 "Even allowing for the usual exaggeration on the part of
taxi drivers--the US is not the only increasingly polarized society."
Yossi Alpher, Israeli security expert referring to Israel in this
week's APN Hard Questions, Tough Answers (Yossi is pictured speaking to the 2016
APN Israel Study Tour last week).
Yossi Alpher is an independent security analyst. Views and
positions expressed here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily represent
APN's views and policy positions.
November 21, 2016 - Early Levant and Israeli fallout from Trump election;
the messy meaning of eastern Mediterranean strategic depth
Q. As President-elect Trump announces key appointments, how is the Levant
reacting?
A. The most obvious and immediate response among the Syria
antagonists appears to be an informal but increasingly widespread recognition that
the Assad regime has survived the Syrian revolution...
Q. And the reaction in Israel to Trump’s indication of the far-right
direction he plans to follow?
A. The Trump appointees for national security director, CIA
director, attorney general and strategic adviser signal that he remains far to the
political right where Americans condone the West Bank settlements and are not
strongly committed, if at all, to a two-state solution...
Q. What’s the striking exception you mentioned above to the pro-settler
sentiments and atmosphere encouraged by the Trump victory?
A. Last week, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman surprisingly
called for a freeze on settlement construction beyond the West Bank settlement
blocs...
Q. There remains the question whether the Trump victory atmosphere will
affect the upcoming Elor Azaria verdict. This concerns the court martial of the
soldier who, eight months ago, executed a wounded and subdued Palestinian terrorist
in Hebron--an act caught on camera by a B’tzelem activist.
A. The military judges will begin deliberating their verdict this
week...
Q. Turning from Trump to the Mediterranean depths, last week witnessed the
renewal after a five year hiatus of licensing for natural gas exploration off
Israel’s Mediterranean coast, along with a major controversy over an Israeli order
for three more submarines from Germany. Can we learn something from this seeming
fixation with the Mediterranean?
A. Definitely. In the course of the past two decades the eastern
Mediterranean basin has begun to provide Israel with a dimension of strategic depth
it never had before, in both security and economic terms. And the two are
intertwined...
 
Note to Round-Up readers: In these difficult times, a couple of
things to highlight this week, from elected officials who do, indeed, care about
rational policies in the Middle East and do, indeed, understand the U.S. national
security interests at stake:
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Bills and Resolutions
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Letters
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Hearings
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On the Record
 APN
Statement on Congressman Keith Ellison's Record on Israeli-Palestinian
Peace
APN has worked closely with Congressman Ellison for nearly a decade. He is a close
friend and a trusted ally in the effort to achieve security and peace for Israel
and the Palestinians in the context of a two-state solution.
 Consider Donations of Stock Sales
to APN
Contributions to APN via sale of stocks is an option worth considering as the
year-end approaches.
Information needed: APN's Brokerage is TD Ameritrade, Account #881348597, DTC
#0188.
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APN is
fighting back
The election of Donald Trump to the presidency of the United States has set off
reverberations around the world...But the response cannot be one of despair and
resignation. Our collective response must be fueled by hope, commitment, and
tenacious perseverance. As one of the last bulwarks against the growing extremism
that threatens a peaceful future for Israelis and Palestinians, APN is here to lead
that response.
Open Letter to
President-elect Donald J. Trump from Jewish American
Organizations
APN joined proudly with other Jewish American organizations in sending a letter to
President-elect Donald Trump laying out many of our concerns and hopes for the
coming Administration, and sending an unambiguous message about being powerful
opponents, if necessary.
 APN
Condemns Appointment of Bannon, Calls Out Jewish Groups for Failure to Stand
Against Anti-Semitism and Hate-Mongering
We urge President-elect Trump to cancel his appointment of Bannon. We urge him,
too, to finally denounce and reject the abhorrent actions and views of the
hate-mongers who are acting, publicly and proudly, in his name.
 Times of Israel: "Illiberal
Support for Israel: Antithetical to Jewish Values and Israel's Interests" by
APN's Lara Friedman
We must fight for our Jewish and American values and apply them consistently, both
with the respect to what is happening in the United States and what is happening in
Israel. The silence of too many in the right-wing Jewish establishment today
underscores how, for American Jews, the two are inextricably linked.
NY Times
Editorial: "Israel’s Alarming Settlement Bill"
Peace Now Director Avi Buskila (on right) in dialogue with Israeli Education
Minister Naftali Bennett during a protest of the
"Regulation Bill" at Bennett's home.
Right-wing Israeli politicians see Donald Trump’s election as helpful toward their
goal of burying the prospect of a Palestinian state. On Wednesday, Israeli
lawmakers gave preliminary approval to a bill that would retroactively legalize
settlements built on private Palestinian land in the West Bank.
APN Israel
Study Tour Concludes Successfully
A whirlwind of meetings, travel, and experiential activities in Israel and the West
Bank has concluded. In addition to Jerusalem (east and west), a West Bank
Settlement tour, and a day in Tel Aviv that concluded by hearing from the young
Peace Now activists and leaders, the group went to Israel's border with Gaza, the
northern cities of Nazareth and Haifa, and the Palestinian cities of Rawabi and
Ramallah.
Email IsraelTour@peacenow.org to receive
information on next year's Study Tour.
Study Tour
visits a Hand in Hand school
The Israel Study Tour group paid a special visit to Bridge Over the
Wadi school in Kfar Kana.. Part of Hand in Hand - Center for
Jewish-Arab Edcuation, the school has an integrated Jewish and Arab
student body and faculty, a fully bilingual curriculum, and provides a
community for the Jewish and Arab parents.
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Watch the video here
