Israel is preparing for another war that kills masses of civilians– and it’s preparing its propaganda campaign early with the New York Times happy to help.
Chris Matthews says that Jeb Bush was pandering to Jewish donors in the Israel lobby when he embraced his brother. But guests Jonathan Capehart and David Corn say it was just a screwup. Really?
The Alternative Information Center reports: Israel’s new government is planning to “legalise” West Bank settlement construction conducted in contravention of Israeli law, according to the coalition agreement between Likud and the Jewish Home. This stands in stark contrast to the demolition policy implemented by Israel against Palestinian-owned homes built without permits.
The Alternative Information Center reports: “Besieged Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank’s Jordan Valley have called on the international community to immediately intervene to halt Israeli military training in the area, which has already resulted in the temporary deportation of residents from four villages from their homes and threatens the future livelihood of these communities. Massive Israeli military training in the northern Jordan Valley began on Sunday, with forces using live ammunition around the homes and farms of Palestinian communities.”
Ma’an reports: “A number of Palestinian journalists were injured on Saturday when Israeli forces suppressed a peaceful march organised by journalists to mark World Press Freedom Day. Israeli forces fired tear-gas canisters and stun grenades into the crowd of journalists marching in Bethlehem. [Head of the Union of Palestinian Journalists Abd al-Nasser al-Najjar] said that the march was carried out to express ‘our refusal to systematic Israeli suppression policies against journalists even as they express their right of coverage and freedom of expression.'”
Ma’an reports: “Hundreds of Palestinians attended the funeral of Muhammad Murad Yahiya, 18, on Tuesday after he was shot dead by Israeli forces late Monday in al-‘Araqa village in western Jenin. ‘Israel assassinated my son in cold blood,’ Yahiya’s father, Murad, told Ma‘an. ‘After a family wedding Muhammad and several of his friends went walking in our lands near the separation wall when Israeli soldiers opened fire and hit him.'”
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) says no house has been reconstructed in the besieged Gaza Strip eight months after the end of the Israel’s latest war on the blockaded area.
From Haaretz: “A Palestinian youth has lost an eye, apparently as a result of being shot at with a sponge bullet. It is the latest of a series of similar incidents in which Palestinian youths and children, primarily in East Jerusalem, have lost eyes to sponge bullets fired by the Israeli security services.”
Ahmad Jaradat writes for the AIC: “The southern West Bank city of Hebron is under what local Palestinians are calling a siege to enable tens of thousands of Israelis to celebrate the holiday of Passover this week by invading the city. “
Israeli settlers, on Saturday, opened pepper spray on 11-year-old Qamar Qafisha, from Hebron, on Shuhada street in the city.