“I think you have to worry for Israel and Israel’s interests” if Donald Trump cuts a deal with Russia in Syria, says Michele Flournoy, the liberal interventionist who was thought to be Hillary Clinton’s choice for Defense Secretary.
Listening to Donald Trump’s inaugural speech led Richard Falk to consider what it might mean to live in a pre-fascist state. While the pieces are in place to facilitate a horrifying transition from pre-fascism to fascism, Falk says there are also some more encouraging tendencies that could mount anti-fascist challenges from within and below.
Choice is arguably the most important component of modern feminism. Feminism dictates that women deserve the ability to make their own choices about their careers, their bodies, and their politics. For decades, the Israeli government has denied Palestinian women (and men) the ability to make their own choices about their government, their economy, and their families. Aniqa Raihan writes, “The importance of choice is exactly why Palestinian justice is a feminist issue.”
Moving the US embassy to Jerusalem is something Trump is for because of the “whisper” of some Jews, Abe Foxman said, but the Israeli government doesn’t really want it, and it could “undo progress”
Along with initiating the process to further militarize the US-Mexico border, Donald Trump will reportedly be signing an executive order to restrict immigration from Muslim-majority countries that are considered to be a ‘national security threat’—these include Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Hisham, a permanent US resident originally from Iraq, has been watching the news almost non-stop for any updates on Trump’s immigration policy. He says as his voice shakes, “I don’t know what I’m going to do. My fiance and her mother are going to be stuck [in Najaf] and I can’t explain to them why. How can I tell them that [Trump] is targeting Iraq because of “national security”? What has Iraq done? I’m confused and hurt. Refugees running from hell shouldn’t have to worry about another hell trying to get to a place of safety.”
MIT President Rafael Reif meets with rightwing pro-settlements Israeli leader Naftali Bennett even as Bennett seeks annexation of West Bank colonies and UN Security Council condemns settlements as flagrant violation of int’l law
News that Israel plans to build 2,500 new settlement units across the occupied West Bank was met with criticism on Wednesday from the international community and Palestinians, while an Israeli settler group called the move a “disappointment.”
“I want to ensure this ridiculous messenger movement against Israel never sees the light of day in our state,” MD State Senator Bobby Zirkin says in sponsoring a bill against BDS, boycott, divestment and sanctions. His statement is a frank rejection of free speech.
Hoda Katebi responds to one of the enduring images from the Women’s March on Washington, “From all the photos these past few days filling our social media feeds of white people with red hats and white women with pink beanies with ears, people holding signs of cheetos, and enough pro-Hillary slogans to make this Muslim woman of color uncomfortable, there was one particularly striking image that was consistently shared and re-shared and praised by the ‘left.’ The American-flag-clad Hijabi woman illustrated in the trademark style of Obama’s ‘hope’ poster is not short of striking. But maybe not for the right reasons.”
“Has liberal Zionism died and has religious nationalism won in Israel?” New Yorker editor David Remnick asks, acknowledging that many see “only one state” in Israel and Palestine. But he suggests it’s a recipe for endless conflict.