At least 50 Israeli airstrikes & artillery shelling over the past 2 days have killed 23 Gazans, injured 69, and destroyed homes and farmland. Israeli peace group Gush Shalom opposes ‘a war that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is dragging Israel into… a war that will only bring death, suffering, and pain on both sides…’
Overall, Bernie Sanders has taken the boldest stand for Palestinian human rights, but has pulled back to “safe” positions more than once; Elizabeth Warren has a history of support for Israel despite its long, systemic record of human rights abuses, but seems willing to respond to pressure from voters. Neither has advocated for full Palestinian rights and justice. See a detailed report on Sanders’ and Warrens’ position on Palestine…
Netanyahu conducted by far the ugliest – and most reckless – campaign in Israeli history (almost including a declaration of war on Gaza to delay the election), but it wasn’t enough. Coalition-building in the current environment will be tough.
There’s no longer any real debate in Israel. The right wants to annex Palestinian land openly, and the center wants to annex, but deceive us. All that’s left now is to admit to the world that in reality Israel annexed the West Bank many years ago… it’s one country with an apartheid system.
Former top Pentagon official Paul Pilar reports that Israel has been launching unprovoked attacks using its military might within Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Iran despite ceasefire agreements. This heightened military aggressiveness has multiple extremely serious consequences, including damage to the United States…
Israel has denied entry to an official visit from two US Congress members, Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar.
![[Analysis] Israel to deny entry to official Tlaib-Omar Congressional visit](https://israelpalestinenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/8-15-2-girls-650x410.jpg "[Analysis] Israel to deny entry to official Tlaib-Omar Congressional visit")
In the latest skirmish between rightwing, extremist Israel partisans and more strategic Israel partisans, the rightwing won: Netanyahu says he will deny entry to Congress members Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar… four news reports on the Netanyahu-Trump action…
During a closed meeting that was inadvertently broadcast to journalists by an open microphone, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted the European Union’s approach to Israel, which conditions high levels of trade on human rights for Palestinians, as “crazy.”
Philip Weiss reports that Trump’s extreme pro-Israel policies have fostered a widening split among Israel-lovers. Rightwing Zionists love what Trump is doing. Centrist Zionists who worry that Israel is going off the rails are disturbed by Trump’s actions. Liberal and centrist Zionists have been going to occupied Jerusalem for more than a generation and seeing a 26-foot wall that reminded them of the Berlin wall on steroids, and seen bright red occupation signs warning Jews against going into Palestinian areas that remind them of South Africa. And they’ve done nothing…
In 2018, the government advanced thousands of housing units, including most which can be found in isolated settlements deep inside the West Bank, outside Israel’s pre-1967 borders. These are settlements that, in any two-state solution, Israel will have to evacuate. According to Peace Now, those who build these places have no intention of achieving peace and a two-state solution.
The latest announcement, which as an aside was cynically passed on Christmas while most Western governments are on holiday, shows that Netanyahu is willing to sacrifice Israeli interests in favor of an election gift to the settlers in an attempt to attract a few more votes from his right-wing flank.