Hosam Salem, a Palestinian photographer who freelanced for the New York Times for four years in Gaza, reports that the newspaper dismissed him after a pro-Israel organization alerted the paper to Facebook posts in which he had expressed support for Palestinian resistance against the Israeli occupation.
Yom Kippur begins tonight and I reflect that the most prominent moral voice in the extended American Jewish community is today Rashida Tlaib. Young Jews look to her for the appropriate response to apartheid. She inspires us. At a time when virtually every establishment Jewish organization has abandoned any pretense to universal moral values, Tlaib has led the way.
It was a week of glaring double standards that made a mockery of U.S. favoritism…
Fired by The Hill TV for a commentary supporting Rashida Tlaib on the apartheid accusation against Israel and calling for Americans to dismantle apartheid, independent journalist Katie Halper has now published that commentary. Halper’s monologue is racking up views (20,000 so far today) and hundreds of supportive comments. The case reflects growing support for Palestinian rights among the young, and is reminiscent of the firing of Marc Lamont Hill by CNN four years ago for voicing support for Palestinian freedom.
“My north star is maintaining a democratic Jewish state. That is the single most important thing I believe that I can do as American ambassador” –US ambassador to Israel Tom Nides on his job description. And that means praising the Israeli military repeatedly despite the fact that it killed a Palestinian-American journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh. Nides justified the killing by saying Abu Akleh had gone into a “dangerous place.”
The Israel lobby just led an attack on Rashida Tlaib to stop any criticism of Israeli colonization of Palestinian land. What else can it do? It has helped stop the Iran deal and promoted Abraham Accords, bribery of Arab monarchies to normalize Israel and overlook Palestinian human rights. But surely the biggest sign of the lobby’s power is that it is not scrutinized in the press. When it is called out for corrupting influence, it says the criticism is antisemitic.
Rashida Tlaib hit a nerve. It is obviously very important to the Israel lobby to maintain the claim that you can be progressive and support Israel. Being truthful about Israeli apartheid undermines this effort. Liberal Zionists are divided. J Street has condemned Tlaib’s comment. But like nearly all the Dems who attacked Tlaib, they didn’t even mention the apartheid part of her comment. Democrats don’t want to address it. They don’t want to engage with what Israel actually does and how Palestinians live.
“Even Israeli kibbutzes these days is hosting Itamar Ben Gvir. He is invited to speak at the kibbutzim. Unbelievable,” says Tal Schneider of the Times of Israel. And Netanyahu’s possible return to prime minister in Israel is helped by the rise of Ben Gvir’s racist party, once banned in the Knesset.
SNCC veteran Dorothy Zellner speaks to Phil Weiss about the threat of fascism in the U.S., organizing for Palestine within Jewish communities, and the backlash Jews can face in their own families for criticizing Israel.
House Foreign Affairs Committee votes to stop funding Palestinian curriculum that include teaching that Israel is an apartheid state. Rep. Brad Sherman of Los Angeles explains, Israelis and Palestinians live side by side in separation, just like the Dutch and the Germans live on either side of a border, so to characterize Israeli rule as apartheid is an “extreme and ridiculous conclusion.”