vjp-global

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/06/qawasmeh-clan-hebron-hamas-leadership-mahmoud-abbas.html#   According to Palestinian sources, Palestinian security forces had already reported to Israel that these two suspects had disappeared from Hebron within 24 hours of the abduction. That was the first clue in the investigation and the reason why Israel pointed an accusatory finger at the Hamas infrastructure in Hebron. But while Israel continues to accuse the Hamas movement and its leadership of being responsible for the abduction, Palestinian security forces attribute the abduction to the Qawasmeh clan of Hebron specifically. Though the clan is known for identifying with Hamas, it also has a well-earned reputation as troublemakers. Not only does it tend to ignore the movement's leaders. It even acts counter to the policies being advocated by the movement. That is why officials in the Palestinian Authority (PA) were shocked by

http://972mag.com/three-kidnapped-israeli-teens-found-dead-in-the-west-bank/92719/   Kidnappings led to the largest military operation in the West Bank since the Second Intifada….   The Israeli army was surrounding the homes of two of the suspected kidnappers within minutes of the announcement, with troops reportedly preparing to demolish the houses. In recent days, the Israeli government announced a return to its policy of punitive home demolitions …   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

http://www.timesofisrael.com/un-fails-to-condemn-palestinian-deaths-in-west-bank-raids/ Samantha Power calls criticism of Israel a 'red line' after Ramallah appeals for Security Council statement; dozens rally against PA cooperation with IDF Posted by Sam Bryan, AIME member

http://imeu.org/article/israels-west-bank-crackdown?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+imeu+%28IMEU+%3A+Institute+for+Middle+East+Understanding%29 Snippet: The widespread and repressive nature of the crackdown, which has been condemned by Palestinian, Israeli, and international human rights organizations, has led some observers to conclude that the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is exploiting the teens' disappearance to suppress Hamas and to undermine the recently formed Palestinian Authority unity government, which is supported by Hamas. Posted by Sam Bryan, AIME member

http://972mag.com/the-bigoted-rants-of-shmuley-boteach-americas-rabbi/92591/ "If any gentile in America wrote about Jews the way he just wrote about Presbyterians – for any reason – he or she would be ostracized from public life for good." Posted by Sam Bryan, AIME member

http://www.c-span.org/video/?c4501780/rep-frank-wolf-pcusa-israel-divestment Some preliminary negative remarks about the PCUSA. Divestment comments start around 2.00 on the timeline. Posted by Sam Bryan, AIME member

http://online.wsj.com/articles/jonathan-marks-presbyterians-join-the-anti-israel-choir-1403476490 Just to provide a sample of what is appearing in the Wall Street Journal. Posted by Sam Bryan, Aime member

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-presbyterian-victory/comment-page-1/#comment-6232433 The invective is telling. The Presbyterian Church USA's razor thin vote to divest from three American companies that aid the Israeli occupation is, opponents of the move tell us, irrelevant, because Presbyterians are irrelevant. The language used to make this point is not particularly ecumenical: here Rabbi Shmuley Boteach inveighs against the PC-USA's vote by referring to the "rotting corpse of the Presbyterian church." One suspects that if a prominent Presbyterian cleric used comparable language about a branch of Judaism, it would attract some negative attention. Posted by Sam Bryan, AIME member

http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/06/25/3964619/divesting-in-oppression-not-israel.html?sp=/99/108/ This past week in Detroit, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) voted (310-303) to divest from Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard and Motorola Solutions. Several mainstream Jewish organizations tried to make this divestment decision a referendum on Presbyterian-Jewish relations. It was nothing of the sort. Saying "yes" to divesting from Caterpillar, H-P and Motorola Solutions was the right thing for the Presbyterian Church to do because it acted in accordance with its own investment guidelines and heeded the voice of its own conscience.

