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The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil,    but because of the people who don't do anything about it    
Commentary

TitleDescriptionDate
Israel Cannot Use Violent Self-Defense While Occupying GazaT.J. Coles - CounterPunch - "When trapped Gazans resist with overwhelmingly non-violent protest, they receive the following treatment, as described by a Red Cross doctor, Gabriel Salazar: “We estimate there are over 1,300 people with complex, sometimes multiple injuries,” care of the Israeli Defense Forces responding to the protests, “that will require at least three to five surgeries each. The recovery period may take months or even years and we believe some 400 will remain with temporary or permanent disability.”" - id 29/11/2018
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Netanyahu’s challenges as defense minister and right-wing leaderNahum Barnea - Ynet - "Stabilizing the Gaza border while appeasing the right wing is not an easy task, which might lead Netanyahu to either avoid making required decisions altogether or blame the failures on the outgoing and incoming chiefs of staff." - id 29/11/2018
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The Israeli army is putting humanitarian workers at risk in GazaYael Marom - +972 - "According to the Israeli media, the soldiers who took part in a botched intelligence operation in Khan Younis earlier this month were dressed up as humanitarian workers. If the details are true, it could put countless people in danger." - id 29/11/2018
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Opposition MK demands Netanyahu reveal if Israel selling arms to ChadRAOUL WOOTLIFF and TAMAR PILEGGI - The Times of Israel - Meretz party leader Tamar Zandberg on Sunday urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reveal if meetings held during Chadian President Idriss Déby’s visit to Israel will include negotiations on Israeli arms sales to the African country.“The concern is that the visit will also be used for secret arms deals in which Israeli arms will be sold to persecute political opponents, human rights activists and journalists,” Zandberg said in a statement.-rh27/11/2018
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3 Swastikas Drawn On Cornell Campus JTA "The Cornell Hillel posted a Facebook message Tuesday morning about the incidents. “Swastikas are icons steeped in anti-Semitic hate, and have no place on our campus,” the statement said. “We are deeply concerned about this trend. We stand against anti-Semitism and all forms of hate.” The post said the Hillel was in communication with the administration and would provide information as it becomes available." ca 23/11/2018
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Airbnb`s decision isn`t about the Jews — it`s about the occupationFrima (Merphie) Bubis - +972 "The attacks on the vacation rental company for its decision to pull all listings from West Bank settlements miss one thing: Airbnb does not support boycotting Israel." ca23/11/2018
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Military Advocate General isn`t dangerous, Bennett isLiron Libman - Ynet - "Education Minister Bennett`s attempt to link the difficulties in handling the situation in Gaza with the combat soldiers` so-called fear of the Military Prosecution is exactly the opposite of true leadership; the legal advice provided by MAG Corps is not a sign of weakness, but rather an essential component of the army`s strength and capabilities." - id 22/11/2018
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Israel’s Genocidal Arms CustomersRichard Silverstein - Tikun Olam - "Israel isn’t just maintaining a brutal military occupation. It’s also supplying weapons to genocidal regimes around the world." - id22/11/2018
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The right keeps winning in Israel because Israelis are right wingDahlia Scheindlin - +972 - "Ultimately, it’s hard to imagine a government that isn’t representative of the fact that nearly half of Israeli voters are right wing, and the sooner Israelis head to the polls, the more voters will have the near-war in Gaza on their mind." - id22/11/2018
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Netanyahu’s nonsensical occupationYacov Ben Efrat - Challenge - "The occupation may have become nonsense, but the recent downpour of 500 missiles on Israel’s southern cities is not nonsensical. The same goes for the weekly Gazan protests at the fence, not to mention the humanitarian disaster in the Strip. These are serious problems for Israel, and Netanyahu has no solution." - id22/11/2018
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The Twisted Logic of the Jewish ‘Historic Right’ to IsraelShlomo Sand - Information Clearing House - The founding myth of Zionism – which proceeds in an unbroken line from Max Nordau and Arthur Ruppin, to worrisome geneticists in several Israeli universities and at Yeshiva University in New York – acts as the principal ideological glue for the nation’s everlasting unity, and today more than ever. The justification for Zionist settlement/colonization (choose your preferred term – they mean the same thing) is the meta-paradigm that is expressed in the declaration of the establishment of the state, namely: “We were here, we were uprooted, we came back.”-rh 20/11/2018
