Israel has for years been guilty of detention, mass incarceration, targeting one group while letting another off scot-free. But since the passage of the Nation-State Law, extremists are emboldened in a new way that eerily resembles White-Privilege-MAGA-USA. (Both Israel and the US should be disgusted by the comparison.)
Palestinians have always had just 3 wishes: a capital someday in Jerusalem, a return to the 1967 borders, and the Right of Return. Between Trump and Israel, there’s nothing left to even dream of: the barest minimum is disappearing – food, medicine, the title of “refugee.”
Palestinian rights groups and local governments have challenged an Israeli law that seeks to the annex of parts of the West Bank. The Israeli government responded to the petition, stating that “the Knesset [is permitted] to legislate laws everywhere in the world” and that it is authorized “to violate the sovereignty of foreign countries via legislation that would be applied to events occurring in their territories.”
Israel has sentenced Ahed Tamimi’s older brother Waed to 14 months in prison for allegedly throwing stones – just the latest Tamimi family member to be imprisoned, maimed, or killed by Israel.
Uri Avnery, a Jewish immigrant from Germany to Israel, worked alone most of his life – not by choice, but because of his insistence on reconciliation with a people that no one else cared to reconcile with.
Israel has discerning taste in news: it prefers headlines that make Palestinians sound like instigators and terrorists – and when they don’t, a few well-placed phone calls or tweets will usually do the trick. Mainstream media lives in Israel’s pocket. Alternative news sources are the lifeblood of truth, especially when it comes to the Israel/Palestine issue.
Israeli water policy is diabolical: the water table beneath the West Bank is being siphoned off by Israel and rationed to Palestinian farmers, sold at exorbitant prices; Israeli soldiers destroy water pipes and greenhouses; Israel walls off the Jordan River itself from Palestinian use; and water is piped away from refugee camps into illegal settlements.
Amid all this injustice, Palestinians carry on with patience and dignity. To exist is to resist.
Evacuation is another form of Jewish Israeli privilege, based on the myth of vulnerability (Israel’s borders are secure) and existential threat (Israel has one of the most powerful armies in the world, and is in no danger of annihilation).
Overnight on August 8-9, Israeli warplanes bombed the Water and Sanitation system for al-Mughraqa City in Gaza.
In recent weeks, Israel has targeted unarmed protesters, medics, journalists, & children, but also symbols of Palestinian art and culture, incl. 5-story Al-Meshal Cultural Center.