In her remarks on “Black-Palestinian Solidarity,” organized by Columbia University Apartheid Divest and the Columbia Black Students Organization in honor of Black History Month, Dr. Robyn Spencer, a history professor at Lehman College, explained how her work as a longtime prisoner solidarity activist led her to an explicit solidarity with the Palestinian people.
On Sunday, February 25, at their annual convention in San Diego, California, Democrats approved a set of positions on pending legislation that includes opposition to S 720/HR 1697, the Israel Anti-Boycott Act, a federal bill that would impose draconian penalties for boycotts regarding Israel under certain circumstances; and S 170/HR 2856, the Combatting BDS Act, which purports to permit and encourage states to enact similar laws–as many have.
Leftwing Israeli author Avraham Burg called for one state in Israel and Palestine and described some of his cousins as “literally speaking racist, xenophobic, Islamophobic, homophobic, OK, a few other phobias”, and he got a less than hearty welcome for his remarks at B’nai Jeshurun, a progressive NY synagogue. The sad state of American Jewry.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre closed its doors Sunday to protest a new Israeli property law and tax policy that would allow the government to take over church properties leased to private companies, and begin imposing taxes on church properties. On Tuesday evening, as crowds of tourists and Christians gathered to pray outside of the church, local Palestinian Christians and Muslims marched together from the Christian quarter of the Old City to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to protest the new policies.
Major General Yoav Mordechai, Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, claimed that 15-year-old Mohammad Tamimi admitted that the injury to his head was sustained from a bicycle accident, and not from Israeli forces shooting him in the face. Mohammad tells Mondoweiss he only said this because Israeli forces had “beaten him” into confessing. “We were in a car on our way to the interrogations and there were two Israeli officials who kept beating me in my face, back, everywhere and kept telling me that I had to admit it was a bicycle accident,” Mohammad said. “I was very scared and I didn’t want them to continue beating me, so I confessed.”
After 75,000 views, Youtube removed a cover version of Lorde’s hit song “Royals” that exalted the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign (BDS) “due to a copyright claim by Kobalt Music Productions.” Youtube let stand many other parodies of the song, often savage toward the artist. There is always an exception for pro-Palestinian creations.
In a sign of how unsettled Israeli society is by the Tamimi family’s nonviolent resistance in occupied Nabi Saleh, Major General Yoav Mordechai claims that Mohammed Tamimi, 15, was not shot in the head by Israelis in December, a lie of stunning audacity.
Two months after US President Donald Trump announced his recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem are expressing renewed fears of a changing status quo in the city. Earlier this month, Israel completed construction of a permanent watchtower checkpoint at the entrance of Damascus Gate, the main entrance to the Muslim Quarter of the Old City. Jerusalem resident Nasser Isa tells Mondoweiss that the construction of the watchtower is a clear step towards Israel establishing full control of the city: “This tower reveals the occupation’s security strategy for the city and the people who live here, and how they don’t believe in the freedom of expression, the freedom of movement, and the freedom of worship.”
After President Donald Trump praised a group of white nationalists in Charlottesville last year, describing “some very fine people on both sides,” at last 20 groups cancelled events at his Florida resort Mar-a-Lago in protest. But one group stood with the president amid the controversy. “I wanted to say, ‘Thank you, Mr. President, for being a supporter of the state of Israel, our only ally in the Mideast,’” said Steven Alembic, organizer of the The Truth About Israel Gala Event at Mar-a-Lago.
In the middle of the night on Monday, the Israeli military raided the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh in full force, a common occurrence for the village’s internationally-recognized residents, the Tamimi family, who have seen several family members arrested from the village in the past few months. On Monday alone, Israeli forces detained 10 members of the extended Tamimi family, including five minors between the ages of 14 and 17. Among the detainees was 15-year-old Muhammad Tamimi, who is scheduled to have reconstructive surgery on his skull due to being shot in the face by Israeli soldiers with a rubber-coated steel bullet in December.