According to a classified cable, Israel’s government is launching a campaign to discredit a United Nations commission investigating the country’s 2021 attack on Gaza. Axios’ Barak Ravid reports that Israel’s Foreign Ministry sent a cable, to all the country’s diplomatic missions, referring to the investigation as a “top priority” and announcing that it’s launching a diplomatic effort to derail the probe. They also expressed concern that the Commission of Inquiry’s report (which is expected to be released in June) will refer to Israel as an “apartheid state.”

“The continued occupation in Palestine/Israel is 21st century slavery.” With these words, Rev J. Herbert Nelson II, the Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church USA, demonstrated his courage in acknowledging the humanity of Palestinians.

Michael Arria speaks to Huwaida Arraf, a Palestinian-American peace activist, human rights lawyer, and now candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in Michigan.

Huwaida Arraf is a civil rights attorney and activist running for congress in Michigan’s newly drawn tenth district. Michael Arria spoke with the Democratic candidate about growing up Palestinian-American, her human rights work, and why she has decided to get involved in electoral politics.

Israel’s assault on Gaza last May alienated many American Jews, and a lawsuit against a Westchester temple for firing 26-year-old Jessie Sander, an avowed anti-Zionist, for her blogpost condemning Israeli “genocide” and the pro-Israel “propaganda” of American Jewish institutions, highlights the fissures inside the Jewish community.

Cracks in apartheid’s firewall: Seven establishment Jewish groups including the Anti-Defamation League sent a letter to Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett saying Enough’s enough, take action against settler violence; it is “undermining Israel’s image and relations with the U.S. government.” I.e., we can’t do our job of selling Israel in the U.S. with this sort of publicity. The complaint is of a piece with liberal Zionist Jeremy Ben-Ami’s “rant” on twitter about a “horrific” week of violence against Palestinians. These organizations know that the Democratic base is getting sick of supporting Israel as it commits human rights violations.

In his new book, “The State of Israel Vs. The Jews,” Sylvain Cypel paints a too-hopeful portrait of the anti-Netanyahu wing of American Jewish life as a virtuous broad tent united in their opposition to racism. What actually exists is a hodgepodge of intercommunal bickering, toothless fingerwagging, and hand-wringing– and this against an ever growing backdrop of Jewish only roads, deliberate bombings of civilian infrastructure and Associated Press offices, as Cypel himself meticulously documents. And in assigning importance to that Jewish argument, Cypel fails to treat Palestinians as autonomous political actors in the struggle.

Recent flooding in Gaza has highlighted the struggle of living under Israeli domination.

Welcome to the first installment of Palestine Letter, Mondoweiss’s new email newsletter where our Palestine-based correspondents will share a behind-the-scenes look at life and work under Israeli occupation. In this edition, Tareq Hajjaj shares how the impact of torrential floods in the Gaza Strip have been exacerbated by years of Israeli attacks.

On January 18th, the Israeli army raided the Aida refugee camp firing dozens of tear gas rounds onto the rooftop of the Lajee Center, a community organization that houses a kindergarten, a hydroponics garden, library, and more.