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.

This week, Alpher discusses why so many Israelis were gloating regarding last week’s ISIS terror attacks in Brussels; PM Netanyahu equating Islamist attacks in Europe with Palestinian attacks against Israelis; what’s wrong with that approach; why there is so much controversy in Israel regarding the shooting of a wounded and “neutralized” terrorist last week by an IDF soldier; how to summarize this Israeli behavior regarding both Brussels and Hebron;

Following the 4:00PM performance on April 3rd, join us for a post-show discussion and talkback featuring Ori Nir of Americans for Peace Now and Michal Aharoni, playwright and columnist. Nir and Aharoni will discuss the ways Israeli security dilemmas play out inside the family and around the dinner table.

AFTER THE WAR by Motti Lerner, tells the story of Joel, a world-renowned concert pianist and Israeli anti-war expatriate who returns to Tel Aviv after 18 years to perform with the Israeli Philharmonic. But as protestors agitate to cancel the performance, deep ideological differences between Joel, his estranged son Izzy, and his hot-tempered brother Freddie quickly turn the family homecoming to all-out battle. Set against the wrenching sadness and climactic beauty of Beethoven’s Pathétique, and borrowing from events in the life of revered, controversial Israeli ex-pat Daniel Barenboim, After the War is a crucial new play about an artist’s responsibility to his embattled country, and his family’s tough response to calls for peace in the wake of a costly war.

For APN supporters only, use the code APN20 - 20% off tickets to After the War, good for all dates excluding opening night. Purchase tickets here.

Rabbi Justin Goldstein was ordained in 2011 by the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles, is a 2012-2013 Rabbis Without Borders Fellow and has served Congregation Beth Israel in Asheville NC since 2014.

Often dismissed as irrelevant or boring, Parashat Tzav details some of the ritual procedures for the sacrificial offerings which were made in the Mishkan - the portable sanctuary the Children of Israel carried in the wilderness - and, eventually, offered in the Temple. Among others, there are three types of offerings specified in this week’s Torah portion which I would like to focus on.

"I felt sick watching Trump at AIPAC. Not for what he said - his speech was entirely predictable - and not for the fact that AIPAC gave him a platform. I felt sick because I was watching the natural culmination of decades in which AIPAC has successfully defined the terms of the "acceptable" narrative about Israel in U.S. politics and campaigns."

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Published March 22, 2016

Look on AIPAC’s Works, American Jews

For more than a decade I have been invited regularly to speak on Capitol Hill, on campuses, in synagogues, on policy panels, to foreign diplomats and to the media. On these occasions I speak, as an advocate for Israel and Israeli-Palestinian peace, about the issues on the ground in Israel-Palestine and their connection to U.S. foreign policy. And on these occasions I talk openly and critically about AIPAC, just as for years my organization has publicly challenged AIPAC’s legislative agenda at every turn.

I talk about AIPAC not because I hold any personal animus against the organization and its supporters, or because I believe in some right-wing conspiracy. I know there are good people working at and supporting AIPAC. And I know from experience - most recently with the successful Iran nuclear deal - that AIPAC is by no means omnipotent.

I also know, however, that for decades AIPAC has been actively promoting a Middle East agenda that is anathema to the values of most American Jews, to the real interests of Israel, and to peace. And I know well, from personal experience working in Washington and around the country, the enormous power AIPAC brings to bear on American Jews, members of Congress, and the U.S. political system to see its agenda enacted. That is why I cannot talk about U.S. policy and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict without talking about AIPAC.

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.

This week, Alpher discusses what he missed last week (along with every other analyst and commentator) in assuming that Russia would stay firmly in place and not predicting the subsequent Russian military withdrawal; is this good for Israel or the US; what the connection is between the Kurds of northern Syria and a recently-deceased (2006) Vermont-based Jewish anarchist ecologist philosopher named Murray Bookchin; whether Turkish concerns regarding the death of Israelis in Saturday’s ISIS suicide bombing in Istanbul facilitate Turkish-Israeli political reconciliation; and why Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi was not allowed by Israel to visit the Palestinian Authority a week ago, what Israel chose to reveal in the aftermath about its relations with Indonesia, and what this tells us about Israel’s current approach to such clandestine ties.

APN Board member Sid Topol mentioned in Farah Stockman's farewell column in the Boston Globe.

Dear Boston,

The first time I laid eyes on you, I worried that I might be out of my league. The gold dome of the State House was impressive bling for a Midwestern girl like me. To be honest, I took you for a snob at first. After all, you’re a city with not one but two Harvard clubs, in addition to hosting parts of Harvard itself.

But over time, I got to see your down-to-earth side. Your longshoremen. Your stevedores. Your fierce, proud unions.

It took me years to learn your secrets: that it’s OK to save a parking space shoveled out of the snow in Southie, but not in the South End. That Mike’s Pastry is for tourists, but Modern Pastry is for Nonna.

Join us for APN's 2016 Israel Study Tour,  November 12 - 17, 2016.

Our tour this year will take into consideration both the local and regional threats facing Israelis, as well as domestic threats to Israeli democracy. We will be staying in Jerusalem and will maintain our usual focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and meet courageous people on both sides who are working to end it. In addition, we will review the threats that Israel is facing on its borders with its neighbors, both north and south. This tour will involve more traveling than usual inside Israel, and will take participants to destinations that we have not explored in a long time.

Our tour this year takes place at an exciting time, right after the US national elections. We will gauge reactions to the election results both among Israelis and Palestinians. As always, the tour will be led by Professor Mark Rosenblum, APN’s founder, and a leading expert on the Middle East and the conflict.

 Rabbi Esther L. Lederman is Director of Communities of Practice at the Union for Reform Judaism.  She previously served as the associate rabbi at Temple Micah in Washington, DC.

As children, we were given a sanitized ending:  Queen Esther and Mordecai save the Jews from destruction at the hands of Haman and his minions.  Much merriment ensues, with food and drink. Mishloach manot (gifts of food) are sent to neighbors and friends as a way of offering thanksgiving for being saved from the gallows. 

Our rabbis, teachers, and parents didn’t want us to know how it really ended.  The truth was kept hidden.