David Lloyd, a founding member of the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, reflects on the failure of the Modern Language Association to endorse a boycott of Israeli academic institutions: “What was all too clear was that the right to academic freedom does not really extend beyond the boundaries of a quite narrowly defined Western academy, of which Israel’s academy is an honorary member.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has gotten a “promise” from Donald Trump that he will be the second foreign leader invited to the White House, maybe early next month, says David Makovsky, who just returned to the U.S. from meetings with Netanyahu aides.

Hundreds of Palestinian mourners on Saturday attended a joint funeral for two slain Palestinians from Hebron city, after their bodies were returned by Israeli authorities the previous night. The bodies of 15-year-old Muhammad al-Rajabi and 25-year-old Hatim Shaludi were held for almost four months by the Israeli state.

Nada Elia reports: At the Modern Language Association’s annual meeting in Philadelphia, on January 7, 2017, the Delegate Assembly voted against a resolution calling for the boycott of Israeli universities complicit in the denial of academic freedom for the Palestinian people. A resolution that would add racist insult to injury, by blaming the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, but not Israel, for the plight of Palestinian scholars, was tabled.

‘Netanyahu is moving us to extremes so we eventually go off a cliff into chaos’ Rep Lloyd Doggett of Texas said, in stressing Israel’s isolation in the world, and unsuccessfully opposing a Congressional resolution to attack the UN Security Council over settlements.

Two Palestinian boys, 13, are charged by Israel with attempted murder for having knives and thinking about using them. But Israeli Sgt Elor Azarya is convicted of manslaughter for an execution, and for many in Israel is a national hero.

Yoav Litvin writes: The Elor Azaria case was the ultimate trial of Israeli society. A disastrous precedent has now been set: cold-blooded murder of Palestinians has been officially sanctioned by the Israeli mainstream and the political class, and the perceived rule of law severely undermined. This precedent will further solidify the complete dehumanization of Palestinians and pave the way for further ethnic cleansing and genocide in the occupied Palestinian territories.

In his recent speech ‘Remarks on Middle East Peace’ John Kerry misrepresented a central issue: The wish among Israelis and Palestinians for a one-state solution.

Senator Cory Booker and Democratic megadonor Haim Saban may have a marriage made in 2020: Both have slammed President Obama’s decision to allow a UN Security Council resolution against settlements. Booker calls it anti-Israel and joins 11 other Democrats in sponsoring a resolution hammering the UN vote, while Israeli-American Saban says it’s against the “national interest.”

Last summer the first Palestinian Advanced Physics School took place at the Arab American University in Jenin and was a huge success. The organization Scientists for Palestine now intends to make the school a recurring event and are currently organizing a 2017 school to be held at Al-Quds University in Jerusalem but they need your help.