Nadia Hijab, a leading thinker on Middle East issues, says Palestinians must insist on their right to self-determination and to reparations for their losses from Israel, ahead of the issue of one or two states. She counts on highly-organized Jewish allies in this struggle. She used to ask Jews what they were doing in the movement. Now they’re so common, she never does.

In a strong editorial, the LA Times says that Israel’s “noxious” law against admitting boycott supporters will not stop the country’s “delegitimization,” and that US states are also wrong to try and legislate against Boycott, Divestment Sanctions (BDS), because it’s a “classic tool” of nonviolent dissent.

In the 1950s Israel used a savage treatment for ringworm on immigrant Mizrahi children: approximately 100,000 Jewish immigrant children from Arab countries were taken from their parents and without parental consent, their heads were shaved, their hair was plucked, they were placed on a table, sometimes in restraints, and given radiation doses. The case is reminiscent of the infamous Tuskegee Syphilis Study.

At the annual Mennonite Church USA assembly in Orlando, FL the religious group voted to endorse boycott of business profiting from the occupation with an overwhelming 98 percent of delegates voting in favor, “One of the commitments of the resolution is to avoid economic support for the military occupation of Palestinian territories. Drawing on a long-tradition of stewardship practices, the resolution calls on members to avoid purchase of products associated with the occupation or produced in settlements in occupied territories. It also establishes a process for the church to review its investments “for the purpose of withdrawing investments from companies that are profiting from the occupation.”

Ofer Neiman, an Israeli who has spent years fighting for Palestinian equality and against apartheid, describes the experience of being ostracized within his country. “The anti-apartheid camp in Israel is simply way too small. So we desperately need to communicate with the outside world. And for those who seek justice and full equality in Palestine/Israel, Mondoweiss empowers via information, commentary and action alerts. The sense of utter isolation is why I’m writing to urge your support of Mondoweiss today.”

The Church around the world has failed the Palestinian church. Year after year of soft solidarity has failed to improve Palestinian conditions. No calling out of who has the power, who remains silent. Solidarity must become stronger, and church groups must be willing to fall out with Jewish friends.

This year, for the first time, Vermonters for Justice in Palestine (VTJP) organized a band of members to march in the annual, Independence Day parade in Montpelier, Vermont. The group also launched their own the Declaration of Independence, charging Israel of imposing on the Palestinians “For quartering large bodies of armed troops among them; For cutting off their Trade with all parts of the world; For imposing Taxes on them without their Consent; For depriving them of the benefit of Trial by Jury.”

The UN Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) voted 12 to three on Friday to recognize Hebron’s Old City and the Tomb of the Patriarchs as a World Heritage Site, with six countries abstaining — a move acclaimed by Palestinian officials and slammed by their Israeli and American counterparts. The committee simultaneously added Hebron to the list of World Heritage Sites in Danger.

Jonathan Cook finds contemporary parallels to interventionist wars in the hit film ‘Wonder Woman’: “this much-praised Gal Gadot vehicle–seemingly about a peace-loving superhero, Wonder Woman, from the DC Comics stable–is actually carefully purposed propaganda designed to force-feed aggressive western military intervention, dressed up as humanitarianism, to unsuspecting audiences.”

As Terry Gross’s interview with Muslim reformer Haroon Moghul on Fresh Air yesterday demonstrates, the mainstream media loves anti-Islamists and the war for the soul of Islam. But it maintains a blacklist of anti-Zionists and ignores the war for the soul of Judaism.