The Settlers’ Dream Government

Analysis of the coalition agreement between the Likud and the Jewish Home party (Bayit Yehudi)

The coalition agreement between the Likud and the Jewish Home party (Bayit Yehudi) reveals the plans of the new government and indicates its intentions. Beyond increasing the budgets and development of settlements, the government intends to address sectorial interests relating to the national religious public and to finance ideological educational activities aimed to fortify the right side of the political map. In addition, the government intends to initiate actions to restrict freedom of expression, to weaken the High Court of Justice and impair Israel’s democracy.

 This week, Alpher discusses what is the core problem that prevents Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu putting a government in place, even one with only 61 ministers; assuming that within a few days Netanyahu manages to field a narrow right-religious coalition, what his political options are; how the Europeans and the region are reacting to the emerging new coalition; given repeated battlefield advances in Syria in recent weeks, what might an opposition victory by Islamist and other rebels in Syria over the Assad government and its Iranian and Hezbollah supporters look like, and is it realistic?

Update: this action, now closed, ran in May 2015. 

Recently we asked you to call your Representative and urge them to sign a pro-diplomacy letter being circulated by Representatives Schakowsky (D-IL), Doggett (D-TX), and Price (D-NC) among Democrats in the House. Thousands of you responded – and your representatives took notice!

In the end, 151 House Democrats signed this letter to President Obama asking him to stay on course, build on the recently announced political framework and continue to work toward a strong and verifiable agreement between the P5+1 countries and Iran that will prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapon.

This would be a huge success for any pro-peace, pro-diplomacy letter. It is an even more significant success today, given the degree to which the debate in Congress has been dominated by voices opposing diplomacy and seeking to undermine or block an agreement. While in no way committing its signers to any specific position with respect to a final deal, nonetheless this letter signals that there may well be sufficient support for a deal in Congress to sustain a presidential veto of diplomacy-killing legislation.

A full list of the letter’s signers (and non-signers) is below (only Democrats; Republicans were not asked to sign). You can check it to see if your representative is on either list.

If they are, we need you to take one more action:

If your member is one of the 151 members of Congress who signed the Schakowsky-Doggett-Price letter, click here to thank them for doing the right thing.

If your member is one of the 47 Democrats who did NOT sign the Schakowsky-Doggett-Price letter, click here to send them a message letting them know that you, as a constituent, are frustrated and disappointed in them.

Please act now. Opponents of diplomacy and an achievable Iran nuclear agreement are not giving up. They have for more than two years been working to kill talks and undermine an agreement; their efforts will only intensify as the June 30 deadline for talks approaches. Members of Congress need to know that their constituents, Americans who care both about U.S. interests and Israel, support diplomacy and an agreement - and want them to do the same.

Sincerely,

Lara Friedman
Director of Policy and Government Relations
Americans for Peace Now

P.S. Few would have predicted that the Schakowsky-Doggett-Price letter would attract so many signers. The fact that it did so is in large part a testament to the energetic grassroots activism mobilized in support of the letter. Indeed, the success of the Schakowsky-Doggett-Price letter demonstrates how important it is that members of Congress hear from you – now and in the future. Never doubt for a minute that your opinion matters to your elected officials, whether with respect to Iran, or Israel-Palestine, or any other issue.

This is another in a series of reviews of new books on Middle Eastern affairs. We asked Dr. Gail Weigl, an APN volunteer and a professor of art history, to review Yossi Alpher's new book about Israel's relations with Middle Eastern peripheral states and groups.

Yossi Alpher, Periphery: Israel’s Search for Middle East Allies (Lanham, MD, 2015). 169 pages, with lists of heads of Mossad and persons interviewed, maps and index. $28.31 

Periphery: Israel’s Search for Middle East Allies is Israelo-centric.  “Periphery” therefore must be understood to refer to the Arab states surrounding Israel and the search for Middle East allies to refer to nation states, religious minorities, and ethnic groups outside the periphery, whose interests, in theory, dovetailed with those of Israel.

The book thus is not a history in the classical sense, but a consummate insider’s comprehensive record and analysis of fluid “periphery doctrines” open to a variety of alternative understandings.  First conceived as a grand strategy by David Ben-Gurion in an ad hoc operation that only in retrospect emerged as a strategic initiative, the doctrine originated in the fact that Israel was surrounded by hostile states committed to its destruction, and focused on two primary objectives: marketing Israel to the European powers as a significant player in the Middle East, and strengthening the fledgling nation by facilitating Jewish emigration from the United States, Europe and Arab nations.

Americans for Peace Now (APN) applauds the letter sent today to President Obama, signed by 150 House Democrats, in support of ongoing diplomacy with Iran.  APN congratulates Representatives Schakowsky (D-IL), Doggett (D-TX), and Price (D-NC) for their leadership in spearheading this effort and commends all House members who co-signed this critically important letter, which APN backed strongly.

As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced tonight the formation of a narrow government coalition that brings together Israel's right-wing and religious parties, Americans for Peace Now (APN) is expressing deep concern for the new government's impact on Israel's future as a democracy and a Jewish state.

APN's President and CEO Debra DeLee said: "This government, based on the ideology of its members, is bound to act to further hinder the viability of a two-state solution, to further exacerbate Israel's isolation internationally, to intensify West Bank settlement construction, promote undemocratic legislation and act to stifle dissent.

Lag B'Omer - the 33rd day between Pesach and Shavuot- is a little-known Jewish holiday that celebrates (among other things) the cessation of a divinely-sent plague that resulted from people not showing one another adequate respect. It is celebrated with bonfires, and for the religious, a cessation in the semi-mourning practices observed throughout the Post-Passover Omer period. In Israel, on Lag B'Omer, a pall of smoke hovers over the city of Jerusalem from all the bonfires being set throughout the city.

Today, it feels as though mourning is the proper mood. The plague we suffer is one of racism, violence and destruction. "Price tag" - the practice of destroying and vandalizing the property not only of Palestinians, but of Christians, and of those who work for peace on the left, has continued to increase.

Progressive Coalition at the Celebrate Israel Parade

Sunday, May 31, Time TBD
New York City
5th Avenue, between 53rd and 54th Streets

TAKE ACTION! RSVP NOW TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT

The shell game is a tried-and-true method of persuading people to give their money to the person running the game. In political terms, it’s also a reliable method of persuading people to buy into the political stance of the man running the game.

Elliott Abrams is a master of the shell game. He provides what seems like a serious and sober analysis, with just enough cherry-picking of facts and omission of detail to convince you of his point of view. That is a big reason why this man, who is responsible for some of the greatest foreign policy fiascos in American history, continues to be considered a legitimate source for foreign policy analysis.

Perhaps it’s not surprising. Despite the enormous catastrophes brought on by the neoconservative school of thought of which Abrams is a part, the philosophy, such as it is, continues to be an influential voice in the foreign policy debate in the United States. This is, however, even more reason to look at an apparent change of course from Abrams with a skeptical eye.

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