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January 2020

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The exclusion by Labor/Meretz of a Palestinian lawmaker in the next election list is a reminder of the racism in Israeli politics. The main reason Israeli politics are stalemated and the country is going to its third election in a year is Palestinians don’t really count in election totals; and the leading Jewish party is happy to cut a deal with other Jewish parties but refuses to deal seriously with the third largest party, the Joint List of Palestinian parties.

Aviv Kochavi, chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces. Government photograph.

In the 14th year of Israeli siege, the Israel Defense Forces Chief of General Staff Aviv Kochavi declared his support for a plan to offer Gaza workers certain relief in return for calm in southern Israel, Ynet reports.

Twice in the last two years, a Jewish history teacher has been forced out of a private NY high school due to anti-Zionist statements. Now: J.B. Brager at Fieldston. In Brager’s case and Joel Doerfler’s before, outraged Jewish donors to the schools are said to have pushed the school administrations to take a stand against anti-Zionism. 

Peace protesters in Israel

Noted Israeli peace organizations are closing, and Yossi Gurvitz thinks this is a good thing. “We’ll need to talk about 1948,” Gurvitz writes. “This will not be easy to Israelis, but we won’t get anywhere without it. And we cannot bring it up if we keep speaking of peace instead of justice. So let the old organization dismantle.”