Ilene Cohen defines ‘Ziosplaining’ as “the efforts of Zionists of so-called moderate stripe, who are endlessly pained by reality, to explain to Palestinians (and the world) that they have no choice but to support the Israeli occupation of Palestine.” She says the latest effort in the genre is Yossi Klein Halevi’s Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor. “That neighbor, by the way, is the author’s imaginary neighbor—the only one possible for such an exercise, because few and far between would be the Palestinians who wouldn’t gag at this patronizing effort to have their situation ‘explained’ to them,” Cohen writes.

In May the benign-sounding Anti-Semitism Awareness Act appeared before the U.S Congress “to provide for consideration a definition of anti-Semitism for the enforcement of Federal antidiscrimination laws concerning education programs or activities.” Sheldon Richman writes that if the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act passes and is signed into law, it would threaten free speech in the academy and beyond.

Gazans held their 22nd Friday of protests as Egypt sought to gain a truce between Israel and the Strip. Etaf Wadi said she would not stop demonstrating: “There will be no truce, nor ceasefire. We see how this weekly non-violent protest harms those invincible soldiers and their state. We want a normal life without feeling surrounded.”

On 24 August, using excessive force against peaceful protesters in Gaza for the 22nd Friday in a row, Israeli forces wounded 89 civilians, including 17 children, 2 women and 3 paramedics. Five sustained serious wounds.

A long New Yorker profile of Paul Singer, Trump’s big donor, plays down the fact that Singer’s major political interest is Israel, and leaves out the word “neoconservative,” though Singer has funded countless thinktanks that favor regime change in the Middle East and pushed that policy in Iraq.

Norwegian activist Kristin Foss was again shot with a rubber bullet by an Israeli soldier in the occupied Palestinian Kafr Qaddum on Friday, for the second time in a week. And the Israeli commander said, “we don’t shoot women” and the Israeli ambassador says there must be a reason.

The US State Department announced on Friday that it would be cutting $200 million in funding to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, sparking outrage among Palestinian officials, who are still reeling from US cuts to UNRWA earlier this year. Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, member of the Executive Committee of the PLO, released a statement following the decision, calling the move “cheap blackmail” and “coercion,” saying that “the Palestinian people and leadership will not be intimidated,” and “the rights of the Palestinian people are not for sale.”

Earlier this month, Israeli forces bombed the Said Mish’al Center for Culture and Science in Gaza to the ground, claiming it was being used by Hamas for military operations. The center was beloved among Gazans and thousands of Palestinians mourned the destruction of the center, which had survived three Israeli offensives over the past decade. As Center Director Sameer Mish’al told Mondoweiss, “The occupation has always tried to stifle the voice of the Palestinian people. This place was like a beam of light. Through our work, we protected our culture.”

Israeli authorities have approved over 1,000 new illegal settlement units in the occupied West Bank, sparking condemnation from both Palestinian and international officials. According to Peace Now, since the election of US President Donald Trump, the Israeli government has promoted plans for 10,536 units and tenders for 5,679 units in settlements in the occupied West Bank.

On August 19, Israeli Advocate Eitay Mack filed a freedom of information request to shed light on the government’s role in the ongoing smear campaign against UK Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. In an interview with Mondoweiss, Mack spoke about his motivations behind filing such a request, the significance of Israel’s possible interference in UK politics, and the Netanyahu government’s failure to challenge real threats of anti-Semitism in Europe and around the world.