August 23, 2022

Honorable Antony Blinken

Secretary of State

US Department of State

2201 C Street NW

Washington, DC 20230

Dear Secretary Blinken,

We are writing to express our deep concern with the latest escalation of the Israeli government’s campaign of suppression against Al Haq; Addameer; Defense For Children International-Palestine; Bisan; the Union of Agricultural Work Committees; and the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees –six Palestinian nongovernmental organizations engaged in human rights and civil society work that the Defense Ministry designated as “terrorist organizations” in October of last year.

 Produced by the Foundation for Middle East Peace in cooperation with Americans for Peace Now, where the Legislative Round-Up was conceived.

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.

Today marks 100 days since the Palestinian-American journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh was killed. 100 days that her loved ones have been grieving the loss of their beloved aunt, sister, friend and colleague. 100 days in which the Israeli government has obscured the truth and attempted to shift blame. 100 days of which the United States avoided conducting its own independent investigation into her killing. 100 days and no justice.

Americans for Peace Now (APN) urges the Biden administration to demand that the government of Israel immediately cease its suppression campaign against Palestinian civil society organizations.

Earlier today, Israeli military units raided the offices of prominent Palestinian rights organizations in the West Bank, confiscated documents and other property, soldered shut their doors to prevent access to the offices, and left notices informing the organizations that they have been outlawed.

At a press conference in Berlin on August 16th, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that Israel committed “fifty massacres, fifty Holocausts” against the Palestinians. His offensive comparison to the  Holocaust, in the plural, on German soil, in reference to Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, justifiably triggered outrage in Israel, the US, Germany and beyond. We at APN were equally outraged. We strongly condemn this kind of discourse.

Upon his return to Ramallah the following day, Abbas clarified that “the Holocaust is the most heinous crime in modern human history,” adding that his Berlin statement “was not intended to deny the singularity of the Holocaust that occurred in the last century, and condemning it (sic) in the strongest terms.” According to Israeli media reports, Abbas made this clarification at the request of Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz.

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.

By Ori Nir

A poll released recently by the Brookings Institute shows that over half of Americans (46% of Republicans and 57% of Democrats) do not know what the Biden administration’s position is on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. Surprising? Not really. Because although the administration has a position on the issue, it does not have a solid policy, and definitely not the kind of vision-driven conflict-solving policy that past administrations had.

Based on private conversations and public statements by members of the Biden administration’s Middle East policy team, the administration’s policy on this issue partially stems from Israel’s policy, which can best be characterized as “conflict management” rather than conflict resolution.