The past week has seen the promise of peace shattered, first by an Israeli incursion into Gaza (7 Palestinian, 1 Israeli dead), then Gaza’s rocket retaliation (1 Israeli Palestinian dead), then Israel’s retaliation (7 Palestinians dead). Israel’s defense minister has resigned, and a new, fragile ceasefire is in effect.
018 midterm elections are a mixed bag when it comes to the Palestine/Israel issue: 6 Jewish people are expected to chair important congressional committees; 122 J-Street endorsees were elected (J-Street is pro-2 state solution); some of the many pro-Israel congress people lost their seats, while 3 new pro-Palestine women were elected; it is becoming more commonplace for even Israel supporters to speak critically of Israel.
Bottom line: the US midterm elections have ushered a new dawn in American politics that is defying the unflinching influence held for many years by pro-Israel lobbies and interest groups.
The good news: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib are Israel-criticizing congressional newcomers. The bad news: other Dem midterm winners join the army of Israel supporters – having vowed to keep America’s commitment to Israel “as fixed and as permanent as the sky” and “make sure that we are supporting Israel into the next generation.” In addition, some key leadership positions will be filled by pro-Israel Jews. Norman Finkelstein sees this as a sign of “a growing divide between US Jews and Israeli Jews.”
Although the media isn’t telling Americans, a bill to give Israel a massive aid package is before Congress. The Senate, where it has 72 sponsors, is expected to vote on it this week. The bill also mandates that NASA work with Israel’s space agency, despite charges of Israeli espionage…
On July 19th Israel passed legislation reaffirming its status as a Jewish state. Jewish American analyst and publisher Ron Unz describes his journey of discovery concerning this subject matter. He discusses Israeli professor Israel Shahak’s information, Solzhenitsyn, and more.
The Israel lobby is one of the most powerful and pervasive special interest groups in the U.S. It consists of a multitude of institutions and individuals that work to influence Congress, the president, academia, the media, religious institutions, and American public opinion on behalf of Israel. View the list…
In the wake of Charlottesville, many people opposing racism have donated to the ADL, resulting in a 1,000 spike in donations. Unfortunately, however, the ADL actually uses its $57 million budget to enable racism…
Philip Giraldi reports: ‘The most powerful and effective foreign-government lobby in Washington is so dominant that it has been able to avoid registering for the past 55 years… The unrelenting pressure to make criticism of Israel illegal is particularly dangerous as it is international…’
The progressive organization Moveon is featuring Ben & Jerry’s in its latest action alert, even though the ice cream company is being boycotted by three different social justice campaigns for its unethical practices in the Palestinian territories and its treatment of workers & the environment in Vermont.
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!