The US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR), Palestine Legal, and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) held a Facebook conversation about the Jewish National Fund’s (JNF) frivolous lawsuit against USCPR. The legal action is a clear attempt to silence and intimidate Palestine solidarity activists. Ramah Kudaimi of USCPR, Diala Shamas of CCR, and Dima Khalidi of Palestine Legal break it all down in this informative chat. Watch the video on Facebook.

The American Jewish Committee decided that it must support Israel over President Bush in 1991 over settlements, even though many of its officials privately supported Bush, because the AJC had a “primary responsibility” to back the “collective will” of the Jewish people, which Israel represents, Steve Bayme, an AJC official says in a Zoom webinar.

In the midst of a global pandemic, when much of the world is sheltering in homes, Israeli forces have continued to raid Palestinian cities and towns, arrest and imprison Palestinians, demolish homes and tear down structures, and facilitate attacks carried out by settlers.

British filmmaker Ken Loach is compelled to withdraw from an anti-racism charity event because pro-Israel activists target him for his support of BDS. The price for keeping Loach would be “to wreck not only the competition and Ken Loach’s reputation, but the charity’s very existence,” his supporters said.

In addition to the rally, JVP also released a petition that has already been signed by over 15,000 people. It calls on Israel to lift its embargo on Gaza in response to the COVID-19 crisis. “This crisis has been building since Israel’s life-threatening blockade began 13 years ago, and the U.S. is complicit,” it reads.

When sharing fears about the pandemic with Palestinian friends, the following sentiment always comes up in one form or another: “we’ve survived a lot worse than this before.”

Coronavirus entered the West Bank in early February, but political decisions have interfered with response, from apartheid water restrictions on Palestinians to the Netanyahu government’s refusal to quarantine Israelis returning from AIPAC conference in Washington. –A report from JVP’s Health Advisory Council.

“The international community is watching what is happening in Gaza, and never does anything concrete to stop it. People have compared Gaza to a zoo. There have been reports saying that Gaza would be unliveable in 2020, and this was without the Coronavirus. Well, now we are in 2020.” –Khalil Abu Yahia, an English teacher in Gaza, speaking to Independent Jewish Voices of Canada.

“Would you lift sanctions on Iran temporarily, during this pandemic,” NBC’s Chuck Todd asked Joe Biden on Meet the Press. “I don’t have enough information about the situation in Iran right now,” replied Biden, “There’s a lot of speculation from my foreign policy team that they’re in real trouble and they’re lying. But I would need more information to make that judgement. I don’t have the national security information available.”

Renowned for his ability to pull off political miracles, Benjamin Netanyahu appears to have gradually worn down Benny Gantz’s resistance over the past 12 months. The coronavirus epidemic proved the final straw.