In the wake of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's brokering of an agreement that will bring the extreme right-wing Otzma Yehudit party into the Knesset, Americans for Peace Now is joining with fellow Jewish organizations to call on the wider Jewish community to affirm that Kahanists have no place in the Knesset. The multi-organizational statement follows.

This week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, keen to shore up his electoral position, orchestrated the unification of the extreme right-wing party Otzma Yehudit (“Jewish Power”) with the National Union so that it could enter the Knesset in a consolidated right-wing bloc. This is dangerous and deeply concerning. Otzma Yehudit is the latest iteration of a political party based on teachings of racist demagogue Meir Kahane.

Americans for Peace Now (APN) calls upon fellow American Jewish organizations to join it in condemning Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's embrace of the extremist right-wing political party Otzma Yehudit ("Jewish Power").

Americans for Peace Now joins fellow pro-diplomacy groups in urging lawmakers and presidential candidates to support rejoining the Iran nuclear deal, with which President Trump has placed the US in violation, and to oppose starting a war of choice with Iran. 

The following is the statement and list of signatories. 

Pro-diplomacy groups representing millions of American voters urge lawmakers to publicly articulate and support the following principles with respect to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) that verifiably blocks each of Iran’s pathways to a nuclear weapon and created a much-needed diplomatic relationship between Iran, the United States, and U.S. allies:

Monday, February 25, 2019

Less than two months before Israel’s general elections, Benjamin Netanyahu – fighting to stay in power and out of court – is trying to use his contacts with regional Arab leaders to portray himself domestically as an irreplaceable statesman.

Netanyahu also embraced the extremist right-wing political party Otzma Yehudit, whose leaders have publically endorsed the racist ideology of Rabbi Meir Kahane. See APN's official statement here and a joint statement with other American Jewish organizations here.  

After returning from an extensive tour to half a dozen Middle Eastern countries, including Israel, Middle East expert Prof. Mark Rosenblum spoke with APN about Israeli politics, regional geopolitics, and the relationship between the two.

Gilead (Gili) Sher is an Israeli lawyer, scholar, expert on, and practitioner of, Israeli negotiations with the Palestinians. He was Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s chief negotiator between 1999 and 2001. Now he directs the Center for Applied Negotiations at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in Tel Aviv.

APN’s acting CEO Aviva Meyer joined Ori Nir for a conversation with Sher on February 15th, 2019 at Georgetown University's government Department, where Sher is now the Goldman Visiting Professor.

We addressed the impact of the diplomatic impasse between Israelis and Palestinians, and what can be done to pave the road to a two-state solution in the absence of formal negotiations over a comprehensive peace accord.

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.