Freedom House gives Israel an “Aggregate Freedom Score” of 78 out of 100 :
Israel is a multiparty democracy with strong and independent institutions that guarantee political rights and civil liberties for most of the population. Although the judiciary is active in protecting minority rights, the political leadership and many in society have discriminated against Arab and other minorities, resulting in systemic disparities in areas including political representation, criminal justice, and economic opportunity.
https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2019/israel
[Disclosure: “One of NED’s subsidiaries, Freedom House, is admittedly funded by multinational corporations including AT&T, defense contractors BAE Systems and Northrop Grumman, industrial equipment exporter Caterpillar, tech-giants Google and Facebook, and financiers including Goldman Sachs. NED itself – according to a 2013 disclosure – is funded by among others, Chevron, Coca-Cola, Goldman Sachs, Google, Micrsoft, and the US Chamber of Commerce. What do these corporations have to do with ‘the growth and strengthening of democratic institutions around the world’?” [3] https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/06/15/the-neds-useful-idiots/ ]
Well, look at Latvia and Estonia, the exemplary democracies repeatedly lauded by the preeminent U.S. funded democracy-promoting NGO, Freedom House:
Freedom House has consistently rated Estonia and Latvia as “free,” giving them—on par with the United States and other advanced democracies—the highest possible evaluations for their proportional representation and civil liberties. For instance, some human rights organizations expressed concerns about the treatment of ethnic Russians, many of whom are denied voting rights and remain under the highly dubious status of Estonia and Latvia’s “stateless” or“non-citizens.” (Andrei Tsygankov)
Norman Finkelstein:
The Palestinian leadership has only ever cared about squirreling away money in their private bank accounts and paying the P.A.’s employees. It’s always been a corrupt patronage system. (The likes of pathetic Saeb Erekat also enjoy the pretenses and pageantry of power.)
There was a very calculated policy by the US over the past couple of years to bankrupt the PA in order to soften it for the “Deal of the Century”. The Palestinian Authority is now broke, and desperate.
Abbas is just bargaining as he says “No, No, No”; he wants to see how much money he can wring out of Washington and Riyadh.
PLO hack Hanan Ashrawi says that the Palestinians can’t be bought for a “fistful of dollars.” True enough; they demand two fistfuls.
It has elections, so it is a democracy. Like the U.S., or Ukraine, or India.
RoHa; But at least good old Boris will stop this shilly-shallying and deliver Brexit quickly.
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And Brexit does have its bright side:
Talk of Moving UK’s Embassy in Israel
Following U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton’s talks with Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his ministers in London last week, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office has been asked to speed up contingency planning for the U.K. to move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, with an eye to an “early announcement” post Brexit.
The U.K. is currently bound by an EU common foreign policy position not to follow the United States in moving its embassy to Jerusalem. As things stand, that prohibition will fall on Nov. 1 […]
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Three Benefits Seen
Firstly, they anticipate that Labour opposition to the move can be used to yet again raise accusations of “anti-Semitism” against Jeremy Corbyn, the opposition leader.
Secondly, it provides good “red meat” to Brexiteer support in marking a clear and, they believe, popular break from EU foreign policy, at no economic cost.
Thirdly, it seals the special link between the Trump and Johnson administrations and sets the U.K. apart from other NATO allies.
Bolton also discussed the possibility of U.K. support for Israeli annexation of areas of the West Bank to “solve” the illegality of Israeli settlements on occupied territory.
https://consortiumnews.com/2019/08/21/talk-of-moving-uks-embassy-in-israel/
… Minnesota representative Ilhan Omar called on her colleagues to visit Israel to prevent Donald Trump and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, “succeed in hiding the cruel reality of the occupation from us”. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/19/ilhan-omar-rashida-tlaib-israel-press-conference
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When Trump and Netanyahu are gone there will be a great sigh of relief, and the focus will once again return to ending the occupation and getting back on track to a two-state settlement.
bcg: apparently the Jews worship a nastier Supreme Being than the Muslims.
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And by the same argument, “the Christians” as well. Whatever…
John O: So, until governments place sanctions on Israel, bringing that is still a goal.
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That’s fine, but the point is sanctions are not an end in themselves; they are a means to an end or various ends (goals). The official BDS movement has adopted three goals which it is hoped sanctions will help attain. It’s yet to be seen to what extent Americans are embracing those specific goals, and embracing sanctions as a means to achieve them.
with many Americans coming round to embrace one of the BDS goals, sanctions.
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Sanctions are a tactic, not a goal.
It’s yet to be seen to what extent and how seriously Americans are embracing BDS’s three goals: ending the occupation of Arab territories occupied by Israel in 1967 and removing the separation wall; recognizing the right of Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and respecting, protecting, and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in U.N. resolution 194.
eljay: Geographic Palestine is the actual homeland of people living in or up to n-generations removed from the region.
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Who determined the boundaries of this “geographic Palestine”? What are they? Why are they “geographic”, not political?
How many generations are “n-generations”?
Just trying to understand your terminology.