Why is an anti-Semite not called a “Semitophobe?” Timo Al-Farooq says that what at first glance might seem like a linguistic mishap is in fact a reflection of the hierarchy of discrimination in the Western discourse on racism.
US Congresswomen Ilhan Omar, along with several Palestinian human rights groups, jumped to the defense of queer Palestinians in the wake of the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) ban on an LGBTQ group in the occupied West Bank.
Trump’s refrain that the Democrats are anti-Israel is a strategic effort to foster division among Democrats over Israel so that he can get Jewish donors and voters in 2020. That division exists. The party’s progressive base wants to strip US aid to Israel, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Israeli President Rivlin are leaping in to assure the Democratic establishment that Israel is above politics.
In the wake of Israel’s ban on Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, the media has jumped on the supposed ‘radical’ dealings of MIFTAH, the local sponsor for the planned delegation to Palestine. In Palestine, the group maintains a relatively a-political, non-controversial presence with a focus on female empowerment and self-sustainability projects.
Donald Trump took to Twitter to quote someone who claimed he is considered in Israel to be a king and the second coming of God. Yossi Gurvitz says that when you combine this with Trump’s claim that American Jews who vote Democrat are disloyal, you get a pretty accurate picture of what many Jews in Israel actually believe.
With national attention focused on the two US congresswomen who have been denied entry into Israel, members of Congress and even presidential candidates are not only openly criticizing Israel, they are considering ways to hold it accountable. At what is clearly a watershed moment, activists and organizers must be extremely cautious about steering the conversation in the right direction.
When US congress members Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar were barred from entering Israel it was shocking for many. Traveling for an American citizen is a privilege often taken for granted. But if you are a Palestinian living under Israel occupation it becomes almost impossible. “Most of our visas get rejected,” Malkon Marizian explains to Mondoweiss. “This is related to our status. It is all related to the occupation.”
A crackdown in Lebanon against unlicensed workers that set off a wave of protests in Palestinian refugee camps over the summer intensified this month when the first demonstrator was killed.
US Congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib doubled down on their criticisms of the Israeli government for denying them entry to the country, with Omar hinting that Congress should reconsider the billions of dollars in annual military aid given to Israel.
Social media networks were flooded with odes to Palestinian grandmothers over the weekend, as Palestinians from across the diaspora shared photos and stories of their family matriarchs with the hashtag #MyPalestinianSitty.
Forward Opinion Editor Batya Ungar Sargon insinuated Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib shared anti-Semitic material on social media, when they posted a cartoon by Carlos Latuff showing Trump and Netanyahu silencing them. This is not the first time Ungar Sargon has led the assault on those very few who dare challenge Israeli policy head-on.
The last five years have witnessed unprecedented change in the struggle for justice in Palestine. These changes offer opportunities that our movement needs to act on, particularly during the 2020 election cycle.
A ‘New York Times’ analysis of the Israeli government’s refusal to allow two American congresswomen to visit the West Bank embraces a central claim of the Israel lobby, that bipartisan support for Israel is critical to US national security, and leaves out Trump’s largest donors, the Adelsons, for whom Israel is the overriding issue.
By banning Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar from visiting the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, Israel has created a political upheaval in the U.S., with many Americans now favoring cutting aid to the country. One thing achieved this result: The women support BDS, and they have demonstrated the power of the nonviolent campaign.
The Israeli Minister of the Interior says that Rashida Tlaib doesn’t love her grandmother as much as she hates Israel, a charge that goes back to the famous hasbara claim that there will only be peace when Palestinians “love their children more than they hate us.”
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.”
Democratic Party leaders’ responses to the Israeli decision to ban Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar are the latest sign of division between progressives and enablers of Israeli apartheid. Nada Elia says this division is rending the Democratic Party apart, and threatens to secure Trump a second term.
Palestinians are joining the chorus of international condemnation facing Israel for barring entry to US Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar. “We are extremely disappointed and saddened that Rashida and her colleagues won’t be coming to visit us in Palestine,” Muhammad Tlaib, 44, a cousin of Congresswoman Tlaib and former mayor of her hometown in the West Bank, Beit Ur al-Fauqa, told Mondoweiss. “We wanted to show Rashida how proud we are of her and how much we appreciate her dedication to fighting Trump’s racism against the Palestinian people, and her efforts to fight against the occupation.”
Hours after Israeli media reported Representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib would not be allowed to enter the West Bank for a planned Congressional delegation, President Donald Trump tweeted Israel should deny the two entry, claiming “they hate Israel” and “all Jewish people.”
Israeli media is reporting that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will bar Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) from entering Israel for a planned congressional delegation over their support for the BDS movement.
41 Democrats went to Israel…but they didn’t seem to want you to know it.
Israeli forces fired tear gas, rubber bullets, and sound bombs into crowds of Palestinian worshipers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque as they celebrated the first day of the Eid al-Adha holiday.
Polling suggests that Netanyahu will fall from power in Israel’s September elections His Hail Mary to stay as prime minister and avoid indictment is that the Trump administration interferes, by releasing its peace plan, thereby putting pressure on Netanyahu’s rivals to make a government with him, says Evan Gottesman of Israel Policy Forum.
On August 12, Twenty-one Israeli lawmakers sent a letter to members of Congress criticizing a bill that condemned the boycott of Israel because it endorsed a two-state solution. “We would like to make our position clear that the establishment of a Palestinian state would be far more dangerous to Israel than BDS,” the letter reads.
In a far-ranging interview, Palestinian author Raja Shehadeh relates how annoyed he is when American media read from the Zionist script and demand that he defend Hamas. He also talks about how difficult it is to maintain human relationships with Israelis when Israelis cannot confront the past of ethnic cleansing. And how the late Amos Oz patronized him…