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.
Last week, J Street U, the campus arm of J Street, wrapped up
its inaugural free trip to Israel for Jewish college students. The “Let My People Know” trip was conceived as a
response to protests against Birthright, which does not include meetings with Palestinians on its trips, or
discussions about the occupation.
While the debate around Birthright has received significant national attention, there are some Israel tours for college students that are going unnoticed. These trips are led by organizations with explicit right-wing political agendas that have a dangerous potential to affect young US Jews’ understanding of Israel and the occupation in the years to come.
Groups like Hasbara Fellowships (HF) and the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) recruit to their tours Jewish and pro-Israel leaders on campuses. They attempt to inculcate in these leaders support for the occupation and illiberal Israeli policies, such as displacement of Bedouin Israelis from their villages in the Negev.
How do I know? I participated in ZOA and Hasbara tours for campus leaders. I witnessed firsthand their efforts to generate support for extremist policies and their attempts to brand dissent as anti-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.
Last Sunday, we at Peace Now demonstrated outside the inaugural ceremony for the “Pilgrimage Road” tunnel at Jerusalem’s Old City Basin.
While the tunnel exposes a meaningful archeological discovery, it was built recklessly by
the settler group Elad under the homes of the Palestinian residents of Silwan, a neighborhood in East
Jerusalem, which Palestinians claim as part of their future capital.
For us, the most infuriating part of this ceremony was the participation of Trump's “peace” team: Ambassador David Friedman and Special Envoy Jason Greenblatt.
Trump's extremist, maverick pro-settler envoys, David Friedman
and Jason Greenblatt, aren't resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They're fueling it - and Congress
should investigate
With ten-pound hammers in their hands and ecstatic religious-nationalist zeal in their hearts, U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and White House Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt stood underneath the most religiously volatile place on earth, and smashed a wall – and with it, any last semblance of reasonable U.S. policy towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Americans for Peace Now (APN) joins its Israeli sister organization, Shalom Achshav (Peace Now) in strongly condemning yesterday's participation by senior Trump administration officials in the opening of a tunnel dug in East Jerusalem by the extremist settler organization Elad. The tunnel is under the Palestinian village of Silwan, located on the slope of the Temple Mount / Haram al-Sharif, one of the most religiously volatile places in the world.
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.
Debra Shushan, APN Director of Policy and Government Relations, appeared on a panel for TRT's "The Newsmakers". See a clip of Debra speaking on the Trump Administration's "Peace Plan" and its statements and actions contrary to a two-state solution.
Donald Trump’s White House over the weekend unveiled the economic
part of its vision for Israeli-Palestinian peace. Tomorrow, it will convene an "economic workshop" in Manama,
Bahrain, to rally support for its “peace plan".
The plan released by the White House this weekend to stimulate the Palestinian economy is amateurish, disingenuous, and dangerous.
Under normal circumstances, Americans for Peace Now (APN), which has been advocating for four decades for Israeli-Palestinian peace, would welcome a fifty-billion dollar plan prepared by the White House to stimulate the Palestinian economy. But nothing about the current circumstances makes Trump's so-called "Peace to Prosperity" plan worthy of serious consideration. Nothing about this plan makes it a source of hope for advancing Israeli-Palestinian peace. Rather, the plan undermines decades of US diplomatic efforts to broker peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
