Americans for Peace Now

Action Alert: Ensure that Israel Treats All American Citizens Equally

by APN 10/20/22

Today, Israel's Coordinating Office for Government Affairs in the Territories’ (COGAT) new West Bank regulations will come into effect. Among the regulations are draconian restrictions intended to micro-engineer the public and private lives of Palestinians (including American citizens) that would subject them to a restrictive screening process and arbitrarily limit entry to the West Bank. Unfortunately, Palestinian-Americans are already not afforded the same basic rights as other American passport holders when traveling to Israel and the Occupied Territories –these new procedures officially codify Israel’s informal pervasive discriminatory practices.

At the same time, Israel is requesting to join the United States Visa Waiver Program. If they were deemed eligible, this program would ease and expedite the entry process for Israeli travelers visiting the United States. Until now, Israel has been denied admission to the program due to its failure to give reciprocal treatment to US travelers. The formal implementation of COGAT’s discriminatory practices brings Israel further from eligibility for the Visa Waiver Program.

We support Israel’s admission into the Visa Waiver Program. But if, and only if, they meet all of the requirements. And it is clear that currently, they do not.

Breaking News! Guess Who We Aren’t Honoring at our Gala

by Hadar Susskind 10/20/22

Dear Friend of APN,

The day after the former President of the United States was subpoenaed by the January 6^th committee, his name appeared in bold on an email from the Zionist Organization of America. Were they finally condemning him for his incitement of violence and efforts to end American democracy?

Nope.

They’re grabbing the moment by the horns (what did you think I was going to write?) and honoring the twice impeached and many times disgraced former President. And it’s not just any honor. They are bestowing upon him a prize they save for those who they claim to be the truest lovers of Israel – their Theodor Herzl Medallion.

Hard Questions, Tough Answers- Israel Election Update (October 14, 2022)

by APN 10/14/22

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.

Legislative Round-Up- October 14, 2022

by APN 10/14/22

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

1. Bills & Resolutions
2. Media & Members on 2022 Elex
3. Members on the Record (Palestine)
4. Members on the Record (Israel)
5. Members on the Record (Iran & Saudi Arabia)
6. Members on the Record (All other Mideast countries)

1. Bills, Resolutions & Letters

(FY23 NDAA) HR 7900: Check out my handy-dandy table tracking Middle East-related amendments offered in the Senate to HR 7900 to see this week’s updates, including more amendments dropped this week and the list of amendments that have reportedly made it into the managers’ substitute NDAA text (keeping in mind that other amendments may still be brought up by senators on the Senate floor).

(SUSPEND ARMS SALES TO KSA) HR XXXX/S. XXX (PDF): On 10/9/22, Sen. Blumenthal (D-CT) and Rep. Khanna (D-CA) co-authored an op-ed (along with Jeffrey Sonnenfeld) making the case that “The Best Way to Respond to Saudi Arabia’s Embrace of Putin” is to “halt arms sales to Saudi Arabia and rebalance the U.S.’s relationship with Riyadh.”

As Israeli-Palestinian Violence Surges, The US Must Act

by APN 10/14/22

The surging violence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, two weeks before Israel’s general elections, is not only a tragedy, but also a cause for serious political concern.

Americans for Peace Now (APN) calls on all stakeholders, including the Biden administration, to do their utmost to lower the flames and stop the violence to prevent further bloodshed and destruction.

The current flareup is characterized by provocative settler violence. In various hotspots in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, settlers have been brutalizing Palestinians, damaging their property, burning cars and blocking vital transportation routes. Settler provocations have become a staple of Jewish holidays. Young settlers are off school and their parents on holiday break. The result is an increase in organized violent action.

Recording: Building People-to-People Foundations for Israeli-Palestinian Peace: A Conversation with ALLMEP’s Avi Meyerstein

by APN 10/12/22

Yom Kippur, War, and Peace

by APN 10/04/22

For many Israelis of my generation, even more than spiritual reflection, Yom Kippur evokes political reflections on war and peace.

Every year since 1973, Yom Kippur takes me back to that dark period in Israeli history, when a disastrous war drove Israelis to question their leaders, the power of their military, their sense of invincibility and the very ability of their national home to survive. Israel won the war, but the loss was immense. Some 2,200 soldiers died and 7,250 were injured. It caused one of the deepest political crises in Israel’s history. It forced a painful collective introspection and drive to overcome the hubris and sense of complacency in the wake of Israel’s spectacular victory in the 1967 Six-Day War. That complacency and hubris was known in colloquial Hebrew as the “conceptsia” (conception).

Legislative Round-Up- September 23, 2022

by APN 09/30/22

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

Hard Questions, Tough Answers- What Really Worries Me (September 30, 2022)

by APN 09/30/22

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.