vjp-global

https://972mag.com/partnership-arab-jewish-supremacy/144188/ We need to redefine Israeli politics. No more left and right, liberal or conservative, religious versus secular. Instead: a new partnership of Arabs and Jews, working side-by-side to combat Jewish supremacism….   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

https://lobelog.com/changing-israels-behavior-will-require-much-more-than-tinkering-with-aid-and-loan-guarantees/   ...There have been several attempts to investigate whether Israeli units should be held liable under the Leahy Law, but they have routinely been rebuffed by the State Department, which is tasked with investigating them and reporting to Congress... Israel would not be the only country that would be deeply concerned if the United States decided to follow its own laws. Finding ways to bring these points into the policy debate should be a top priority for anyone who wants to find ways to pressure U.S. allies, including Israel, into changing their ways. ... Indeed, if we are ever to see a U.S. government that is truly willing to enforce human rights norms in its weapons sales, we are likely to see one that is already pulling back sharply on those sales, and is already using its other diplomatic tools to press for just...

10-25-2019 Israel Is Turning an Ancient Palestinian Village Into a National Park for Settlers Gideon Levy and Alex Levac Haaretz   https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israel-is-turning-an-ancient-palestinian-village-into-a-national-park-for-settlers-1.8023605     The unbelievable story of a village outside Jerusalem: from its destruction in 1948 to the ticket issued last week by a parks ranger to a descendant of its refugees, who had the gall to harvest the fruits of his labor on his own land Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

https://972mag.com/shamgar-supreme-court-israel-occupation/144097/ No one personifies the Zionist dissonance more than Meir Shamgar, the former president of the Supreme Court who died last week. He created the legal provisions for the protection of personal rights, while enshrining Israel's rule over the occupied territories. Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

https://972mag.com/gun-violence-palestinians-israel-fida-tabony/144076/ | Published October 23, 2019 A wave of demonstrations against gun violence and police negligence has inspired a renewed sense of solidarity among Palestinian citizens of Israel, according to veteran activist Fida Tabony. After years of division, 'we're acting like a people,' she says. Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-rewarding-the-israeli-attackers-in-the-settlements-1.8013352 It's a system – violence carried out with the army's full backing and with the aim of expanding, on a daily basis, the area from which Palestinians are driven out Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2019/11/07/long-paralysis-israeli-left/   [Review of Killing a King: The Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the Remaking of Israel , Dan Ephron; Yitzhak Rabin: Soldier, Leader, Statesman , Itamar Rabinovich]   …Rabin's assassination was the starkest expression yet of the right's diktat to the Israeli mainstream: peace with your neighbors means war with your brothers. For more than two decades, Israeli advocates for peace and democracy have been paralyzed by this equation. The result is an asymmetrical culture war, with one side fighting tooth and nail while the other side—confused and intimidated—observes and repines. The taboo of fraternal war, which is rooted deep in the foundations of the Jewish state, has become the source of its undoing.   The new centrist party, Blue and White, performed impressively in both of the recent elections, winning the same number of seats as Neta...

