Palestinian-American professor Steven Salaita was effectively fired from a tenured position in American Indian Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in 2014 for tweets critical of Israel. On August 6, a federal court upheld a Salaita against the university lawsuit on free speech grounds, ruling that the professor’s tweets “implicate every ‘central concern’ of the First Amendment.” In the midst of this ruling, Phyllis Wise, who faced harsh backlash for overseeing Salaita’s firing, resigned from her positions as UIUC chancellor and vice president, in which she had served since 2011.

So much is happening on the Iran deal. The stakes in the political battle keep rising and reputations and careers are now at risk, maybe even regimes.

Tell CT Senator Blumenthal, don’t follow Schumer; the Iran Deal is a really good deal for the United States and the world.

“Pricetag” murder of Palestinian baby in West Bank reveals hopelessness of two-state solution, but Jodi Rudoren of NYT massages away the truth with piece on W Jerusalem “soulsearching”

On August 5 Dorgham Abusalim visited the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC to hear a presentation by Embassy Spokesman Aaron Sagui as part of seminar on U.S. foreign policy with 40 participants from around the world. Before being able to attend the presentation, embassy security forced Abusalim, the only Palestinian in the group, to strip to his underwear. An Embassy spokesperson justified the episode by referring to past experiences with “Palestinian terrorists.”

The Jewish terror network in Israel has the support of many on the Israeli right. Days after Netanyahu gov’t evacuated a hilltop settlement, Education Minister Naftali Bennett embraced the a group; and murderous attack on Palestinians was seen as Jewish “resistance” to government removal of the settlement.

In a major victory for Palestine activists against the arms industry, a member of Thales senior management was summoned by the Scottish courts to answer questions as to the nature of their business. Under cross examiniation Senior Manager of Thales UK, Ian Lindsay, admitted that components manufactured on the Clyde in Glasgow are used in military drones. This is significant because it is rare that arms companies are called to face the courts as to the nature and legality of their business.

Obama has taken on the central points of the Israel lobby argument — a loose coalition of supporters distorts US policy in favor of Israel and played big part in starting Iraq war –and his speech ushers in a period in which American Jews will argue openly about Israel, and that’s a great thing

While a man hunt is underway to apprehend the Israeli killers of 18-month old Ali Dawabshe, the Palestinian baby burned to death in a settler arson attack last Friday, for the past two nights more than one hundred Israeli soldiers and Shin Beit security officials have raided the homes of the Dawabshe family in the West Bank village of Duma near Nablus.