No, Israel Did Not Just Vote for the Center
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Affairs
by Michael Koplow - (Opinion) January 23, 2013 - 1:00am

By the time Israeli voters went to the polls on Tuesday, the nearly universally accepted wisdom held that the right was ascendant. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's faction -- which comprises his own conservative Likud Party and Avigdor Lieberman's even-more-conservative Yisrael Beiteinu Party -- was poised to win almost twice as many seats as its closest challenger.

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Poll: 67% of centrist Israelis wouldn't elect party that splits Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Jonathan Lis - December 18, 2012 - 1:00am

Two-thirds of centrist voters - defined as Labor Party and Yesh Atid supporters - would not support a party willing to compromise on Jerusalem, according to a poll commissioned by the rightward-leaning Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.

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Israeli Embassy Deletes ‘Christmas Thought’ Attacking Palestinians From Facebook
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Robert Mackey - December 17, 2012 - 1:00am

Last Update, 3:10 p.m. A “Christmas thought,” suggesting that if Jesus lived in the modern world he would “probably end up being lynched in Bethlehem by hostile Palestinians,” was deleted from the official Facebook page of Israel’s embassy in Ireland on Monday, just a few hours after it was posted.

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AJC Turns Towards Israel, Global Advocacy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Josh Nathan-Kazis - December 17, 2012 - 1:00am

The century-old American Jewish Committee is cutting back on its domestic political agenda and on its research functions in favor of a focus on international advocacy. That shift follows a strategic plan that the AJC approved in 2009. Though the changes at the AJC have been broadly noted, the content of the blueprint itself — which the AJC shared with and described to the Forward — was previously unreported.

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Indictment of Israeli FM to have limited political ramifications
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Adam Gonn - (Analysis) December 14, 2012 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein on Thursday announced that he would charge Foreign Minister and Yisrael Beiteinu party leader Avigdor Lieberman on accounts of fraud and breach of trust. However, Weinstein dropped the more severe charges of money laundering and obstruction of justice. The decision by Weinstein marks the end of the 12 year process during which Lieberman has been under investigation for allegedly pocketing millions of U.S. dollars from foreign businessmen via shell companies.

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Israel winning in Europe
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Arsen Ostrovsky - (Opinion) December 14, 2012 - 1:00am

Before the ink was even dry on the Palestinian vote at the UN last week, headlines already started flooding on how Israel 'lost Europe.' The reality however, could not be further from the truth, as Israel continues to make stunning headway in its trade and bilateral relations with the EU.

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Meshal's folly
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Henry Siegman - (Opinion) December 14, 2012 - 1:00am

Just as the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly recognized Palestine as a state in the occupied territories beyond Israel's pre-1967 borders, providing new hope and encouragement to those who have not given up on the struggle for a Palestinian state living in peace alongside the State of Israel; and as major European countries condemned in unprecedentedly strong terms Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to enlarge the settlement project in the Jerusalem area and elsewhere, a move that would prevent such a two-state outcome, Hamas' political bureau chief Khaled Meshal las

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Israeli Foreign Minister Faces Indictment on Lesser Charges
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Jodi Rudoren - December 13, 2012 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM — Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s blunt-talking and polarizing foreign minister, will be charged with breach of trust but not with fraud and money laundering, prosecutors announced Thursday, ending an investigation lasting years and throwing a curve into Israel’s coming elections.

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Feiglin: Israel's clear and present danger
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Sara Hirschhorn - (Opinion) December 13, 2012 - 1:00am

This is the story of Moshe Zalman Feiglin, an Israeli ultranationalist activist who “had a dream” to lead the government of the Jewish state  - and that day may well arrive soon. On January 22, Israelis will go the polls to elect, in all likeliness, a new Likud-Israel Beiteinu slate that some consider the most right-wing in the party’s history - a candidate list where even MK Benny Begin, the heir of the Revisionist movement, has now been edged out in favor of a new identity politics and ideological orientation.  

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How Unilateral Moves Can Help
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Ami Ayalon - (Opinion) December 13, 2012 - 1:00am

Several signs lately reinforce the conclusion that the direct negotiations paradigm for resolving the Israel-Palestinian conflict has failed and must be replaced. The recent U.N. vote accepting Palestine as a non-member state is one such sign: 138 states supported the Palestinians’ resolution, only 9 voted against it, including the United States (a prisoner of the old paradigm).

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