President Reuven Rivlin, who is the surprise foremost senior Israeli official to address inequality over the past year, is set to make his most ambitious policy recommendations for Palestinian citizens of Israel in a speech Sunday at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya.
This June, three more U.S. churches—the Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ (UCC), and the Mennonite Church USA (MCUSA)—will join the growing list of those considering resolutions to end financial support for the Israeli occupation.
Peter Beinart and Yousef Munayyer had a debate about the solution of the conflict last night in New York at the New America Foundation. This was a historic encounter in that a mainstream organization was pairing a Zionist with an anti-Zionist; and Beinart, a leading liberal Zionist often asked to debate Zionists to his right, was engaging a Palestinian publicly on this question for the first time.
The city of Tel Aviv invited Caitlyn Jenner to its LGBT pride march this year, in an effort to “pinkwash” its growing international reputation for apartheid
The Forward says that the anti-boycott movement in the Jewish community is populated by wealth, righwing religious groups and Islamophobes and so will not reach progressive young Jews, while Peter Beinart says the Jewish community is having its rendezvous with BDS
Since the ceasefire that ended last the 51-day war last summer, Gaza’s armed resistance factions have largely observed the ceasefire amid near-daily Israeli violations. However, the prospect of another major Israeli attack is a question of when, not if, and Gaza’s resistance groups have been active in preparation for it. Dan Cohen interviews members of the al-Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades as they conduct close-combat and rocket exercises and they explain why they fight and what their expectations are for the next battle with Israel.
On April 27th, Students for Justice in Palestine and the #MUDivest coalition presented their recommendation for socially responsible investment and divestment to the Marquette University Student Government (MUSG) at the last meeting of the year. The resolution targeted the following major companies: Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard , G4S, and United Technologies. The supporters making up the coalition expected an uphill battle during the months leading up to the divestment vote, but they did not expect to encounter the unjust proceedings set forth by MUSG and attempts by student senators to remove the Palestinian voice entirely.
On Monday, Germany’s foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier visited the Gaza Strip and “expressed harsh criticism”, as German media outlets put it, after witnessing the destruction of Israel’s last attack in summer 2014. “Life in Gaza is unbearable”, Steinmeier said, adding that the status quo is unsustainable. After hearing such news, one might think that this politician is a bold truth teller and critic of the occupation, a remarkable role for a German Secretary of State. But a closer look shows that Steinmeier has behaved with just as much hypocrisy as many other European politicians who support Israel without reservation. In fact, he may be an even greater enabler of apartheid than any of his peers.
The Israeli government is too driven by the “politics of fear” to be able to make peace with Palestinians, President Obama tells Israel’s Channel 2, in explaining why he won’t try again to bring peace between Israel and Palestine. And Netanyahu sees the “worst possibilities” in Arabs and Palestinians, not the best.
Read an excerpt from Richard Falk’s new book “Chaos and Counterrevolution: After the Arab Spring.” This section follows the cycle of revolution and counter-revolution in Egypt since the fall of Hosni Mubarak.