Electronic Intifada reports: Labour Friends of Israel chair Joan Ryan demanded that Corbyn cut ties with the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Ryan threatened to revive the anti-Semitism witch hunt that engulfed Labour last year; Ryan herself had been caught personally engaging in concocting false anti-Semitism charges against a member of her own party…
Both AIPAC and J Street lauded the passage, by 98-2, of a Senate bill to impose new sanctions on Iran. Voting against it were Rand Paul and Bernie Sanders… all the others did what the Israel lobby told them to do.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s statement that an antisemitism envoy may be unnecessary are challenged by representatives of the Israel lobby, quoted at length by Newsweek reporter Stav Ziv, whose family is from Israel.
JTA reports that Michael Steinhardt, billionaire founder of Birthright Israel (a free, ten-day trip to Israel that is enjoyed by a large percentage of Jewish young adults) considers the state of Israel “the Jewish miracle of the 20th century.” Now he is creating public schools that teach about Israel…
June 1 – June 7, 2017: Israeli soldiers killed a teenage Palestinian girl as well as a young father in Gaza. Israeli forces demolished five Palestinian coal production plants. Jewish settlers confiscated Palestinian land to create a new outpost.
JTA reports that the US Senate has approved a “non-binding resolution marking the 50th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem.” The bill was passed on Thursday, June 1st, the anniversary of Israel’s takeover of East Jerusalem in 1967. Most of the world rejects the label of “reunification,” rejecting Israel’s claim of sovereignty over the captured territories.
May 25 – May 31, 2017: A thousand Palestinians being held in Israeli jails ended their hunger strike after 40 days without food. Palestinians in Gaza only have a few hours of electricity and running water a day and are forced to buy bottled water to meet their daily needs.
As promised in our previous post, here are more of the messages composing our tribute to Alison Weir in honor of her birthday. We were waiting to post some of the birthday messages until we could deliver them the old-fashioned way, in person. We’d like to share these now, along with her heartfelt thanks for all the messages and support of peace and justice!
May 18 – 24, 2017: Israeli forces killed two Palestinian children, injured and arrested dozens, including children, and punished Palestinian prisoners on their fifth week of hunger strike.
Amplify their voices by contacting your Congressional rep, calling Amnesty International and Red Cross, writing letters to media, attending a rally, and educating others on social media.