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.
Ameinu, Americans for Peace Now, Habonim Dror North America, Hashomer Hatzair, The Jewish Labor Committee, J Street, The New Israel Fund, Partners for Progressive Israel, Reconstructing Judaism, and T’ruah Join Together To Support Progressive Vision For Israel
Today, ten leading organizations representing Americans who are committed to pursuing democracy, equality and peace in Israel announced the launch of the Progressive Israel Network. The new coalition will provide a strong, unified voice in support of its members’ common goals: democracy and equal rights, religious freedom and pluralism, and a two-state solution that would secure a peaceful future for Israel and end the 52-year-long occupation.
The Network will weigh in on the significant challenges that face Israel and the US-Israel relationship. It will coordinate campaigns designed to mobilize the majority of American Jews who share its progressive values and goals, support the work of Israeli progressives, and urge the US government to adopt policies that further Israeli-Palestinian peace. The Network will fight against US and Israeli policies that promote annexation, entrench occupation and undermine liberal democracy in Israel.
With Israel heading into another round of contentious elections and the Trump administration advancing a dangerous so-called peace initiative in the region, the Network will cooperate closely to defend the core principles of democracy and diplomacy. The Network will also run a joint list for the upcoming elections to the 38th World Zionist Congress, because the time has come for our institutions to reflect our values.
The network’s founding members are Ameinu, Americans for Peace Now, Habonim Dror North America, Hashomer Hatzair, The Jewish Labor Committee, J Street, The New Israel Fund, Partners for Progressive Israel, Reconstructing Judaism, and T’ruah. The organizations have chosen this moment to launch because of the extreme peril that far-right leaders and parties pose to the fundamental values on which the State of Israel was founded and that American Jews hold most dear.
In its Statement of Principles, the Network writes, “Our values and commitments make us proudly progressive and proudly pro-Israel and speak for the majority of Jews around the world.” These values are deeply rooted in the spirit of the Israeli Declaration of Independence, which enshrines the Israeli government’s sacred duty to provide “complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants.”
The full Statement of Principles is below.
This group of organizations has worked together for a number of years on an ad hoc basis. Some of its joint work includes a post-election message to President Donald Trump demanding that he reject anti-Semitism and all forms of discrimination; a letter denouncing Israel’s Nation State Law sent to twelve members of the Israeli opposition; a pledge for American Jews to ask Knesset members who voted for this discriminatory and undemocratic law why they voted for it; and a letter to the American Jewish community affirming that the racist Kahanist party does not belong in Knesset and asking other Jewish community leaders to do the same.
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, an Israeli armed with nothing but an avocado robbed two banks in the southern city of Beer Sheva. He told the terrified tellers he was holding a hand grenade. And although the average Israeli eats more avocados than anyone elsewhere in the world besides Mexico, Chile, and Peru, the tellers failed to realize that they were being held up by a piece of fruit.
In a couple of weeks, politicians and business people will gather in Manama, Bahrain for an economic “workshop” to raise money for the Trump administration’s Israeli-Palestinian “peace plan” — the so-called “Ultimate Deal” or “Deal of the Century” — which is still under wraps.
Why all the quotation marks? Because Team Trump, the three people the President has appointed to lead this effort, knows that what they have in their hand is an avocado: inedible and hard today, putrid tomorrow.
(This piece originally appeared in the Forward HERE)
Americans for Peace Now (APN) strongly rejects statements by US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman indicating support for Israeli annexation of parts of the West Bank which he says Israel “has the right to retain.” APN calls on President Trump to oppose annexation. We renew our call for Trump to fire Friedman, and urge fellow American Jewish organizations to join this effort.
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 (APN) welcomes congressional resolutions affirming the commitment of the United States to an Israeli-Palestinian two-state solution, and urges legislators to support them.
Choosing fear removes "us" from the equation and makes us live in a way where there is no choice
but endless war and occupation, and continual settlement building where this all becomes a fait
accompli. Hope, on the other hand, puts "us" back into the equation, believing that Israelis can build
a secure home for themselves, living in peace with their neighbors.
Americans for Peace Now, J Street, T’ruah, Ameinu, New Israel Fund, Jewish Labor Committee, Partners for Progressive Israel, Hashomer Hatzair, and National Council of Jewish Women welcome the reintroduction of legislation to establish a Partnership Fund for Peace. The Fund will support people-to-people peacebuilding programs, which play an important role in building connections, understanding, and reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians. It will also finance joint ventures between Palestinian companies and businesses in the United States and Israel.
While we welcome the legislation, we are concerned about the political moment in which this legislation is being introduced. It is increasingly clear that the Trump administration’s “peace” approach entails forcing the Palestinians to give up on statehood in exchange for promises of economic development. Some may therefore read this bill as endorsement of an “economic peace” approach.
We strongly emphasize that our endorsement of the Partnership Fund for Peace should not be read that way. As the legislation states, a strengthened Palestinian economy and improved people-to-people ties are central to prospects for a two-state solution. The converse is also true: a diplomatic solution and an end to occupation are essential both to the growth of the Palestinian economy and to Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation. Economic development is no substitute for a political agreement that will resolve the core issues driving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
A month after it was sworn in, Israel’s Knesset voted to
dissolve itself and drag the Israeli public into another election cycle.
What will this campaign look like? How much of an appetite does the Israeli public have for another round? Do the new elections provide a second chance for Benjamin Netanyahu’s opposition to depose him? How realistic is such a scenario? Will the right more effectively coalesce to come out stronger? And how about the left -- will it unite? Will the Arab parties re-unite?
Allison Kaplan Sommer of Israel’s Haaretz daily addressed these and other questions at a briefing call on June 6th .
