October 1, 2024- Americans for Peace Now welcomes the new sanctions imposed by the U.S. Treasury Department on violent Israeli settlers and organizations in the occupied West Bank. The nationalist violence against Palestinians has reached the point where even the Israeli government is taking action against the most notorious settlers. Avichai Suisa, the leader of extremist group HaShomer Yosh, Eitan Jordani from the illegal outpost Havat Ma'on and Hilltop Youth certainly deserve to be sanctioned, by both Israel and the U.S.

But individual sanctions against local leaders are not enough. Two powerful Ministers in the Israeli government, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, control much of the civilian administration in the West Bank and the police, respectively. Their incitement to violence, land theft and de facto annexation as well as measures taken to protect violent settlers makes them ultimately responsible – along with Prime Minister Netanyahu – for the immense upsurge in anti-Palestinian lawlessness. The Biden Administration should not shrink from sanctioning these Ministers because of their official positions, which only heighten their dangerous irresponsibility.

September 25, 2024- Yesterday, Representative Adam Smith (D-Wash) was joined by 102 of his colleagues in sending a letter to President Biden, Secretary Blinken and Attorney General Garland requesting a thorough, independent, and transparent US-led investigation to determine the facts surrounding the killing of American citizen Aysenur Ezgi Eygi.

Americans for Peace Now strongly supports the continued push for accountability and an investigation into her killing, which Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called “unprovoked and unjustified.” Given the evidence, and the reality of the unreliability of previous Israeli investigations, the United States must conduct its own independent inquiry. There must be clarity about what happened to Aysenur Ezgi Eygi and accountability for her death.

September 23, 2024- Americans for Peace Now is extremely concerned by the escalation of military hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah. For almost a full year Hezbollah has been firing rockets into the north of Israel, leaving tens of thousands displaced from their homes. Last week’s massive pager attack and the subsequent bombings deep into Lebanon have killed hundreds and wounded thousands. And today, Hezbollah is firing rockets deep into Israel while Israel has now again bombed Beirut. Millions of people, men, women and children, on both sides of the border, are looking for shelter and living in fear.

The failures in Gaza, the failure to bring the hostages home, the failure to defeat Hamas, and the failure to fight this war without killing tens of thousands and creating a humanitarian disaster have led Netanyahu to escalate on Israel’s northern front in order to distract from the failures in the south.

September 6, 2024- Americans for Peace Now is outraged by the death of American citizen Aysenur Eygi at the hands of the IDF in the occupied West Bank and urges a swift and independent investigation of the circumstances that caused her death. APN conveys its deepest condolences to Eygi’s family.

This heartbreaking event underscores the urgent need for a thorough, independent, and transparent US-led investigation to determine the facts surrounding her death, including whether US-supplied weapons or materiel were involved –in violation of the Leahy Law. Eygi’s family deserves justice and the American people deserve accountability. 

Ori Danino

Carmel Gat

Hersh Goldberg-Polin

Alexander Lobanov

Almog Sarusi

Eden Yerushalmi

Six hostages, murdered in cold blood by Hamas. Six hostages each of whom survived 11 terrible months of captivity only to be killed before they could be reunited with their families. Six souls, kidnapped and murdered by Hamas, and abandoned by their own government.

August 28 2024- Americans for Peace Now strongly supports the Biden Administration’s imposition of new sanctions on extremist West Bank settlers and the institutions of Occupation. 

The sanctions on “farm outpost” Hashomer Yosh are long overdue: as our sister organization Peace Now reported in 2021, “the association supports at least 28 illegal outposts across the West Bank…Thus, with a relatively small investment (one family and a few young boys who herd sheep or cows upon a hill), settlers are able to take over huge amounts of land and dispossess Palestinian farmers from that same land.” The organization receives Israeli government funding and has been involved in violence against Palestinians.

Yitzhak Filant, “security officer” for the Yitzhar settlement, has played a major role in coordinating similar violent attacks against the residents of Palestinian villages.

August 27, 2024- Americans for Peace Now welcomes the successful rescue of Israeli citizen Kaid Farhan Al-Qadi by the IDF from Hamas captivity. As his brother said, “May all the hostages return, and may all the families feel this feeling.”

For that to happen, Prime Minister Netanyahu and Hamas leader Sinwar must stop stonewalling a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. Despite intensive efforts by the U.S., Egypt, Qatar and the international community, the Israeli government and Hamas are apparently still insisting on conditions that delay or forestall an agreement. Many hostages remain alive in captivity under terrible circumstances; conditions in Gaza are desperate and more aid shipments and rebuilding must commence; and both Palestinians and Israelis are still dying and living in the terror and misery of an ongoing war.

August 14, 2024- Americans for Peace Now strongly condemns the Israeli government’s announcement of approval for a new settlement, Nahal Heletz, between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. The settlement is deliberately designed to disrupt the contiguity of an eventual Palestinian state, as acknowledged by Finance Minister and settler leader Bezalel Smotrich.

In formally approving the first new settlement to be announced since 2017, the Israeli government is defying the Biden Administration and the international community, who rightfully insist that new settlements are an obstacle to a resolution of the conflict. The location of this settlement also encroaches on the Palestinian village of Battir, home to ancient hillside agricultural terraces that have been designated a world heritage site by UNESCO.

July 18, 2024- Americans for Peace Now expresses profound disappointment and strong opposition to the Israeli Knesset's recent resolution rejecting the two-state solution and the formation of a Palestinian state. This resolution undermines the longstanding ​position of Israeli governments across the political spectrum and contradicts the enduring stance of the United States. ​

The United States has made it unequivocally clear that no party should take unilateral steps to alter final status issues, which would ​threaten the prospects of achieving a two-state solution. This Knesset resolution, passed just days before Prime Minister Netanyahu's visit to the United States, is deeply troubling and is a direct affront to the President and all who are committed to a two-state solution.