Alarmed at the flare-up of violence on and around Jerusalem’s Temple Mount / Haram al-Sharif, and extremely concerned about a further deterioration, Americans for Peace Now (APN) is calling on the Trump administration to offer its services to help establish security arrangements in this sensitive spot, which would be accepted and respected by all.
Join us for a timely briefing call tomorrow, Thursday, Jul
y 20th, at 11:00 AM, with Debbie Gild-Hayo of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI)
to discuss current anti-democratic legislation in Israel.
Attorney Debbie Gild-Hayo is the Policy Advocacy Director of ACRI, overseeing the organization’s policy advocacy work in Knesset committees and before leading decision makers and government officials in Israel.
ACRI publishes a Legislative Roundup reviewing controversial Knesset legislation and occasional reports on anti-democratic initiatives in the Knesset. See here.
To join the call, dial 1-951-797-1058 and enter the conference code: 147414. A recording will be available shortly after we conclude the call.
Update: this action, now closed, ran in July 17.
Outraged and heartbroken – that sums up the feelings of many who could be barred from Israel for
the "crime" of peacefully opposing its government's policies.
The Knesset, Israel's legislative body, recently passed a new law, dubbed the "Entry Law." If enacted, the law would deny entry into the State of Israel to any non-Israeli individual or individuals affiliated with non-Israeli organizations, who have publicly called for boycotting either Israel, Israeli state institutions, or West Bank settlements.
While Americans for Peace Now (APN) – the American sister organization of Shalom Achshav, Israel's preeminent peace movement – staunchly opposes boycotting Israel or Israeli institutions, we do call for boycotting West Bank settlements. We see this as a legitimate way to express our opposition to the settlements and to the occupation of the West Bank.
The "Entry Law" is a stain on Israeli democracy and betrays the democratic principles upon which Israel was established.
The Knesset, Israel's legislative body, recently passed a new law, dubbed the "Entry Law." If enacted, the law would deny entry into the State of Israel to any non-Israeli individual or individuals affiliated with non-Israeli organizations, who have publicly called for boycotting either Israel, Israeli state institutions, or West Bank settlements.
While Americans for Peace Now (APN) – the American sister organization of Shalom Achshav, Israel's preeminent peace movement – staunchly opposes boycotting Israel or Israeli institutions, we do call for boycotting West Bank settlements. We see this as a legitimate way to express our opposition to the settlements and to the occupation of the West Bank.
The "Entry Law" is a stain on Israeli democracy and betrays the democratic principles upon which Israel was established.
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 the domestic and regional threats Netanyahu is facing; why Gabai, as an untested and inexperienced politician elected to lead Labor by a constituency in rebellion against the party establishment, is a threat; whether there was strategic significance to the recent Temple Mount attack; the Syria ceasefire; and Netanyahu's need to be coddled.
Grant Rumley is a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington think tank, where he focuses on Palestinian politics. Amir Tibon is the newly-appointed bureau chief of Israel's Haaretz newspaper.
Together, they authored a new biography of Mahmoud Abbas, (Abu Mazen) the President of the Palestinian Authority and the Chairman of the PLO.
Katya Lipovetzky, an Israeli, recently graduated from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Hashem Sayyed, a Palestinian, recently graduated from al-Quds University, the Palestinian university of Jerusalem.
Hashem and Katya are APN's summer interns, working together to produce our second storytelling event, The Dove.
The two are enrolled in New Story Leadership, a summer program in Washington that gives young Israelis and Palestinians a chance to meet each other, to network, to learn how Washington works and to hone their leadership skills.
In this short episode, Ori Nir and Stephanie Breitsman talk with Katya and Hashem about their lives and the conflict. To meet the two of them and four more of the NSL fellows Come to The Dove on July 20th, at Busboys and Poets in Washington, DC at 8:30 PM. If you can't attend, you'll be able to listen to these young people's stories on a special episode of PeaceCast.
The June 25th decision by the Israeli government to suspend the agreement to create a pluralistic prayer space at the Western Wall could not have been more poorly timed. Coinciding with a visit of American Jewish leaders to Israel and coupled with the government’s decision to further a bill tightening regulations on Jewish conversions, the message of disrespect, disregard, and rejection was thus maximized – as was the response.
Rabbi Rick Jacobs of the Union for Reform Judaism cancelled a planned dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and, along with Rabbi Steve Wernick, CEO of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, called the decision a “betrayal.” Jerry Silverman, CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America called the move “a direct insult.” The outrage even included this line from Michael Siegel, the chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel: “Support for Israel does not necessarily mean support for the Israeli government.”
Americans for Peace Now (APN) strongly condemns the shooting attack this morning at Jerusalem's Temple Mount / Haram al-Sharif. APN sends its condolences to the families of the two Israeli policemen who were killed in the attack, both Arab Druze citizens of Israel, and wishes full recovery to a third police officer who was injured in the attack.
APN implores the Israeli authorities, the Palestinian Muslim clerics in Jerusalem, the government of Jordan, the Israeli and Palestinian publics, and all other stakeholders in Jerusalem, to do all they can to prevent further escalation in Jerusalem, particularly at this highly sensitive and holy spot, and to respect the sanctity of Jerusalem's holy sites.
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 the strategic significance of the first-ever official visit to Israel by the prime minister of India, Narendra Modi; Putin and Trump's ceasefire agreement in southwest Syria; and whether North Korea's nuclear and missile program is an Israeli concern.
After receiving many requests from scholars and from the media for information on the population growth of West Bank Jewish settlers, we are publishing a table based on data collected by Israel’s Peace Now movement. The table shows the population growth in Israel and in West Bank settlements since 1967. While the data shows the rapid growth of the settlers’ population, it also points out what a small minority the settlers are out of Israel’s overall population.