Mondoweiss talks with Diana Buttu about the possibility of a Palestinian-led opposition in the Israeli Knesset, the Joint List’s endorsement of Benny Gantz, and the reception among Palestinians inside Israel of the recent election.

Atlanta activists are reigniting their fight against the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange (GILEE), a program where law enforcement officials receive training from human rights violators such as Israel.

In Gaza, failing to pay a personal or bank loan is punishable by a maximum 91-day prison sentence. With the economy plummeting, more and more Palestinians are winding up in prison for loans taken out to cover household expenses and modest rents– 90,000 last year, by one report.

Palestinians in Israel are far more liberal than Jews. Nearly 90 percent say they would support a Palestinian party being part of the government, while Israeli Jews reject that idea overwhelmingly. So the one group that doesn’t buy into Zionism is the only hope to save Israel from its rightwing intolerance; and it is time that American Jews understand that reality.

Robert Cohen writes, with the global climate emergency upon us, “Zionism is one of many obsolete ideologies which needs to be ditched if we’re to build a sustainable future for all of us. In contrast, Judaism itself, shorn of its Zionist overlay, has plenty to offer as we look for radically different ways to relate to each other and the planet.”

The film “The Voice of Ahmad” is screening in Israel, following the journey of Ahmad Masrawa, one of hundreds of Palestinian teenagers in Israel who were adopted by a kibbutz, agricultural communes that were at the core of the Zionist movement’s efforts to Judaize lands just stolen from the Palestinian people.

“There is not a huge difference between Gantz and Netanyahu,” Mohammad Lufti, a Palestinian on the West Bank, says of the Joint List’s endorsement of Benny Gantz. “They are all part of the same Zionist system and they all give us the same thing: more oppression and violence… But now Netanyahu will maybe go to jail for corruption.”

The recent Israeli election has been a win for the Zionist right-center. The Joint List which mostly represents Palestinians has endorsed Benny Gantz, but that stance divided the List. That’s understandable because a unity government headed by Gantz would back policies toward Palestinians that are not different from those of a Likud government.

The New York Times wants Netanyahu out because “elements of the Democratic Party have grown increasingly suspicious of Israel, if not hostile,” and replacing Netanyahu “may halt this dangerous shift.” Palestinian human rights are no account here. Though Israel’s politics have only shifted right, Israel-watchers say.

After Ala Wafeth Nadan, 28, was killed Wednesday by an Israeli security guard at Qalandia checkpoint while allegedly holding a knife, the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem said the incident appeared to resemble past instances in which Israel used excessive force. “What is clear is that such an incident should not have ended with a fatality.”