The Mondoweiss holiday gift guide is here! From our favorite books, to dresses with hand-stitched embroidery, ethically produced Hanukkah candles, hand-crafted olive wood nativity sets, and of course Mondoweiss swag we’ve pulled together some of our favorites for your end of the year gift giving.
The Christmas tree is up at the entrance to the Imperial Hotel in Jerusalem, but for its Palestinian hosts there is little festive cheer amid fears they could be evicted in favour of Israeli settlers, the AFP reports.
“I am convinced that the loss of legitimacy of the Zionist idea, of the idea of a special state for a special people, is irreversible, that that cannot be resurrected in the 21st century, a time when we at least preach if not practice universal rights and equality,” the writer Ali Abunimah said in a landmark speech ten years ago, and his remarks have proved to be prophetic in describing the anti-Zionist movement inside progressive life.
Boston has banned ads for Palestine– and other political causes– in transportation sites, and an anonymous group responded by opening many bus station kiosks this week and replacing advertisements for commercial products with “posters explaining that the good people of Boston lose out on social programming, education, and clean energy because $11 million of this city’s taxes go towards buying guns for Israel every single year.”
Speaking at Princeton, Norman Finkelstein said a former Israeli soldier should be ashamed of having been a “concentration camp guard” for having served on the Gaza border. The Princetonian termed his remarks anti-Semitic. Finkelstein says reporters don’t want to address the central fact: Gaza’s martyrdom.
Artist Katie Miranda has done two versions of a Palestinian Pieta, a representation of compassion, in a Palestinian mother cradling the body of her slain son. Her paintings go on display at the Jerusalem Fund gallery in Washington on October 11.
US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib was told by Israel today that she could visit her family on the West Bank so long as she does not “promote boycotts against Israel” on the trip. She has refused the offer. “I have decided that visiting my grandmother under these oppressive conditions stands against everything I believe in–fighting against racism, oppression & injustice.”
We are extending our summer fundraising drive a few more days in order to get our message to as many people as possible. Please donate now to support truth-telling for justice in Palestine.
Today is an exciting day in the history of Mondoweiss, which has grown and developed considerably over the past few years. Please join us in welcoming new team members: Michael Arria and Olivia Katbi Smith, new Editors-at-Large Walaa Ghussein and James North, and an impressive group of Contributing Writers. We are proud of the progress we have made in providing essential news to the world, and we also wanted to alert our community and make it visible on our new masthead. This is also a great time to thank our loyal community of supporters, without whom this work would not be possible.
On May 19, a New Jersey public library canceled a reading by Golbarg Bashi from her children’s book, “P Is for Palestine,” after vocal opposition, notably from the pro-Israel Jewish community. A coalition of Palestinian solidarity groups is petitioning the library to resist racist pressure against free speech for Palestinians and reinstate the reading at its June 5 public board meeting.