Americans for Peace Now strongly condemns the two bombings in Jerusalem today.

Americans for Peace Now (APN), together with three other American progressive pro-Israel pro-peace organizations, submitted an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a constitutional challenge to a law penalizing boycotts of Israel.

Submitted jointly by APN, J Street, T’ruah, and Partners for Progressive Israel and prepared by the Georgetown Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection, the brief demonstrates how throughout history, Americans -- and particularly American Jews -- have engaged in boycotts as an expression of their ideological commitments. The brief argues that eliminating constitutional protection for boycott participation threatens Americans’ First Amendment rights.

None of the groups that submitted the brief support boycotting Israel, but they do support Americans’ constitutional right to boycott. APN does support boycotting products made in Israeli West Bank settlements, outside the lines of sovereign Israel.

Americans for Peace Now (APN) welcomes news that the Biden administration has decided to launch an independent investigation into the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh, the Al Jazeera reporter who was shot to death during an IDF operation in the Jenin refugee camp in May. Abu Akleh was an American citizen, and her family, like those of all US citizens killed abroad, has the right to a US investigation into the circumstances of her death.

APN’s President and CEO Hadar Susskind said: “We have called for an independent US investigation into Abu Akleh’s death since she was killed because we believe that her family deserves it and because the US government should know the clear and unequivocal truth about exactly what happened on that day. For a US investigation to succeed, full cooperation by Israeli and Palestinian authorities will be vital. We urge the government of Israel and the IDF to be forthcoming and aid the US investigation. We thank members of Congress who joined us in demanding that the Biden administration open an independent investigation and we thank APN’s activists who supported congressional actions in this regard.”

In light of yesterday’s American elections, and with Israel’s elections of last week still fresh in our minds, Americans for Peace Now (APN) will urge the Biden Administration and the incoming Congress to take measures that advance the cause of peace between Israelis and Palestinians, and provide security, wellbeing, and human and civil rights to both peoples. Given the results of last week’s elections in Israel, we will also urge Congress to pay special attention to the state of democracy and the rule of law in Israel, as well as the continuing expansion of Israeli settlements and oppression in the Occupied Territories.

The results of Israel's exit polls, which are not final but often provide an accurate indication of ultimate election results, confirm the darkest predictions for today’s election.

Americans for Peace Now (APN) welcomes the petition filed today by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) with the US Supreme Court to overturn an Arkansas law requiring state contractors to pledge not to boycott Israel as a condition to doing business with the state.

APN thanks the ACLU and urges the Supreme Court to take up the case.

APN supports the right of American citizens, organizations and companies to use boycotts as a legitimate First Amendment-protected right.

The case in point pertains to the Arkansas Times newspaper and its editor, Alan Leveritt, who refused to sign a commitment to not boycott Israel as a condition for an advertising contract with the state-run University of Arkansas. Leveritt initially lost in a federal district court, but when he appealed to the 8th Circuit court of appeals, a three-judge panel overturned the federal district court's ruling, ruling in his favor. The state of Arkansas petitioned to have the case reviewed again by the full 8th district court (as opposed to the 3-judge panel), and the court agreed to. The full court's ruling upheld the initial ruling of the federal district court, ruling against Leveritt to uphold the 2017 Arkansas law, which the state of Arkansas dubbed “boycotting the boycotters.”

The surging violence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, two weeks before Israel’s general elections, is not only a tragedy, but also a cause for serious political concern.

Americans for Peace Now (APN) calls on all stakeholders, including the Biden administration, to do their utmost to lower the flames and stop the violence to prevent further bloodshed and destruction.

The current flareup is characterized by provocative settler violence. In various hotspots in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, settlers have been brutalizing Palestinians, damaging their property, burning cars and blocking vital transportation routes. Settler provocations have become a staple of Jewish holidays. Young settlers are off school and their parents on holiday break. The result is an increase in organized violent action.

Americans for Peace Now cautiously welcomes yesterday’s launch of the Joint US-Israel Strategic High-Level Dialogue on Technology. As announced in this summer’s Jerusalem US-Israel Strategic Partnership Joint Declaration, these talks are intended to establish a US-Israel technological partnership on critical and emerging technologies and solutions to global challenges. 

Americans for Peace now welcomes Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s endorsement of the two-state solution in his United Nations General Assembly speech and commends him for stating that peace is not an expression of weakness but rather “a victory of all that is good.”

A United Nations General Assembly speech by an Israeli prime minister, which focuses on peace and explicitly pledges to pursue peace, is a welcome and refreshing development.