NY Congressman Eliot Engel told an AIPAC audience last night that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and three other progressive Democrats who may enter Congress “need to be educated” to support Israel. The event came on the heels of a New York Times article on the new wave of progressive Democrats who have “dared to breach what has been an almost inviolable orthodoxy in both political parties, strong support for Israel.”

Jeffrey Goldberg used to quiz our leaders about Israel as a representative of the Jewish establishment. But he had nearly 40 minutes with Hillary Clinton and never mentioned that parochial subject. The Atlantic editor understands, the brand is toxic.

The Great Return March, which began on March 30th, was an attempt across a broad spectrum of Gazan society to mount a peaceful action that world could not help but recognize as such. After 6 months, the March has largely dropped from the headlines, even though the death toll continues to climb. But the March has nevertheless continued and some of the seeds it has planted are already bearing fruit.

Nobel laureate biologist George Smith has repeatedly been smeared for his anti-Zionist views, characterized as a bully, a heckler, and a hater akin to David Duke. If we know anything from his considerable efforts to criticize Zionism, Smith will not rest on his laurels.

Israel’s detention at its international airport of Lara Alqasem, 22, an American student holding a visa to study at Hebrew University, has gone on five days today. Alqasem has supported boycott of Israel. The case has sadly gotten very little coverage in the US press.

Many people are convinced that a ‘two state solution’ is a reasonable compromise that would bring peace to Israel-Palestine. But considering Zionist aims and history, partition really just means more colonization of Palestine.

Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi Crown Prince highly praised as a “reformer,” must now answer for the suspected murder of the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. NYT columnist Tom Friedman slathered “MBS” with praise less than a year ago, surely in part because of the Crown Prince’s unspoken alliance with Israel against Iran.

George Smith, the University of Missouri biologist who shared the Nobel Prize in chemistry, said a “web” of scientists deserved credit for his achievement. In his humility and the celebration by Palestinian advocates of his prize, there is a sense that Smith’s laurels were also shared by Palestine.

UNRWA, the UN agency responsible for providing life saving services to 5 million Palestinian refugees across the Middle East, released a statement Friday expressing its deep concern over statements made by the Israeli Mayor of Jerusalem Nir Barkat on plans to remove UNRWA from East Jerusalem.

Floridian Lara Alqasem, 22, has a visa to study for a master’s degree at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem but was detained at the Israeli border Tuesday and Israel seeks to deport her as a BDS activist. She was also “asked about her ethnicity and the names of her father and grandfather,” both of whom are Palestinian. Her congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s first thought is to defend Israel, though she is looking into the case.