Action Alerts

APN is a leading source of pro-Israel, pro-peace advocacy and activism. Through our Action Network, we mobilize tens of thousands of actions every year in support of peace, with actions targeting the U.S. government, Congress, Jewish organizations, the media, the Israeli embassy, and others. Join us in taking action to fight anti-peace policies and actions, and to urge elected officials to adopt policies that support the two-state solution. Join our Action Network and check this page regularly (actions are listed in chronological order, with the most recent at the top). Add your voice to the chorus of pro-Israel, pro-peace voices fighting to end the occupation and to secure a two-state solution!

PAST ACTION: Tell Prime Minister Netanyahu to Block the “Legalization Bill”

Update: this action, now closed, ran in February 2017. 

The Israeli Knesset is poised to vote on legislation that would legalize Israeli settlement construction that is illegal under Israeli law and located on land that even the Israeli government recognizes as privately owned by Palestinians. APN’s backgrounder on the bill is here. Key points to understand:

  • This legislation removes even the façade that Israel as a nation respects the “rule of law” when it comes to the activities of settlers.
  • Passage of this legislation will send a message to the settlers that there are literally no limits on what they can do in terms of construction in the occupied territories.
  • Passage of this legislation will send a message to the Israeli public and the world that Israel no longer respects the “rule of law” – a cornerstone of democracy, under which laws apply equally to all – but instead ascribes openly to “rule by law” – the foundation of authoritarianism, under which laws are imposed selectively and tailored to serve the interests and limit the rights of specific groups.

American Jews who support Israel – not merely its existence but its existence as a democracy that reflects the progressive Jewish values articulated by its founders in its Declaration of Independence – should be appalled at the prospect of Israel adopting this brazenly undemocratic legislation.

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Israel’s “Entry Bill” – Indefensible & Undemocratic

***UPDATE: The Knesset passed this bill into law on March 6, 2017*** APN's statement condemning passage of the law is here.

The Israeli Knesset is poised to vote on on March 6, 2017 passed legislation that would will ban entry to Israel of foreigners who support or publicly engage in boycotts of either Israel or settlements.  APN’s backgrounder on the bill is here. Key points to understand:

  • This legislation is aimed at a basic civil liberty: the freedom of expression. Boycotting and calling for boycotts are legitimate forms of peaceful, political expression protected in any democracy.
  • Passage of this legislation will send a message to the Israeli public that legitimate political expression is verboten, further quashing dissent.
  • Passage of this legislation will send a message to the world that the Israeli government is throwing out basic democratic norms in its effort to quash peaceful opposition and criticism of its policies.
  • With this legislation, the Israeli government and Knesset are making common cause with the anti-democratic policies on the rise in the United States, including Trump Administration immigration policies vehemently opposed by the bulk of the U.S. Jewish community that are antithetical to progressive Jewish values.

 APN: "We fiercely reject and condemn this outrageous bill. Should it pass into law, it will be an ugly stain on Israel. It will add Israel to the club of nations that treat non-violent protest as a crime, and that irrationally believe that closing borders can prevent the spread of ideas. If this legislation passes into law, APN will challenge it."

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Whether or not they support boycotts of Israel (APN does not), American Jews should be appalled at the prospect of Israel adopting a policy that would be more at home in the old Soviet Union or North Korea than in a progressive democracy.

Whether or not they support boycotts of settlements (APN does), American Jews should be outraged and heartbroken at the prospect of seeing Israel becoming a nation that bars entry to people – including Jews and other supporters of Israel – for the “crime” of peacefully opposing Israeli policies.

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***UPDATE: The Knesset passed this bill into law on March 6, 2017***

The Israeli Knesset is poised to vote on on March 6, 2017 voted to pass legislation that would will ban entry to Israel of foreigners who support or publicly engage in boycotts of either Israel or settlements.  APN’s backgrounder on the bill is here. Key points to understand:

  • This legislation is aimed at a basic civil liberty: the freedom of expression. Boycotting and calling for boycotts are legitimate forms of peaceful, political expression protected in any democracy.
  • Passage of this legislation will send a message to the Israeli public that legitimate political expression is verboten, further quashing dissent.
  • Passage of this legislation will send a message to the world that the Israeli government is throwing out basic democratic norms in its effort to quash peaceful opposition and criticism of its policies.
  • With this legislation, the Israeli government and Knesset are making common cause with the anti-democratic policies on the rise in the United States, including Trump Administration immigration policies vehemently opposed by the bulk of the U.S. Jewish community that are antithetical to progressive Jewish values.
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PAST ACTION: Tell Senate to Oppose Rubio-Cardin Resolution

Update: this action, now closed, ran in January 2017. 

