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.
Amichai Chikli, the Israeli government minister responsible for maintaining good relations between Israel and world Jewry, is apparently on a campaign to do just the opposite. After offending participants in New York’s annual Celebrate Israel Parade and viciously attacking J Street, Israel’s Minister for Diaspora Affairs now apparently has a new target: US Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Antisemitism, Deborah Lipstadt.
In addition to being one of the world’s leading Holocaust historians, Professor Lipstadt was President Biden's choice to lead his administration’s effort to fight antisemitism, a job that she has performed ably.
Neither vicious settler violence nor unusually blatant Biden administration criticism have given the Israeli government pause as it goes ahead with its irresponsible decision to rebuild the settlement at Homesh, in the northern West Bank.
Last week, despite US requests to cease and desist the process of rebuilding the settlement (“The Homesh outpost in the West Bank is illegal; it is illegal even under Israeli law,” said State Department spokesman Ned Price), the government of Israel went ahead and connected this rogue settlement to the water grid. Haaretz ran a poignant editorial, commenting that “in his sixth term as prime minister, Netanyahu believes that the international community in general and the United States in particular talk a lot but in fact let Israel do whatever it pleases in the occupied territories.” And Israel’s leading strategic affairs think tank, the Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS) published an unusually scathing report on the topic of Homesh, concluding that the government of Israel “prefers to undermine the rule of law, violate Israel’s commitments to the United States, and pay the price for the escalation of terrorism in the northern West Bank in order to advance the ideology of the radical right wing in the government, which seeks to chain the West Bank forever to the State of Israel and thwart any chance of a political-territorial compromise with the Palestinians.”
Produced by the Foundation for Middle East Peace in cooperation with Americans for Peace Now, where the Legislative Round-Up was conceived.
1.Bills,
Resolutions & Letters
2. Hearings & Events
3. Media &
Reports
4.
Members on the Record (Palestine/Palestinians)
5. Members on the Record
(Israel)
6.
Members on the Record (Iran)
7. Members on the Record (other
Mideast countries)
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.
Just over a week ago, the Biden Administration released the US National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, demonstrating its dedication to combating antisemitism in all its forms while protecting free speech and safeguarding individual rights.
We support this approach, including the decision not to codify the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism. Instead, the National Strategy allows for a more inclusive and effective response to antisemitism while protecting free speech. This comprehensive approach should serve as a model for combating antisemitism worldwide.
Now, as the United Nations formulates its own plan, we have an important opportunity to advance this pragmatic and nuanced approach to combating antisemitism on a global scale. It is crucial that we push for the UN to adopt a framework that protects speech rather than a definition that weaponizes antisemitism to quash legitimate criticism of Israeli government policies and practices.
Please join us by urging your Member of Congress to sign on to a letter led by Congresswoman Janice
Schakowsky that encourages US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield to advocate for a comprehensive,
nuanced, and action-based approach to combating antisemitism within the United Nations.
Read the full text of the letter here.
Produced by the Foundation for Middle East Peace in cooperation with Americans for Peace Now, where the Legislative Round-Up was conceived.
1.Bills,
Resolutions & Letters
2. Hearings & Events
3. Media &
Reports
4.
Members on the Record (Palestine/Palestinians)
5. Members on the Record
(Israel)
6.
Members on the Record (Iran)
7. Members on the Record (other
Mideast countries)
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.
