We are actually having a debate about anti-war policy in the Democratic Party. Pete Buttigieg is soaring in fundraising in part due to strongly interventionist stances in last debate, while Sanders and Warren are getting slammed by establishment voices for alleged isolationism. And Tulsi Gabbard is smeared as a Russian asset for condemning “regime change” in Syria.
Thirteen years after the discovery of gas fields off the coast of Gaza, efforts to develop them remain deadlocked despite the international backing the project enjoys. Meanwhile, the besieged Gaza Strip suffers prolonged power cuts and the Palestinian economy bears a huge financial cost – as do the Western taxpayers keeping it afloat. Al-Shabaka Program Director Victor Kattan discusses the actors and amounts involved as well as the reasons why the project has stalled and recommends some policy options to break the deadlock.
The New York Times is actively whitewashing the U.S. role in Syria with a childish piece of propaganda telling its readers we armed only honest trustworthy Boy Scouts, not these current horrible racist murdering dregs.
Forward opinion editor Batya Ungar-Sargon’s claims of anti-Semitism at Bard college have been widely refuted. Yet she has doubled down on them – saying the response only confirms the truth of her allegation. This is dishonest, and also strategic, aimed at limiting criticism of Israel inside leftwing circles.
Robert Cohen writes, “There are parallels between how the Extinction Rebellion has analyzed the politics of climate change and where we now stand with Israel/Palestine within the Jewish world. Both situations have those who deny the facts, look to others to blame, or think minor reforms will fix things.”
IfNotNow co-founder Max Berger is an aide to the Warren campaign, a fact that has generated predictable hysteria on right-wing blogs and pro-Israel websites. However, last week DMFI founder Mark Mellman told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) that he received a call from Warren campaign manager Roger Lau, assuring him that Berger wouldn’t be working on any issue connected to “Israel policy or Jewish outreach.”
The United States has given a pass on corruption to the presidents of Honduras and Guatemala in part because they have played the Jerusalem card: recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and opening offices there.
Some 51 Palestinians were injured on Thursday, by live and rubber bullets, with many cases of tear gas exposure reported, during violent confrontations with Israeli forces, as hundreds of Israeli settlers raided Joseph’s Tomb, to the east of Nablus.
Every year, without fail, Palestinians mark the beginning of autumn with the olive harvest. A sacred cultural event, families from across the country leave their towns and cities and head for their olive groves, passed down to them from the generations before.
And every year, without fail, much of the harvest is characterized by attacks on Palestinian farmers and families by Israeli settlers and armed soldiers. This year is no different.
Voters want aid to Israel conditioned over humans rights violations. Elizabeth Warren has become the third candidate to address the idea: “Right now, Netanyahu says he is going to take Israel in a direction of increasing settlements, [but] that does not move us in the direction of a two-state solution. It is the official policy of the United States of America to support a two-state solution, and if Israel is moving in the opposite direction, then everything is on the table…Everything is on the table.”