For more than a generation, Palestinian voices have been suppressed at the New York Times. But under the new publisher A.G. Sulzberger, 38, the paper is serving notice that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans who want open debate. This explains Michelle Alexander’s groundbreaking piece saying it’s time to end the progressive silence over Palestinian rights.

Progressive politicians are silent about Palestinian human rights because of the power of the Israel lobby, and “civil rights activists and organizations have remained silent as well… because they fear loss of funding from foundations, and false charges of anti-Semitism,” Michelle Alexander writes in a groundbreaking piece in the New York Times. Guided by MLK, she says she will be silent no longer.

The Jewish establishment is reactionary when it comes to Israel: The Boston Jewish Community Relations Council voted overwhelmingly Thursday to move towards throwing out one of its founding members, the Boston Workmen’s Circle, because BWC had signed on to statements with Jewish Voice for Peace, which is anti-Zionist and supports Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) targeting Israel. JCRC sided with members AIPAC, Camera, and the Zionist Organization of America.

BDS shakes up the House! Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s support for BDS “is inconsistent with our national values,” says a Republican congressman, while the Dems’ appointment of BDS-supporter Ilhan Omar to House Foreign Affairs shows “the days of the Democrats’ support-Israel-at-all-costs stance are numbered,” as the young Jewish group IfNotNow proclaims.

Benny Morris, the Israeli historian who has documented Israeli-Palestinian history so meticulously, is again bemoaning that a full ethnic cleansing was not completed in 1948. In a new interview with Haaretz, the schism between Morris the historian and Morris the political pundit is on full display.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will end all its projects in the occupied West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip on January 31st following the US administration’s decision to cut funding to the Palestinians, Dave Harden, former USAID Mission Director and Managing Director of the Georgetown Strategy Group, confirmed on Thursday.

As more Palestinians enter the digital sphere, there has been an increase in violations of freedom of expression including hundreds of Palestinians who have been arrested by Israel, the PA, and Hamas for their social media posts. Activists, journalists, and local Palestinian and international rights workers gathered this week at the the Palestine Digital Activism Forum in Ramallah to discuss the constantly changing social media landscape and what it means for digital rights in Israel and Palestine.

Timothy Egan, a New York Times contributing opinion writer, has a column today defending the…

The Democratic Party is dividing over Israel. Buzzfeed quotes Waleed Shaheed saying that every presidential candidate will be asked where they stand on Netanyahu. Rep Rashida Tlaib says she will vote against aid to Israel till it gives equality and dignity to her grandmother. And Russ Douthat of the NYT says the party must debate anti-Zionism openly.

The Israeli Knesset’s Deputy Speaker (from the left Zionist Union) has invited Roseanne Barr to speak to the parliament about BDS. Barr is known for her outrageous racist statements, which are just fine for Israel as long as she’s a Zionist.