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

The Dilemmas of Jewish Power
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Roger Cohen - (Opinion) February 13, 2012 - 1:00am

LONDON — Peter Beinart’s “The Crisis of Zionism” is an important new book that rejects the manipulation of Jewish victimhood in the name of Israel’s domination of the Palestinians and asserts that the real issue for Jews today is not the challenge of weakness but the demands of power.

Obama’s Dangerous Game With Iran
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Christopher Dickey, R.M. Schneiderman - February 13, 2012 - 1:00am

Well before he moved into the White House, Barack Obama began talking to Israel about Iran’s nuclear program, and even then there was mistrust. He met in 2008 with several leading Israelis, including Benjamin Netanyahu—before Netanyahu was elected prime minister—and impressed everyone with his determination to stop Iran from going nuclear. Netanyahu liked much of what he heard, according to a source in his inner circle. What troubled him, however, was that Obama didn’t talk specifically about Israel’s security.

BDS Movement Hopes To Go Mainstream
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Naomi Zeveloff - February 9, 2012 - 1:00am

The movement to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel — long painted as a fringe group by the Israel advocacy community — is seeking to wrap itself in the mantle of the mainstream American left. At the movement’s first-ever national conference, presenters and attendees compared BDS to the Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott, the Cesar Chavez grape boycott and the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, from which it draws inspiration. They also worried about how to brand themselves in easily accessible sound bites.

West Does Not Have Monopoly On Veto Morality
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Zvi Barel - (Opinion) February 8, 2012 - 1:00am

"At the end of last week we received a reminder about the environment we're living in. We heard Iran's ruler talk about Israel's destruction, we saw the Syrian army massacring its own people. Some leaders have no compunctions about harming their people or their neighbors," said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the start of the cabinet meeting. True, it's a lousy environment. Only one sentence is needed to complete the picture: "And there are governments that don't mind continuing to occupy other nations for nearly 50 years."

‘Elections Won’t Keep DC From Pushing Peace’
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Herb Keinon - (Interview) February 8, 2012 - 1:00am

If Washington feels a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians is possible in the near future it will become actively involved in securing an agreement even during an election year, former ambassador to the US Sallai Meridor said Tuesday. Senior Israeli officials have said in recent weeks they did not feel Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was interested in serious negotiations with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu now because of the assumption that US President Barack Obama could not press Netanyahu to make concessions during an election year.

Jews Shift Toward GOP, Survey Claims
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Josh Nathan-Kazis - February 3, 2012 - 1:00am

Jewish support for the Republican Party has grown dramatically since 2008 nationwide, a new analysis of survey data out from the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press suggests. The data found that the shift in the GOP direction has been more significant than among the general public. The findings could point to trouble for the Democrats in the 2012 presidential election, where both parties are counting on strong showings among Florida’s Jewish voters in particular.

U.S. Jews should put themselves before Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Anshel Pfeffer - (Opinion) February 3, 2012 - 1:00am

The second-richest Jew in the world is once again in the spotlight. Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miri have together donated $10 million to Winning Our Future, the political action committee supporting Newt Gingrich's campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, and the pundits are asking how one man and his wife can be allowed to sway an election with the weight of their money.

Why the US-Israel relationship is unique and critical
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Alllen B. West - (Opinion) February 2, 2012 - 1:00am

The history of the Jewish people in the land of Israel stems back more than 3,000 years, unbowed by the sequential rise and fall of the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Maccabeans, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Egyptians, Crusaders, Mamelukes and Turks. In comparison, the history of our own United States dates back 236 years. Although America is a young society, we have shared fundamental principles with the Jewish heritage from the time of our founding. Today, the bonds between America and Israel are stronger than ever, yet they have never been more threatened.

Israel Replace Race as Obama Fear
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Josh Nathan-Kazis - (Analysis) February 1, 2012 - 1:00am

Boca Raton, Fla. — In 2008, comedian Sarah Silverman recorded a web video urging young Jews to go to Florida and convince their grandparents to vote for Obama. If Obama lost, Silverman warned, she would “blame the Jews.” Silverman was joking, sort of. But she was also responding to rumors, then rampant among older Floridian Jews, that Obama was a Muslim — and to the widespread belief that these rumors would hurt his election bid. Obama went on to earn 78% of the Jewish vote nationally and to win Florida, including the heavily Jewish Florida counties of Broward and Palm Beach.

The Monitor, Merrimac, and Middle East
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Robert Satloff - (Opinion) January 31, 2012 - 1:00am

"Our ironclad commitment -- and I mean ironclad -- to Israel's security has meant the closest military cooperation between our two countries in history."

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