Shalom Achshav’s executive director, Avi Buskila, spent last week in Washington. He met with administration officials, policy experts, APN supporters and activists, representatives of fellow pro-peace organizations, journalists, as well as a group of Israelis living in the Washington area.

Feedback was excellent. After every meeting, Avi’s interlocutors told him that their conversation with him left them more encouraged and hopeful about Israel than they have been in a very long time.

Avi spoke mainly about his achievements in the nine months since he became Peace Now’s director, and about the organization’s plans going forward.

In addition to recruiting some 5,000 new activists in the past months, Shalom Achshav has activated branches in every important university campus across Israel. Crisscrossing Israel, Avi has had dozens of meetings with groups in community centers, campuses, and living rooms, with an emphasis on the periphery.

Avi reported that Peace Now is currently working on three major projects. One is a series of four courses for young opinion leaders, including Knesset staff, who during three and a half months will study the ins and outs of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They will learn how to talk about the conflict, and how to effectively advocate for Israeli-Palestinian peace. Another project is the development of tools to use Facebook’s “live” function as an accessible, affordable platform for the pro-peace community to communicate inside Israel and beyond.

The third project that Avi mentioned was his plans for a series of public events across Israel around the June 50-year “anniversary” of the occupation, which will culminate in a mass demonstration in Tel Aviv on Saturday night, June 3^rd. 

The Bubis Lecture was established by the Americans for Peace Now board of directors upon the retirement from the board of Gerald “Jerry” Bubis (z”l), who was a seminal leader from its founding, including as a national co-chair and other leadership roles in Southern California. The Valley Beth Shalom Congregation, spiritual home to the Bubis family for decades, is a co-sponsor and host of this event.

Lara Friedman, APN Director of Policy and Government Relations, was the guest speaker for this event.  She had recently provided the APN testimony at a United Nations Security Council special session on Israeli Settlements.

Time markers for the video:

 8:40 – Remarks from APN Chair Jim Klutznick

15:50 – Remarks from Lara Friedman, APN Director of Policy and Government Relations (done “in conversation” with Rabbi Ed Feinstein of Valley Beth Shalom)

College of Jewish Studies: November 30, 2016 from Valley Beth Shalom Synagogue.

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 why last week's conviction in military court of a soldier of manslaughter in the killing of a wounded and neutralized terrorist in Hebron caused such a commotion in Israel; whether Azaria really benefited from such overt due process or if it were more of a Dreyfus process; how this affects Israeli society; whether with all the relevant figures now lining up behind the next steps: sentencing and either reduction of sentence or a pardon, this is becoming “old news;” and if there are broader ramifications to the Azaria case.

Update: this action, now closed, ran in January 2017. 

Earlier today, I asked you to contact your House member and ask him/her to oppose H. Res. 11, a resolution set to be voted on tomorrow (January 5th), objecting to recent action taken in the UN Security Council regarding settlements. Now, the Senate is poised to pass a similar resolution, just introduced by Senators Rubio (R-FL) and Cardin (D-MD) – and it is critical your senators hear from you on this today.

Contact your Senators TODAY. Tell them: Support Israel -- vote NO on the Rubio-Cardin resolution!

Update: this action, now closed, ran in January 2017. 

Just before the New Year, the Obama Administration took pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-U.S. action in the UN Security Council. It did so by abstaining on a resolution focused on Israeli settlements – a resolution that was wholly consistent with longstanding U.S. policy (upheld by presidents from both parties), and that was consistent with language adopted previously by the UN Security Council (including under past U.S. presidents from both parties).

Now, the House is poised to pass a resolution TOMORROW – H. Res. 11 – unfairly slamming the Obama Administration’s action.

Contact your Representative TODAY. Tell him/her: Support Israel -- vote NO on H. Res. 11!

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 Secretary of State Kerry's speech explaining the US decision not to veto UN Security Council Resolution 2334 that condemned the settlements; Netanyahu’s angry reaction; an assessment of the part Netanyahu chose to ignore: Kerry’s six principles for a two-state solution; President Trump’s possible approach to the Israeli-Palestinian issue; and substantive corruption charges and a meaningful police investigation against Netanyahu.

The next in a series of ads from APN. This week's message is from General James Mattis, a retired United States Marine Corps general who served as the 11th Commander of United States Central Command, the Unified Combatant Command responsible for American military operations in the Middle East, Northeast Africa and Central Asia, from 2010 to 2013.

Before President Obama appointed Mattis to replace General Petraeus in 2010, he commanded the United States Joint Forces Command and served concurrently as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Transformation. Prior to that, he commanded I Marine Expeditionary Force, United States Marine Forces Central Command, and 1st Marine Division during the Iraq War.

You can support additional ads by donating here.

What a week!  Less than one week ago, we cheered President Obama's bold action on the pro-peace resolution in the United Nations Security Council.  And earlier this week, Secretary of State Kerry delivered a stunning, comprehensive and courageous speech on settlements, and laid out the Obama administration's vision of a two-state solution and the imperative to achieve it.  Not only do both of these remarks and actions represent positions long-advocated by APN, but both events contain and/or reflect the significant research of Lara Friedman  (APN Policy and Legislative Director),  which documents how an Obama administration abstention would be in line with U.S. policy in the UN and which was published in the New York Times.  Both events reflect as well Lara's testimony on settlements delivered on behalf of APN to the United Nations Security Council in October.  APN worked relentlessly and effectively to make these important events happen. Help us keep the momentum going!  

I encourage you to read Lara's powerful and empowering thoughts (below) on what it means to continue to fight for peace after January 20, 2017.  We can only continue our critical and singular work with your support.  Before the year is out, please make a tax-deductible donation to support our fight for peace, security and dignity for Israelis and Palestinians.  

“No one thinking seriously about peace can ignore the reality of the threat settlements pose.”

Those words were spoken yesterday by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, outlining the reasons that the U.S. chose to abstain on a U.N. Security Council vote condemning West Bank settlements. The threat to peace posed by settlements was recently made clear by settler leaders, who loudly and proudly proclaimed that “the era of a two-state solution is over.” And that was before President-elect Donald Trump nominated David Friedman, an enthusiastic supporter of settlements, to be the next U.S. ambassador to Israel.

At APN, we’re preparing to take them on.

Six years ago, APN launched a groundbreaking new feature: the “Facts on the Ground” map app. As both an iPhone app and website, Facts on the Ground has allowed anyone with an internet connection to learn about Israeli settlements in the West Bank – what and where they are, who and how many live in them, and how they relate to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and prospects for peace. The app has been a success, with glowing coverage and reviews from NPR, CNN, Wired, The Guardian, Haaretz, The Jerusalem Post, and more.