Category: Politics

Israel has starring role in H.R.648, “Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2019”

As Congress tackles urgent issues of reopening government and setting the budget for the country, it takes the time to prioritize a foreign country: H.R.648 contains assurances that Israel will receive $3.8 billion for arms, and funding for refugee resettlement; the bill also includes threats to de-fund the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and any future state of Palestine–if US demands (dictated by the Israel lobby) are not met.

Flashback: Secretive Adelson-Saban Summit Raised Millions to Fight BDS

In 2015, billionaire Sheldon Adelson hosted a summit to battle the nonviolent boycott movement for Palestinian rights (BDS). All participants in the event pledged at least $1 million to cover the costs of “demonizing the demonizers…” Participants, true to the maxim that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, declined to discuss any financial pledges….

Surveillance, Political Threats, Daily Discrimination: What It’s Like to Be a Palestinian Citizen in Israel

Palestinian citizens of Israel are constantly reminded of the fragility and conditionality of our (second-class) Israeli citizenship, and the illegitimacy of our Palestinian identity – and that’s amplified as elections approach.

The Palestinian identity of Israeli citizens is conceptualized as a perpetual threat precisely because it resists the constant revisionist efforts of the state. By virtue of existing, Palestinians contest the erasure of their own narratives and histories.

How Did Israeli Elections Get So Racist?

Israeli politicians all seem to share a platform plank of vitriol and threats toward Palestinians. Their campaign ads are full of mocking, insults, and accusations against Palestinians. It’s been like this for years, and it’s worse now than ever. And it’s not good for Israel.

Michelle Alexander has opened a door on Palestine

Pro-Israel and Jewish response to Michelle Alexander’s recent NYT piece, “Time to Break the Silence on Palestine,” was predictably hysterical and demonstrated that “hardline Israeli propagandists are losing their ability to shape political discourse on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” James Zogby examines what this means…

The Pro-Israel Push to Purge US Campus Critics

Katherine Franke writes in the New York Review of Books that while Palestinian rights are getting more attention than ever, advocates of justice still face accusations of “anti-Semitism,” harassment, and most of all, censorship on college campuses….

Activist and scholar Angela Davis is articulate and compelling as she speaks with Amy Goodman about injustice in Palestine and the injustice of those groups trying to shut down dialogue. She is gratified that the outcome of her controversial loss of the Shuttlesworth Award includes a robust conversation about justice for Palestinians; she also notes the fact that many groups, including some Jewish groups, support her.  

Opinion: Americans Need a Congress that Represents Americans

Paul Craig Roberts: US Senator Marco Rubio poses as a representative of Florida Republicans, but in truth he represents the interests of Israel. He is sponsor of legislation that punishes Americans who boycott Israel as their way of protesting Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people. That Rubio is doing his best to dismantle what little is left of the First Amendment doesn’t seem to bother the media, who are no longer protective of the First Amendment.

Ten years after the first war on Gaza, Israel still plans endless brute force

Operation Cast Lead (winter 2008-9) is emblematic of everything that is wrong with Israel’s approach to Gaza. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a political conflict to which there is no military solution. Yet Israel persists in shunning diplomacy and relying on brute military force – and not as a last resort but as a first resort.

Operation Cast Lead, the first of several incursions by Israel, killed 1,417 Palestinians and just 13 Israelis. Chillingly, the generals call their repeated bombardments ‘mowing the lawn’