An Israel lobby group associated with the Democratic Party allows rightwing Israeli Yossi Klein Halevi to tell US Jews to marshal opposition to Biden on the Iran deal. “Many Israelis still harbor deep resentment toward the American Jewish community for not opposing more vigorously the Iran deal in 2015… Will the Jewish community take an active role in trying to convey to Biden that returning to the 2015 deal even with cosmetic changes would be seen by Israelis as a betrayal?”

Faculty and staff at the University of Illinois call on the administration to reject equating criticism of Israel with antisemitism saying it not only carries grave implications for free speech, but also distracts from challenging the actual racism happening on Illinois campuses.

In the city of Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ, Christmas is the biggest day of the year. The holiday typically draws thousands of Palestinians and foreigners alike to the city, which adorns its streets and churches in beautiful lights and decorations for the season. But this year, COVID-19 has changed all of that. Manger Square and the Church of Nativity have been emptied of their usual visitors, and Palestinian Christian families have been forced to spend their most precious day of the year under lockdown.

For 51 years Philip Farah’s father took a six-mile walk from Jerusalem to Bethlehem every Christmas. Today, that walk would be impossible.

Benny Gantz is the “liberal” white knight who was going to save Israel from Netanyahu, by becoming “alternate Prime Minister.” He has been outfoxed again and again and now Israel appears headed to a fourth election in two years with Gantz’s party polling at a miserable six seats and a politician to Netanyahu’s right threatening to become the “Just not Netanyahu” candidate.

The Tufts University student body voted overwhelmingly to end the training of Tufts police in military strategies, including trips to Israel.

The antisemitism controversy in the British Labour Party was orchestrated by rightwingers and Israel supporters. Joshua Leifer of Jewish Currents fails to call out the bigotry of those who attacked Corbyn. Tony Greenstein relates the true history of Corbyn’s downfall.

Vermont-based farmworker rights organization Migrant Justice rejects a donation of hand sanitizer from the Israeli Consulate: “We will not be a party to your government’s attempted ‘sanitization’ of oppression.”

December 17 marked ten years since Mohammed Bouazizi, a street vendor in Tunis, set himself on fire in an act of defiance and desperation that triggered what would become known as the Arab Spring. Over the course of the last decade we have witnessed revolutions sweep the Middle East and North Africa, but we have also witnessed the sheer might and terror of counter-revolution as well. What are the lessons from the Arab Spring?

Republican Members of Congress are calling on the Trump administration to reclassify which Palestinians are considered refugees — a move which would constrain the Biden White House, and could fatally harm the Palestinian demand for the right of return.