AIPAC's analysis of current issues, policy and legislation.
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December 09, 2011
Time and again, Israeli leaders have offered direct negotiations to their Palestinian neighbors. Unfortunately, Palestinian leaders have repeatedly rebuffed Israeli entreaties, set preconditions for talks and turned to bodies like the United Nations. The United States and the international community should continue to urge the Palestinians to end their long campaign of rejectionism and make a real effort to achieve peace through negotiations with the Jewish state.
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December 09, 2011
The Senate voted 100-0 last week to impose sanctions on the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) — the key financial facilitator of Iran’s nuclear weapons program and its support for terrorism. The Obama administration also recently imposed new measures to target Iran’s petroleum and petrochemical sectors. Congress should quickly finalize CBI sanctions in the National Defense Authorization Act, and the administration should strictly implement these sanctions to dissuade Tehran from its nuclear weapons quest.
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November 10, 2011
The Palestinians’ successful effort to seek membership at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) represents a blatant attempt to politicize the U.N. system and seek platforms to further attack Israel. Similar Palestinian efforts at other U.N. agencies will only serve to undermine the worthy goals of those agencies and impede efforts to realize Israeli-Palestinian peace. The United States must continue to dissuade Palestinians from these harmful efforts at the United Nations while urging them to return to the negotiating table with Israel.
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November 10, 2011
The United States must sanction the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) and rally international support for similar measures amid unprecedented revelations from the International Atomic Energy Agency about Iran’s nuclear weapons pursuit. The CBI is the key financial facilitator of the Iranian regime’s quest for nuclear weapons and its terrorist activities. Tough action against the bank by American and like-minded nations will drastically increase the pressure on Tehran to end its illicit activities.
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October 27, 2011
Both the terrorist organization Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA) are honoring—with prestige, cash and luxury hotel stays—the Palestinian terrorists recently released by Israel to free abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Hamas now threatens to kidnap more Israeli soldiers. Rather than exalting murderers, Palestinian leaders should distance themselves from terrorists and get back to the negotiating table with Israel.
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October 21, 2011
Iran’s plot to attack Saudi and Israeli targets on American soil exposes Tehran’s ever-growing threat to America and our allies. This terror plan marks the culmination of a decades-old pattern of attacks by a regime approaching a nuclear weapons capability. Washington cannot countenance such Iranian action. It must hold responsible the attack’s planner—Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)—and sanction Iran’s Central Bank, an entity that has supported Iranian terrorist and proliferation activities.
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October 12, 2011
Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas’ continued defiance of President Obama’s call to resume peace negotiations intensifies doubts about Abbas’ commitment to reaching an agreement with Israel. Shunning serious talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for more than two years, Abbas prefers U.N. support for his maximalist demands to compromise with the Jewish state. America and the Quartet must persuade Abbas that dodging direct talks with Israel will constitute a dead end for legitimate Palestinian aspirations.
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October 06, 2011
The Palestinians continue to rebuff repeated U.S. and Israeli calls – as well as a joint statement by the Middle East Quartet – to return to negotiations without preconditions. Instead, they are pursuing a misguided effort to seek United Nations membership – a move that contradicts both the letter and spirit of their prior commitments. The United States should continue pressing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to resume talks with Israel and make clear that continued intransigence will bring consequences.
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September 29, 2011
Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula has deteriorated into a chaotic situation during the past several months. Terrorist organizations and Bedouin tribes have exploited this lawless region to step up weapons smuggling and perpetrate a sophisticated attack on the Jewish state, which killed eight Israelis. The United States and the international community must further press Egypt’s leaders to bolster security along the Israeli-Egyptian and Egyptian-Gazan borders as part of Cairo’s maintenance of its international obligations, including the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty.
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September 15, 2011
The severity of the challenges facing Israel is mounting on a daily basis. In the past few weeks alone, the Jewish state has faced an assault on its Cairo embassy, hundreds of rocket attacks from Gaza, and Ankara’s decision to downgrade relations and threaten the use of force. Palestinians have launched a campaign to delegitimize Israel at the United Nations, while Iran repeats its crude threats to wipe out the Jewish state. At this critical moment, it is vitally important for American leaders to strongly and unequivocally support Israel’s right to exist in peace and security free from threats of violence and isolation.
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September 15, 2011
The Palestinian effort to secure recognition of statehood at the United Nations is a direct challenge to U.S. interests and could have severe implications for the peace process. Palestinian Authority (PA) leaders have indicated their intention to exploit recognition of Palestinian statehood to isolate Israel and attack her in international fora. The United States must continue to strongly oppose harmful Palestinian efforts at the United Nations—including through the use of its Security Council veto—and warn the Palestinians that their actions can damage U.S.-Palestinian relations and near-term prospects for peace.
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September 15, 2011
Iran is nearing a tipping point in its illicit and aggressive quest for a nuclear weapons capability, according to a new International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report. Tehran’s brutally repressive regime has dramatically enhanced its ability to produce nuclear weapons material. America must work ardently to focus attention on this dangerous development and the need for immediate, vigorous international action to thwart Iran’s nuclear weapons program.
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September 15, 2011
This fall, the Palestinians are substituting showmanship at the United Nations for the real work of negotiating peace with Israel. This gambit could harm both U.S. peace efforts and Israel’s standing in the international arena. Below are some frequently asked questions about the Palestinians’ U.N. efforts and related issues.