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.

In the wake of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's brokering of an agreement that will bring the extreme right-wing Otzma Yehudit party into the Knesset, Americans for Peace Now is joining with fellow Jewish organizations to call on the wider Jewish community to affirm that Kahanists have no place in the Knesset. The multi-organizational statement follows.

This week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, keen to shore up his electoral position, orchestrated the unification of the extreme right-wing party Otzma Yehudit (“Jewish Power”) with the National Union so that it could enter the Knesset in a consolidated right-wing bloc. This is dangerous and deeply concerning. Otzma Yehudit is the latest iteration of a political party based on teachings of racist demagogue Meir Kahane.

Americans for Peace Now (APN) calls upon fellow American Jewish organizations to join it in condemning Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's embrace of the extremist right-wing political party Otzma Yehudit ("Jewish Power").

Americans for Peace Now joins fellow pro-diplomacy groups in urging lawmakers and presidential candidates to support rejoining the Iran nuclear deal, with which President Trump has placed the US in violation, and to oppose starting a war of choice with Iran. 

The following is the statement and list of signatories. 

Pro-diplomacy groups representing millions of American voters urge lawmakers to publicly articulate and support the following principles with respect to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) that verifiably blocks each of Iran’s pathways to a nuclear weapon and created a much-needed diplomatic relationship between Iran, the United States, and U.S. allies:

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.

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) strongly condemns the murder of a young Israeli woman, Ori Ansbacher (19), in Jerusalem last week by a Palestinian assailant, who has been arrested and who has reenacted the crime.

Who should count as Jewish in America?

What should be the relationship of American Jews to Israel?

These are the questions my dear friend Bob Mnookin addresses in his new book, The Jewish American Paradox.

I have known Bob since we were both 18 ( don’t even ask when that was) as I was his future wife Dale’s roommate as an undergraduate student at the University of Michigan.

Before I continue, I should introduce myself to you. I'm Aviva Meyer, Vice Chair of the Americans for Peace Now Board of Directors.

In addition to my role on the Board, I have been volunteering as APN's interim CEO while we complete a strategic planning process, after which we will hire a permanent CEO to replace Debra DeLee, who retired recently.

I never thought I would find myself doing this after retiring from The New Israel Fund, but it’s a natural place for me to be. Like about 70% of American Jews, I am emotionally attached to Israel. Like many of the Jews that Bob describes, I am troubled by Israel’s continued military occupation of the West Bank and its discriminatory treatment of Palestinians. As an activist with Americans for Peace Now, I stand with the majority of Israelis, Palestinians, and American Jews described by Bob who favor a two-state solution as the best way to preserve Israel as both a democracy and a Jewish state.

Washington, DC – Following the Senate’s passage today of Senate Bill 1 (S.1), including the so-called Combating BDS Act, the bill will be transmitted to the House of Representatives.

APN strongly urges the House not to follow in the footsteps of the Senate. By blocking this legislation, the House will reject attempts to turn Israel into a partisan wedge issue, protect free speech, and highlight the distinction between sovereign Israel and West Bank settlements.  

APN rejects BDS against Israel. APN believes that as a tactic to challenge Israeli policies that are inconsistent with Israeli-Palestinian peace, BDS is the wrong approach. We view it as misguided, ineffective, and counterproductive. APN advocates boycotting settlement products and recognizes the legitimacy and potential value of other activism directly and narrowly targeted at settlements and the occupation. APN’s policy on BDS is here.

Despite our opposition to BDS, APN has opposed S.1 since it was introduced, and called on our activists to ask their senators to reject it. 

As we have stated previously, this legislation was designed to be a political trap. By bundling security aid for Israel with controversial legislation that violates civil liberties, the bill sets up senators to be labeled as “insufficiently pro-Israel” if they refuse to endorse the latter. In order to score political points, this bill will further erode the historic bipartisan consensus around a strong US-Israel relationship.

APN’s opposition to the Combating BDS Act is two-fold. First, this legislation erases the distinction between sovereign Israel and its settlements in the occupied West Bank by treating boycotts of the two as if these entities were one and the same. Second, it tramples on First Amendment rights by encouraging states to punish Americans who engage in boycotts. 

Federal district courts have issued injunctions in cases brought by the ACLU, ruling that laws in Kansas and Arizona violate the constitutionally protected right to boycott.

APN calls on Speaker Nancy Pelosi to advance legislation authorizing security assistance for Israel, without tethering it to legislation that is both anti-peace and anti-democratic.

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.