The extreme character of Israel’s nation-state law and its Gaza massacre provides a golden opportunity to activists to mobilize wider and deeper support for the Palestinian struggle, Richard Falk reports from a conference in Beirut.
Yonatan Shapira, a passenger on the Al Awda boat to Gaza, echoes the IDF spokesperson: The boat was boarded “without exceptional events”. “Yes, everything was as usual -They slammed Herman the captain’s head against the wall again and again while threatening to take him to the ship’s belly and finish him off when no one is watching.”
A statement in support of embattled San Francisco State University professor Rabab Abdulhadi by an indigenous people’s coalition: “As peoples whose ancestors come from countries in Asia, Hawaii, and the Pacific Islands, and as members of indigenous communities in these regions, we issue this statement of solidarity with the people of Palestine… throughout the world.”
The new Israeli nation-state law makes racism “the national character,” foreign policy maven David Rothkopf says, and Israel is no longer in his heart. “American Jews have gone from a duty to support Israel to a duty to oppose Israel,” he writes.
Today, I’m excited to share with you the generous challenge of Mondoweiss supporters who will match the first $2500 we receive in gifts and pledges over the next 24 hours. I need to ask those of you who have not yet given this summer, but who believe in our work—please step up now, and claim the match. Since Ahed Tamimi was arrested, many have donated in her honor to support our work telling her story. Are you ready to help us meet the 24-hour challenge? Your investment in this site enables us to tell the world about all the ways Palestinians work to gain their freedom. Please help us continue this vital work.
A Freedom Flotilla to Gaza boat was stopped by Israeli navy and diverted to Israeli harbor, with all its crew and passengers arrested. “This operation is an act of piracy and the occupation forces do not wish for it to be made public, so one of the first things they do as they come on board is to take away all cameras, phones and all other electronic devices,” passenger Zohar Chamberlain-Regev reports.
It is well past time for ethical Jews to accept the inherent racist and anti-Jewish nature of Zionism, which has manipulated the Jewish religion to morally justify seventy years of settler colonialism, ethnic cleansing and apartheid of indigenous Palestinians. Unsurprisingly, Israel is now allied with nationalists and racists globally, including Steve Bannon.
“Gaza should be a thriving Mediterranean paradise,” if only the siege were lifted, Noam Chomsky says on Democracy Now! And: “Israeli intervention in U.S. elections vastly overwhelms anything the Russians may have done.”
Who says BDS isn’t working? Twelve years ago Israel launched “Brand Israel” to transform its image overseas. But marketers for Tel Aviv are seeking to disconnect the city from Israel, because the Israel brand is “contentious” and “less than savory,” a brand development site reports.