Earlier today, I asked you to contact your House member and ask him/her to oppose H. Res. 11, a resolution set to be voted on tomorrow (January 5th), objecting to recent action taken in the UN Security Council regarding settlements. Now, the Senate is poised to pass a similar resolution, just introduced by Senators Rubio (R-FL) and Cardin (D-MD) – and it is critical your senators hear from you on this today.

Contact your Senators TODAY. Tell them: Support Israel -- vote NO on the Rubio-Cardin resolution!

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PAST ACTION: Supporting Israel Means Opposing H. Res. 11

Update: this action, now closed, ran in January 2017. 

Just before the New Year, the Obama Administration took pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-U.S. action in the UN Security Council. It did so by abstaining on a resolution focused on Israeli settlements – a resolution that was wholly consistent with longstanding U.S. policy (upheld by presidents from both parties), and that was consistent with language adopted previously by the UN Security Council (including under past U.S. presidents from both parties).

Now, the House is poised to pass a resolution TOMORROW – H. Res. 11 – unfairly slamming the Obama Administration’s action.

Contact your Representative TODAY. Tell him/her: Support Israel -- vote NO on H. Res. 11!

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PAST ACTION: Thank the Obama Administration for standing up for Israel at UNESCO

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

Last week, UNESCO’s Executive Board ratified a shocking resolution that refers to the Holy Basin in Jerusalem’s Old City only by its Muslim title, the Haram al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary), does not mention the Temple Mount, the way Jews refer to the site, mentions the Western Wall Plaza in quotation marks while using its Muslim name, Al-Buraq Plaza without quotation marks, and uses other inflammatory language.  By so doing, UNESCO ignored the Jewish – and Christian – ties to Jerusalem.

Click here to thank President Obama and his administration for rejecting the anti-Israel bias of UNESCO’s resolution.

We also applaud the actions of Mexico’s ambassador to UNESCO. We were dismayed to hear that the Mexican diplomat, Andrés Roemer, was fired for taking the unusual step of  walking out of the vote because he disagreed with his government’s  decision to support the resolution.

Write to President Obama today and let him know you appreciate that the US is standing up for Israel.

 

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

Last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a video statement in which he claimed that evacuating Israeli settlements from the West Bank in the context of a future Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement is tantamount to “ethnic cleansing.” This statement, trivializing crimes against humanity and genocide, should outrage anyone who cares about international affairs and who cares about Israel.

Applying terminology borrowed from the darkest days of European history to a scenario in which Israeli settlements would be withdrawn to allow for a peace accord between Israelis and Palestinians, reached by the sovereign governments of both peoples, is abhorrent. It merits the US Jewish community’s rejection and repudiation.

Every U.S. President since 1967, both Republican and Democrat, has accepted that settlements would be removed as part of a peace agreement. Menachem Begin, who evacuated all of Israel’s settlements in Sinai as a part of a peace agreement, and Ariel Sharon, who unilaterally removed all the settlements from the Gaza Strip and a handful in the northern West Bank, made a sovereign decision to do so out of national security considerations. Controversial as these moves may have been at the time, they were not “ethnic cleansing.”

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Past Action on Hebron, Sussya, Amona & E-2

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

The policies and actions of the current Israeli government are actively fanning the flames of violence, further entrenching and expanding occupation, and killing the two-state solution. Some of the most recent and ongoing outrages are:

Expanding the settlers' hold in Hebron: The Israeli government is in the process of establishing – by stealth –the first new settlement complex (28 units, providing housing for some 100 settlers, or a 10% increase in the settler population in the area) in Hebron in more than a decade. It is doing so by taking properties seized years ago by the Israeli government for military use and handing them over to the settlers. This action directly contravenes Israeli law, which prohibits seizing lands for military needs and then using them for the purpose of settlements. It also contradicts the principle of distinction between civilians and combatants, and constitutes a clear violation of International Humanitarian Law. In addition, allocating these properties to the settlers based on the argument that they belonged to Jews before 1948 in essence constitutes implementation of a “right of return” for Jews, at the expense of protected Palestinians tenants – even as Palestinians are denied any parallel “right of return” to properties they left or were expelled from before 1948. Click here to learn more about this new Hebron development and to find out how you can take action.

