In Arkansas, a newspaper publisher is in financial straits after refusing to sign an anti-BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanction) pledge for Israel. He believes that political dissent is protected speech, and that the Arkansas law violates his constitutional rights and his journalistic ethics.
Belen Fernandez writes in the Jacobin that Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent pact with a far-right, anti-Arab party ahead of April’s elections is in keeping with a state that has racism and exclusion baked into its foundation.
Among Congress members’ subsidized trips abroad, Israel is by far the top foreign destination; most trips work to cultivate an Israel-centric perspective of the region, and are paid for by an organization with deep foreign ties. On the other hand, only a handful of legislators visit Palestine. 41% of Americans believe that if their representatives visit Israel, they should also visit Palestine.
The leaked documentary will be shown, followed by a discussion, at the Berkeley Central Library on Monday, Feb. 4, at 6 pm. The explosive film contains footage of Israel lobby manipulation obtained by an undercover reporter. The post contains a downloadable flyer for people in the Berkeley, California area to distribute.
Philip Giraldi reports that neocons (Israel partisans who switched from the left to the right) have come and gone and then come again. Some are part of the “Trump resistance”… their new media incarnation “The Bulwark” advises Democrats how to get rid of the freshman Congressional rep who blew the whistle on AIPAC…
An “All Things Considered” reporter says the NPR report was “fair,” but in reality it reported only one side of the controversy and omitted significant information. The reporter’s email reveals a skewed perception of events. NPR has a history of such Israel-centric reporting…
AP sent out two versions of a story on responses to Ilhan Omar’s comments regarding AIPAC. Both were entitled “Omar’s edgy Israel tweet no surprise to some back home.” One version was slanted; the other made that one look good. Such distortion on Israel-Palestine. isn’t unusual for AP…
Americans in general do not like anti-BDS laws nearly as much as Congress does: just 22.5% of American adults polled favor anti-boycott measure. But Washington and many state legislatures are pushing through legislation that would criminalize boycott of Israel.
Philip Weiss reports that writers try to blame Democratic support for Israel on evangelical Christians so they won’t be called antisemitic. However, if evangelicals were so influential, Democrats would have supported Kavenaugh, would be anti-abortion, etc. And regarding Republicans: Adelson’s money was a major influence in Trump’s decision to move the embassy…
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.