Israeli settlers have taken over dozens of springs in the West Bank, all of them on private Palestinian land, and are keeping the Palestinian owners away. Rina Shnerb, a Jewish teen, was murdered last week at one of them.
University of Illinois officials quickly reversed their decision to block an event about justice in Palestine when they were reminded that such discrimination is illegal under the First Amendment. “We’ve seen this happen again and again with Palestine-related events on campuses,” explained an attorney. “It’s critical for groups to stand up for their First Amendment rights in these situations.”
Israeli settlers protest the “unlawful” boycott movement playing out in their midst by calling for a boycott of their own.
Three hospitals in Israel admit that their policy is to separate maternity patients according to ethnicity. Palestinian women have found this practice insulting; some experts call it “apartheid.”
Only a handful of Israelis continue working to oppose Israel’s occupation, and they find no takers in Israel. Just like with South African apartheid, it requires people from abroad to end this injustice. Fortunately, some new voices are already speaking out…
The New York Times – most notably columnist Thomas Friedman – acknowledges that current policies and practices in Israel/Palestine are now and have been for decades a form of apartheid, yet for some unspecified reason, the paper has stated for twenty years merely that the region is “at risk of” becoming an apartheid state. In spite of profuse evidence from experts around the world and from Israel’s own legislation, NYT refuses to state the obvious.
Former President Jimmy Carter encourages the House of Representatives to reject the anti-BDS bill: “Under our Constitution, people and legal entities have the right to express political views without fear of consequences.”
Gideon Levy writes in Ha’aretz: “The apartheid did not start with him and will not end with his departure; it probably won’t even be dented. One of the most racist nations in the world cannot complain about its prime minister’s racism.”
IF AMERICANS KNEW joins CODEPINK in outrage against Candidate Kamala Harris’ co-opting of the Selma to Montgomery march. Let’s tell her this is offensive and unacceptable. See CODEPINK’s action alert….
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.