APN's daily news review from Israel

Sunday December 29, 2019

Quote of the day #1:

“Even if its intentions are otherwise, by closing the center the university is joining the murky wave of directing fewer and fewer resources to peace research, democracy and humanist values.”
—Prof. Izhak Schnell of the Department of Geography and Human Environment at Tel-Aviv University reacts to the university’s decision to shut down the Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research.*

Quote of the day #2:

"Netanyahu, with no authority or responsibility, keeps promoting more construction in the West Bank settlements all the while sacrificing the possibility of an agreement with the Palestinian people."
--Peace Now reacted to the latest government plan to approve 2000 more settler homes.**

Professor Nurit Shnabel is a psychologist at Tel Aviv University, who researches the way in which empathy can diminish the sense of exclusive victimhood that each side feels in the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

Some of her findings could be leveraged by leaders and other members of both societies to help find a way toward peace and reconciliation.

Listen to the full episode

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.

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.

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

Here are 10 selected quotes from APN's 2019 Updates, emailed each week:

"When the hell will someone in this government broadcast to the public that Israel is a country for all its citizens. And every person was born equal. Arabs, too, God help us, are human beings. And so are the Druze. And so are gays, by the way, and lesbians, and...shock...leftists." (March 13, 2019)

Rotem Sela, popular Israeli actress and TV host, in an Instagram post to which Prime Minister Netanyahu replied "Dear Rotem, an important correction: Israel is not a state of all its citizens. According to the Nation-State Law that we passed, Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish People - and them alone." 

Our one hundredth episode(!) coincides with the end-of-year holidays, a time of positivity and hope. To talk about positivity and hope in the context of Israeli-Palestinian relations and Jewish-Arab relations we are hosting Dina Kraft. Her monthly podcast, The Branch documents Israelis and Palestinians and Jewish and Arab citizens in Israel forging meaningful relationships with each other in a complex reality.

Dina is a veteran journalist, currently based in Tel Aviv, reporting for both Haaretz and The Christian Science Monitor. Her writing has appeared in publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Atlantic. She is the former Israel correspondent for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Kraft was formerly an Associated Press correspondent based in Jerusalem and Johannesburg. She has reported throughout Africa, as well as from Pakistan, Jordan, Tunisia, Russia and Ukraine.

Listen to the full episode