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 significance of last week’s rapprochement in St. Petersburg between Russia’s Putin and Turkey’s Erdogan; where this leaves the US, Europe, and Israel; if we are witnessing, apropos Erdogan, Putin and Netanyahu, the evolution of regional leadership toward a kind of democratic-autocratic model; how Putin and Russia became so central to the Middle East drama; and why Aleppo is so important.

Prof. Menachem Brinker, a co-founder of Israel’s Peace Now movement, an Israel Prize laureate in Hebrew Literature and a member of the Israeli Academy of Sciences and Humanities, died Thursday in Jerusalem at 81, after a long struggle with cancer.

Washington, DC – Americans for Peace Now (APN) joins its Israeli sister organization, Shalom Achshav (Peace Now) in strongly condemning the Israeli government’s decision to take over West Bank Palestinian absentee land east of the Palestinian city of Ramallah, apparently in order to relocate Israeli settlers who have been evacuated from the illegal outpost of Amona. 

The seventh in APN's series of security validators is from Secretary of State John Kerry.

Secretary Kerry is an American diplomat and Democratic Party politician who is the 68th and current United States Secretary of State. He previously served in the United States Senate, where he chaired the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

A 1966 graduate of Yale University, he enlisted in the Naval Reserve that year, and during 1968–1969 served an abbreviated four-month tour of duty in South Vietnam as officer-in-charge (OIC) of a Swift Boat. For that service, he was awarded combat medals that include the Silver Star Medal, Bronze Star Medal, and three Purple Heart Medals.

After receiving his J.D. from Boston College Law School, Kerry worked in Massachusetts as an Assistant District Attorney. He served as Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts from 1983 to 1985 and was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1984.

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Tisha B'Av (the 9th of Av), which is observed beginning the evening of August 13th this year, is a fast day commemorating the destruction of both the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem. The fast day of Tisha B’Av is sometimes compared to that of Yom Kippur: whereas the fast of Yom Kippur is one which is intended to restore and elevate us through the process of repentance, the fast of Tisha B’Av is considered the saddest day on the Jewish calendar because it commemorates hatred and apathy causing the destruction of that which is most precious. The Talmud explains that the second Temple was destroyed because, while people were behaving abominably, the leaders of the community stood by and said nothing.

This year, don't stand by while right-wing Israeli leaders pass laws that silence peace activists. It is those who speak out who will bring peace and security to Israel, and it is those who wish to silence them who threaten Israel’s future.

This year, help APN and Peace Now fight back against the silence and help us secure that which is most precious for Israel: peace.

News from Peace Now's (Israel) Settlement Watch:

The Attorney General, Avichai Mandelblit, stated yesterday (August 7, 2016) that he will consider the option of moving Amona to a nearby absentees' property despite "weighty legal issues." The option was proposed to him by a committee established by the government to find a solution of the illegal outposts issue. Approving the committee's legal opinion will consist of a sharp change of Israeli policy thus far, and contradict decisions of the Supreme Court, according to which private land cannot be used for the purpose of settlements. Such an approval will expose Israel to lawsuits and create a precedent that could lead to the doubling of the land taken up by settlements.

Peace Now: "The Attorney General is signaling that he is willing to approve the stealing of private lands of absentees for settlers who themselves stole private lands against the law. The extrapolation of the AG approving this option is that from now on, absentees' property could be leased to the settlers, despite of the fact that these are private properties. The government's willingness to politically compensate the settlers of Amona, who settled on private Palestinian land, is leading to devastating consequences on the ground and to the distortion of Israel's moral and legal systems."

Americans for Peace Now (APN) mourns the passing of Elaine Hoffman, a longtime senior member of its Board of Directors, a staunch advocate for peace for Israel, a devoted leader of Los Angeles' Jewish community, and a longtime political activist. (Picture: Elaine with Senator George Mitchell at the APN Yitzhak Rabin Peace Award Event).

APN's President and CEO Debra DeLee said: "The APN family lost an important member. We all admired Elaine and were inspired by her commitment to public life, to our community and to a peaceful, progressive 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.

This week, Alpher discusses Minister of Defense Lieberman's response to last week's declaration by President Obama that the Israeli security establishment confirms that Iran is complying with the nuclear agreement, and why such needless confrontation over a done deal; how is Israel dealing with Hamas' announcement of two weeks ago that it would participate in West Bank and Gaza municipal elections scheduled for October 8, and how does Palestinian leader Abu Mazen hope to win the elections that he himself initiated; and the Hamas/World Vision story and why it is significant.

PRINCETON – Those who lead Israel’s defense establishment often come to consider peace with the Palestinians a necessary condition for the country’s security. Being tasked with maintaining the territories Israel has occupied since the Six-Day War in 1967 evidently causes the military and security brass to support political measures that would end the occupation. And yet the government shows no interest in pursuing a permanent settlement.

To appreciate this divide, consider the late Meir Dagan, who served as Major General of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and then as Director of Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency. Several years ago, I sat on a panel at a conference in Jerusalem convened by then-Israeli President Shimon Peres. To my right sat Dagan, who had just completed eight years as head of Mossad; to my left sat Dore Gold, a former academic and former Israeli ambassador.

The two men held very different views about how best to guarantee Israel’s security, and it is worth recapitulating their respective arguments.

Gold argued that returning to pre-1967 armistice lines would leave Israel without “defensible borders.” He insisted that Israel could guard against threats from the east only if it maintained a military presence in the West Bank and controlled the Jordan River – which runs along the border separating Jordan from Israel and the West Bank.

Dagan countered that the military’s role is to safeguard Israel’s borders, regardless of where those borders are drawn. While the IDF would certainly prefer to operate with the strategic advantages that holding more territory can confer, it would fulfill its mission under whatever conditions the Israeli government set for it.

But Dagan went further...
Read more...