http://972mag.com/whats-the-significance-of-a-settlement-free-europe/92518/   The direct effects of official sanctions against Israeli settlements are limited. But the momentum created by such moves inspires and pushes private actors to take their own steps in the same direction….That is what happened with the Presbyterian Church USA's divestment decision last week. A similar effect will likely take place in Europe: official sanctions will remain limited, but they are already creating momentum that has the potential to go much further. France's warning to its citizens against doing business in settlements has the same potential.   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707404 CAIRO (Ma'an) -- President Mahmoud Abbas says Israel wants the "Palestinian Authority without authority or power, which is unacceptable," in remarks published Tuesday. "We're living a real crisis in Hebron and all over the West Bank. Such acts (kidnapping) could happen anywhere; we completely reject it and are sorry it happened," he told Egypt's al-Watan newspaper. Posted by Sam Bryan, AIME member

http://gulfnews.com/news/region/palestinian-territories/hamas-chief-unaware-who-snatched-israeli-teens-1.1351496     Hamas chief Khalid Mesha'al has denied having information about three Israeli teenagers thought to have been kidnapped by the Islamist movement in the West Bank, in an interview aired Tuesday. "Frankly, we do not have information about what happened," the exiled head of Hamas' politburo told Doha-based Al Jazeera television.   Mesha'al also slammed security coordination between the Palestinian National Authority and Israel as a "disaster," a week after Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas pledged to maintain such coordination. Since the youths disappeared from a hitchhiking stop in the southern West Bank on June 12, Israel has rounded up hundreds of Palestinians in a bid to find them, while also dealing a crushing blow to Hamas' West Bank network…   Abbas vowed du

http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/06/24/hamas-chief-haniyeh-the-third-intifada-has-begun/   The remark comes as thousands of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops and intelligence operatives comb the Hebron region, and elsewhere in the West Bank, searching for a trio of Israeli teens kidnapped on June 12. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel holds the Islamist terror group responsible for the kidnapping of students Gilad Shaar, 19, Eyal Yifrach, 16, and Naftali Frankel, 16… Meanwhile, Hamas political bureau chief, Khaled Mashaal, on Monday noted the kidnappings, but denied his group being behind them. Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member  

http://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/2014/06/23/the-presbyterian-divestment-vote-toward-a-new-model-of-community-relations/ Snippet: Indeed, when it comes to the issue of Israel/Palestine, the unwritten rule of the Jewish establishment has always been, "toe our line or feel our wrath." By voting for divestment, the PC(USA) declared itself ready to stand down this ultimatum. Posted by Sam Bryan, AIME member

http://www.juancole.com/2014/06/threatens-witnesses-palestinians.html   Israeli Army targets Man Whose Cameras Recorded Deaths Israel should be investigating these deaths, but instead its forces seem intent on intimidating witnesses and ensuring future abuses won't be caught on camera. The Israeli response to the killing of two boys looks more like an attempt to cover up than a serious investigation. 
-Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director   Israeli security forces ordered a Palestinian man to take down security cameras that captured the shooting deaths of two Palestinian boys in May, Human Rights Watch and Defense for Children International – Palestine said today. Footage recorded by cameras on the man's building ​  prompted an international outcry over the killing. ​..​ ​   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

http://972mag.com/rights-groups-say-idf-response-to-kidnapping-is-collective-punishment/92236/   Israel has restricted the movement of of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and arrested hundreds in response to the kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers. Arrests have included Palestinian parliament members and prisoners released in exchange for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit.     Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

http://972mag.com/the-kidnapping-and-the-israeli-military-operation-in-numbers/92332/ Since the kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers from a hitchhiking stop in the West Bank on June 12, 2014, the Israel Defense Forces has been operating all over the Palestinian territories, in Areas A, B and C. The following list attempts to provide some basic statistics on the toll it has been exacting. While Israeli media [are] portraying the operation as highly restrained, these numbers show the deep effect it has on the Palestinian population as of June 20, 2014. *Some numbers provided are estimates due to the difficulty in confirming exact numbers.   [They range from 3 teenagers to 388 Palestinians arrested, 1,150 institutions and thousands of homes raided.] Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

http://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/2014/06/20/presbyterian-church-votes-to-divest-from-israel-occupation-profiteers-caterpillar-motorola-hp/   In a contentious vote guaranteed to be met with outrage by hawkish U.S. politicians and some Jewish leaders, the Presbyterian Church (USA) voted 310-303 to divest from three major U.S. companies engaged in " non-peaceful pursuits " in Israel-Palestine. PC(USA) voted on Friday evening at its 221st General Assembly in Detroit to divest from Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard and Motorola Solutions, three companies which provide equipment and technological implements utilized by the IDF in its military occupation of the Palestinians in the West Bank. The church's divestment overture focused only on these three companies, and was careful not to align itself with the international BDS movement or with any efforts to divest from the State of Israel (per a passed amendment during the proce

