Cyclists and supporters of Palestinian human rights took to the streets in 20 cities across the world on Saturday, March 10, 2018 for the #RelocateTheRace International Day of Action. Bike rallies and actions called on Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the governing body of cycling to relocate the start of the famed Giro d’Italia cycling event, set for May 4 in Jerusalem.
Neoconservative godfather Paul Singer explains why he gives to pro-Israel causes: “Israel may be the only insurance policy all Jews, everywhere, can rely upon for …safety.” He echoes Daniel Gordis and Roger Cohen, who say Jewish sovereignty has transformed Jews from victims to historical agents. An important argument. Is it right?
The Trump administration is reportedly days away from releasing their peace plan to Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Yet the head of the Palestinian Mission in Washington DC, Ambassador Husam Zomlot has already signaled the peace plan, whenever it will be released, has no chance. “The May 14 embassy opening is a ‘media stunt’ for Netanyahu, it is a catastrophe for all the people in all sides, it will be remembered as the day of crossing the Rubicon,” Palestinian Ambassador Husam Zomlot tells Mondoweiss.
It used to be that Jews were cosmopolitan, people of the world. But now the organized community is as provincial as can be, focused on the Jewish nation of Israel. This is the deepest divide in Jewish life, between the Schumers and the Feinsteins, those who think what is good for the Jews and those who think of what is good for the world.
The decade-long siege of Gaza has ground the economy to a halt. “I don’t own anything else now except these debts,” says Sameh al-Madhoun, who used to own a car dealership but is now held in a Hamas jail in Gaza.
Why hold an international mental health conference which many of the psychoanalysts and psychotherapists will not be able to get into the country? Dr. Samah Jabr, a Palestinian clinician, and Jewish Voice for Peace have created a petition asking the IARPP to change the location of its 2019 conference from Tel Aviv. Maybe Jordan or Cyprus?
Omar Barghouti addressed the European Union last week: “By trading with Israel’s illegal settlements and supporting companies that are involved in the settlement enterprise, as defined by the OHCHR, the EU is violating both obligations of non-recognition and non-assistance. The EU maintains a web of military relations, weapons research, banking transactions and settlement trade with Israeli companies, banks and institutions that are deeply implicated in human rights violations.”
California Senator Kamala Harris spoke at AIPAC this year for the second year running, in an indication that she intends to cultivate elites and alienate the leftwing base for political ambition. She bragged to the Israel lobby about helping to build forests on Palestinian lands. “As a child, I never sold Girl Scout cookies, I went around with a [Jewish National Fund] box collecting funds to plant trees in Israel.”
Britain’s Prince William is traveling to Israel this summer, ending the royal family’s bar on visiting the country so long as it has not reached peace with Palestinians, because Brexit compels the UK to develop non-European trading partners. But he could do some good by visiting Palestinian villages erased by the Nakba and meeting the dissident soldiers’ group Breaking the Silence.
“On this International Women’s Day, I affirm the importance of solidarity among women in their national and social struggles against colonization, discrimination, and social & economic exploitation. March 8th is an opportunity for us to unite in the fight for justice,” writes Palestinian leader Khalida Jarrar, detained in an Israeli prison, in an affidavit to her attorneys.