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.
Among Congress members’ subsidized trips abroad, Israel is by far the top foreign destination; most trips work to cultivate an Israel-centric perspective of the region, and are paid for by an organization with deep foreign ties. On the other hand, only a handful of legislators visit Palestine. 41% of Americans believe that if their representatives visit Israel, they should also visit Palestine.
Israeli soldiers break into a home in the middle of the night, severely beat a blind, diabetic man on dialysis as his wife begs them to stop. Later, an Israeli military spokesman’s explanation does not remotely resemble the family’s description of the incident.
Thousands of Sudanese asylum seekers – most have been in Israel for years – hold no-benefit visas and live in slums or detention centers. Interior Minister Arye Dery has decided to keep them that way, at least until after the elections in April.
The death of Hamdy Na’asan, shot in the back, was not an unexpected or isolated event. Amira Hass reports: “Land that is hard to steal by means of Israeli laws – the masterpiece of our finest legal scholars – is stolen by means of the settlers’ violent, sacred fire and code of silence.”
Tennessee has just passed a resolution reaffirming Tennessee’s “unequivocal support” for Israel. State Senator Mark Pody pushed for its passage for “biblical” and other reasons..
Today marks the 25th anniversary of Israeli settler Baruch Goldstein’s massacre of 29 Palestinians as they prayed. Israeli soldiers blocked Palestinians who tried to flee and who wanted to enter to help the victims. The repercussions of the attack are still felt by Palestinians in Hebron, who have seen their rights eroded and their formerly bustling city centre turn into a ghost town.
Netanyahu is affiliating with an extremist political party named “Jewish Power” whose leaders were disciples of an FBI-designated terrorist… one JP leader referred to Christians as “bloodsucking vampires,” declared Christmas should be outlawed… another has a police record of assaulting both Palestinians and Israelis… another called for violence & a “religious war” against homosexuals… another’s client list reads like a ‘Who’s Who’ of suspects in Jewish terror cases and hate crimes in Israel…
On February 13, 2019, Israeli forces arrived near the village of a-Tuwani in the South Hebron Hills. The forces used excavating equipment to unearth and destroy a five kilometer stretch of pipe, which was laid just months ago and supplied water to over 1,000 Palestinians. Residents say that without the system, “water has become every family’s largest expense.”
In a unanimous decision, a DC court is allowing Palestinian plaintiffs to sue Sheldon Adelson & others for $1 billion over their support of Israeli settlements & alleged war crimes – including genocide.