A surprising number of Democratic politicians running in close elections have not been vocally supportive of Israel after it attacked Gaza. They include Raphael Warnock, Mark Kelly, John Fetterman, and most of the candidates in the crowded 10th district in New York. These Dems surely see Israel as an issue that is going to cause them problems with Democratic voters, so they avoid the association.

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Mondoweiss Podcast, Episode 39: The UN is investigating the root causes of violence between Israelis and Palestinians

A surprising number of Democratic politicians running in close elections have not been vocally supportive of Israel after it attacked Gaza. They include Raphael Warnock, Mark Kelly, John Fetterman, and most of the candidates in the crowded 10th district in New York. These Dems surely see Israel as an issue that is going to cause them problems with Democratic voters, so they avoid the association.

Mourners attend the funeral of 7 Palestinian including Islamic Jihad movement commander Khaled Mansour, were killed in Israeli air strikes on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on August 7, 2022. The death toll from violence in Gaza has risen to 29, including six children, the health ministry in the Palestinian enclave said today, correcting a previous statement. The health ministry also said that 253 people in Gaza had been wounded since the hostilities with Israel broke out on August 5. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement on Sunday confirmed the death of its senior commander Khaled Mansour in Israeli airstrike on the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah. Photo by Ashraf Amra/APAimages

An Egyptian-brokered ceasefire went into effect at 11:30pm local time (20:30 GMT). Palestinian Islamic Jihad announced the ceasefire in a statement, adding that they have a right to “respond to any Zionist aggression.”

Mondoweiss correspondent in Gaza Tareq Hajjaj reported that Israeli airstrikes were ongoing in the last hour leading up to the ceasefire.

The Gaza Health Ministry reports that 43 Palestinians, including 15 children, have been killed in Gaza since Israel began airstrikes on the besieged strip on Friday.

My family members were killed in Israel’s massacre in May 2021. This year, my childhood friends were killed in the latest escalation. This is life in Gaza. Sometimes, to survive, you have to die. And to live, you have to die, too. 

The Rev. Mike Ehmer, chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Program, Finance & Budget, presents the 2023-24 budget proposal to a joint session of the 80th General Convention in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo: David Paulsen/Episcopal News Service)

Meeting in its General Convention, the Episcopal Church adopted resolutions which condemn Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian people, call for the President and Congress to oppose punishing active support for nonviolent boycotts, and call for conditioning U.S. military assistance on human rights. In addition, they point to the escalating threats to Christians living in the Holy Land.

Shireen Abu Akleh

The B’Tselem report on the May 11 killing of Shireen Abu Akleh emphasizes eyewitness accounts, including the stunning heroism of Sharif al-‘Azab who tried to save her life amid gunfire. And it blows up the U.S. claim that the Israeli shooting was “tragic” not “intentional.” Such a finding is “detached from reality” — in this case, repeated “shooting directly at unarmed civilians” demonstrates that Israel uses live fire in non-life-threatening circumstances and takes no action against killers. And Israel is whitewashing the Abu Akleh killing, like 100s of cases before it, B’Tselem says.

Shaul Magid’s biography of Meir Kahane is timely because Kahane is an icon for the messianic Jewish leaders who are pushing the country further right. The book is Magid’s “attempt to understand his worldview.” But Kahane’s worldview is easy to understand: Jews must forever rule the Promised Land. And that extremist religious Zionism now sets the agenda for the country.

Poster promoting aliyah.

Liz Rose wrestles with the Zionism she found so enthralling as a girl. “I didn’t care about my Russia Ukraine history. From a very early age–and with enormous help from the Zionist lobby’s efforts to create a brilliant branding campaign–I fantasized about and idealized Israel far more than I ever wondered about the true place my family was from. Instead of learning about Russia Ukraine, I dreamt of working in a field picking tomatoes on a kibbutz in Israel, singing songs while tilling the land, and putting down new roots with other young Jews who, like me, had cut the branches from their families in the U.S. (and Europe) and left their old lives behind.”

Lina Abu Akleh, niece of veteran Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, talks to Mondoweiss about the family’s quest for justice for Shireen, who was killed by Israeli forces in Jenin on May 11, 2022.

Lina shares her memories of the tragic days of Shireen’s death, as well as what Shireen meant to her as an aunt, friend, and role model. Lina tells Mondoweiss that in order to honor Shireen’s legacy we should continue to talk about Palestine every single day. “Talking about Shireen is talking about Palestine,” she says.

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