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.

APN's daily news review from Israel - Thursday January 14, 2021

Quote of the day:

“He must think Arab Israelis have a short memory.”
--Joint List chairman Ayman Odeh responding to Israel Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's wooing of the Arab-Israeli vote.*

APN's daily news review from Israel - Wednesday January 13, 2021

Quote of the day:

“Unlike other Bibi fans, Adelson put his money where his mouth was. He poured hundreds of millions of shekels into the free daily newspaper Israel Hayom, for the sole purpose of making Binyamin Netanyahu Israel’s prime minister. From a journalistic perspective, Israel Hayom was never very important. But as a goal-oriented political project, it was Israel’s most important newspaper, contributing to Netanyahu's 11-and-counting consecutive years in office.”
—Sami Peretz writes about how the great influence the freebie Israeli newspaper, ‘Israel Hayom,’ created and published by the late Jewish billionaire and megadonor, Sheldon Adelson, had on Israelis - in support of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.*

Breaking News:
At least 40 Killed After Israel Struck Syria 'With U.S. Intel After Pompeo, Mossad Head Met in D.C.'
Senior U.S. intelligence official says Israel's strike on eastern Syria targeted arms depots, as well as components linked to Iran's nuclear program. This is the fourth alleged Israeli strike in Syria within two weeks and the deadliest attack since 2018. (Haaretz+, Ynet, Israel Hayom)

APN's daily news review from Israel - Tuesday January 12, 2021

Quotes of the day:

"A defense minister without a party, without a public mandate and without a backbone, has again failed to defend the future of Israel and is bowing to a small and vociferous minority from the settlements. Yesterday he promised that no outposts would be legalized, and today he approves an outpost with 350 units."
—Peace Now responds to Israeli Defense Minister and Kahol-Lavan chairman, Benny Gantz's approval of more settlement homes.*

“A public security minister who has lost it and a prime minister who gave up and and let this farce continue — that’s the only way to explain not vaccinating prisoners over the age of 60. This is a move that is illegal, politically motivated and life-threatening."
--Israeli Defense Minister and Kahol-Lavan chairman, Benny Gantz, said after calling on Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to force Public Security Minister to allow 60+-year-old prisoners be vaccinated.**

You Must Be Kidding: 
Yesterday, a Jewish Israeli on one side of a road was moderately injured by a stone thrown by Jewish settlers at Palestinian vehicles from the other side of the road.***

(English translation of the Hebrew article in Ynet)

“Young Settlement” is a cover name used to obscure the settler movement’s construction of ten illegal outposts a year. These masters of the land understand, without a doubt, that there is no problem in breaking the law, and the results of this understanding are evident in their demonstrations.

For about two weeks now, the Hilltop Youth have been raging without restraint and the government remains silent. Why? Because above every rolled-over police car, bleeding policeman and shattered glass shines the headline “Young Settlement.”

Americans for Peace Now joins its Israeli sister organization Shalom Achshav (Peace Now) in strongly condemning the Israeli government's decision to advance plans for more settlement construction in the West Bank.

APN believes that any settlement construction in the occupied territories is unacceptable. Today's announcement by Prime Minister Netanyahu is particularly offensive and deserves strong condemnation by anyone who cares about a future negotiated peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.

APN's daily news review from Israel - Monday January 11, 2021 

Quotes of the Day:
“With all due respect to ‘realpolitik’ and the duty of every country to maneuver between its interests, it is hard to deny that there was a love story here, as well, and there probably still is. And if you were shocked by the photos from Washington last week, the love story and its meaning about Israel's moral image should break your heart as well.”
—Yedioth Ahronoth TV critic and commentator, Einav Schiff writes about the meaning today of Israelis turning Trump into a cult personality.

“After four years of the explicit support of the (Israeli) right-wing, accompanied by enabling silence from the mainstream, suddenly Israelis are remembering to flee for their lives from U.S. President Donald Trump’s sinking ship."
—Haaretz+ political correspondent Noa Landau also holds the Israeli mainstream accountable for staying silent during Israel's support of Trump.*

"As Donald Trump’s term in office comes to an end, we’ve recently seen the birth of the 'Young Settlement' (settler outposts) campaign, part of the settler right’s final attempt to promote land grabs and change the reality on the ground in the West Bank, before an adult once again assumes the seat of the President of the United States…In Israel’s attempts to legalize these illegal outposts, the government is signaling to settlers that the law may be applied selectively, and may even reward them. So, where is the surprise that following this criminal construction comes other types of crime, including severe violence of the likes that we saw in the Hilltop Youth’s recent riots (over the death of settler teen Ahuvia Sandak)?"
--Shaqued Morag, Executive Director of Peace Now, writes in Ynet that it should not surprise Israelis that the result of Israeli settler and government land grab of Palestinian land during Trump's era ends in settler violence.***

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.

APN's daily news review from Israel - Sunday January 10, 2021 

Quotes of the Day:

"The voters who screamed, ‘traitors,' at Pence and at Senator Lindsey Graham, two of Trump’s loyal servants, only because they acted according to the limitations of the law, were seduced into believing in the lies their leader spread. This lesson should also be learned in Israel.״
--Yedioth's senior political commentator, Nahum Barnea, compares between what led to the right-wing mob attack on Capitol Hill and what is happening in Israel.**

“At the end of it, Georgians cared far more about how many relatives they’d lost to coronavirus, and getting their stimulus checks, than a hyper-partisan outrage exercise about who can claim to be more "pro-Israel."
—Brooklyn-based Israeli writer and editor, Etan Nechin, in a sharp commentary in Haaretz about how Georgia’s black-Jewish alliance triumphed over the pro-Trump mob.*

1. Bills, Resolutions & Letters
2. Hearings & Markups
3. On the Record

Produced by the Foundation for Middle East Peace in cooperation with Americans for Peace Now, where the Legislative Round-Up was conceived. Views and positions expressed here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily represent APN's views and policy positions.