As is the case every week in the oPt, Israel has been busily using violence to break up peaceful protests, invading villages and arresting Palestinians (including women and children), disrupting freedom of movement, shooting at fishing boats, and demolishing homes. In other words, it was business as usual.
Jake Tapper’s piece on Israeli psychologists working with children after HS shooting in Parkland FL highlights Israel’s “vast experience with terrorism and war.” As usual, Israel is the innocent victim of Palestinian terrorism.
Palestinians survive such whitewashing by developing a unique coping mechanism, “Sumud.”
The Taylor Force Act will probably become law by the end of the week. Two tragedies will be perpetuated: Palestinians will continue to be seen as terrorists, unworthy of food and shelter; and Israel will continue unabated in spending American money to kill and imprison them.
Addameer Prisoner Support reports that over 1,300 Palestinians were arrested in the first two months of 2018; 274 of these were children, bringing the total number of Palestinians in Israeli jails to 6,500; 350 of these were children. Among the most pressing issues in the Israeli prison system are torture and strip searches.
Stephen Hawking was critical of Israel and supported BDS, but also visited Israel a number of times and based his revolutionary theory on the works of an Israeli scientist
President Trump’s “ultimate deal” is said to be nearly ready for unveiling, but will Palestinians even look at it? The climate is not conducive to success, with Palestinians in boycott mode, Netanyahu looking at fraud charges, Kushner on shaky ground, and Trump himself already busy with North Korea.
Palestinian Authority says Gaza attack on Rami Hamdallah was an assassination bid and blames Hamas for security breach.
Israel’s army has reached a level at which it can do no wrong. The “most moral army in the world,” worshiped and exceptional, is in a place in which anti-Arab racism is so normal that it has become invisible (at least to itself), and this has put the IDF in a very precarious position indeed.
Palestinian officials say Amir Omar Shahada, 19, was shot in the chest and later succumbed to his wounds in a West Bank hospital.
Palestinians say Muhammed Zain al-Jabri, 24, was severely handicapped. Israeli army: He was holding firebomb, soldiers responded to immediate threat.
It’s tough enough to be a little girl in renal failure, but then to travel alone in a hostile environment – this is what Israel put young Inaam al-Attar through on her way to get a kidney transplant. After human rights orgs called attention to her plight, her mother was granted a visa to join her very sick daughter.