It was the middle of the night, but the residents of the occupied East Jerusalem town of Sur Bahir were not asleep. They were waiting for, dreading, the arrival of Israeli forces to demolish their homes. At around 2:15am on Monday more than 1,000 Israeli soldiers and government workers descended upon the area, with force, and began the process of demolishing 11 buildings in the neighborhood. The demolitions could set a dangerous precedent.

“Let us combine forces. Let us struggle together. Cross the mountainous road together, and strive together for a better world for us, for our children, and for our grandchildren. A world where all human beings are equal, safe, and free.” — Great March of Return founder Ahmed Abu-Artema addresses the 2019 Palestine Expo in London, England

Ronit Lentin’s recent book “Traces of Racial Exception – Racializing Israeli Settler Colonialism”, demonstrates the importance and centrality of race in the Palestine-Israel context, an issue downplayed by Israel-apologists. Because veiling that racism in the eyes of the world is essential to maintaining the colonialist project.

For our summer fundraising drive, “One Story At A Time,” Mondoweiss staffers are sharing stories…

A Palestinian man, 31, died in solitary confinement in Nitzan Israeli Prison. The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society said the detainee, Nasser Majed Taqatqa, 31, was taken prisoner by Israeli soldiers on June 19 2019, and has been under interrogation since then.

The Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) Toronto chapter was supposed to hold a scholarship launch party to celebrate the artistic expressions of Palestinian youth in Canada and the United States, but right-wing supporters of Israel successfully pressured the venue to cancel shortly before it was supposed to take place. The PYM event was still able to take place, but the threat remains. “Efforts to suppress the Palestinian narrative and the voices of Canadians and others who support Palestinian rights is widespread and should be deeply alarming to anyone who cares about human rights and freedom of speech,” Lina Assi writes.

Jeffrey Epstein, the financier charged with sex trafficking, had friendships with many Israel supporters, from Les Wexner to Ehud Barak to Larry Summers. And there is speculation that Epstein, a mysterious international figure, had links to Israeli intelligence. Alan Dershowitz, Epstein’s former lawyer, says Israel is a factor in the case, alleging that the New Yorker is investigating his role in the case so as to hurt Netanyahu.

Lawmakers in New Jersey have introduced an antisemitism bill that would prohibit certain criticism of Israel in public schools and universities. The proposed legislation comes on the heels of similar bills being passed in South Carolina and Florida. The legislation takes its cues from the State Department.

After Marc Lamont Hill gave a speech at the U.N. last November calling for equal rights in Palestine, his employer CNN called the next day and fired him. “They said, ‘Your speech was not in line with our values,'” he recalls to Palestinian journalist Janna Jihad. “I said, which part of the speech? They said, The speech.” Hill was shocked. “I’m prone to saying crazy shit. I just didn’t do it that day!”

Ahmad Al-Bazz writes Palestinians realize that the recent wave of protests by Ethiopian Jews over the killing of a 19 year-old Ethiopian-Israeli man by an off-duty police officer is a natural consequence of the racism against them by the Ashkenazi majority. But the hard question here is: how should a colonized people think about the oppression of a segment of their colonizers?