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May 2018

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For the first time in its 101-year history the Giro bicycle race will begin outside Europe, on May 4 in Jerusalem, thanks to $12 million from the Israeli government. We can on the same Friday look forward to the spectacle of the start of an international sporting event  hosted by the same country that about 50 miles away is concurrently killing and wounding civilians in cold blood. 

The Council on International Relations, a Gaza-based NGO, issued an invitation yesterday to Senator Chuck Schumer to come to Gaza so that he can see that he and the Palestinian community share many attributes, from humble origins to a high value for education. Schumer has had nothing to say about Israel’s killings in Gaza, despite pressure from young Jewish progressives.  

The residents of the Bedouin town Umm Al-Hiran have signed an agreement with the Israeli government to be relocated under threat of demolition and more violence to make way for the Jewish town of “Hiran”. This “voluntary” response to the government’s “generous offer” tells us a lot about Zionism, and how Israel understands its own history.

The crown prince and de facto leader of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed Bin Salman, now appears to be parroting Israeli propaganda. The Saudi leader prince Mohammed Bin Salman is reported as saying that Palestinians “missed one opportunity after another” and that they should “shut up and stop complaining.”

The campaign against the Philadelphia Orchestra’s upcoming tour to Israel continues to intensify. Eleven longtime subscribers and donors have issued a statement announcing their decision to withdraw their support of the Orchestra if it does not cancel the tour. “We will no longer support the Orchestra if it decides to lend legitimacy to Israel’s apartheid regime,” the statement reads.