US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman had a front-row seat at this week’s AIPAC conference. The camera panned frequently to Friedman, reportedly the key shaper of US policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as AIPAC darlings like US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pandered to the crowd.

Friedman made waves during his own speech in which he lambasted the catchphrase, “pro-Israel, pro-peace,” that APN first popularized nearly two decades ago. Friedman shared these pearls of wisdom with the AIPAC crowd: 

• “Pro-Israel and pro-peace sounds like a completely reasonable position. My friends, it is not.”

• “It is no less than blasphemous to suggest that any Jew or any Christian is against peace.”

• “If there is no peace in the Middle East as we speak, and regrettably there is not, I strongly suggest that we blame someone other than Israel.”

(see the transcript of the entire speech)

We’ve got news for you, Ambassador Friedman. Supporters of Israel are not, as you suggest, inherently pro-peace because their faith traditions include liturgy that exalts the value of peace. If your version of “pro-Israel” entails supporting the settlements (as you have spent your adult life doing) and denying the occupation, you are denying Israelis the peace they need, want, and deserve. You are thwarting the future of an Israel that remains Jewish and a liberal democracy. And as such, you are pushing Israel to follow a course that imperils its future.

“Pro-Israel and pro-peace sounds like a completely reasonable position. My friends, it is not.” – US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman 

Watch Dr. Debra Shushan on Israel's i24 News! Debra discusses AIPAC's losing battle for progressive support and what it means to be pro-Israel, pro-peace (a term popularized nearly 20 years ago by APN) in the Trump Era. She is APN's Director of Policy and Government Relations.  

@ShushanAPN, of left-wing @PeaceNowUS, and @omriceren, of @israelproject, discuss where progressives fit in with @AIPAC: pic.twitter.com/5bGhf3gpQG

— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) March 6, 2018

Trump has consistently privileged the Israeli narrative and claims over those of the Palestinians. In his Jerusalem decision he also helped the destructive, unnecessary transformation of the conflict from a political to a religious struggle.

Mae Elise Cannon, Yahya Hendi, and Debra Shushan

President Trump’s decision in December to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and commence moving the US embassy was harmful enough.

And still, he has managed – repeatedly – to make it worse. In the latest development, the State Department announced last week that a provisional U.S. embassy in Jerusalem will open on May 14, timed to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israel’s establishment.

The Trump Administration’s original decision was fatally flawed.

In the absence of a final settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in which Palestinian claims to Jerusalem are addressed, the decision was blatantly one-sided. American credibility as an honest broker plummeted, Trump’s avowed goal of reaching the "ultimate deal" was set back, and the United Nations, the European Union, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and His Holiness Pope Francis condemned the new policy.

Washington, DC – Commenting on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington, his meeting with President Trump, and his speech at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference today, Americans for Peace Now's President and CEO Debra DeLee issued the following statement:

"Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu again missed an opportunity to offer Israelis, Palestinians, Americans, and the world a shred of hope for peace.

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.

This week, Alpher discusses the dilemmas Prime Minister Netanyahu is leaving behind during his visit to the U.S.; whether Netanyahu could be trying to dissolve his coalition; the peace process; where the Gaza Strip is in these calculations; and the growing likelihood of a “first northern war” pitting Israel against Iran and its allies in Syria and Lebanon.

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.

This week, Alpher discusses the possible indictment - on at least three counts - that Prime Minister Netanyahu faces; what the allegations are about; what Netanyahu's options are; how to account for the public's lenient attitude; and if anyone in Israel will emerge from this looking good.

On Purim, which begins this Wednesday evening, Jews retell the story of a world turned upside down. Haman’s plan to kill the Jews of Persia is thwarted by Esther, the Jewish orphan who became Queen. Haman is hanged on the gallows he had planned to use to kill Esther’s cousin Mordechai. The king is foolish, the advisers wicked, the heroes weak, and the powerful defeated.

We don’t need Purim to remind us that the world is topsy-turvy.

A TV reality show personality is President of the United States. He and his Administration avoid saying “two-state solution,” let alone leading serious efforts to help bring it to fruition. President Trump unilaterally changes the US position on Jerusalem and declares he has solved this complex issue for the Israelis and Palestinians. Ardent US supporters of Israeli settlements are responsible for brokering Middle East peace. One of them, US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, publicly contradicts US policy.

The Purim story encourages us to flip the script.

APN does this by fighting for a world in which our leaders are responsible, strategic, and bold in moving forward toward peace and security for Israel via a two-state solution. In partnership with Shalom Achshav in Israel, APN works every day to make that world a reality by fighting the occupation and the settlement enterprise - a catastrophe for Israel in moral, political, security, legal, and economic terms.

APN illustrates how settlements corrupt Israeli society while obstructing peace with Palestinians. We shine a spotlight on how the Trump Administration is allowing Netanyahu’s right-wing government to gradually annex the West Bank and create a one-state reality, in contravention of international law and the national interests of both the US and Israel.

Please support the work of Americans for Peace Now in righting this topsy-turvy world.

Veteran Israeli journalist Akiva Eldar of Al-Monitor spoke at the Middle East Institute in Washington, DC on February 20, in discussion with APN’s Debra Shushan. The focus of the event was recent steps towards annexation of the West Bank and the state of the settlement enterprise in the Trump-Netanyahu era.