Only a handful of Israelis continue working to oppose Israel’s occupation, and they find no takers in Israel. Just like with South African apartheid, it requires people from abroad to end this injustice. Fortunately, some new voices are already speaking out…
The New York Times – most notably columnist Thomas Friedman – acknowledges that current policies and practices in Israel/Palestine are now and have been for decades a form of apartheid, yet for some unspecified reason, the paper has stated for twenty years merely that the region is “at risk of” becoming an apartheid state. In spite of profuse evidence from experts around the world and from Israel’s own legislation, NYT refuses to state the obvious.
Recent news stories reported by the International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC), April 26, 2019. Israeli soldiers invade West Bank, abduct children, assault Palestinians, injure a two-month-old baby. Israeli settlers storm archaeological site, Hebron town, etc.
Israeli author Shlomo Sand writes: Zionism – the idea of a “Jewish State” – was at first fully secular and socialist, but how to define “a Jew” in a way that includes both the religious and the nonreligious (and no Arabs)? Eventually, religious features were appropriated and nationalized: the “need” for more land became a holy pact with God; Israel is only for Jews, not “all of its citizens.”
Philip Weiss reports that Trump’s extreme pro-Israel policies have fostered a widening split among Israel-lovers. Rightwing Zionists love what Trump is doing. Centrist Zionists who worry that Israel is going off the rails are disturbed by Trump’s actions. Liberal and centrist Zionists have been going to occupied Jerusalem for more than a generation and seeing a 26-foot wall that reminded them of the Berlin wall on steroids, and seen bright red occupation signs warning Jews against going into Palestinian areas that remind them of South Africa. And they’ve done nothing…
A prominent Israeli rabbi suggests that the Notre Dame Cathedral fire may have been divine retribution, indicates that the burning of churches in Israel may be problematic only in that they may be rebuilt.
A handcuffed, blindfolded Palestinian minor was detained for suspected stone throwing in the West Bank, shot as he tried to flee; Palestinians who tried to help him were threatened as the teen bled. Israel “will investigate.”
Gallup explains that its polling over 3 decades, which consistently showed high American sympathy for Israel, was the result of “priming” questions that influenced respondents to falsely express pro-Israel leanings. Gallup buried this explosive admission.
Wikileaks publisher Julian Assange is incarcerated in a UK prison that has been called “Britain’s Guantanamo.” His crime was exposing actions the US government, the media, the Democratic–Clinton machine, Israel, and others wanted kept hidden, including war crimes and torture.
Every day of the year, the International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC) reports on incidents that Palestinians endure. It isn’t hard to detect patterns: home demolitions, land confiscation, abduction, and mistreatment of political prisoners are daily occurrences. Below are just some of the accounts reported by IMEMC for April 10, 2019. Each includes background information on the issue and part of the article.