The nomination of David Friedman to be the next ambassador of the United States to Israel has stirred a fierce debate, focused primarily on Friedman’s well-documented bombastic rhetoric and his views on settlements, the occupation, and the Palestinians — views that are at odds with decades of bipartisan U.S. policy.

As the Senate gets ready to consider Friedman’s nomination, what has been largely overlooked is the fact that, based on his own very clear and public record, Friedman is by any objective standard disqualified from serving as America’s diplomatic envoy to any country, and especially to Israel.

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News from Peace Now:

Today, January 24 2017, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman issued a statement announcing the promotion of approximately 2,500 housing units in the settlements. This is the largest announcement since U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's negotiations efforts between Israelis and Palestinians.

Peace Now: "Netanyahu is taking advantage of the presidential transition in the United States in order to appease the settlers, a small minority of the Israeli public, and score political points with his right flank. Instead of jeopardizing the two-state solution, it is time for Netanyahu to take responsibility for the future of Israel by halting settlement construction and assuring the future of Israel as both Jewish and democratic."
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Press Release: APN to Trump: Don't be a "Freier"

Americans for Peace Now (APN) is alarmed by a series of West Bank and East Jerusalem settlements-related measures that the Government of Israel is taking, or has indicated it intends to take, in the wake of the inauguration of President Donald Trump.

APN warns President Trump that acquiescing to such measures would send a dangerous message of weakness to the region and the world, right at the outset of his tenure in the White House. It would signal to America's allies and adversaries alike that this new president lacks the ability or the interest to recognize and defend core U.S. national security interests in the Middle East. It would announce to the world that on a critical issues like this – on which U.S. policies reverberate across the globe – the Trump Administration cannot or will not stand up to pressure from a narrow constituency of zealots and ideologues who prioritize an ideological, messianic Middle East agenda over national security and best interests of both the American people and Israel.

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January 23, 2017 - Trump and Israel: the beginning

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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 we can say at such an early stage regarding Trump and Israel; the inauguration speech; Trump's pledge that his son-in-law will tackle the peace process and that his administration will move the US embassy to Jerusalem; and where “alternative facts” enter the US-Israel picture.

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APN board member Mik Moore in Medium: Freedom Riders In Israel

Israel is innovating new products that will help the developing world and isolated areas gain access to fresh produce and water, sustainable energy, and inexpensive traditional housing.

Israel is innovating new ways to deny millions of people basic civil rights; subjecting them to regular violence and intimidation, undermining their ability to be economically self sufficient, and preventing them from building housing, schools, and other necessities.

Over Christmas break I spent two weeks in Israel with my wife and our kids, aged 13 and 9. It was my eighth visit and their first. We saw both of these Israels, up close and personal.

It is not shocking to learn that a country contains multitudes. The good and the bad often exist side by side, each an authentic representation of a nation’s values. It is true in the United States. It is true in France. It is true in Israel.

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APN Statement: The Inauguration of President Trump

This statement will be sent out to the media on Friday morning, shortly before inauguration:

Under normal circumstances, Americans for Peace Now (APN) would today be welcoming the inauguration of the new U.S. president, wishing him success and urging him to take action toward peace between Israel and her neighbors. Today’s circumstances are not normal.

Donald Trump, both as a candidate and as President-elect, has said that he would like to broker the “ultimate deal” between Israelis and Palestinians. But this potentially encouraging sentiment has been overshadowed – trumped, as it were – by a series of alarming actions and statements that send a very different message.

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Latest podcast: #3 The 50-Year Tipping Point: Interview with Oded Haklai

A large majority of Israelis were born into a situation in which their country is occupying the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. A new poll shows that many Israelis don’t know the basics of that situation – for example, that Israel has never annexed the West Bank, or that settlements like Ariel and Maale Adomim are not under Israeli sovereignty. Oded Haklai, a Canadian-Israeli scholar who conducted the poll demonstrates how the occupation-ignorance tipping point among Israelis is the age of 50, and explains why.

 

Listen to the podcast here.

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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 four new or renewed treatments of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and ways to deal with it; the Bret Stephens’ January 9 Wall Street Journal argument against a Palestinian state solution; Dennis Ross' and Stuart Eizenstat's “Plan B”; the Paris Peace Conference; and the “Commanders'” provocative ad in the Israeli press and on billboards stating, in Arabic, “We’ll soon be the majority”; and the current corruption investigation against Netanyahu and what it could mean for the Palestinian issue; how you address the current corruption investigation against him and what could this mean for the Palestinian issue.

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Shalom Achshav Executive Director visits Washington

Avi_Buskila_Middle_East_Institute320x265Shalom Achshav’s executive director, Avi Buskila, spent last week in Washington. He met with administration officials, policy experts, APN supporters and activists, representatives of fellow pro-peace organizations, journalists, as well as a group of Israelis living in the Washington area.

Feedback was excellent. After every meeting, Avi’s interlocutors told him that their conversation with him left them more encouraged and hopeful about Israel than they have been in a very long time.

Avi spoke mainly about his achievements in the nine months since he became Peace Now’s director, and about the organization’s plans going forward.

In addition to recruiting some 5,000 new activists in the past months, Shalom Achshav has activated branches in every important university campus across Israel. Crisscrossing Israel, Avi has had dozens of meetings with groups in community centers, campuses, and living rooms, with an emphasis on the periphery.

Avi reported that Peace Now is currently working on three major projects. One is a series of four courses for young opinion leaders, including Knesset staff, who during three and a half months will study the ins and outs of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They will learn how to talk about the conflict, and how to effectively advocate for Israeli-Palestinian peace. Another project is the development of tools to use Facebook’s “live” function as an accessible, affordable platform for the pro-peace community to communicate inside Israel and beyond.

The third project that Avi mentioned was his plans for a series of public events across Israel around the June 50-year “anniversary” of the occupation, which will culminate in a mass demonstration in Tel Aviv on Saturday night, June 3rd

APN's Lara Friedman at the 6th Annual “Professor Gerald B. Bubis Lecture”

The Bubis Lecture was established by the Americans for Peace Now board of directors upon the retirement from the board of Gerald “Jerry” Bubis (z”l), who was a seminal leader from its founding, including as a national co-chair and other leadership roles in Southern California. The Valley Beth Shalom Congregation, spiritual home to the Bubis family for decades, is a co-sponsor and host of this event.

Lara Friedman, APN Director of Policy and Government Relations, was the guest speaker for this event.  She had recently provided the APN testimony at a United Nations Security Council special session on Israeli Settlements.

Time markers for the video:

 8:40 – Remarks from APN Chair Jim Klutznick

15:50 – Remarks from Lara Friedman, APN Director of Policy and Government Relations (done “in conversation” with Rabbi Ed Feinstein of Valley Beth Shalom)

 

College of Jewish Studies: November 30, 2016 from Valley Beth Shalom Synagogue.

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