Berkeley event was successful despite efforts against it [Video]

Pro-Israel activists tried to get the event canceled. They put up blog posts and even a Craigslist advertisement attacking Weir, exaggerating inaccurate claims about her by the ADL and, especially, the widely refuted JVP-US Campaign dossier. The posts seemed designed to foment hate against her and possibly provoke violence – now standard practice for Israel partisans trying to block Weir’s events. But some longtime Berkeley human rights activists refused to cave…

Trump repeats false narrative about Palestinian children

Palestinians’ formative years are scarred by what they witness and experience living under the Israeli military occupation of their lands that has been in place 50 years: Israeli settler violence against them in their homes, destroying their property, theft of their land and burning of their crops… even some instances in which Israeli extremists have burned Palestinians in their homes while they were sleeping.

Israel partisans & critics oppose Friedman, Senate hearings begin Thursday, vote split

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will begin confirmation hearings on Thursday for Trump’s nominee for ambassador to Israel. (Rand Paul could be the swing vote). Friedman, who helps finance Israeli settlements, is opposed by a diverse array of groups; some pro-Israel groups say he would be bad for Israel. Some of his Senate supporters received donations from Sheldon Adelson…

Elliott Abrams and Gina Haspel – ghastly choices

Americans dodged a bullet when neocon Abrams was denied. He was a founding co-signer of PNAC, led the charge to invade Iraq after calling for “regime change,” and has endorsed military interventions in Libya, Syria, and as Iran. He called Chuck Hagel an “anti-Semite” because Hagel had criticized Israel. Gina Haspel, new CIA Deputy Director, was reportedly involved in the torture programs. In 2005 she ordered the destruction of the video tapes made of the interrogations…

Trump’s “Muslim ban”: Israeli strategic plans to “remake the Middle East” from 2001 and before targeted the same countries

With a single exception, all the countries were targeted for attack in 2001, with similar plans in 1996, 1991, 1982, and the 1950s. The fact is that Trump’s action continues policies influenced by people working on behalf of a foreign country, whose goal has been to destabilize and reshape an entire region. The result has been devastating wars, massive refugee movement that is uprooting entire peoples and transforming parts of Europe, desperate terrorism, and now the horror that is ISIS. If this decades-long effort is not halted, it will increasingly devastate the region, our country, and the world…

Meet Dan Lederman: South Dakota politician for Israel

Like most successful politicians, Lederman worked to develop friendly relationships with voters. JTA reports that these are useful in promoting Israel: “Such first-name-basis relationships in a state with only 800,000 people help Lederman advance a pro-Israel agenda, one that he prominently displays on his website’s home page, where he touts his leadership on the Iran sanctions legislation as well as a pro-Israel resolution in the wake of Israel’s 2008-2009 Gaza military campaign…”