http://maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=706367   Israeli forces detained 49 Palestinians overnight Thursday as a large-scale detention campaign continued in the occupied West Bank for the eight day.   The Palestinian Prisoners Society said Israeli forces raided dozens of homes across the West Bank, with reports of assaults and theft….   The Israeli military has engaged in a wide spread search campaign for three missing Israelis that has morphed into a full assault on Hamas members across the West Bank….   [click link above for a list of names]   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/21/us/presbyterians-debating-israeli-occupation-vote-to-divest-holdings.html?hp&_r=1   After passionate debate over how best to help break the deadlock between Israel and the Palestinians, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voted on Friday at its general convention to divest from three companies that it says supply Israel with equipment used in the occupation of Palestinian territory. The vote, by a count of 310 to 303, was watched closely in Washington and Jerusalem and by Palestinians as a sign of momentum for a movement to pressure Israel to stop building settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and to end the occupation, with a campaign known as B.D.S., for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions….     Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

  http://972mag.com/i-am-a-palestinian-jew-or-at-least-i-will-be/92175/   In order to avoid theocracy, apartheid and civil war, one Israeli believes it is time for her fellow Jewish citizens to start re-imagining their identity.   Fine, I am not yet a Palestinian Jew, but in 10 to 15 years – and certainly in my lifetime – this place will be called Palestine, and I will be a citizen of Jewish-Israeli heritage. By saying I am a Palestinian Jew I am being neither flippant nor provocative, as my critics would likely hasten to argue. Instead, I am analyzing the current reality and describing the future – utopian, or apocalyptic – depending on the viewer's position…   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

http://www.layman.org/presbyterian-lay-committee-board-directors-repudiates-action-pcusa-general-assembly/?utm_source=PLC+email+blast+6%2F19%2F14&utm_campaign=email+blast&utm_medium=email DETROIT, MICHIGAN, JUNE 19, 2014 – A statement of protest by the Presbyterian Lay Committee repudiating the action of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA to redefine marriage. The 221st General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) has approved both an Authoritative Interpretation of the Constitution and an amendment to redefine marriage. In the name of 1.8 million Presbyterians nationwide, the General Assembly has committed an express repudiation of the Bible, the mutually agreed upon Confessions of the PCUSA, thousands of years of faithfulness to God's clear commands and the denominational ordination vows of each concurring commissioner. This is an abomination. Posted by Sam Bryan, AIME member

pic.twitter.com/tqthogaWJE A picture said to be the chaotic kitchen of a raided home, with utensils and food on the floor, the aftermath of one raid in Hebron.     Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/amena-saleem/international-media-ignore-israels-abduction-palestinian-teens In the first ten days of June, seventeen teenage boys were abducted in the occupied West Bank. The youngest was thirteen, the oldest seventeen. Some were dragged at gunpoint from their homes and family in the middle of the night; others were seized from the streets in broad daylight. All of the abductions were documented by the Palestinian Monitoring Group . None were reported by the international media. No Western politicians called for the release of the boys. On 12 June, three more teenage boys went missing in the West Bank. Their disappearance sparked worldwide media coverage, cries of terrorism and demands for their release by the US Secretary of State and the UK Foreign Secretary. Those three are Israeli. The seventeen others are Palestinian. ..   If children and teenagers disappear in the West Bank

  http://electronicintifada.net/content/how-israel-buys-loyalty-us-university-administrators/13399 Documents reveal disturbing details of a propaganda tour of Israel and the occupied West Bank undertaken by top University of South Florida officials… Last December, members of the American Studies Association voted overwhelmingly in a referendum to endorse the Palestinian call for the boycott of Israeli academic institutions which are complicit in Israel's occupation and other violations. The vote by the academic association, which has 5,000 individual members along with 2,200 library and other institutional subscribers, was seen as a landmark for the academic boycott movement. Scores of university presidents denounced the ASA's boycott resolution, and some, apparently, were rewarded with an AJC-guided trip to Israel and the occupied West Bank. ….USF President Judy Genshaft has been a vociferous advocate of col

