Israel is facing widespread backlash for its dangerous decision to label six Palestinian human rights groups as terrorist organizations. “Supporters of Israel often say to critics, ‘Stop singling out Israel. Stop picking on Israel. Treat Israel like any other country,'” Mehdi Hasan said on his MSNBC news program. “Well, okay then. Let’s condemn them for doing this then because when our other allies, like Turkey or Saudi Arabia or Egypt, crack down on human rights groups, we condemn them for it. We criticize them. So why give Israel a pass?”
Palestinian human rights organizations are demanding that PayPal end its “discriminatory” policy that prevents Palestinians from the occupied territory from using its platform. In a letter to PayPal’s President and CEO, a coalition of Palestinian human rights groups and international partners, including Jewish Voice for Peace and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, called out the company for “contributing to human rights violations and discriminatory practices against Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory.”
Zionism has not yet murdered Judaism but it has undermined its moral and historical integrity. Just as Israel must de-Zionize in order to finally find its place in the Middle East, so, too, must Jews abroad de-Zionize in order to reclaim their own traditions, experiences and communal validity.
After every ceasefire, Rana Shubair tries to imagine leading a normal life. In Gaza, the bar is set low and means not living under raining bombs. “Mama, who broke our house?” the neighbor’s three-year-old asked. His mother ignored his question. The following day the toddler announced, pleased that he had figured it out, “The Israelis broke our house.”
PETA has praised Israel for becoming the first country to ban the sale of most furs, but Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza have seen Israel target animals during military incursions.
Reporter Tareq Hajjaj reflects back on the harrowing last few weeks in Gaza where he twice fled his home to escape Israeli attacks, and reveals the trauma of reporters who cover wars that they are also trying to survive.
As Israeli Jews we call upon the international community to intervene immediately in order to stop Israel’s current aggressions, to adopt the demands of the Palestinian BDS movement; to work towards the actualization of the Palestinian Right of Return and to bring about historic justice; to reach a just and democratic solution for all, based on the decolonization of the region and found a state of all its citizens.
A new field report from Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq released this week details the numerous human rights violations that occurred throughout Palestine, particularly in the occupied West Bank, during 2020 — violations that the group said were exacerbated by, and spurred on, by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Israel’s leading human rights organization accusing the country of “apartheid” shows in the eyes of many Israelis, the government no longer possesses democratic ideals.
Norman Finkelstein responds to B’Tselem’s designation of Israel as an “apartheid regime” saying that the aspect of Israeli rule that most manifests its Jewish supremacist character is the worthlessness it attaches to Palestinian life. And this is the most effective label– insisting on characterizing Israel as a Jewish supremacist state.