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Showing posts from July, 2019

7-29-2019 The Real Reason So Many Republicans Love Israel? Their Own White Supremacy - Peter Beinart The Forward

https://forward.com/opinion/428488/the-real-reason-so-many-republicans-love-israel-their-own-white-supremacy/?utm_content=bufferfc71e&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer … Republican support for Israel, in other words, isn't driven by American Christians as a whole. It's driven by conservative white Christians, whose political identity sits at the intersection of religion and race. In the Trump era, conservative white Christians have grown increasingly obsessed with preserving America's religious and racial character, and they see Israel as a country that's doing just that…. Most Republicans fear a less white, less Christian America… . For Republicans who want to preserve America's demographic character, Israel — which makes immigrating and gaining citizenship easy for Jews but extremely difficult for non-Jews — represents a model. In her 2016 book, Adios America , which shaped Trump's immigration rhetoric, Ann

7-21-2019When Zionism imagined Jewish nationalism without supremacy - Meron Rapoport +972

https://972mag.com/will-imagining-zionism-without-supremacy/142415/ In his recent boo [ Beyond the Nation-State, published last year by Yale University Press] , Dr. Dmitry Shumsky shows that, contrary to popular belief, the forefathers of Zionism did not envision a state based on Jewish supremacy. And yet Zionism, he says, inevitably involves the oppression of Palestinians . Dr. Shumsky, a historian of the Zionist movement at the Hebrew University, attempts to prove that [it is not traitorous to suggest that] Israel become a state of all its citizens, or, God forbid, a bi-national state…With extensive quotes by Zionism's forefathers — Leon Pinsker, Ahad Ha'am, Theodore Herzl, Ze'ev Jabotinsy and David Ben-Gurion — he shows that over the course of Zionism's first five decades, from the late 19th century until the early 20th century, the movement didn't aim for establishing a "nation-state" the way it is

7-24-2019 Israeli army knew it was unnecessarily killing Gaza protesters in real time - Edo Konrad +972

https://972mag.com/idf-gaza-return-march/142482/   The Israeli army admits that it secretly changed its policy once it realized that shooting unarmed protesters in the leg was lethal. Rights group says the revelation is an admission that Israel was killing protesters without any justification…. A statement published by Israeli human rights group B'Tselem on Wednesday accused Israeli officials of openly admitting that they knew their soldiers were killing people that, "even in the eyes of the state, had no reason to be gunned down."… Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

7-24-2019 U.S. blocks U.N. rebuke of Israeli demolition of Palestinian homes: diplomats - Michelle Nichols Reuters

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-un/us-blocks-un-rebuke-of-israeli-demolition-of-palestinian-homes-diplomats-idUSKCN1UJ2ZW   The United States on Wednesday blocked an attempt by Kuwait, Indonesia and South Africa to get the United Nations Security Council to condemn Israel's demolition of Palestinian homes on the outskirts of Jerusalem, diplomats said...   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

7-24-2019 Israel Demolishes 70 More Palestinian Apartments in East Jerusalem – Marc Steiner The Real News

https://therealnews.com/stories/israel-demolishes-70-more-palestinian-apartments-in-east-jerusalem   Jeff Halper, a leader of the anti-demolitions movement, discusses the destruction of Palestinian homes [55,000 since 1967], along with the history and politics that allows this violation of international law to continue Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

7-17-2019 Why are progressive Democrats backing an anti-BDS bill that was introduced at an AIPAC conference? - Michael Arria Mondoweiss

https://mondoweiss.net/2019/07/progressive-introduced-conference/ On July 17, the House Foreign Affairs Committee will begin to mark up a number of measures H[ouse Resolution 246 (HRes246) including a resolution that condemns the Global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS Movement). Despite concerns about the bill being unconstitutional, it's currently supported by 70% of the Democratic Caucus…The Senate companion to HRes246 is S.Res.120 . That resolution currently has sixty-five cosponsors, twenty-eight of them are Democrats, and three of them are presidential hopefuls: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ."It seems some progressives think that, on balance, this resolution is still a good middle ground that will neutralize BDS as a political weapon against them," Lara Friedman's aforementioned Twitter thread concludes, "They are deluding themselves." Posted by Judith Fers