https://therealnews.com/stories/palestine-election-hamas-fatah-13-years   Daoud Kuttab discusses the demand by eight Palestinian factions to reconcile the differences between the two dominant parties, Hamas and Fatah, as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announces his readiness to hold elections.  [Kuttab]: "But the Israelis don't like the Palestinian authority very much, but they also want the Palestinian authority not to collapse. They want it to stay alive. And so, actually some even in the military feel that the legitimacy that the elections will give to the Palestinian authority is actually necessary to keep the status quo and to actually protect the Israelis. Because the Palestinian security has been the basic protectors of the Israelis."   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/oct/16/conservative-activists-want-to-outlaw-antisemitism-in-public-education-why-is-that-a-bad-thing?CMP=share_btn_link Documents seen by Guardian show fresh attack on university debate under the guise of prohibiting antisemitism… The meeting at Alec is disclosed in emails obtained under a freedom of information request by David Armiak, research director for the watchdog Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) and shared with the Guardian. They show that several Republican state lawmakers joined pro-Israeli lobbyists in Austin, Texas to discuss disseminating new restrictions on speech relating to Israel on campuses across the heartlands…he private meeting was led by Randy Fine, a Republican from Florida who was instrumental in passing in May the first state law outlawing antisemitism in public education. A week later he emailed fellow participants under the subject line: Anti-Semitism Bill Discussed at Alec… The push for new state...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/education-department-says-it-will-fund-middle-east-studies-program-after-all/2019/10/10/ca1f787e-eb89-11e9-9c6d-436a0df4f31d_story.html?nid=menu_nav_accessibilityforscreenreader&outputType=accessibility   The Education Department said Thursday it will continue funding a Middle East studies program that it accused of advancing an ideological agenda. But in the face of critics, the agency sent a warning that it would not back off its oversight of similar programs.   In August, the department ordered the Duke-UNC Consortium for Middle East Studies to revise its offerings or risk losing a $235,000 federal grant. It accused the program of promoting a positive view of Islam while virtually ignoring Judaism, Christianity and other religions.   Conservatives have long accused universities of harboring anti-Semitic bias and have called for investigations into course offerings. The agency...

  https://mondoweiss.net/2019/10/israel-prepares-to-deport-bds-co-founder-omar-barghouti/   Israel's Minister of the Interior says  he is taking action to force Omar Barghouti, co-founder of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, out of the country.   I intend to act quickly to deprive Omar Barghouti of residency status in Israel… This is a man who does everything to harm the country and therefore must not enjoy the right to be a resident of Israel.   Aryeh Deri said he had directed the Population and Immigration Authority to prepare a legal opinion aimed at Barghouti's deportation.   The announcement comes after Deputy Attorney General Dina Zilber notified Deri's office that it had the authority to revoke Barghouti's residency. The legal basis: a 2018 amendment to the residency law, listing "breach of trust" as a crime which may justify stripping a residency status. Barghouti married a Palestinian citizen of Israel, and lives und...

  https://mondoweiss.net/2019/10/the-department-of-education-has-launched-a-campaign-against-pro-palestine-voices-on-campus-many-saw-it-coming/   …A number faculty members at Duke recently published a letter condemning the DOE decision. "The Federal investigation is the culmination of a decades-long campaign by anti-Palestinian organizations against academic programing and curricular offerings that are deemed insufficiently 'pro-Israel'," it reads , "This investigation targeted a Middle East center, but should concern all of us. Today, all teachers and scholars are at risk when not aligned with national policy and national security priorities."…   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/40036   [letter to Education Department from Middle East Studies Association and 17 other academic associations] …International studies in the United States is a real success story: Title VI centers have provided this country with several generations of regional experts and have led the way in regional studies nationally and globally. The education and training provided by academic programs supported by Title VI have consistently linked language training to international education in a range of disciplines that enable students to attain the depth and breadth of knowledge they need to become regional experts. These experts have gone on to use their skills and knowledge in a variety of sectors—government, private, academic and non-profit—fully in accord with the goals of Title VI to meet national needs for regional expertise across the board. We are very concerned that the approach outlined in your letter, tying funding to consid...

  https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/40034/Student-Response-to-Title-VI-Notice-on-UNC-Duke   On 25 September 2019, UNC issued an  official response to the DoEd  by providing a clinical assessment of its standing as compliant with Title VI. While we as graduate students at UNC endorse this statement, we would like to speak to the underlying premise of the notice—that UNC-Duke is violating the edicts of "national security" upon which Title VI is predicated. So, as students of Islamicate studies and Middle East studies, we address the main accusations, both stated and unstated, in this order.  Accusation 1. Middle East programs privilege Muslims over analysis of Jews, Christians, Kurds, Baha'i, and other minority groups in the Middle East….Accusation 2. UNC-Duke does not place enough emphasis on Middle East/North African language courses….Accusation 3. UNC-Duke use Title VI funds for classes and events not relevant to Title VI….Accusation 4. University...