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HRW: Booking.com, other companies should follow Airbnb suit on Israeli settlements listingsWAFA - The decision by Airbnb to stop listing properties in unlawful Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank is a positive step that other global tourism companies should follow, Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Kerem Navot said on Tuesday in issuing a report about the activities of Airbnb and Booking.com in settlements.-rh20/11/2018
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Netanyahu: Minister of War and FearSima Kadmon - Ynetnews - This is one of the most complex periods we have experienced, he said yesterday, and this is not a time to go to elections. We do not abandon in the middle of an operation. Do not play politics. State security is beyond personal considerations. I told all the leaders of the coalition: Do not topple the government, especially not at this time. There was only one thing Netanyahu did not say: Why, until two weeks ago, it was he who was looking for a date for early elections.-rh 20/11/2018
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Israel Cannot Use Violent Self-Defense While Occupying GazaT.J. Coles - Counterpunch - Whenever bombings and shootings escalate in the Middle East, Israeli propagandists say that Israel is exercising its right of military self-defense against indiscriminate attacks coming from the Gaza Strip. But as this article documents, the right to use force in self-defense is contingent on Israel ending its military occupation and blockade of Gaza. [bz] 20/11/2018
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Gaza and West Bank are one and the same problem - not twoNoam Rabinovich - Geneva Initiative - The government`s choice to continue pursuing an agreement with Hamas rather than starting another painful and costly war is a confirmation of the futility of trying to solve the issue of Gaza through military actions. Indeed, there are no military solutions to this problem. There is only a political solution. To achieve it, the two parties must negotiate directly, with President Abbas serving as the representative of the Palestinian people both in the West Bank and in Gaza. Israel`s policy of separation between Gaza and the West Bank is a grave mistake. The notion that the conflict in Gaza and the conflict in the West Bank are two separate conflicts, which itself suggests that the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank are two separate peoples, should be rejected outright. There is one conflict; there is one Palestinian people. Gaza and the West Bank are part of the same conflict, and should be addressed as such, under a single, holistic policy. [ak] 20/11/2018
Netanyahu fighting for his `Mr. Security` imageAlex Fishman - Ynet - It has already become a tradition: on the eve of elections Israel`s security situation suddenly becomes exceedingly problematic. After the elections, the threats subside, and our leaders sing the praises of Israel`s strategic situation—which, of course, has never been better. The prime minister`s speech Sunday is one of the most dangerous deliveries heard in recent years; Netanyahu strikes fear in our hearts, and could even launch military operations just to survive another term. [bz]20/11/2018
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In Breach of Human Rights, Netanyahu Supports the Death Penalty against PalestiniansRamzy Baroud - CounterPunch - “The Death Penalty law would be the icing on the cake in this horrific and unchallenged Israeli agenda that transcends party lines and unites most of the country’s Jewish citizens and politicians in an ongoing hate-fest” [ry]19/11/2018
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‘How is it I represent to others what I am so afraid of?’ Liz Rose - Mondoweiss "At least we can always go to Israel if there’s more anti-Semitism,” was the first thing that came to my mind when I first learned about the murders...It was unusual that this phrase materialized in my mind after the murders, but not much makes sense when people are suffering. It was also odd that the sentence arose in my mind, given that I no longer believe in Israel as a nation-state for the Jews." ca16/11/2018
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Netanyahu is stuck with Hamas, and he likes it that wayMeron Rapoport - +972 "Liberman’s resignation, first and foremost, stems from political considerations. With elections approaching as early as March 2019, he understands the political value of appearing as someone who did not give in to Hamas. Following the almost-war in Gaza earlier this week, he recognizes that Netanyahu is now being perceived by the Israeli public as a coward, and he wants to exploit the moment to its fullest." ca16/11/2018
