Jeremy Ben-Ami’s “A New Voice for Israel: Fighting for the Survival of the Jewish Nation”
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Sari Nusseibeh - (Opinion) August 4, 2011 - 12:00am

J Street is the organization that Jeremy Ben-Ami and other American Jewish activists set up several years ago to counteract the influence of the lobbying group AIPACon American foreign policy. In his book “A New Voice For Israel,” Ben-Ami tells the story of J Street’s uphill battle to win the support of America’s Jewish community, and he explains the need for Israel to have a new Jewish voice in Washington that can free American policy sufficiently to bring about a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine stalemate.

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President Peres Accepts Credentials of U.S. Ambassador to Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Embassy of Israel to the United States
August 3, 2011 - 12:00am

President Shimon Peres accepted the credentials today (August 3) of the incoming Ambassador of the United States to Israel, Daniel Shapiro.

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New US ambassador says Obama might visit Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by The Associated Press - August 3, 2011 - 12:00am

The new U.S. ambassador to Israel says President Barack Obama hopes to visit. Daniel Shapiro presented his credentials to Israeli President Shimon Peres on Wednesday. The 42-year-old Shapiro is Jewish and speaks Hebrew and Arabic. He told Israeli TV stations the U.S. is trying to restart peace talks to head off the Palestinian effort to win recognition from the U.N. He told Channel 2 TV the U.S. is hopeful but that "it's not certain that we will be able to achieve a formula."

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Netanyahu should go to Ramallah to bring peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Adam R. Bronfman, Edgar M. Bronfman - (Opinion) July 31, 2011 - 12:00am

NEW YORK (JTA) -- For the Arab Spring, Israel represents the hope that in the Middle East, a nation can be both a national homeland and a free society. Israel is a modern, thriving democracy amid a region dominated by despotic regimes that brutally oppress their people and rape their land’s resources. Freedom enables Israel’s advancing economy, robust educational system, unique culture, prolific media and independent judiciary to thrive.

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3 Israeli insiders lament drift from two-state talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Philadelphia Inquirer
by Trudy Rubin - (Opinion) July 31, 2011 - 12:00am

It's time to start thinking about what will happen to Israel - and U.S. policy in the Middle East - when the peace process ends. Politicians don't openly discuss the deep threat to Israel's existence that would result from an end to negotiations over a two-state solution (meaning a Palestinian state living peacefully alongside Israel).

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US voices commitment to Israel in defense talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
July 29, 2011 - 12:00am

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- The United States on Thursday reiterated its support for a strong military in Israel as Defense Minister Ehud Barak held talks with top leaders in Washington. Barak met separately with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and newly installed Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Both meetings were closed to the press, with officials offering general statements. Panetta stressed his "strong commitment" to defense relations with Israel and to "ensuring that Israel maintains its qualitative military edge," Pentagon spokesman George Little said.

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Common Ground
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Tablet Magazine
by Allison Hoffman - (Opinion) July 28, 2011 - 12:00am

You’ve seen this movie before: Bitter rivals, bound by the interests of shared history and common geography, find themselves unable to resolve a decades-old policy dispute with potentially world-historical implications. A deadline looms, offering an opportunity for both sides to draw lines in the sand. A pro forma bit of bureaucratic maneuvering escalates into a crisis.

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Middle East drama on Capitol Hill
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Natasha Mozgovaya - (Analysis) July 28, 2011 - 12:00am

This summer is much busier than usual in Washington, DC, even without taking the debt ceiling drama into account. Here are some updates on what is going on in the U.S. capital: 1. Congressmen press the Obama administration to take a more decisive position on Syria The U.S. administration has pretty much exhausted all the possible ways to put pressure on Assad's regime - sanctions, rebukes, hints that the regime "is not indispensible" – other than explicitly calling for Assad to step down. And that's exactly what members of Congress would like the Administration to do.

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U.S. report recommends ending loan guarantees to Israel at end of 2011
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - July 28, 2011 - 12:00am

An internal report of the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of State recommends terminating the U.S. loan guarantee program to Israel at the end of 2011. The report, which deals with the performance of the U.S. embassy in Israel, says American diplomats have difficulty mustering support for the Obama administration's policies and implies the embassy failed completely in its PR efforts during the Obama administration.

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Ayalon vs. Goldberg, on Twitter
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Tablet Magazine
by Marc Tracy - (Opinion) July 28, 2011 - 12:00am

In one corner, in gray suit, we have former ambassador to the United States and current Israeli deputy foreign minister Danny Ayalon, purveyor of a recent viral YouTube video (nearly 200,000 hits) that, shall we say, elides much of the complexity surrounding Israel’s occupation of the West Bank. In the opposing corner, in khaki slacks, we have contributing editor Jeff Goldberg, who noted (via the Forward) that the video is an almost word-for-word copy of a video made by a settlers’ organization, and concluded, “The Israeli Foreign Ministry Is Now Part of the Settlement Movement.”

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