This article is translated from the Israel Ma'ariv newspaper and appeared in the Israel News Today service on February 4, 2019. 

  The excitement surrounding the meeting between Benny Gantz and Gabi Ashkenazi that was supposed to have been held yesterday evening is superfluous. The two of them have met on several occasions beneath the radar, and have spoken with one another even more often. They don’t need to be introduced to one another. The 19^th chief of staff and the 20^th chief of staff don’t need mediators. Gantz wants Ashkenazi almost desperately. Ashkenazi, for the time being, isn’t willing to come on his own. Out of the entire group of generals and potential leaders in the center-left bloc, Ashkenazi is the only who isn’t motivated by his own ego or future status. He is willing to “come under the stretcher in the most difficult place,” in the best of the Golani Brigade’s tradition, but only if that is worth the effort. In other words: a large merger with Yair Lapid will be worth making that effort.

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 

1. Bills, Resolutions, & Letters
2. The (Continuing) Saga of S.1
3. Hearings
4. On the Record

Shameless plug: Check out the 1/24 edition of Mehdi Hassan’s podcast, “Deconstructed,” featuring Marc Lamont Hill and me (Lara Friedman), on the topic, “What You Can’t Say About Israel”

1) Anti-Terrorism Clarification Act (ATCA): Time is running out for a fix prior to the Friday, February 1 implementation date. ATCA will end US support for Israeli-Palestinian security coordination, eliminate the last official channel between the US government and the Palestinian Authority, and prevent the future resumption of US development assistance to Palestinians. Read the op-ed in The Hill by Debra Shushan on why Congress must act and what it can do. 

2) Senate Bill 1, including the Combating BDS Act (CBA), was advanced following two votes this week. Yesterday's vote, which paves the way for introduction of amendments, was 76-22. (Find out how your senators voted here.) 

Some senators spoke passionately of their opposition to CBA, both on First Amendment grounds and because of its conflation of settlements with sovereign Israel. In particular, these remarks by Sen. Chris Van Hollen are worth your view.