Israel recently banned foreigners who support boycotts against Israel from being allowed to enter Israel. People have objected in outrage to the law, particularly Westerners with family in Israel. Alison Weir writes on Dissident Voice that she also objects, but for a different reason: She’s not trying to visit Israel, she wants to go to Palestine…
Trump’s “America First” budget would slash State Dept budget, Israel only country to escape cuts
Israel to continue getting more aid than any other nation. Most of the cuts are unlikely to be sustained since the Israel lobby opposes them. Pro-Israel groups, which support US interventionism in the Middle East, call for continued funding to international programs…
Ha’aretz: Israeli Students Undergo Right-wing Indoctrination Before Going on School Trips Abroad
Israel’s Ha’aretz newspaper reports: ‘The messages are simple and repetitive,’ a mother of an 11th grade student says. ‘All the Arabs hate us, in fact almost the entire world hates us.’
UN group takes down report finding Israel guilty of apartheid following Israeli & US complaints
Following Israeli & US pressure, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres forced a UN agency to remove a report that found “on the basis of scholarly inquiry and overwhelming evidence, that Israel is guilty of the crime of apartheid.” The chief of the agency that published the report resigned over the censorship…
Google to begin flagging “upsetting” or “offensive” content
Various news outlets are reporting that Google will begin flagging content that is “upsetting” or “offensive.” The question for people following the Israeli-Palestinian issue and efforts to define criticism of Zionism as anti-Semitism is whether Google’s editors will deem humanitarian criticism “offensive” or “upsetting” to those criticized.
Ha’aretz: Richard Gere calls settlements ‘absurd provocation,’ occupation ‘indefensible’
Ha’aretz interview with actor Richard Gere: “Obviously this occupation is destroying everyone,” he says. “There’s no defense of this occupation. Settlements are such an absurd provocation and, certainly in the international sense, completely illegal – and they are certainly not part of the program of someone who wants a genuine peace process.”
The Kagans Are Back; Wars to Follow – Consortium News
A MUST READ: Robert Parry writes in Consortium News that the neocons, architects of the Iraq War, are counting on Democrats and liberals to be the foot soldiers in the new neocon campaign to push Trump into more “regime change” wars. As part of this they’re hyping evidence-free allegations that Russia colluded with Trump’s team to rig the U.S. election, and pushing for a US invasion of Syria…
Israel is imposing ‘apartheid regime’ on Palestinians, UN agency says
A UN agency has accused Israel of imposing an “apartheid regime” of racial discrimination on the Palestinian people.
The Tablet reports that Trump’s approach to Iran, Syria, & Israel looks a lot like Obama’s, because the same people are implementing it
The Tablet reports: The Trump White House is handing over key foreign-policy positions to Obama administration re-treads who handled the very same portfolios under the previous president. Trump’s foreign policy is starting to look like Obama Lite—the exact same policies, implemented by the exact same people…
AIPAC gave $60K to architect of Trump’s Muslim ban – LobeLog
Eli Clifton reports in Lobelog that new tax filings reveal that America’s largest pro-Israel group, AIPAC, gave money to a think tank that played a pivotal role in engineering Trump’s ban on Muslim immigration…