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
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Ha'aretz Opinion: "American Jews, Don't Walk Away From Israel" by APN's Debra Shushan (April 11, 2019)Netanyahu's re-election is a black day for solidly liberal American Jews, whose relations with a pro-Trump Israel were already in crisis. But we can't give up... Read >> |
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JTA: "Israel approves thousands of new West Bank housing units" (April 8, 2019)"The construction of the settlements only makes it harder to end the occupation and to get to a two states peace agreement and is bad for the Israeli interest to remain a democratic and secured state," Peace Now said in a statement... Read >> |
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NPR: "After A Decade Of Netanyahu, Hopes Fade For A Palestinian State" (April 8, 2019)About three-quarters of the construction has taken place in settlements deep in the West Bank "that Israel will probably need to evict in the framework of a two-state agreement," said Hagit Ofran of Peace Now, a settlement watchdog group. Read and Listen >> |
The letter includes: “We welcome bipartisan efforts aimed at
combating anti-Semitism. However, much of the recent rhetoric and political maneuvering on the issue seems
cynically focused on showing that one party cares more about anti-Jewish bigotry than the other. This political
theater is not only counter-productive, but endangers the very people such advocates claim to defend.”
Go HERE for "American Jews, Resist Netanyahu Like He's Trump" by Ori Nir, APN Director of Communications and Public Engagement.
Netanyahu's re-election is a black day for solidly
liberal American Jews, whose relations with a pro-Trump Israel were already in crisis. But we can't give
up
Already in crisis, relations between Israel and American Jews are headed for a harsh reckoning in the wake of this week's victory by Israel’s right-wing bloc, helmed by the once and perpetual prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
While American Jews remain overwhelmingly liberal - one of the most solidly progressive constituencies in the U.S., despite President Donald Trump’s absurd attempts to promote a "Jexodus" – the majority of Israelis have jettisoned Israel’s founding values of socialist Zionism to move ever rightward.
What William Galston observed months ago is now indisputably true: Israel has become a Trump-enamored red state, while American Jews are the bluest of blue staters, who view Trump as an existential threat, both to our safety and to the liberal society in which we have flourished.
Dear Friend,
Israeli elections are over. Any hopes that we may have had for
electoral change that would garner pro-peace leadership are dashed.
Temporarily.
Facing three indictments, Benjamin Netanyahu may soon leave the political scene.
Meanwhile, we have a reinvigorated Netanyahu, backed by his political twin Donald Trump, pushed hard by his extreme right-wing coalition partners to deliver his campaign promise of West Bank annexation.
Let’s not mince words, my friends: With Trump’s blessing, Netanyahu is on his way to officially, legally, establish an apartheid regime in the West Bank, and make it even harder for future Israeli leaders to make peace. Let’s be clear: Yesterday’s elections have put Netanyahu and his allies on a faster, surer track to destroy Israel’s democracy and to further crush its ethos of equality, justice, and tolerance.
For us, progressive Americans who care about Israel, today is a call to action. Today, we are redoubling our commitment to the cause of a democratic Israel that lives in peace and security with its neighbors and embodies the values we so strongly believe in.
As we approach this year’s Passover Seder, I’m writing to wish you all a happy holiday and to explain why your support — ongoing or first-time — is so important for Americans for Peace Now and Shalom Achshav. As a veteran of Israel’s strategic security establishment who currently, in semi-retirement, writes (compulsively! almost daily! weekly in my Q & A for APN!) about Israel-related security issues, I hope you will permit me in this connection a brief Pesach reminiscence.
Lately, my own research and writing efforts have taken me back to the events of Passover 2002. On March 27, Erev Pesach, a Hamas suicide bomber attacked several hundred people gathered for a Seder at the Park Hotel, near the beach in Netanya in central Israel. He killed 30 Israelis and maimed some 160 others.
