Last night, Netanyahu’s right wing government pushed a law through the Knesset to silence dissent. Although it was touted to the public as a matter of transparency, the reality is that this law is aimed at Peace Now and other progressive groups.

Never mind that all non-profit organizations receiving funding from foreign governments must already disclose all such funding. Never mind that NGOs on the left, which are already transparent about their donors, are publicly branded, in effect, as agents of foreign governments. Never mind that right-wing groups – whose agendas align comfortably with that of the current Israeli government and who receive millions of dollars in donations from foreign individuals and entities – are able to keep their donors secret.

Israel’s Peace Now Movement to Challenge New NGO Law before Israel’s Supreme Court 

Washington, DC -- Americans for Peace Now (APN) joins its Israeli sister organization, Peace Now (Shalom Achshav) in strongly condemning the new NGO Law, adopted last night by the Knesset, as a blatant violation of freedom of expression. APN supports Peace Now’s intention to challenge the new law before Israel’s Supreme Court. 

As Peace Now points out, this law is tailored specifically to target only peace and human rights organizations. It intends to divert the Israeli public discourse away from the occupation, and to silence opposition to the government's policies. 

News from Peace Now's (Israel) Settlement Watch:

On July 6, 2016 the High Planning Committee of the Civil Administration convened in order to discuss and approve construction plans in the settlements. The committee discussed the approval of 531 housing units in Ma'ale Adumim and the plan to retroactively legalize the illegal outpost of Horesh Yaron, which is located west of Ramallah. Since the beginning of 2016 construction plans for 1,823 housing units in the settlements were promoted. out of the 1,823, 314 are retroactive plans for housing units which were built illegally. It is important to note that the Quartet Report's criticism on Israel's settlement policy focused specifically on retroactive legalization of illegal outposts and illegal construction. 

Additionally, yesterday, July 10 2016, the government approved a transfer approximately 50 Million Shekels to Kiryat Arba and Hebron.

Peace Now: The promotion of plans in Ma'ale Adumim and the retroactive legalization of an illegal outpost are a slap in the face of the Quartet. Netanyahu is signaling to Israel's most important allies that he is not interested in peace and two states but rather in the continuation of the occupation. 

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’s behind the flurry of diplomatic and strategic activity, including Israel’s rapprochement with Turkey, Netanyahu's meeting in East Africa with seven regional leaders, and the Egyptian foreign minister visiting Israel for the first time in nine years; the strategic backdrop in East Africa; Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukry's presumed discussion with Netanyahu about Israeli-Turkish relations; Shukry and Netanyahu's statements Sunday concerning the need to renew some sort of Israeli-Palestinian peace or at least confidence-building process; whether the right-wing Netanyahu government with its strong pro-settler element really has anything to talk about with the Arabs concerning the Palestinian issue; and what’s next regarding establishing Israeli spheres of strategic influence in the region and beyond, and what might this signify for the Palestinian issue.

Update: this action, now closed, ran in July 2016. 

Last Wednesday, the Israeli government announced plans for hundreds of new homes in Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. In response, the U.S. Department of State issued a sharply-worded statement pointing out how destructive these new settlement plans are.

State Department Spokesperson John Kirby said, "…this report would be the latest step in what seems to be a systematic process of land seizures, settlement expansions and legalizations of outposts that is fundamentally undermining the prospects for a two-state solution…”

He went on to state, unequivocally: “We oppose steps like these, which we believe are counterproductive to the cause of peace. In general, we’re deeply concerned about settlement construction and expansion in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.”

Click here to thank President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry for their unwavering stance opposing settlements and urge them to support action in the United Nations Security Council to advance the two-state solution.

As an organization dedicated to peace and security for Israel – and committed to the belief that Israel has a right to exist and that its legitimacy as a state is beyond question – APN has wrestled with the challenge posed by the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement (BDS). We have studied both the BDS movement and the efforts to combat it. We have listened closely to arguments and narratives of BDS proponents and detractors. And while APN firmly opposes BDS targeting Israel, we have concluded that many anti-BDS efforts are misguided and counter-productive.

APN's Lara Friedman, director of policy and government relations for Americans for Peace Now, joined a panel with Joseph Berman, Heather Hurlburt, and Yousef Munayyer, and moderated by Mitchell Plitnick on Saturday July 16th, at 9am, to have a constructive conversation on what it means to be progressive on Israel and Palestine

In the Spring of 2015, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed himself as a partisan Republican in a way that he hadn’t publicly before. This created the space for “mainstream” progressivism regarding the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Put another way, it became more comfortable to identify as an American whose progressive values apply to United States politics as well as the situation in the Middle East. But what does that mean? From Israeli settlement expansion to the BDS movement to the peace process to human rights, the progressive space has paved several paths toward the common goal of peace.

News from Peace Now's (Israel) Settlement Watch:

Today, (Wednesday, 6th of July) the Israeli Ministry of Housing issued a tender for the construction of 42 housing units in Kiryat Arba. The tender was issued today but bids can only be submitted at the 31st of July. This means that the Government wanted to publish the tender quickly, before the paperwork is completed, in order to make the connection between the deadly attacks against Israelis last week and the promotion of the construction in Kiryat Arba. 

Peace Now: "Construction in settlements is not an answer to terrorism; it is not going to save the life of any Israeli but rather strengthen the extremists on both sides. The real answer to terrorism is ending the occupation and reaching a negotiated peace agreement. Unfortunately, Israeli citizens continue to pay the price of the extreme right wing government's policies."

For tthe third in a series of ads from APN, this week's message is from Rabbi Michael Melchior, an internationally renowned Jewish leader, thinker and activist. Rabbi Melchior is a former Minister of Social and Diaspora Affairs, former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and a former member of Knesset for Meimad. For his outstanding leadership in The Knesset, Rabbi Melchior was awarded with the prestigious Knight of Quality Governance Award and the Green Globe Award of Israel's National Coalition of Environmental NGOs.

The Rabbi of a vibrant community in Talpiyot, Jerusalem,and the Chief Rabbi of Norway, he is a recipient of The Norwegian Award For Tolerance & Bridge Building in the Nobel Institute, The Church Of England’s Coventry International Prize For Peace & Reconciliation, the Liebhaber Prize For The Promotion Of Religious Tolerance And Cultural Pluralism, and the 2015 Annual Peace Prize for the FRRME (Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East).

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