Israel’s new Nation-State Law is not only anti-democratic. It is also anti-peace. It hinders not only peace between Jews and non-Jews in Israel, but it also severely hampers prospects for future peace between Israel and its Palestinian neighbors.

Instead of echoing Israel’s Declaration of Independence by championing the pursuit of peace as a Jewish value of the Jewish state, the Nation-State Law asserts an aggressive, uncompromising, zero-sum attitude toward Israel’s relations with the Palestinians. The law’s exclusionary content and tone is directed at non-Jewish citizens of the state, but is understandably perceived by non-Israeli Palestinians as well as a law that as excludes them from a relationship based on equality with Israel.

Topics debated by APN Policy and Government Relations Director Debra Shushan and fellow guests Vivian Bercovici (former Canadian ambassador to Israel), Aaron Klein (Breitbart), and moderator Ami Kaufman included Israeli-Syrian hostilities, international reaction to the Nation-State Law, Israel's LGBT protests, Birthright walkoffs, and the Trump-Cohen taped discussion of paying for rights to Karen McDougal's story of her alleged affair with Trump.

Israel's Nation-State Law was approved amidst much controversy, both within Israel and abroad, particularly among American Jews. Given its status as one of Israel's Basic Laws, the closest thing Israel has to a Constitution, the law is particularly consequential. Here are a number of resources on the law, its ramifications, and reactions to it.

This episode features a recording of The Dove, a live storytelling show modeled after The Moth. It features stories about the conflict, told by young people from the region, underscoring the humanity that brings together Israelis and Palestinians and offers hope for peace.

This show, recorded on July 23, 2018 at Washington DC's Busboys and Poets, was produced in partnership with New Story Leadership, a Washington-based program that brings to Washington 5 young Israelis and 5 Palestinians for a month of leadership training, networking and fun. The storytellers are eight of the program's participants.

APN's Director of Policy and Government Relations Debra Shushan appeared on "The Spin Room" on Israel's i24 News on July 18. WATCH by clicking the pop-out button (top-right) and fast-forwarding to 1:39. 

Topics debated by Shushan and fellow guests Colette Avital (former MK, Labor), Ruthie Blum (Gatestone Institute), and moderator Ami Kaufman included President Trump's Helsinki performance, Israel's Nation-State Law, incendiary kites from Gaza, and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's visit to Israel. 

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.

Week 3 Book Recommendations - Contemplating and Questioning the Occupation plus BONUS Israeli-Palestinian Cookbook

Those who suggest a dead-on-arrival U.S. peace plan will be simply thrown into the dustbin of history and will have no long-term consequences are dangerously wrong. A defective plan could have catastrophic consequence.

An impending U.S. diplomatic initiative to address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict used to make big headlines. Now, the Trump administration says its on the verge of issuing an "ultimate deal" plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - and hardly anyone seems to care.

Should we care? Absolutely. Not because the plan has a serious chance to succeed. It doesn’t. But because of the potentially catastrophic repercussions that a severely flawed plan would have.  

What we know so far about this administration’s approach to the Israeli-Palestinian question does not bode well for an effective peace plan.

Professor Shibley Telhami Briefing Call, Thursday, July 19, 2 pm (Eastern)

Professor Shibley Telhami, one of America's leading experts on the Middle East, comments on the current state of American-Palestinian relations, on Donald Trump's Israeli-Palestinian policy, on Trump's prospective "peace plan," and on the role of Arab governments in the current dynamics between the US, Israel and the Palestinians.

The 'Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People,' passed by 62-55, with two abstentions