“‘Some observers seem to assume that it is merely about virtue signaling and grandstanding, but careful reading of the text of HR 6408 strongly suggests something much more serious,’ wrote Lara Friedman in her Foundation for Middle East Peace newsletter. ‘This would be: enabling a new category of legal harassment of NGOs [non-government organizations], focused in the first instance on those that engage with Palestinians or on Palestinian issues, but also enabling attacks on NGOs working in any sector and on any issues.'”

“The high-stakes war has found especially fertile ground on social media, where some Palestinian rights activists say they are disproportionately named, shamed and punished. ‘The intent here is not just to punish but also to have a chilling effect,’ said Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, a think tank. ‘It’s to send a message to people that … if you dare speak out of line when it comes to questions related to Israel, you can and may face dramatic consequences — life-changing consequences.’”

“The Manning-Rosen bill may still face controversy: A substantial portion is devoted to combating antisemitism on American campuses, and activists on the left worry that the fight against campus antisemitism is sometimes used as a way to shut down criticism of Israel. Lara Friedman, the president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, noted on X, formerly Twitter, that the bill’s section on higher education cites a 2019 executive order on antisemitism by President Donald Trump. ‘That EO, as a reminder, centers on enforcing the IHRA definition, including its examples as part of Title VI, as a means of repressing/punishing/chilling criticism and activism targeting Israel and/or Zionism on U.S. campuses,’ she said.”

“HuffPost discussed Hamas’ statements and its role in Israeli-Palestinian developments with two longtime analysts of the conflict [FME’s Lara Friedman & MEI’s Khaled Elgindy.” See article for Friedman’s analysis/quotes.

“Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, said that the question of acceptable language on Israel and Palestine often comes down to whether the orator is supportive of Israel or not: ‘It’s never really about what any of them say.’”

“Gottheimer’s letter suggesting additions to the State Department funding bill also proposed halting U.S. support for any international organizations whose conduct ‘constitutes antisemitism’ under a controversial definition crafted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Association. Even considering that change is striking, and implementing it would be alarming, argued Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace think tank. ‘Gottheimer’s text represents an unprecedented effort to make U.S. activities and relationships in the international arena, including those critical to U.S. national security, conditional on adherence to a hugely controversial definition of antisemitism, the clear focus of which is to suppress and punish criticism of Israel,’ Friedman told HuffPost.”

“Now, Netanyahu’s extremist allies are using the pretext of Hamas’s attacks to fundamentally reshape Gaza and Palestine. ‘Israel this time has a different set of objectives,’ Lara Friedman of the Foundation for Middle East Peace told me. ‘They want to take this moment to fundamentally change the paradigm and erase Gaza.'”

“Instead of constituting a substantive shift in US support for Israel, experts say, Democrats’ emboldened critique of Netanyahu should be understood as an attempt to respond to growing voter frustration without changing policy, as the Biden administration remains unwilling to use US aid and arms exports to Israel as leverage to demand a change in behavior. In this context, the choice to focus on Netanyahu ‘is a political decision to avoid outright criticism of Israel’s war conduct,’ said Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace. For Schumer, in particular, blaming Netanyahu as an individual was a way ‘to avoid the implication that he is lessening his support for the Israeli state or the Israeli people,’ she said. ‘Instead, Schumer is focusing on a man who is unpopular among Democrats to say, ‘See, we are standing up for our values, so voters should stop being mad at us.’’”

“’No one says we need the I.H.R.A. definition so we can go after Nazis talking about killing Jews or classic antisemitic tropes about Jews and media and banks,’ said Lara Friedman, the president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace. The definition, rather, ‘is about getting at this other supposed antisemitism.’”

“…Lara Friedman, the president of the Foundation of the Middle East Peace, agreed that the sanctions should be seen as a political maneuver—and one, she said, that comes up short. ‘By going after settlers the way they are, not only are they trying to deflect focus away from their lack of interest in protecting Palestinian lives in Gaza, they’ve picked a strategy that lets them not challenge the Israeli government in any way,’ Friedman said.