vjp-global

http://www.timesofisrael.com/germany-wont-outlaw-bds-head-of-bundestag-says/   German Bundestag President Wolfgang Schaeuble pays his respects during a wreath-laying ceremony at the Memorial for Fallen Israeli Soldiers during his visit to the Knesset the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem, October. 24, 2018.  Germany currently has no plans to outlaw the anti-Israel BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) movement, the speaker of its parliament said Thursday.    "We fight it politically, but we don't believe that it is fought more successfully through prohibitions," Bundestag President Wolfgang Schäuble told reporters in Jerusalem…   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member  

https://www.hrw.org/report/2018/10/23/two-authorities-one-way-zero-dissent/arbitrary-arrest-and-torture-under#page In the 25 years since Palestinians gained a degree of self-rule over the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, their authorities have established machineries of repression to crush dissent, including through the use of torture. Both the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in Gaza have in recent years carried out scores of arbitrary arrests for peaceful criticism of the authorities, particularly on social media, among independent journalists, on university campuses, and at demonstrations. As the Fatah-Hamas feud deepened despite attempts at reconciliation, PA security services have targeted supporters of Hamas and vice versa. Relying primarily on overly broad laws that criminalize activity such as causing "sectarian strife" or insulting "higher authorities," the PA and Hamas u

https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/second-major-u-s-jewish-charity-funding-canary-mission-blacklist-1.6551774 …Between November of 2016 and September of 2017, the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles, one of the largest Jewish charities in the country, made a series of grants totaling $250,000 to Megamot Shalom, the Israeli not-for-profit organization that the Forward has identified as the likely operator of Canary Mission. The foundation now says that it will not fund Megamot Shalom in the future… Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-new-details-revealed-about-the-israeli-money-pipeline-to-canary-mission-1.6554802 Haaretz has revealed new information about Megamot Shalom, the mysterious body through which funds were allegedly transferred to fund Canary Mission, a controversial online blacklist that tracks Palestinian rights activists and supporters of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement... The man behind Megamot Shalom.. .works with far-right rabbi Ben Packer… an outspoken supporter of the far-right extremist rabbi Meir Kahane… Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

https://www.leahy.senate.gov/press/101018khashoggisanctionsletter   On 10/10, the ranking member and chair of the SFRC, Menendez (D-NJ) and Corker (R-TN), along with the ranking member and chair of the Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on State and Foreign operations, Leahy (D-VT) and Graham (R-SC), and 18 other senators (bipartisan) sent a letter to President Trump triggering an investigation and Global Magnitsky sanctions determination regarding the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi. The letter notes, " The Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act requires the President, upon receipt of a request from the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, to determine whether a foreign person is responsible for an extrajudicial killing, torture, or other gross violation of internationally recognized human rights against an individual exercising freedom of expression, and report to the Committee within 120 days with a de

https://www.kaine.senate.gov/press-releases/sens-coons-graham-kaine Last week, U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), and Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) introduced the Palestinian Partnership Fund Act of 2018. This legislation will promote economic development, help finance joint ventures between Palestinian entrepreneurs and companies in the United States, Israel, and countries in the Middle East, and foster community building to support greater people-to-people cooperation. "I am pleased to introduce this bipartisan bill to establish a Palestinian Partnership Fund to encourage venture capitalists to invest money in Palestinian entrepreneurs," said Senator Coons. "This legislation will promote small businesses and economic growth in the Palestinian territories. The best way to turn people away from violence is by helping them create jobs.  I look forward to working with my colleagues on this important legislation."..

Washington, not least, is deeply divided. Conservative politicians and think tanks line up with the Pipe's rightwing Middle East Forum. But both Bennis and Falk told Consortium News that they've learned a number of officials at the State Department and Pentagon oppose the administration on two grounds: They think the plan has little chance of working and they regret the loss of U.S. legitimacy in the region for the sake of an imposed plan fundamentally one-sided in Israel's favor. Is there any wonder Trump is in no rush to reveal what he once advertised as his greatest achievement-in-the-making? "A disaster waiting to happen," Foreign Policy called it a few months ago. Wait for it. Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5366766,00.html   Sarah Vettori, who was shot in the stomach by terrorist in Barkan attack, says warehouse employee from West Bank tried to stop the bleeding and kept her conscious by stroking her face and whispering 'habibti, habibti'; meanwhile, recycling factory's management decides to close it until further notice. ..."Basel saved my life," she repeated several times. "I was vaguely conscious and Basel, who ran into the office where I was hiding, pulled me under the table and reassured me when he said: 'Habibti, habibti (My dear, my dear).' He stroked my face in an attempt to keep me conscious until the ambulance arrived," Vettori recalled....[Basel was later hospitalized for shock.]…   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem's senate called on Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan and Interior Minister Arye Dery to allow an American student, 22-year-old Lara Alqasem, into Israel.    Alqasem, who was accepted as a graduate student at the Hebrew University, was barred from entering the country and detained at Ben-Gurion Airport on Tuesday because the Israeli authorities claim she supports a boycott of Israel…In a letter published on its website on Monday, Hebrew University Provost Prof. Barak Medina challenged the government policy of banning BDS supporters from Israel.  "The Hebrew University supports a position of tolerance toward those who call for a boycott – we don't prevent anyone from participating in university activities, in studying, teaching and research, even if he calls for a boycott against us," he wrote… Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

  https://consortiumnews.com/2018/10/05/the-trouble-with-preventing-palestine/   Seth Anziska's new book on the Arab-Israeli "peace process" is a useful primer on the conflict, but it does not fully examine the paradox of the Carter administration's solution that we are still living with, argues… This book will serve as a useful introduction for courses on the Arab-Israeli conflict on college campuses. It provides an interesting and comprehensive chronicle of the peace process since Carter's administration.   But the paradox of the Carter administration (and of this book) is that the administration that did the most (in theory) to find a comprehensive solution (on terms that are far more agreeable to the Israeli side than to the Palestinian side) is the same administration paved the way for greater Israeli occupation and aggression by taking Egypt out of the equation so Israel could fight on one front for the first time… Posted by Judith Ferste

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/04/world/middleeast/gaza-hamas-israel.html?action=click&module=Latest&pgtype=Homepage In a rare interview with an Israeli newspaper, the leader of Hamas in Gaza called for a cease-fire with Israel, calling it a "historic opportunity for change."   In what appeared to be an effort to speak directly to the Israeli people, the Hamas official, Yehya Sinwar, said he did not want war with Israel, even as both sides geared up for an escalation along Israel's volatile border with Gaza… Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5zw3Yz-yas   "Israel:   We are going to build settlements in order to prevent the two-state solution."   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

https://972mag.com/october-2000-killings-black-palestine-solidarity-play/137977/ Formerly incarcerated women of color perform the story of a Palestinian teen killed by Israeli police in October 2000. The act of Black-Palestine solidarity highlights shared trauma, but also concrete ways toward liberation. Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/lubna-palestinians-launch-general-strike-against-israeli-nation-state-law-639744991 Widespread strike brings Palestinians together against controversial law, but also serves as a platform for existing grievances... Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member