In an interview by Robert Cohen on his latest book, “Finding Our Voice,” Marc H. Ellis explains there is only one question for Jews today, after the Holocaust, the creation of Israel and the occupation of Palestine — What side are you on?
Omar Barghouti, co-founder of the BDS movement, says that even after being bought by PepsiCo, Sodastream should still be boycotted: “SodaStream is still subject to boycott by the global, Palestinian-led BDS movement for Palestinian rights. Its new factory is actively complicit in Israel’s policy of displacing the indigenous Bedouin-Palestinian citizens of Israel in the Naqab (Negev). SodaStream’s mistreatment of and discrimination against Palestinian workers is not forgotten either.”
In a piece in the New York Review of Books on the Labour anti-semitism controversy, Matt Seaton lumps anti-Zionism with anti-Jewish bigotry. The unspoken assumption of the article is that Palestinians have no right to be anti-Zionist and that anti-Zionism is a form of vitriolic zealotry and can never be a principled human rights position.
Palestinian flags will have to be part of the reform the Israeli state will have to go through, Yossi Gurvitz writes. And Tchernichovsky’s poem, Sachki, Sachki could be the national anthem. “A generation will arise, They’ll remove their iron shackles, And see daylight with their eyes.”
John Gunther Dean, now 92, and a former American ambassador to five countries, has long maintained that Israel was behind his attempted assassination outside Beirut in 1980, which was attributed to a rightwing Lebanese group. A new book by an Israeli investigative journalist says that group was set up by Israeli security officials to sow chaos in Lebanon.
Palestinians in Gaza are celebrating Eid al-Adha, a four day festival for Muslims observed across the world that coincides with the seasonal pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, known as the Hajj. Palestinians often seek travel outside of Gaza during the Eid holiday, however, this year Israel partially sealed the Erez Crossing on Sunday limiting travel to humanitarian cases.
On Tuesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren addressed the National Press Club, outlining with great specificity a host of proposals on issues including eliminating financial conflicts and closing the revolving door between business and government. But Sam Husseini found that Warren’s tenacity suddenly evaporated when dealing with issues like the enormous military budget and Israeli assaults on Palestinian children.
Palestinian filmmaker Ahmed Mansour describes his new film “Brooklyn, Inshallah,” which tells the inspiring story of Khader El-Yateem’s campaign for a seat on the NY City Council. Mansour is hoping to use the film to support voter registration drives and mobilize Arab and Muslim voters for the 2018 midterm elections.
Norwegian activist Kristin Foss was shot and badly bruised on Saturday in the occupied West Bank by a rubber bullet fired by an Israeli soldier, while posing no danger. The Norwegian media has noticed – will the government do anything about it?
Writer, scholar, and activist Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz died last month, on July 10, after a long battle with Parkinson’s. Throughout her career she played a pivotal role in the women’s movement, and the movements for LGBT rights, against racism and anti-Semitism, and for Palestinian rights.