After activist Adi Shosberger called Israel snipers “terrorists” for killing Gaza protesters, mainstream Israeli radio host Shai Goldstein called her “filth,” “retarded” and a “bitch,” and suggested that she be sent to Gaza, where he said she would be raped and murdered.
What happens when you call Israeli soldiers who kill unarmed protesters ‘terrorists’? Adi Shosberger did it and she has been ostracized by Israeli society, condemned by the prime minister, and subject to death threats.
A Freedom of Information request filed by Attorney Eitay Mack has revealed that the Israeli Ministry of Justice has been directly involved in hiring international law firms to combat European BDS activists and NGOs.
Natalie Portman’s recent decision not to attend the Israeli Genesis Prize ceremony has pushed liberal Zionist organizations to endorse boycotts aimed at the Israeli government. Jonathan Ofir says her action shattered a huge taboo, even if she didn’t intend it.
Natalie Portman’s refusal to attend the Israeli Genesis Prize ceremony is a blow to Israeli pride. But her statements of support for Israel reflect liberal Zionist convictions. Will she go further with her critique?
Underneath all that Israel does lies a central notion – that of the ‘Jewish nation’. It informs all that Israel does, and sits at the core of all its violations. Jonathan Ofir writes, this is the central myth that needs to be dismantled.
Israeli leaders have been making downright genocidal claims against Palestinians, and the rhetoric finally seems to be backfiring. Israel’s line on “defending itself from terrorists” is being rejected by the world. And the process is accelerating Israel’s delegitimization as a supposed liberal democracy.
The Great March of Return began on Land Day and ends on Nakba Day. In the process it is demonstrating that each period of Palestinian dispossession is connected — it is an ongoing saga where the Nakba never ended. The protest is also showing that when Palestinians seek to make the world remember them, they are killed with impunity. Still, Jonathan Ofir says the Israeli response has exposed Israel “as the monster that it was destined to be.”
A video clip in which an Israeli sniper filmed himself shooting an unarmed Palestinian across the Gaza fence and then celebrating drew international outrage last night. The two Palestinian targets in the video appear simply to be walking around near the fence.
Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman justified the killing 30-year-old Yaser Murtaja by Israeli snipers even though he wore a flak jacket clearly marked PRESS. Lieberman said: “I don’t know who is and who isn’t a photographer . . . We won’t take any chances.”