(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.

What to Expect from the New Round of Israeli Elections, with Tal Schneider

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Schneider is one of Israel’s leading political correspondents and analysts. Currently with The Times of Israel and formerly with Israel’s economic daily Globes, Schneider was the Washington bureau chief of Maariv.

In 2011, she established an independent political blog. Her “Plog” quickly became a leading source for news and analysis and a standard-setter for ethical, balanced political coverage, and catapulted her to the front line of Israeli TV and radio pundits. Schneider’s Plog won the 2012 Excellence in Digital Journalism Award by Google Inc. and by Tel-Aviv’s Journalists Association.

What we saw on Capitol Hill yesterday was horrific: both the violent actions of the hooligan mob, and Donald Trump’s incitement to take such actions.  

As an organization that advocates Israeli-Palestinian peace, the US sister-organization of Israel’s peace movement, we at Americans for Peace Now are well acquainted with political violence and with the incitement that irresponsible politicians use to fuel it.

APN's daily news review from Israel - Thursday January 7, 2021

You Must Be Kidding: 
"Soldiers lives were threatened."
-- The Israeli army said in response to the shooting by a soldier of an unarmed Palestinian shepherd, Harun Abu Aram, who was trying to pull his generator away from three armed soldiers. The soldier shot Abu Aram in the neck, paralyzing him from the neck down for life. Abu Aram is on life-support.**