U.S.-Israel Relations | The American Task Force on Palestine

Watching the Arab vote
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Douglas Bloomfield - (Opinion) February 22, 2012 - 1:00am

Quite a bit has been written lately about the impact of the Jewish vote in this year’s presidential race, but what about the Arab-American vote? That will be tested next week in the state with the country’s second largest Arab-American population, Michigan, and a week later in Ohio, which ranks eighth. Unlike Jews, who historically vote 3:1 Democratic, Arab Americans have been less predictable. Republican candidates Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich have done little discernible to court Michigan’s Arab- American voters.

Friendship Under Fire
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by David Makovsky - (Opinion) February 22, 2012 - 1:00am

Next month, U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold a key meeting over the Iranian nuclear challenge that will test their sometimes rocky relationship. After a weekend visit by National Security Advisor Tom Donilon to Israel, the White House announced this week that Obama will host Netanyahu in Washington on March 5. This will be an opportunity for the two leaders to synchronize their positions on Iran.

It's Israeli Apartheid Week. Just tell the truth
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Bradley Burston - (Opinion) February 22, 2012 - 1:00am

It's that time again. On campuses the world over, the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement is mounting its eighth annual Israeli Apartheid Week. In the past, this has been a time for hardline pro-Palestinians and hardline pro-Israelis to rumble, counter-accuse, hurl half-truths and, often as not, scrum to an ineffectual draw. Not this year. This year there's something distinctly unfamiliar in the air. People have begun telling the truth about BDS.

White House: Netanyahu, Obama to meet in Washington on March 5
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Natasha Mozgovaya - February 20, 2012 - 1:00am

U.S. President Barack Obama will host a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington on March 5, the White House said on Monday, a session that will likely center on the West's efforts to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions. A White House statement rounding up the recent Israel visit by Obama's National Security Advisor Tom Donilon, which announced the date for the upcoming meeting, indicated that the top advisor discussed the "full range of security issues of mutual concern" during his meetings with Israeli leadership.

‘NYT’ J’lem bureau chief pick sparks uproar
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Oren Kessler - (Opinion) February 17, 2012 - 1:00am

The New York Times’ choice of its next Jerusalem bureau chief touched off a fierce social-media debate on Tuesday, just hours after its announcement and months before she is to arrive in Israel. On Tuesday evening, the Times announced on its Twitter feed that Jodi Rudoren, hitherto the paper’s education editor, would replace veteran bureau chief Ethan Bronner in the capital. By nightfall Rudoren’s had found herself in hot water, accused of pro- Palestinian bias in arguably the world’s most sensitive journalistic posting. Much of the controversy has occurred on social media.

The U.S.-Israeli Trust Gap on Iran
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
(Editorial) February 15, 2012 - 1:00am

TWO MONTHS ago we questioned a decision by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to spell out publicly his objections to an Israeli military strike against Iran’s nuclear program — a speech that must have cheered the commanders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Now Mr. Panetta has indirectly caused a similar stir: After a conversation with Mr. Panetta this month, The Post’s David Ignatius reported that the Pentagon chief “believes there is a strong likelihood that Israel will strike Iran in April, May or June.”

Abbas and Obama Should Not Expect a Helping Hand From Netanyahu
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post
by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) February 15, 2012 - 1:00am

After the uproar over the Palestinian Authority's admission to UNESCO some three months ago, President Mahmoud Abbas ordered a freeze on PA requests for admission to other UN organizations. It seems that Abbas promised Barack Obama that until the presidential elections he would spare the U.S. president from having to choose between a vote that would annoy Jewish voters and one that would upset the Palestinian voters and their sympathizers.

Obama administration to seek waiver on UNESCO funding ban
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Ron Kampeas - February 15, 2012 - 1:00am

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- The Obama administration formally announced its intention to ask Congress to waive a ban on funding UNESCO over its recognition of Palestinian statehood. "The Department of State intends to work with Congress to seek legislation that would provide authority to waive restrictions on paying the U.S. assessed contributions to UNESCO," says a footnote in the budget that the White House submitted to Congress this month.

Transatlantic Jewish Meeting Triggers Row
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Guttman - February 15, 2012 - 1:00am

Washington — A recent meeting between American Jewry’s primary umbrella group for Israel and other foreign affairs, and a controversial new European group has sparked heated exchanges among European and American Jewish leaders. In the days leading up to the meeting, communal officials on both continents warned the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations against its plans for an official exchange involving the American umbrella group and the European Jewish Union.

Opinion: BDS Absolutism Undermined Discourse
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Exponent
by Logan Bayroff - (Opinion) February 15, 2012 - 1:00am

The atmosphere in the lead-up to the recent boycott, divestment and sanctions conference at the University of Pennsylvania was characterized by acrimony and anger not native to this campus. Yet this acrimony did not come from students or university representatives, or from campus institutions like Hillel. We in the Penn community did our basic duty to uphold free speech on campus. And the conference went forward without incident. Not only Penn students, however, responded to what went on here.

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