http://mondoweiss.net/2014/06/organization-presbyterian-divestment.html Snippet: "I'm not Jewish. Actually, I'm Lutheran, and I want to share my relationship, as a Christian, with JVP. Often I'm asked what brought me into a space of Jewish social justice activism, and I tell them it was my experience living and volunteering in Palestine that made me reach out for Jewish solidarity." Posted by Sam Bryan, AIME member

http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/where%E2%80%99s-outrage-over-frequent-kidnapping-palestinian-children?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium Snippet: While the Obama administration has already condemned the reported kidnapping of the three Israeli settlers and   called for their immediate release there is no massive international campaign by politicians, US or otherwise, calling on Israel to immediately release and end military tribunals for, and abuse of Palestinian children. Submitted by Donna Hicks, posted by Sam Bryan, AIME members

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/209636-palestine-israel-is-dialogue-more-important-than-justice Snippets: Enormous pressure has been brought to bear both within and outside thePCUSA for the Presbyterians to back away from divestment even though the decision to divest is entirely grounded in PCUSA policy.In this ongoing battle over divestment there are those offering alternatives that would actually exacerbate the problem.  ... Mr. Buchanan touches upon interfaith relations, which for many translates as Christian-Jewish dialogue. Sadly, however, this dialogue has often been used to silence the courageous voices of those critical of Israeli practices and has served to paralyze some churches into inaction.  Submitted by Donna Hicks, posted by Sam Bryan, AIME members

http://972mag.com/after-kerry-only-bds-may-save-the-two-state-solution/91048/ Not even Ben-Gurion would be able to rally the political support necessary to displace masses of settlers as long as there is no price to be paid for the occupation. So how much longer can liberal Zionists sit and watch the status quo remain static? If instead of trying to persuade Israel to change, two-state supporters started holding it responsible for refusing to change, it could have a jarring psychological impact on the country and its leaders.

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/06/palestinians-prisoners-hunger-strike-kidnapping-netanyahu.html   Akiva Eldar laments that "the kidnappers from the Etzion settlement bloc, just like the unarmed Palestinian youth from Bitunya who was killed by live Israeli ammunition May 15, are the victims of helpless leaders… Only a peace agreement based on a solution of two free states can avert the next tragedies."   … The debate became narrowly focused on practical, operative aspects: on the one hand, Shin Bet is pushing to speed up legislation that would allow force-feeding  to prevent hunger strikers' deaths — which could ignite a third intifada . On the other hand, the military objects to force-feeding and claims it can contain "local insurrections" that would result from a detainee's death….   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

http://www.vox.com/2014/6/17/5816022/three-kidnapped-teens-explain-israel-palestine-conflict The occupation is now the primary driver of the Israel-Palestine conflict, it is illegal under international law, and it is a cause of tremendous human suffering. And for what?... The conflict may be quieter today than in the past, but it is still active, still destroying lives and communities, still scarring these two societies, every day… One of these escalations is happening right now. On Friday, Israel discovered that three of its citizens, teenagers studying at a yeshiva in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian West Bank, had been kidnapped overnight. By whom is yet unknown; Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists it was the Palestinian group Hamas, Israeli intelligence officials say it was likely a few local Palestinians  acting on their own . Hamas has denied responsibility. In a sense, it matters a great deal who did this;

http://www.timesofisrael.com/pa-taking-steps-to-halt-reconciliation-process-with-hamas/   Committee to oversee integration into government institutions stops work Following statements made Monday by a senior Palestinian official, who told The Times of Israel that  if it was proved that Hamas was behind the kidnappings the PA would reevaluate the unity pact , the Palestinian government convened on Tuesday and decided that it would continue to refrain from paying the salaries of former Hamas government officials, some 40,000 in number.   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

http://timeswarp.org/2014/06/16/dining-at-the-jerusalem-consulate-the-back-story/ In her story, Rudoren takes up the issue of just what U.S. aid does in the occupied Palestinian territories, but she fails to examine why the Palestinian economy needs life support. She also stops short of asking a related question: Just what does Washington buy for the Israelis? This is a subject the Times would rather not address. Readers might object if they knew that more than $8 million a day in U.S. taxpayer money goes to Israel, all of it for military aid, with no strings attached. Place this alongside the aid to Palestine, and the lopsided nature of the relationship becomes stark. The daily ration of military aid for Palestinians is precisely $0.

