Richard Falk discusses critical Middle East topics, including the legality of Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem, Iran and Trump’s “special relationships” with Israel and Saudi Arabia, the future of Syria, and hope for justice in Israel-Palestine.
The slogan “BDS – now also against motorsports” seems to be gaining traction, as a motorcycle race slated to take place in a West Bank settlement was cancelled. “Hosting a race in an illegal Israeli settlement…constitutes complicity in a war crime, no less.”
Investigative journalist Gareth Porter reports that in 2007 Israel sold the CIA on a dubious claim about a North Korean nuclear reactor in the Syrian desert. In joining Israel and the White House in selling military intervention in Syria – long a target of Israel – the CIA and international inspectors hid key evidence that would undermine the case…
JTA and the Forward report on a Congressional Judiciary Committee hearing about adopting a new, Israel-centric definition of antisemitism. (This is part of an international campaign on behalf of Israel). Five witnesses were for it, four against…
In violation of the international boycott of Israel over its human rights abuses, which have caused stunting of Gazan children, Trader Joe’s is promoting Bamba, an Israeli-made snack. Meanwhile, the company is part of a project against hunger in New England. The Osem Group, which produces Bamba, includes Nestlé, which is being boycotted for practices that cause infant malnutrition….
Israel is well-known for its potent U.S. lobby that not only influences Congress and the mainstream media but intimidates Americans who dare criticize its policies toward the Palestinians, as Dennis J Bernstein describes.
The agreement was an instrument in which Israel could pursue traditional objectives, including settling the “Whole Land of Israel.” Settlement building could accelerate, “security” in occupied Palestine was subcontracted to Palestinian “security forces” who protected Israeli settlers but not Palestinians, and many of the costs of the occupation were borne by other countries. Whitbeck gives an eye-witness analysis of what went wrong.
During Israel’s July-August, 2014 onslaught against Gaza, members of Congress eagerly supported Israel’s “right” to slaughter a couple of thousand Palestinians and level much of Gaza’s infrastructure in the name of “self-defense.” At least 8 bills and resolutions were introduced, and no fewer 7 letters were sent to President Barack Obama or U.N. officials. The Washington Report reported the details in the article originally published in fall 2014…