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 why last week's conviction in military court of a soldier of manslaughter in the killing of a wounded and neutralized terrorist in Hebron caused such a commotion in Israel; whether Azaria really benefited from such overt due process or if it were more of a Dreyfus process; how this affects Israeli society; whether with all the relevant figures now lining up behind the next steps: sentencing and either reduction of sentence or a pardon, this is becoming “old news;” and if there are broader ramifications to the Azaria case.

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!

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!

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 Secretary of State Kerry's speech explaining the US decision not to veto UN Security Council Resolution 2334 that condemned the settlements; Netanyahu’s angry reaction; an assessment of the part Netanyahu chose to ignore: Kerry’s six principles for a two-state solution; President Trump’s possible approach to the Israeli-Palestinian issue; and substantive corruption charges and a meaningful police investigation against Netanyahu.

The next in a series of ads from APN. This week's message is from General James Mattis, a retired United States Marine Corps general who served as the 11th Commander of United States Central Command, the Unified Combatant Command responsible for American military operations in the Middle East, Northeast Africa and Central Asia, from 2010 to 2013.

Before President Obama appointed Mattis to replace General Petraeus in 2010, he commanded the United States Joint Forces Command and served concurrently as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Transformation. Prior to that, he commanded I Marine Expeditionary Force, United States Marine Forces Central Command, and 1st Marine Division during the Iraq War.

You can support additional ads by donating here.

What a week!  Less than one week ago, we cheered President Obama's bold action on the pro-peace resolution in the United Nations Security Council.  And earlier this week, Secretary of State Kerry delivered a stunning, comprehensive and courageous speech on settlements, and laid out the Obama administration's vision of a two-state solution and the imperative to achieve it.  Not only do both of these remarks and actions represent positions long-advocated by APN, but both events contain and/or reflect the significant research of Lara Friedman  (APN Policy and Legislative Director),  which documents how an Obama administration abstention would be in line with U.S. policy in the UN and which was published in the New York Times.  Both events reflect as well Lara's testimony on settlements delivered on behalf of APN to the United Nations Security Council in October.  APN worked relentlessly and effectively to make these important events happen. Help us keep the momentum going!  

I encourage you to read Lara's powerful and empowering thoughts (below) on what it means to continue to fight for peace after January 20, 2017.  We can only continue our critical and singular work with your support.  Before the year is out, please make a tax-deductible donation to support our fight for peace, security and dignity for Israelis and Palestinians.  

“No one thinking seriously about peace can ignore the reality of the threat settlements pose.”

Those words were spoken yesterday by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, outlining the reasons that the U.S. chose to abstain on a U.N. Security Council vote condemning West Bank settlements. The threat to peace posed by settlements was recently made clear by settler leaders, who loudly and proudly proclaimed that “the era of a two-state solution is over.” And that was before President-elect Donald Trump nominated David Friedman, an enthusiastic supporter of settlements, to be the next U.S. ambassador to Israel.

At APN, we’re preparing to take them on.

Six years ago, APN launched a groundbreaking new feature: the “Facts on the Ground” map app. As both an iPhone app and website, Facts on the Ground has allowed anyone with an internet connection to learn about Israeli settlements in the West Bank – what and where they are, who and how many live in them, and how they relate to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and prospects for peace. The app has been a success, with glowing coverage and reviews from NPR, CNN, Wired, The Guardian, Haaretz, The Jerusalem Post, and more.

Following is the full text of remarks by Secretary of State John Kerry, delivered at the State Department in Washington, DC on December 28, as posted on the Department of State’s web site

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very, very much. Thank you. (Coughs.) Excuse me. Thank you for your patience, all of you. For those of you who celebrated Christmas, I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. Happy Chanukah. And to everybody here, I know it’s the middle of a holiday week. I understand. (Laughter.) But I wish you all a very, very productive and Happy New Year.

Today, I want to share candid thoughts about an issue which for decades has animated the foreign policy dialogue here and around the world – the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Secretary of State John Kerry today articulated, in the clearest possible terms, what is at stake for both Israel and the US: Israel's security and its viability as a democracy and a Jewish state. He also offered a pragmatic vision of the only way forward for Israel that ensures both.