PeaceCast

This episode’s guest is Daniel Kurtzer, a professor in Middle East policy studies at Princeton University and the United States’ former ambassador to Israel and Egypt.

Dan’s New York Daily News article blasts the Trump administration’s decision to merge the US consulate in Jerusalem with the US embassy to Israel, which has recently been removed from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. In this conversation, Ambassador Kurtzer examines this development and analyzes this administration’s approach policy on Israeli-Palestinian peace.

Kurtzer’s New York Daily News article is here 

Kurtzer’s December 2016 on Ambassador David Friedman's appointment to be America's ambassador to Israel is here 

Kurtzer’s book The Peace Puzzle on Amazon is here 

APN’s press release on Trump’s merging the consulate into the embassy is here 

Orly Halpern is an American-born, Jerusalem-based freelance journalist who edits News Nosh, Americans for Peace Now’s roundup of the daily news from Israel.

She prepares the English language review of Israel’s Hebrew media early in the morning, Israel time, taking advantage of the seven-hour time difference between Jerusalem and America's East Coast so that News Nosh subscribers can scan the Israeli news of the day with their morning coffee and bagel.

News Nosh is a free service. Subscribe to it here: https://peacenow.org/issue.php?cat=news-nosh#.W7O5nWgzaM8

This episode goes much beyond News Nosh. Orly talks about her career in journalism, about Israeli journalism and about Israeli society.

With any feedback or ideas that you may have for PeaceCast, please email Ori Nir at [email protected]

Hagit Ofran is one of the world's leading experts on West Bank settlements. In a conversation at her Jerusalem home, she analyzes current trends in West Bank settlement planning and construction, as well as Israeli government actions to "legalize" illegal outposts and to allow the construction of new illegal outposts. 

Settlement Watch's web page: http://peacenow.org.il/en/category/settlements

APN's web site: https://peacenow.org/

Donate to APN: https://peacenow.org/donate

This episode's guest is Jeremy Ben Ami, the founder and president of J Street. Jeremy recently published an article in the New Republic headlined Don’t Give Up: Why Liberal Jews Must Not Abandon the Fight for Israel’s Future. His is one of several articles in the current edition of the New Republic, devoted to the relationship today between American Jews and Israel.

On these Days of Awe between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, we reflected and took stock of where our pro-Israel pro-peace movement stands and where we wish to go.

Read Jeremy’s New Republic article here: https://newrepublic.com/article/151004/dont-give

Visit J Street’s web site: https://jstreet.org/

Visit APN’s web site: https://peacenow.org/

Donate to APN here: https://peacenow.org/donate

This episode features a conversation with Amos Guiora, a professor at the University of Utah’s S. J. Quinney College of Law.

Amos has written a book about the crime and the sin of complicity. I thought this would be a good time to reflect on complicity, on by-standing.

This episode was recorded a couple of days before Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year, a time when we reflect on the year that passed and commit or resolve to do better next year. Earlier today, I put Rosh Hashana greeting cards on the desks of my colleagues here at APN, in which I resolved to be more engaged this coming year, more engaged with the cause that we work to advance: Israeli-Palestinian peace.

On Rosh Hashana, I implore you too, my listeners, to become more engaged – engaged politically and engaged with APN. Sign up to receive our materials, engage with our action alerts, read our articles and analyses, and please support us with a donation.

Shana Tova!

To donate: https://peacenow.org/donate

Amos Guiora’s book, The Crime of Complicity: The Bystander in the Holocaust: https://crimeofcomplicity.com/

Hadag Nahash’s Sticker Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIbjpev6U5s

August 30th, 2018 was Debra DeLee’s last day as Americans for Peace Now’s President and CEO. As she was packing up her office, Debra sat down with PeaceCast’s host Ori Nir and with APN’s Director of Policy and Government Relations, Debra Shushan.

We talked about Debra’s frustration with America’s Jewish establishment’s inability to confront the moral challenges related to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. We talked about the leadership role of women in Jewish organizations. We talked the wonderful people that comprise the pro-Israel, pro-peace movement in the United States.  And we talked about hope.

Debra led APN for the past 21 years, through thick and thin, and has been one of the most influential figures in the movement. In addition to her professionalism and her leadership skills, Debra is a mensch. Her humanity and charm clearly shine in this conversation.

Read Debra’s farewell letter here: http://peacenow.org/entry.php?id=28808#.W4ihA-hKiUk

Read Debra’s tribute to her mother, Ruth Epstein, here: https://peacenow.org/entry.php?id=16950#.W4ihaOhKiUk

Israeli journalist and activist Anat Saragusti helps us remember and pay tribute to Uri Avneri, an icon of Israeli public life and of Israel’s peace movement.

Saragusti is a leading Israeli journalist and publicist. She was the CEO of Agenda, the Israeli Center for Strategic Communications. She was a news editor,  reporter and photo journalist for several Israeli news outlets, as well as a peace activist, an active feminist, and a human rights advocate. She is a founding member of Ta Ha'Itonayot (a group of leading Israeli women in the media) and of Merkaz Media Nashim (the Gender Media Center).

Saragusti was a protege and long-time friend of Avneri. 

Please send feedback to [email protected]

To explore Israel’s new Nation-State Law, we talked with Yasmeen abu-Fraiha, a young Israeli-Arab of Bedouin origin, a medical doctor and researcher, who is a glaring Israeli success story. Two years ago, at the age of 27, the Israeli financial newspaper Globes included her in a list of the 40 most promising young Israelis.

Abu-Fraiha is an “assimilated” Israeli-Arab, who grew up in a Jewish community in southern Israel and whose Hebrew is better than her Arabic. Most of her friends are Jewish Israeli. She knows the history of Zionism better than most Israeli Jews. Still, she feels like the state – her state – is trying to deny her Israeliness through the Knesset’s latest legislative action.

Abu-Fraiha is currently acting as the Executive Director of GENESIS, an NGO she founded that aims to prevent genetic diseases in the Middle East, especially in the Bedouin community, by spearheading premarital genetic testing and matching. She holds a BSc in Medical Science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and an MD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Yasmeen’s 972 article https://972mag.com/i-dont-need-a-law-to-remind-me-of-my-inequality/136874/

Yasmeen’s Forbes profile: https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinehoward/2017/08/10/a-young-bedouin-doctor-pioneering-genetic-testing-in-israels-negev-desert-30-under-30/#a7769f049d16

This episode features a recording of The Dove, a live storytelling show modeled after The Moth. It features stories about the conflict, told by young people from the region, underscoring the humanity that brings together Israelis and Palestinians and offers hope for peace. 

This show, recorded on July 23rd 2018 at Washington DC's Busboys and Poets, was produced in partnership with New Story Leadership, a Washington-based program that brings to Washington 5 young Israelis and 5 Palestinians for a month of leadership training, networking and fun. The storytellers are eight of the program's participants.

On July 19th, we hosted Shibley Telhami for a briefing call on US-Palestinian relations.

Dr. Telhami is the Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. 

You can find a recording of the entire hour we spent with Dr. Telhami on our web site here. 

This version, edited down to about 30 minutes, includes two main themes

One is Shibley’s insightful analysis of the widening gap in values between American progressives – and not only progressives – and the ruling elite in Israel. Shibley brought this up in relation to the Nation-State Law that the Knesset passed the night before we spoke.

The second theme was an analysis of the Trump administration’s actions and thinking – if there is real thinking – regarding the Israel-Palestine question, peace efforts etc.

As always, I welcome your feedback. Thanks to those of you who have written to me. My email address is [email protected]