7-12-19 Joe Biden’s Moral Cowardice On Israel - Peter Beinart Forward

https://forward.com/opinion/427541/joe-bidens-moral-cowardice-on-israel/   …A real American commitment to Israeli security requires challenging the anti-democratic policies that are imperiling it. But that means using American influence — including American money — to pressure Israel to turn away from its illiberal, authoritarian course. And that means taking a political risk in a Democratic Party where openly pressuring Israel is still largely politically taboo.   The first step is to speak about Israel honestly, without dishonest omissions and misleading clichés. It's a step Biden hasn't taken yet.       Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

7-3-2019 How 'archaeological settlements' are destroying Palestinian homes Mersiha Gadzo Al Jazeera

https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/archaeological-settlements-destroying-palestinian-homes-190708113859297.html Israel is creating an 'imaginary historical reality' with tunnel excavations in occupied East Jerusalem, NGO says.   Mizrachi, CEO of the Israeli NGO Emek Shaveh, told Al Jazeera the tunnels that Israel has excavated in and around the Old City and in Silwan are "problematic". ... One of the largest spaces excavated in the Western Wall Tunnels is a 14th-century hammam (bathhouse) from the Mamluk period. There is no sign for the visitor to know it's a Mamluk structure or that it was built by the governor of Damascus, Sayf al-Din Tankaz, who was responsible for some of the more impressive buildings of the time, Mizrachi wrote in an article .   Yet, it's been converted into an exhibition on Jewish ancestry, dedicated to telling the story of Jewish pilgrimage to Jerusalem, "thus completely

7-9-2019 Commercial and residential tenants in buildings bombed during the last round of hostilities talk about the destruction of their lives – B’Tselem

https://www.btselem.org/gaza_strip/20190709_targeting_commercial_and_residential_buildings_in_gaza_in_may_2019   In June, we released our findings about the round of hostilities between Israel and militant organizations in Gaza in early May and the civilians killed and injured by Israel. Today, B'Tselem releases the findings of further research focusing on two buildings that were targeted and destroyed after the military gave their occupants only several minutes to vacate the premises, and on the immense harm caused to commercial and residential tenants in them...   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

7-1-2019 State of Exception: What Role Has Local and International Law Played in the Occupied Territories? - Raja Shehadeh Nation Magazine

https://www.thenation.com/article/noura-erakat-justice-for-some-book-review/   [Review of Noura Erekat's book, Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine]   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

7-5-2019 Burying the Nakba: How Israel Systematically Hides Evidence of 1948 Expulsion of Arabs – Hagar Shezaf Haaretz

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-how-israel-systematically-hides-evidence-of-1948-expulsion-of-arabs-1.7435103 Since early last decade, Defense Ministry teams have scoured local archives and removed troves of historic documents to conceal proof of the Nakba… Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

7-7-2019 In First, European Academic Association Cancels Upcoming Conference in Israel – Judy Maltz Haaretz

https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/europe/.premium-in-first-european-academic-association-cancels-upcoming-conference-in-israel-1.7452194 Fearing backlash from boycott movement, association of mental health researchers walks back decision to hold confab in Jerusalem…Professor Zvi Ziegler, coordinator of the Israeli inter-university effort aimed at fighting academic boycotts, confirmed that this was the first instance of an academic organization cancelling a decision to hold a conference in Israel... In 2013, two relatively small academic organizations based in the United States – the Association for Asian-American Studies and the American Studies Association – voted to boycott Israeli universities and academic institutions. A similar move by the much larger American Anthropological Association was struck down in 2016 … Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

7-3-2019 Top court throws out case demanding Palestinian kids be allowed to call parents from prison – Edo Konrad +972

https://972mag.com/palestinian-minors-israel-prison/142144/ The [Israeli] Supreme Court refuses to hear arguments in a case [brought by HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual] about whether Palestinian minors imprisoned by Israel should be allowed to speak to their families on the phone.   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member