Grant Smith of IRMEP reports that a poll reveals the disconnect between the American public and Congress on the issue of Israel. Both major US political parties are overwhelmingly Zionist, while their constituents, according to the poll, are only 24.9% Zionist.
The Taylor Force Act, a bill to limit aid to the Palestinian Authority, is being peddled on both sides of the aisle by a nationwide grassroots network of pro-Israel activists—including Sheldon Adelson, Shawn Evenhaim, Haim Saban and Adam Milstein—as well as several powerful pro-Israel lobbying groups.
Electronic Intifada reports: Labour Friends of Israel chair Joan Ryan demanded that Corbyn cut ties with the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Ryan threatened to revive the anti-Semitism witch hunt that engulfed Labour last year; Ryan herself had been caught personally engaging in concocting false anti-Semitism charges against a member of her own party…
Thomas Suarez’s “State of Terror” is a meticulously documented history of Zionism. Israel owes its existence to its wholesale theft of Palestinians’ worldly possessions. It is painful to read through Suarez’s listing of atrocities: rape, torture, murder, robbery. Arab villages, Christian and Muslim, friendly and not, were destroyed…
The National Coalition of Christian Organizations in Palestine pleads for Western churches to take a stand: “As we meet this month in Bethlehem in occupied Palestine, we are still suffering from 100 years of injustice and oppression…we need you and we need you now more than ever. We need your costly solidarity…This is no time for shallow diplomacy Christians. We urge you to hear our call.”
Ha’aretz’s Gideon Levy writes: Isn’t it time to do away with the artificial distinction between the Israelis who view themselves as nice and just and the brutal occupation they are responsible for? Hasn’t the time come to punish them in a nonviolent manner for the crimes that each and every one of them is party to?
Asa Winstanley reports in the Electronic Intifada that the UK’s general election was an earthquake for the political establishment. Although the issue did not feature in the campaign, the result has significant implications for the Palestinian cause…
As promised in our previous post, here are more of the messages composing our tribute to Alison Weir in honor of her birthday. We were waiting to post some of the birthday messages until we could deliver them the old-fashioned way, in person. We’d like to share these now, along with her heartfelt thanks for all the messages and support of peace and justice!
IAK INVESTIGATION: For two decades, some Israeli officials and partisans have worked to embed a new, Israel-focused definition of antisemitism in institutions around the world, from international bodies and national governments to small college campuses in heartland America. This effort is now snowballing rapidly. As a result, advocacy for Palestinian rights is well on the way to being curtailed and even criminalized as “hate.”
During Israel’s “war of independence,” over 750,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes, never to be allowed to return. Hundreds of towns were razed; villagers were massacred. Their very existence on the land was nearly wiped from history as Israel built new towns over the ruins and gave them Hebrew names.