Statement from the Progressive Israel Network:

As leading progressive pro-Israel organizations in the American Jewish community, we commend the House of Representatives for passing House Resolution 326. This landmark resolution, which reaffirms support for a two-state solution, marks the first time the House has formally opposed unilateral Israeli annexation of the West Bank and asserted longstanding US opposition to settlements.

The passage of this legislation comes at a critical moment. The resolution sends an urgent message to the region just days after President Trump reportedly spoke with Prime Minister Netanyahu about the latter’s plan to annex the Jordan Valley. It is a repudiation of the Trump administration’s attempts last month to legitimize Israeli settlements on occupied territory by declaring that the US no longer views them as a violation of international law, a reversal of decades of bipartisan foreign policy. 

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo today announced the Trump administration’s latest assault on prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace. In renouncing a 1978 letter by the State Department’s legal advisor and stating that “settlements are not per se illegal under international law,” the Trump administration is giving a green light to further settlement expansion and even to formal Israeli annexation of the West Bank.

Already, the effective endorsement of settlements by Trump’s “peace” team (including by former Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt who has referred to settlements as “neighborhoods and cities”) has led to a surge in settlement activity, as documented by APN’s Israeli sister-organization Peace Now.

Progressive Israel Network Opposes Netanyahu’s Annexation Pledge

Responding to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement of his intent to extend Israeli sovereignty over large parts of the West Bank, the Progressive Israel Network released the following statement:

Americans for Peace Now calls on the Trump administration, Congress, and fellow American Jewish organizations to act to prevent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from carrying out his declared intention to annex wide swaths of the occupied West Bank immediately after next week’s Israeli elections.

Such a step would be an existential threat to Israel’s security and wellbeing. Particularly if endorsed by the United States, it would likely destroy future efforts for a negotiated Israeli-Palestinian peace, upon which Israel’s future as a democracy and a Jewish national home relies.

Americans for Peace Now is outraged by President Trump's statement suggesting that the vast majority of American Jews are disloyal, and strongly condemns it. This outrageous, anti-Jewish slur fans the flames of Jew hatred in the US and puts American Jews in danger.

Trump's comment also poisons US-Israel relations, attempting to shatter bipartisan US support for Israel's security and wellbeing, for Trump's own political gain.

Americans for Peace Now (APN) strongly condemns the decision of Israel's government to deny two US members of Congress entry to Israel. APN calls on the government of Israel to reverse its decision.

For the government of Israel to deny entry to these two US elected officials is outrageous and self-defeating for several reasons: 

Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MN) and Ilhan Omar (D_MI) are democratically elected members of the US Congress, which represents the people of the United States, and is Israel's staunchest supporting institution, bar none. Snubbing them is not only an affront to these two politicians but a blow to the institution and to Israel's relations with the American people.

In the face of the Trump administration's apparent abandonment of the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Americans for Peace Now (APN) urges Congress and presidential candidates to commit to supporting two states, and to reject Trump's departure from this long-held principal US policy objective.

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.

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.

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.