Amid a barrage of anti-Palestinian actions, a tacit endorsement of Israel’s West Bank annexation, and an occupation-denying U.S. Ambassador, are the big guns of U.S. Jewry – AIPAC, ADL, AJC, JFNA – really too afraid to rock the boat with Trump?

While Donald Trump’s word salad du jour on Israeli-Palestinian peace vacillates between one state and two, it is by now clear that his administration has jettisoned the longtime bipartisan U.S. goal of a two-state solution. Nothing the administration has said indicates that it embraces this vision, and everything it does undermines it. 

Where does that leave American Jewish establishment organizations which have made the two-state solution a pillar of their policy on Israel? 

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.

Americans for Peace Now's new, one-of-a-kind settlements map app will be officially launched on November 13th!

Facts on the Ground is the only interactive map that gives anyone with an iPhone or Android phone instant to access comprehensive, up-to-date information, statistics, and analysis on Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Help support APN's Facts on the Ground, coming November 13th

Even as we prepare to launch Facts on the Ground, APN is working to make it even better. We're developing more videos, interactive features, and enhanced functionality that will let users further explore and understand West Bank settlements.

But we rely on the generosity of supporters like you to make Facts on the Ground possible. Your support will help put this invaluable tool in the hands of all those working to preserve the possibility of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Help inform and educate the world about West Bank settlements. Support APN's Facts on the Ground today.

APN strongly condemns the Trump Administration’s decision to subsume diplomatic outreach to the Palestinians into the US embassy to Israel. We call upon fellow American Jewish organizations to join our demand that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reverse this disastrous decision.

Turning the US consulate to Jerusalem, which until now has served as a de facto embassy to the Palestinians, into a “new Palestinian Affairs Unit inside US Embassy Jerusalem” (to use the language of today’s State Department press release) is a severe blow to efforts to achieve peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

A poll published today yet again confirms that – just like Americans for Peace Now – a majority of American Jews are critical of Israeli government policies, even as they support Israel. The poll, conducted this month by the Mellman Group, finds that a solid majority (59 percent) of Jewish voters are pro-Israel and critical of at least some of Israeli government policies. Only 32 percent indicated that they are “pro-Israel and supportive of policies.” Three percent reported that they are “generally not pro-Israel.”

US ambassador to Israel David Friedman yesterday attended a business gathering at the West Bank settlement of Ariel. This is the first ever official visit by a sitting American ambassador to a West Bank settlement, breaking a longtime US policy that banned American ambassadors to Israel from crossing the Green Line and even more so from visiting West Bank settlements.

Join us and our fellow organizations TODAY for a briefing call in advance of the Israeli Supreme Court’s consideration of the case of Lara Alqasem. We are calling on the Israeli government to admit Alqasem into Israel to pursue her studies at Hebrew University.

Alqasem has become the latest symbol of the fight for an open Israeli society. She is fighting the government’s decision to expel her for her past political affiliation with a student organization that supports boycotts against Israel.

For more background on Lara’s case, click here to read APN’s press release calling on the Israeli government to let her stay.

Click here to join the briefing call on Facebook Live TODAY at 3pm. Speakers will be Leora Bechor, Alqasem's attorney, and MK Tamar Zandberg, leader of the Meretz party.

Thanks for your support,
Americans for Peace Now

This briefing call is co-sponsored by Americans for Peace Now, J Street, Ameinu, National Council of Jewish Women, New Israel Fund, Partners for a Progressive Israel, Reconstructing Judaism, and T’ruah.

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.

Washington, DC – Americans for Peace Now (APN) calls on the government of Israel to permit entry into Israel to Lara Alqasem, an American of Palestinian descent who received a student visa from an Israeli consulate in the US to undertake a master’s program at Hebrew University.

Update: this action, now closed, ran in October 2018. 

A new bill introduced in the Senate would block President Trump from launching an unnecessary war against Iran. Introduced by Senator Tom Udall and enjoying bipartisan support, the Prevention of Unconstitutional War with Iran Act of 2018 draws on Congressional power of the purse and power to declare war in to constrain the Trump administration. The legislation mandates that no funds may be used for military operations against Iran absent Congressional authorization for such operations or an imminent threat to the United States.

Thank your Senators for signing the Prevention of Unconstitutional War with Iran Act, and encourage them to do so if they have not.

The possibility that the Trump administration may launch an ill-advised American strike against Iran, reminiscent of the 2003 Iraq war, is real and dangerous. Trump has surrounded himself with Iran war hawks like National Security Advisor John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. At their counsel, the United States is now violating the Iran nuclear deal, which increases the likelihood of an unnecessary war. And Trump’s Twitter threats against Iran — for example, warning that Iran will “suffer consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before” — increase the risk of miscalculation by both sides.

Take action to thank you Senators if they have co-sponsored this bill. If they haven’t yet signed on, ask them to do so now.