Despite pressure from pro-Israel groups, the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights has not embraced the controversial IHRA working definition of antisemitism.

The Israeli army has continued its onslaught against resistance strongholds in the West Bank. It now has its sights set on Jenin, and is drowning it in a river of blood.

If you don’t want to socialize with people who support Israel, or you think Israel treats Palestinians the way Nazis treated Jews, you’re antisemitic, according to a new survey by the ADL aimed at branding “highly negative” views of Israel as bigotry, thereby granting political immunity to apartheid. “You hate the Jewish state, chances are you also deeply dislike the Jewish people,” says Jonathan Greenblatt.

The U.S. press is doing its utmost to ignore Palestinian persecution, but has given a lot of attention to a delicious political scandal involving Ken Roth at Harvard University. The story has highlighted the corruption of elite institutions by pro-Israel donors. An old story is finally news.

Adania Shibli’s spare and haunting novel charts two lines, the shift in consciousness between the Nakba era and contemporary times, but also the trajectory that remains constant: racist violence. 

Israel assassinated two Palestinian resistance fighters in Jenin today, and a third martyr succumbed to wounds sustained two weeks ago, bringing the total number of Palestinian martyrs in 2023 to 12.

The Biden administration has pressed forward with the military aspects of the Abraham Accords’ vision, letting it be known at the end of 2022 that Israel, as part of its new position in CENTCOM, had been elevated to “full military partner” in terms of strategizing and planning with the United States.

The move sets a dangerous precedent, which if it results in an official alliance, runs the risk of an American commitment to Israel’s defense that could easily drag the U.S. into more fighting in the Middle East, even if that’s not Washington’s intention. And it would mean that commitment happens without any kind of public debate. 

Israel is facing mass protests over the authoritarian government’s plans to override supreme court rulings so as to exonerate Netanyahu from corruption charges. But U.S. Ambassador Tom Nides praises Netanyahu as a sober leader, and he appeared to side with the government over any protesters this week, stating repeatedly that the government has a mandate from the public. He even characterized Israel’s move against the supreme court as “judicial reform.”

Israel announced a series of punitive measures in response to a UN resolution calling for the ICJ to issue an opinion on the decades-long occupation. Experts say the measures reveal the true powerlessness of the PA, and warn lack of international accountability will only worsen the situation on the ground.

Zionist groups are making cynical use of San Francisco State University’s identity-based protections against discrimination to ban criticism against Israel as antisemitic.

At the heart of such campaigns is the false notion that criticism of Zionism and Israeli policy and support for justice in Palestine constitute antisemitism. In response to these attacks and the growing violence of Israeli policies, increasing numbers of Jews, particularly among younger generations, now openly define themselves as anti-Zionist.