The Israeli consulate and other pro-Israel groups teamed up to try to thwart a divestment campaign at Northwestern University, according to e-mails obtained by Mondoweiss. Their efforts ultimately failed, as Northwestern’s student senate voted to recommend divestment from corporations linked to the Israeli army. The e-mails provide insight into the inner workings of how pro-Israel groups, many of them from outside campus, are banding together to fight divestment resolutions on campus.

The world’s Jews are under dire threat around the world, and so is Israel. That was the message, in so many words, that emanated last night from Cooper Union’s Great Hall during an event featuring Rabbi Shmuley Boteach and Ron Prosor, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations.

53-year-old mother and activist Linda Bevis is bringing Palestine into American high school classrooms. Bevis is the force behind the Palestine Teaching Trunk, an educational tool with hundreds of pages of materials designed for teachers. But as with all things Palestine, the teaching trunk has faced pushback.

On February 15, a group of New York City Council members, including members of the Progressive Caucus, will jet off to Israel on the dime of the Jewish Community Relations Council. It is a ritual that usually doesn’t garner much attention. But that has changed this year. A vocal coalition has arisen to call on New York City Council members to spurn the free trip. They say it is unseemly to tour Israel following the summer attack on the Gaza Strip, and have pointed out the history of partnership between the New York Police Department and Israeli security forces at a time of national protest against police brutality.

Founded after Black teen Trayvon Martin’s 2012 death, the Dream Defenders are focused on challenging racism in America. They have helped lead the burgeoning #BlackLivesMatter demonstrations that have swept the nation and recently have joined U.S. Palestinian rights groups in calling for an end to Israeli human rights abuses. At the start of 2015, members of Dream Defenders went on a delegation to Palestine along with members of other U.S.-based racial justice groups to expose the activists to the Israeli occupation. After returning, the participants have drawn parallels between the Black and Latino experience in the U.S. and the Palestinian experience.

The Muslim American community, by and large, is sympathetic to the Palestinian cause. But when it comes to how to advocate for Palestinians, sharp differences emerge. An at-times bitter debate has broken out in the Muslim American community over engagement with Zionism, the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement and what type of actions to take to address the Israel/Palestine conflict. The debate has centered around a trip to Israel a handful of Muslim Americans are currently on. The Muslim Leadership Initiative trip, which first caused a storm of controversy online last year, is being sponsored by the Shalom Hartman Institute, an Israeli and American think tank that has ties to the Israeli army and works against BDS.

On January 8, Eric Fingerhut, the head of Hillel International, spoke to an audience of over 100 people at Temple Sinai in Roslyn, Long Island. He packed a lot into his speaking engagement. Fingerhut said that Jewish Voice for Peace is “frustrating,” the Open Hillel movement has no legs, Christians United for Israel is an “amazing” organization and progressive causes are becoming “infected” with anti-Israel sentiment.

2014 was a big year for academic boycotts of Israel. And 2015 is shaping up to be one as well. Anger over Israel’s continuing occupation, and its assault on Gaza last summer, is driving the discussion. Two more prominent academic associations, the American Anthropological Association (AAA) and the Middle East Studies Association (MESA), could consider the academic boycott. Both associations are already embroiled in debate over boycotting Israel.

In response to the Palestinian bid to join the International Criminal Court, pro-Israel members of Congress are threatening to cut off U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority. The U.S. gives the PA about $500 million annually, and U.S. law states most of it will be cut off if the PA initiates an investigation targeting Israel at the ICC. But analysts say that it is unlikely the U.S. will, in fact, cut off aid, since it would be a blow to the PA’s economic standing and could destabilize the authority’s rule.

You know the name Sheldon Adelson. But how about the Falic family? Members of the Falic family have donated millions of dollars to pro-Israel U.S. politicians from both parties and to pro-Israel causes, including West Bank settlements. The family made their money through Duty Free America, which operates stores in airports around the U.S and the world where consumers buy tax-free products.