Americans for Peace Now (APN) urges American Jewish organizations to join it and its Israeli sister organization, Israel's Peace Now movement, in condemning Israel's Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon's offensive comments, lambasting Secretary of State John Kerry for his efforts to broker peace for Israel.
Person for Peace: Ori Nir
Ori Nir is the spokesman for Americans for Peace Now. Prior to his work at APN, Ori worked for Haaretz Daily, Israel's leading newspaper, where he covered Palestinian affairs and Israel's Arab minority. He also served as Haaretz's Washington bureau chief and later as its US West Coast correspondent. Mr. Nir was also the Washington Bureau Chief for the Forward, America's largest and most influential independent national Jewish weekly newspaper. Born and raised in Jerusalem, he is fluent in Hebrew and Arabic.
Recent Postings
Responding to news that the Obama Administration and its international partners had reached an agreement with Iran to implement the Joint Plan of Action signed in November 2013, Americans for Peace Now (APN) is calling on Congress to support President Obama's diplomatic effort and is urging fellow American Jewish organizations to stop their campaign in support of new Iran sanctions.
Washington, DC - Washington, DC - Americans for Peace Now (APN) welcomes news that Secretary of State John Kerry will in the coming days present Israeli and Palestinian leaders with an outline for a peace deal. APN urges Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to seriously engage with Kerry's initiative, in order to achieve a breakthrough for peace.
APN today issued the following statement on the introduction of new Iran sanctions legislation in the Senate on Thursday:
"We condemn in the strongest terms the introduction of new Iran sanctions legislation in the Senate (S. 1881) by Senators Menendez (D-NJ), Kirk (R-IL) and a 25 of their colleagues. We urge Senate leaders to refuse to move this ill-timed and highly problematic legislation forward. We likewise call on Senators from both parties to refuse to cosponsor it, and Senators who have already done so to recognize their error and retract their sponsorship.
Continue reading Statement: APN Condemns New Iran Sanctions Bill in Senate.
Americans for Peace Now opposes boycotts of Israel and of Israeli institutions, such as the American Studies Association's decision to boycott Israeli universities.
We believe such campaigns are misguided and counterproductive. They target the average, innocent Israeli citizen -- who may well support an end to the occupation and a two-state solution -- rather than objectionable Israeli government policies.
The ASA's boycott of Israeli universities underscores the merits of our position. Israeli universities are the ultimate Israeli environment in which dissent and critical thinking flourishes. Boycotting them only damages efforts to encourage internal Israeli opposition to objectionable Israeli government policies.
Campaigns such as this have caused many Israelis and supporters of Israel -- people whose voices are vitally needed to oppose the policies that such campaigns target -- to feel compelled to defend Israel, regardless of the policies in question.
APN has joined its Israeli sister organization, Israel's peace movement Shalom Achshav (Peace Now) in its call for boycotting products made in Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
APN believes that for their actions to be both effective and morally defensible, pro-peace activists must make clear, emphatically and unambiguously, that their target is the occupation and its manifestations - such as Israeli settlements in the West Bank - and not Israel proper or innocent Israeli civilians.
To read APN's policy on boycotts, divestment and sanctions, click here.
APN recommends reading Peter Beinart's recent article on this issue.