http://www.zochrot.org/en/content/most-jnf-kkl-forests-and-sites-are-located-ruins-palestinian-villages   More than two-thirds of KKL forests and sites – 46 out of 68 – conceal or are located on the ruins of Palestinian villages demolished by Israel.  Nurit Kliot shows that one purpose of KKL's afforestation activities is to take over land to prevent "trespassing."(1)  The Supreme Court determined that afforestation in Israel justifies the expropriation of land even for settlement and development purposes, rejecting the suit by refugees from al-Lajjun to reclaim a small portion of their land on which Megiddo forest stands today.(2)  Michal Kortoza, who's in charge of KKL signage, has said that "many of the JNF - KKL parks are located on land where Palestinian villages once stood; the forests are there to conceal this."  The fact that some JNF - KKL forests covering the ruins of Palestinian village have no na

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.587901 <<< Full article is behind a paywall. You can view it if you have a Haaretz subscription Most of the newly confirmed state land is in areas of strategic importance for settlers, including outposts that could join up with nearby settlements. New buildings in the West Bank settlement of Tekoa. February 9, 2014. The land designated as belonging to the state includes three satellite outposts of the settlement of Tekoa, above. Photo by Michal Fattal Posted by Sam Bryan, AIME member

http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/israelopt-footage-appears-show-deliberate-killing-palestinian-children-spok Amnesty International's experts are available for comment on the routine use of excessive force and pattern of unlawful killings by the Israeli forces in the West Bank after footage emerged of two Palestinian teenagers being shot dead by Israeli forces in the area. The CCTV footage appears to show Nadeem Nawara, 17, and Mohammad Abu Daher, 16, being deliberately shot and killed outside Ofer military base in the West Bank on 15 May. They were not posing any threat to the life of members of the Israeli forces or anyone else. Posted by Sam Bryan, AIME member

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/trigger-happy-israeli-army-and-police-use-reckless-force-west-bank-2014-02-27 Israeli forces have displayed a callous disregard for human life by killing dozens of Palestinian civilians, including children, in the occupied West Bank over the past three years with near total impunity, said Amnesty International in a report published today. T he report, Trigger-happy: Israel's use of excessive force in the West Bank , describes mounting bloodshed and human rights abuses in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) as a result of the Israeli forces' use of unnecessary, arbitrary and brutal force against Palestinians since January 2011. Posted by Sam Bryan, AIME member

http://richardfalk.wordpress.com/2014/05/02/why-the-peace-talks-collapsed-and-should-not-be-resumed/ Snippet: It is time to appreciate that the current approach of the Palestinian national movement rests on two broad undertakings: the adoption of nonviolent resistance tactics and an increasingly strengthened global solidarity movement, centered on the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) initiative, which is gaining momentum throughout the world, especially in Europe. These developments are reinforced by UN calls to Member States to remind corporate and financial actors under their national control that it is problematic under international law to continue engaging in business dealings with Israeli settlements. Posted by Sam Bryan, AIME member

http://zope.gu-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1402670626   THE EXISTENCE of the army in a truly democratic state represents a paradox…. …The state of Israel was born in the middle of a long and brutal war. From day 1, its existence depended on the moral and material strength of its army. The army is the center of national life, the darling of its Jewish citizens. It is by far the most popular institution in today's Israel….   This is not the same army I swore allegiance to on the day it was founded. At the time, many officers were Kibbutz members, brought up in the spirit of socialism and solidarity. After 57 years of occupation, the army has become brutalized, many officers are settlers, many wear nationalist-religious knitted kippahs. The extreme right-wing religious parties make a deliberate effort to infiltrate the officers corps and succeed on a large scale.   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

Presbyterian General Assembly, meeting in Detroit next week, mulls divestment from some companies whose products are used by Israeli government in the Palestinian territories. Comment I left: Rabbi Rich Jacobs describes the debate in terms of challenging the "fundamental legitimacy of the state of Israel." The movement does not question the "legitimacy of the state of Israel". It questions, mainly by drawing attention to, the morality of the Israeli government's actions.  The church is taking heed of Jewish prophets to seek justice, and thereby in a sense to relegitimize Israel. Rabbi Jacobs should be criticizing the ongoing confiscation of Palestinian land and displacement of Palestinian people. Instead he criticizes the critics. Rabbi Jacobs seriously misrepresents the Presbyterian divestment initiative. Posted by Sam Bryan, AIME membe

