Media

  • Settlement & Annexation Report: February 24, 2023

    Welcome to FMEP’s Weekly Settlement Report, covering everything you need to know about Israeli settlement activity this week. To subscribe to this report, please click here.…

  • Supreme Court declines to hear challenge to Arkansas state law prohibiting contractors from boycotting Israel (JTA)

    “Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, criticized Jewish groups that celebrated the court’s decision not to take the case. She tweeted that AJC and others like it ‘are celebrating a court ruling that undermines Americans’ right to boycott ANYTHING as a matter of protest/conscience.’ Friedman recently authored a memo arguing that anti-BDS laws were being used as templates for other state laws dealing with different kinds of boycotts, including against the firearms and fossil fuel industries, as well as in state-level efforts to reduce the growing trend of environmental, social and corporate governance investing.”

  • ‘Moderate PAC’ is latest big-money push to keep Democrats in line on Israel (Mondoweiss)

    ” Israel hardly needed Kohelet to disenfranchise Palestinians and deny their rights. But the power of their tactics, and especially the fact that few recognize that an unaccountable organization is responsible for so much policy is considerable. That’s why their connection to right-wing support of Israel in the United States is so important. The head of Kohelet’s international law department, Eugene Kontorovich, is perhaps the leading figure in both writing laws and manipulating existing legislation to support Israel’s interests. As Lara Friedman of the Foundation for Middle East Peace described it, Kontorovich has worked ‘to effectively change U.S. laws so that we no longer view boycotts of Israel or settlements as a legitimate form of protest.’”

  • Settlement & Annexation Report: February 17, 2023

    Welcome to FMEP’s Weekly Settlement Report, covering everything you need to know about Israeli settlement activity this week. To subscribe to this report, please click here.…

  • FMEP Legislative Round-Up: February 17, 2023

    1.Bills, Resolutions & Letters 2. Media & Reports 3. Members on the Record (Palestine/Palestinians) 4. Members on the Record (Israel) 5. Members on the Record…

  • GOP Megadonor Is Funding a Far-Right Israeli Think Tank — and Establishment Democrats (The Intercept)

    “…Kohelet’s aims are not restricted to Israel’s domestic politics.Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, noted that the group’s director of international policy has supported U.S. legislation that would make boycotts against Israel illegal and has worked ‘to effectively change U.S. laws so that we no longer view boycotts of Israel or settlements as a legitimate form of protest.’” & “Kohelet and the Moderate PAC are both part of a broader project to silence criticism of Israel in Congress and bolster institutional support for the Netanyahu regime, Friedman said. Kohelet has been behind many of Israel’s illiberal policies, she noted, adding that Congress has stifled critiques of the same policies, which have been condemned by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. ‘Now the common refrain in Congress is, ‘Oh, this is antisemitic,’ which is then used to shut down critics of Israel like Ilhan Omar. There’s something rather elegant about this. It suggests that on this issue, we all stand together arm in arm on what it means to be pro-Israel today,’ Friedman said. ‘This is why they’re so worried about progressive candidates coming up in the ranks. You’ve gotta nip this in the bud.’”