Guest edited by Madeleine Cereghino, Director of Government Relations here at Americans for Peace Now, where the Round-Up was born!

by Madeleine Cereghino, Director of Government Relations- APN

Every year as Congress reviews and approves the United States' annual spending bills, we have a valuable opportunity to advocate for change. Each year, Congress passes spending bills funding the United States government for the upcoming fiscal year, specifying the budgets of each department, and outlining the allocation of funds within those departments. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) specifically focuses on authorizing defense-related expenditures, including funding for the military, defense programs, and national security initiatives. However, it is important to note that the NDAA often includes provisions that go beyond defense matters and is used by both parties as a vehicle to raise other policy issues.

We at Americans for Peace Now have long called for increased oversight to ensure that our funds aren’t used in ways that run counter to our values and to US policy. This commonsense concept is reflected in some of this year’s NDAA submissions.

This year, several of the over 1500 amendments proposed in the NDAA address the issue of US assistance contributing to human rights violations and offer language that would add additional scrutiny to the use of US funds as it relates to the Israeli occupation. These amendments encompass a range of provisions aimed at promoting accountability and safeguarding human rights. They include mandating an annual report to Congress on Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank, reaffirming Congressional support for a two-state solution, requiring vetting for gross human rights violations by program recipients, and directing reporting on journalist killings including Shireen Abu Akleh’s.

Last Night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government of ultra-nationalist zealots drove Israel further away from its roots as a liberal democracy and toward unabashed fascism. 

As Netanyahu and his government allies recklessly curtail the power of the judiciary to serve as a check on the executive and legislative branches of government, Americans for Peace Now (APN) is deeply concerned about Israel’s future. APN calls on the Biden administration to make clear to Netanyahu that these actions have consequences and that the United States will reassess its relationship with Israel if its government turns the state into a hollow democracy.

The Knesset Last night passed by first vote (out of three) a bill that would remove the power of Israeli courts to use the standard of reasonableness as a criterion to strike legislation and government executive orders. The bill (an amendment to Basic Law: Judiciary) reads: “Notwithstanding what is stated in this Basic Law, those who have jurisdiction to adjudicate according to law, including the Supreme Court in its function as a High Court of Justice, shall not discuss the reasonableness of the decision of the government, of the prime minister or of another minister, as well as of another elected official which shall be determined by law, and shall not issue an order against any of them in such matter."

Israel has almost no separation of powers between its executive and the legislative branches. The government, which enjoys a coalition majority in the Knesset, can legislate as it deems fit. The only check on the government is therefore the judicial branch and specifically the Supreme Court. Once the executive/legislative branch removes that check, Israel will become a hollow democracy.

The government of Israel can still halt its march toward the destruction of Israeli democracy by not bringing the bill to a second and third vote.

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.

Guest edited by Madeleine Cereghino, Director of Government Relations at Americans for Peace Now, where the Round-Up was born!

As Israel’s military intensifies its operation at the Jenin Refugee Camp in the northern West Bank, Americans for Peace Now (APN) is dismayed at the rapid escalation of violence in the West Bank. APN is alarmed at the harm caused to Palestinian civilians and calls on Israel to exercise extra care in protecting noncombatants. Using bulldozers and armed drones in such a small, cramped area multiplies the risk to noncombatants and to civilian infrastructure. 

Any operation in a densely-populated area such as the Jenin Refugee Camp (more than 11,000 people living in 0.16 square miles) is bound to put civilians at risk. But under any law (international, American, or Israeli) that risk must be minimized. At the moment, many of the Camp’s residents lack running water and electricity. The IDF’s cutting of water and power, on its face, is collective punishment of the local civilian population. 

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.

Produced by the Foundation for Middle East Peace in cooperation with Americans for Peace Now, where the Legislative Round-Up was conceived.

Marilyn Katz and James Klutznick: Illinois’ ‘anti-boycott’ law hinders protest of Palestinians’ oppression

By Marilyn Katz and James Klutznick
Chicago Tribune
Jun 28, 2023 at 5:00 am

In the early morning hours one day last week, we and many others received an urgent plea for help from a friend in Palestine whose family home was under vicious attack by men with guns and incendiary weapons.

What surprised us was not the cry for help. The last six months have seen a steady increase in violence against Palestinian villages, and Palestinian and Israeli friends alike have shared the news. The surprise was that the request came from a member of the Illinois General Assembly. State Rep. Abdelnasser Rashid was visiting his parents at their family home in Turmus Ayya — an idyllic West Bank village that is home to many families whose younger members are U.S. citizens, including some Illinoisans.

The Rashids’ home, like dozens of others in Turmus Ayya and neighboring villages, was under attack by Israeli “settlers” — a term Israel uses to describe Israelis who, with government funding and in violation of international law, have been given land and resources to build communities in the West Bank. Israel occupies more than 60% of the territory and has had settlements there since 1967.