Dear Friend,

Israeli elections are over. Any hopes that we may have had for electoral change that would garner pro-peace leadership are dashed.

Temporarily.

Facing three indictments, Benjamin Netanyahu may soon leave the political scene.

Meanwhile, we have a reinvigorated Netanyahu, backed by his political twin Donald Trump, pushed hard by his extreme right-wing coalition partners to deliver his campaign promise of West Bank annexation.

Let’s not mince words, my friends: With Trump’s blessing, Netanyahu is on his way to officially, legally, establish an apartheid regime in the West Bank, and make it even harder for future Israeli leaders to make peace. Let’s be clear: Yesterday’s elections have put Netanyahu and his allies on a faster, surer track to destroy Israel’s democracy and to further crush its ethos of equality, justice, and tolerance.

For us, progressive Americans who care about Israel, today is a call to action. Today, we are redoubling our commitment to the cause of a democratic Israel that lives in peace and security with its neighbors and embodies the values we so strongly believe in.

As we approach this year’s Passover Seder, I’m writing to wish you all a happy holiday and to explain why your support — ongoing or first-time — is so important for Americans for Peace Now and Shalom Achshav. As a veteran of Israel’s strategic security establishment who currently, in semi-retirement, writes (compulsively! almost daily! weekly in my Q & A for APN!) about Israel-related security issues, I hope you will permit me in this connection a brief Pesach reminiscence.

Lately, my own research and writing efforts have taken me back to the events of Passover 2002. On March 27, Erev Pesach, a Hamas suicide bomber attacked several hundred people gathered for a Seder at the Park Hotel, near the beach in Netanya in central Israel. He killed 30 Israelis and maimed some 160 others.

Let’s help our brothers and sisters of Shalom Achshav put peace on the agenda. Let’s help them make sure that one million Israelis see this film, and that these elections are about the issues that really matter for Israel’s future. 

Go HERE for more and to support Peace Now's efforts.

A Message from Letty Cottin Pogrebin - Author, Activist, and APN Board Member:

I am happy to see Shaqued Morag at the helm of Shalom Achschav, Israel’s Peace Now movement, not only because of her proven management skills (and not only because I am always happy to see talented women in positions of leadership and power), but because she is the face and spirit of the peace movement’s new generation.

Shaqued is one of hundreds of thousands young Israelis who are determined to resist their right wing nationalist government and its erosions of democracy. 

Shaqued and her cohort are forcefully demanding that Israel maintain the rule of law, end its occupation of the West Bank, and allow both peoples — Israelis and Palestinians — to bequeath to their children two states living side by side in peace and security.

As Peace Now's partners in the U.S., Americans for Peace Now and its leaders are not naive about the frustrations and challenges of a stalled Israeli- Palestinian peace process. Nevertheless, however grim its prospects at the moment, we know that as long as people of conscience are willing to continue the struggle for peace, our cause is far from lost. Moreover, we believe we owe it to our activists here and in Peace Now in Israel to redouble our efforts to keep hope alive in these dark times. We owe it to Shaqued and her friends. We owe it to every reasonable, justice-minded Israeli. We owe it to every American who believes in human dignity and disavows hatred of The Other. And we owe it to the memory of the eleven Jews slaughtered this fall in Pittsburgh simply for being Jews, a people that continue to be seen as The Other in the eyes of those who trade in demonization and hate.

Rather than surrender to the toxicity and hopelessness permeating today's world, we at APN have recommitted to peace by stepping up our education and advocacy efforts, whether in person, in writing, on our remarkable website (check out its riches), or in concert with Shalom Achschav, our Israeli counterpart. But we need your help to do our work: to provide quality materials, settlement maps, and resources so that legislators, the media, thought leaders, and every American is well informed on all the issues — and fired up enough to effectively resist Netanyahu, Trump, and the extremists who would lead the region into an abyss of perennial conflict and shameful subjugation of another people.

I'm counting on you to stay with us, stand with us, and be inspired by Shaqued’s letter (below) to support us!

Thank you so much.

On a wall at APN’s Washington office, there’s a Hanukkah poster that we produced years ago, which says, “It’s not about the oil, it’s about the light.” The idea was that the true miracle of Hanukkah was not the Maccabees finding an extra pint of oil, but their using it to generate the light needed at a time of severe adversity.

Today, still, it's all about the light.

An upcoming documentary, Healing Hearts, shows how Israeli and Palestinian doctors at Jerusalem’s largest hospital are saving the lives of Jewish and Arab children suffering from heart disease. The film focuses on the families of the doctors and the children they treat, both Jews and Arabs. Through them, it shines a light of hope for Israeli-Palestinian coexistence and reconciliation.

Director Katya Chelli continues her work on the film, but she and her team need help to bring it to completion. Your support on Giving Tuesday can make this happen.

By supporting APN’s crowdfunding campaign, Healing Hearts: A Message of Peace and Coexistence, you will help highlight the efforts of Palestinian doctor Ibrahim Abu Zahira, Israeli doctor Sagui Gavri, and Professor Jean-Jacques Rein, head of the Department of Pediatric Cardiology at Hadassah. In witnessing the experiences of Israeli and Palestinian parents who accompany their sick children, viewers are immersed in the daily life of the families and the Hadassah medical team. The film will show how the work that these inspiring doctors perform can alter perceptions and attitudes about the other side of the conflict.

On this Giving Tuesday, please help spread the message of Israeli-Palestinian coexistence, common cause and life. Support Healing Hearts: A Message of Peace and Coexistence now.