10-4-2019 Duke Faculty Respond to Title VI Notice on UNC-Duke Middle Eastern Studies Program - Jadaliyya Reports [This letter, originally published in the Duke Chronicle , follows an unaffiliated letter by  graduate students at UNC  and another by the  Middle East Studies Association (MESA) and seventeen other academic societies .]   https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/40059/Faculty-Response-to-Title-VI-Notice-on-UNC-Duke We appreciate the recent statement on academic freedom from  President Price and Provost Kornbluth  following the US Department of Education's investigation of the Duke-UNC Consortium for Middle East studies. We also welcome the letter to the DOE from 18  American academic associations —including the Middle East Studies Association, the Modern Language Association, and the American Anthropological Association—who characterized the investigation as "an unprecedented and counterproductive interventi...

https://www.apnews.com/2da01bd000ef47f484e548e47caf9f98 Israel is quietly allowing thousands of Palestinians to enter from the Gaza Strip to conduct business and work menial jobs, apparently as part of understandings with the ruling Hamas militant group aimed at preventing a fourth war in the blockaded territory.   Israel effectively revoked thousands of work permits when it joined Egypt in imposing a crippling blockade on Gaza after Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007. The blockade, along with three wars between Hamas and Israel, has devastated the economy in Gaza, where unemployment is over 50%.   In recent months, Israel has quietly provided some relief as part of an unofficial, Egyptian-brokered truce with Hamas, in exchange for reduced rocket fire from the territory and the scaling back of weekly protests along the border. It has allowed Qatar to deliver millions of dollars in cash to allow Hamas to pay its civil servants and has allowed the Un...

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-man-murdered-in-arab-israeli-town-amid-protests-over-uptick-in-violence-1.7923349 36-year-old was shot to death, two others were seriously injured and a fourth man was lightly wounded; police have opened a murder investigation. Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/.premium.MAGAZINE-tablets-reve2-700-year-old-forced-relocation-by-assyrian-conquerors-1.7906334 Two clay tablets found in Hadid recording loans and land sales in the seventh century B.C.E. indicate that most of the people living in the town, between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem today, were foreign, not Israelites, archaeologists say.   In fact, the former territory of the Kingdom of Israel may have had very few Israelites left during the 7th century B.C.E., archaeological evidence suggests... Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

10-1-2019 Israeli Violence Continues, Ending September With Abductions, Demolitions, and Raids I If Americans Knew Adapted  from recent news reports found at the International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC   https://israelpalestinenews.org/israeli-violence-continues-ending-september-abductions-demolitions-raids/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily+Updates   76th Friday Great March of Return: Palestinian Civilian Killed, 86 Civilians Injured, Including 22 Children, 9 Paramedics … Offices of Women's NGO – Raided … Shin Bet Bans Gaza Football Team from Travel … Ministry of Health Warns, American Hospital Project Whitewashing Occupation … Prison Hunger Strike News… Israel Issues Administrative Detention Orders… Abductions Continue, Including a Palestinian Official… Israeli Soldiers Continue Causing Injury to Palestinians Attacks on Farmers: Soldiers Confiscate ...

https://israelpalestinenews.org/israel-committed-415-violations-against-palestinian-journalists-in-past-year/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily+Updates   The Israeli government is  deliberately targeting Palestinian journalists in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.   The Ministry of Information, on the International Day of Solidarity with Palestinian journalists, reported that the number of human rights violations, from the beginning of year 2019 to the end of August 2019, totaled 415; this included 82 journalists who were injured while covering the  Great Return March , in Gaza… Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

https://972mag.com/hebron-settlements-occupation/143703/ The settlements, checkpoints, and walls that have been the reality for Hebron's Palestinian population are now being copied everywhere across the West Bank. Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

https://972mag.com/israel-liberal-elections-podcast/143658/ Public opinion expert Dahlia Scheindlin argues that the fierce debate over the separation of religion and state in Israel's latest elections could lead to a wider liberal shift in society. Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member