numbers and political power—has complicated repeated
efforts to achieve a two-state solution.
In this panel at J Street's 2015 conference, APN's Lara Friedman, together with other experts on American and
European policy explored what steps can be taken to halt further settlement growth and entrenchment, and discuss
the political and policy implications of American and European initiatives—from discouragement of Israeli
settlement subsidies to the labeling or boycott of settlement goods.
Watch to see Lara Friedman, together with Michael Cohen of the Boston Globe and Alon Sachar of the US State
Department, with Steve Krubiner, J Street's Chief of staff, moderating. Aviva Meyer, Deputy Chair of
APN, introduces the participants. Session begins at 10:35.
"We won the votes of 90% of Israeli Arabs, but Netanyahu wants to cherry
pick."
--Chairman of the Joint (Arab) List, Ayman Oudeh, said after Netanyahu 'apologized' to Israeli Arabs,
but didn't invite the people they elected, i.e. the targets of his race-baiting call on Election Day.**
"Welcome to the nightmare that we woke up to...It has become dangerous here. We are on a slippery
slope. The Prime Minister must stop this."
--Left-wing Israeli singer Ahinoam Nini said after being verbally attacked upon her arrival at Ben-Gurion
Airport.**
This week, Alpher discusses lessons learned by Israel's center-left following its defeat to Netanyahu; Low
likelihood of a Netanyahu-Herzog unity government; The state of US-Israel relations following Netanyahu's
statements on the two-state solution and on Arab citizens' voting.
"Don’t cry when your children die in the next military campaign...You again elected the
leader who promises us death and not life, fear and not hope."
--Israeli author Yehonatan Geffen wrote on Facebook following the elections and on Friday he was attacked at
his home.**