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/eric-cantors-defeat-is-also-netanyahus/ Snippet: Republicans are beginning to get tired of neocons telling them they have to prepare to fight another war.  Antiwar Republican Walter Jones won his North Carolina primary earlier this spring, standing strong against a  major media assault by Bill Kristol's Emergency Committee for Israel. Now, in an election result that stunned  political observers more than anything than happened in their lifetime, Cantor goes down before an underfunded Tea Party candidate. Posted by Sam Bryan, AIME member

http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/magazine/reuven-rivlin-the-land-is-not-divisible-1.302140   [In 2010, when he was Knesset Speaker, Reuven Rivlin referred to a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "I would prefer for the Palestinians to be citizens of this country," he said, "rather than divide the land."   His article is getting renewed attention now that he has been elected President or Israel.] Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

Thanks, Judith. We were aware of this report and the skepticism that surrounds it. Apparently this is supposed to be a multiyear pulling out process, and they have made misleading statements in the past. The G4S committee of JVP was unanimous that we push on. And that we monitor this. Thanks. Tom Sent from my phone Thomas M. Stern NCDRC Certified Mediator – Superior Court  tomsternmediator.com   please reply to  tomstern@durhamlawoffice.com Thomas Stern 204 Rigsbee Avenue  Unit 201 Durham, NC 27701 (919) 949-8212  (cell)   Confidentiality Notice The information contained in this e-mail transmittal is privileged and confidential intended for the addressee only. If you are neither the intended recipient nor the employee or agent responsible for delivering this e-mail to the intended recipient, any disclosure of this information in any way or taking of any action in reliance on this information is strictly prohibited. If you have receive

http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/g4s-end-israel-prison-contracts-pressure-mounts-over-torture-complicity   British-Danish multinational security and prison profiteering firm G4S is to pull out of Israeli prisons completely, the Financial Times reports this morning . Campaigners have given a cautious welcome to the news, but emphasize that pressure on the company must continue until the abuses it is complicit in end. They note that G4S has made misleading statements in the past. According to the Financial Times : G4S has confirmed that it will end all its Israeli prison contracts within the next three years after an annual general meeting that was severely disrupted by human rights protesters. Asked by angry protesters whether G4S would withdraw from the Palestinian territories as reported by the Financial Times last year, Ashley Almanza, chief executive, confirmed "no change to that position."

http://rt.com/news/162988-israel-nuclear-vanuna-britain/   A decade after his release from prison [where he spent 18 years] for leaking information on Israel's nuclear weapon program, Mordechai Vanunu has been denied permission to attend a human rights conference in London….   [Vanunu's lawyer] Feldman told Haaretz that - to the best of his knowledge - the constraints imposed on their client has no precedent anywhere in the world….   Israeli officials, meanwhile, insist that Vanunu's determination to threaten national security has not subsided, and the information in his possession is still relevant...   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

http://www.timesofisrael.com/hamas-calls-on-armed-wing-to-kill-soldiers-and-settlers/   Gaza-based group's rift with Fatah deepens after PA suppresses its West Bank rallies, refuses to pay employees' salaries…   Hamas has called on members of its armed wing in the West Bank to target Israeli soldiers and civilians in a bid to ease the plight of its prisoners in Israeli jails, a party spokesman said on Monday.   "We call on the men of resistance in the West Bank, primarily the Al-Qassam Brigades, to fulfill their duty in protecting the prisoners on hunger strike by targeting the occupation soldiers and its settlers," Hamas spokesman Hussam Badran wrote on his Facebook page Monday… Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

http://www.timesofisrael.com/poll-palestinian-support-for-abbas-hamas-on-the-rise/   The Palestinian public is largely optimistic that the new unity government will be successful, and believes that its establishment does not shut down the possibility of a peace agreement with Israel, a recent poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR) showed.   … Yet despite the public support for the Gaza terror group, according to the poll, if elections were to be held today, Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh would not win a presidential vote against Abbas or the popular Fatah Tanzim leader Marwan Barghouti, who is serving out a life sentence in an Israeli prison for masterminding multiple lethal attacks against Israelis…     Self-reports of those seeking to emigrate dipped slightly in Gaza from last March (41% as compared to 44%), but in the West Bank more sought to emigrate than before (24% as