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

The Israeli government is in the process of establishing – by stealth –the first new settlement complex (28 units, providing housing for some 100 settlers, or a 10% increase in the settler population in the area) in Hebron in more than a decade. It is doing so by taking properties seized years ago by the Israeli government for military use and handing them over to the settlers. This action directly contravenes Israeli law, which prohibits seizing lands for military needs and then using them for the purpose of settlements. It also contradicts the principle of distinction between civilians and combatants and constitutes a clear violation of International Humanitarian Law. In addition, allocating these properties to the settlers based on the argument that they belonged to Jews before 1948 in essence constitutes implementation of a “right of return” for Jews, at the expense of protected Palestinians tenants – even as Palestinians are denied any parallel “right of return” to properties they left or were expelled from before 1948.

On August 24th, State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner said that if reports about what is happening in Hebron are true, “…it would represent a deeply concerning step of settlement expansions…

At the same time, the Israeli government is moving ahead with plans to “relocate” the illegal outpost of Amona. It plans to move the settlers off the privately-owned Palestinian land where the outpost it currently located – land that after years of trying, the Government was forced to admit it could find no “legal” way to expropriate and give to the settlers – and on to a nearby plot of privately-owned Palestinian land that it has now found a pretext to seize. In short, this case involves Israel taking new land from the Palestinians for the sole benefit of settlers. And it involves Israel acting not to punish and deter settler law-breaking, but instead rewarding and incentivizing such illegal actions. And it contributes to the growth of the settlement foothold deep in the West Bank, via the direct support and collusion of the Israeli government.

On August 11th, the Director of the State Department’s Press Office, Elizabeth Trudeau, said that the State Department was “deeply concerned by reports that the Israeli Government has begun the process to take over privately owned Palestinian land to relocate the illegal Israeli outpost of Amona.”

 

Take Action Today!

 

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PAST ACTION: Tell Israel - Stop the land grabs, stop the settlement expansion.

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

Nearly 50 years into the occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the current Israeli government continues to exploit a wide range of tactics, laws, and regulations to take control of more Palestinian land and hand it over to the settlers. Here are just the latest examples:

  • In Sussya, located in the south Hebron hills, Israel is seeking to raze Palestinian homes to make way for more settlement.
  • Northeast of Ramallah, near the settlement of Ofra, Israel is working to take over more Palestinian-owned land to give to settler law-breakers from the outpost of Amona.
  • South of Bethlehem, the Netanyahu government is actively seeking to seize land in order to implement an extraordinarily dangerous and destructive new settlement plan which activists have dubbed “E-2,” involving thousands of new units.
  • In the heart of Hebron, the Israeli government is in the process of establishing – by stealth – a new settlement complex: 28 housing units for some 100 settlers, or a 10% increase in the settler population in the area. This is the first new settlement construction in Hebron in more than a decade. The government’s method, this time, is taking properties seized years ago by the Israeli government for military use and handing them over to the settlers – in direct contravention of Israeli law.

With actions like these, the Israeli government is telling the Palestinians that it is not interested in peace or a two-state solution. It is telling the world that it places greater value on land than on peace, that it prioritizes settlements over security, and that it is more concerned with ensuring permanent control over “Greater Israel” than in ensuring Israel’s relations and reputation with nations around the world, including the United States.

With no immediate possibility of re-starting peace talks on the horizon, it is critical that world leaders stand firm against Israeli government efforts to further expand and entrench the occupation – the very possibility of the two-state outcome hangs in the balance.

Sign our petition today (to be sent to addressees and released as an open letter). Join us in calling on the heads of state of the U.S., UK, France, and Germany -- as well as top officials in the European Commission and the UN, and other world leaders -- to individually and collectively stand up to the Netanyahu government’s plans to confiscate or transfer West Bank land for new settlement activity.

Take action NOW.

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