Airbnb is doing the right thing by de-listing properties in illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The Anti-Defamation League is pushing back – but its arguments fail to hold up to even the mildest scrutiny.
Residents of Khan al-Ahmar have been fighting for their existence since 1951, seeking nothing more than basic human rights. Israeli authorities say the village was illegally constructed; the Israeli Supreme Court in May rejected a final appeal against its demolition. Activists are concerned continued Israeli settlement construction in the area could effectively divide the northern and southern West Bank.
Troves of looted Palestinian books, documents, photographs and films from as early as the 1930s are sealed in Israel’s archives and libraries. Palestinians see the censorship as part of a wider trend of physical and cultural erasure continues to this day. Concealing the archival record denies Palestinians the tools to communicate their own history.
The highest Israeli officer tried for Israel’s 1956 Kafr Qasem massacre admitted that his trial was staged to protect Israeli leaders. An Israeli historian thinks the massacre was part of a secret plan to expel Palestinians from Israel…
Jonathan Cook reports on Israeli soldiers breaking the silence on what they’ve done. “Whatever a soldier believes when they begin their military service, there is no way to behave ethically in the occupied territories,” Ido Even-Paz, a former Israeli soldier says. “It’s a system in which Palestinians are always treated as inferior… Every day the job is to inflict collective punishment…”
Looking back: In Israel’s 2006 war against Lebanon, Israel used cluster bombs that have a high level of failure to detonate, as well as white phosphorus which is in most cases illegal, and employed launch systems notorious for their inaccuracy. Israel claims everything was done within the bounds of international law – as Israel interprets it – and only in self-defense.
While serving in IDF during 1st Intifada, mayoral candidate Raz Sagi shot & killed a fleeing Palestinian teen. Sagi was sentenced to 3 mo community service, pardoned, then promoted.
Joe Meadors – passenger on the Freedom Flotilla ship intercepted by Israel and detained illegally – was on the USS Liberty in ’67, attacked by Israel, 34 Americans were killed.
Juan Cole’s upcoming book, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace Amid a Clash of Empires, investigates the origins of Islam, focusing on Muhammad’s vision of peace.
The push to recognize Israel’s 1981 illegal annexation of the Golan Heights, part of Syria, represents an aggressive push by some pro-Israel groups and the Israeli government. Opponents say that recognition could unsettle the region and pose security concerns to the US and its allies. Israel destroyed hundreds of villages in the area…