This week saw two acts of terror committed within two historic Christian churches. While most Americans know about the Charleston tragedy unfolding on TV, another act of racist violence was taking place in the church of the multiplication, on the Sea of Galilee, the site of Jesus’s miracle of multiplying two fish and five loaves to feed 5,000 people
In reporting a Palestinian killing an Israeli on the West Bank, the NYT says it is reminiscent of last year’s teen killings, leaving out the fact that last year’s violence began with killings of Palestinian teens at Nakba Day demo
New York Times demonstrates a double standard in chronicling potential Hamas censorship of a satirical show in Gaza but leaving out actual threats of censorship by Israel’s new rightwing cultural minister Miri Regev
Ma’an News: Hamas military wing Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades reportedly claimed responsibility for Friday’s West Bank shooting that left an Israel man dead and another lightly injured. A statement released by the group identified the “Marwan Qawasmeh and Amir Abu Eisha Brigade” as the group directly behind Friday’s shooting, adding that “the operation was carried out days before the first anniversary of the martyrs Marwan Qawasmeh and Amir Abu Eisha.” The two were killed by Israeli forces after being accused of kidnapping and killing three Israeli teenage settlers near Hebron last summer in what many say was a triggering point for last summer’s Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip.
Do Black lives matter in America? After the murders in Charleston, the historic debate about race in American history rages on a new level. Do Black lives matter to Jews? Another longstanding debate stretching from the Civil Rights era to the present. Yet of late a new and dangerous element is being reintroduced into the discussion by BlackLivesMatter and Jews of Conscience that threatens to resolve the issue in a definitive and negative way. The issue revolves around Jews and Palestinians: If Palestinian lives don’t matter to Jews, how can Black lives matter to Jews?
Israel absolved itself of responsibility for the killings of four boys from the Bakr family who were playing soccer on the beach in Gaza. Dan Cohen visits the home. A survivor of the attack, Muntasir is called “the living martyr.” Wounded badly in the attack, he requires medical attention and tells himself if only they’d held his hand, his brother and nephew would still be alive
Michael Oren says the NYT rejected an op-ed written by former Israeli president Shimon Peres. NYT editorial page editor Andrew Rosenthal says this is not true, as reported by Larry Cohler-Esses at Forward
Oren Moverman, screenwriter for Love and Mercy, left Israel because it was an occupier. On Fresh Air, Terry Gross reinterprets that, he grew up in a house full of women and didn’t like the culture of the military.
Statistics tell a certain kind of grim story in the landscape of Palestine. Yet the numbers, telling as they may be, can’t begin to evoke the feeling of the transformed Palestinian landscape, nor the profound power imbalance that defines relations between Israel and the Palestinians. Author Sandy Tolan writes, “Only a road trip through Palestine can do that.”
In July, activists standing in solidarity with Palestinians will attempt to shut down an Israeli arms factory in England on the anniversary of Israel’s military operation ‘Protective Edge’.