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TV debate about Bennet`s capitulation and Airbnb boycotting settlementsThe weekly debate between left-wing activists Adam Keller and Yotam Yaakoba confronting the write-wingers Martin Sherman and Tzofia Nahon 27/11/2018
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Israel bolsters Hamas at PA`s expenseAlex Fishman - Ynet - When the PA is weakened, the Palestinian security apparatus is weakened, the population in the West Bank becomes more confrontational with the PA, as Israel makes it increasingly clear that violence pays off. From this, the road is short to the inevitable conclusion: a military escalation. [bz]27/11/2018
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Dispute Over Airbnb In West Bank Settlements Shows ADL’s ‘Moral Schizophrenia’Peter Beinart - Forward - To understand Airbnb’s decision, it’s worth comparing the status of Palestinians in the West Bank to the African Americans in Alabama on whose behalf the ADL protested more than fifty years ago. In theory, African Americans in the segregated south were citizens of the United States. But they could not practice that citizenship. Above all, they could not vote. And because they could not vote, the federal, state and local governments under which they lived plundered, abused and even murdered them with impunity. [bz] 27/11/2018
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A Palestinian revolutionary: Jabra Nicola and the radical left Ran Greenstein - Academia.edu - "What is to be done with the Arabs? Would the Jews expect to be strangers among the Arabs or would they want to make the Arabs strangers among themselves?... The Arabs have exactly the same historical right and it will be unfortunate for you if – taking your stand under the protection of international plunderers, using the underhand dealings and intrigue of a corrupt diplomacy – you make the peaceful Arabs defend their right. They will answer tears with blood and bury your diplomatic documents in the ashes of your own homes." With these prophetic words Ilya Rubanovich captured two elements of the Left’s critique of Zionism (in 1886, a decade before the movement was formally launched): that it was bound to violate the rights of indigenous Arabs, and that it would do so by using international diplomacy to secure its position. In other words (...) Zionism was condemned for its colonial practices, and for its potential association with imperialist powers. How this set of ideas gave rise to different movements and activists, shaped by subsequent historical circumstances, is the topic of this article. [bz]27/11/2018
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Israel’s Mockery of Security: 101 Actions Israel Could TakeSam Bahour - Counter Punch - "Israel consciously plans and uses its military might to damage the Palestinian’s national project to build a state and free itself from Israeli control." - id 15/11/2018
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Analysis: What does Gaza escalation mean for appetite for calm?Ben White - Al Jazeera - "As fresh truce seemingly takes hold to end latest round of violence, what do recent events say about what`s coming next?" - id 15/11/2018
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Lieberman`s resignation –No great lossRon Ben Yishai - Ynet - "Lieberman only had marginal influence on the IDF, his hysterical proclamations on Gaza exploded in his face, he did not know how to transform from a citizen, politician into a decision-maker with a vision." - id 15/11/2018
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How Israel exploits seismic shifts in world politicsRamzy Baroud - Alarabiya - During his July 2017 visit to Budapest, Netanyahu met leaders from the so-called “Visegrad Group”, which includes Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. There, he hoped to find new allies to help exert pressure on the rest of the EU. In an audio recording obtained by Reuters, Netanyahu derided “Old Europe” for daring to criticize Israel’s dismal human rights record, illegal settlement policies and military occupation. “I think Europe has to decide whether it wants to live and thrive or if it wants to shrivel and disappear,” he said. Netanyahu needs new ways to pressure Europe because pro-Palestinian policies and attitudes are slowly but steadily entering mainstream politics, as grassroots groups are becoming increasingly outraged by Israeli crimes against Palestinians. Israel’s fear of Europe abandoning its Zionist cause could be seen in recent Israeli official reactions.-rh13/11/2018
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Israeli celebration of ties with Gulf states premature Akiva Eldar - Al-Monitor - Steinberg noted that there have been instances in the past when the Arabs signaled willingness to normalize ties with Israel in order to achieve a resolution of the Palestinian problem. One such example was the unusual Washington Post article written in 2009 by Bahraini leader Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa. “Essentially, we have not done a good enough job demonstrating to Israelis how our initiative can form part of a peace between equals in a troubled land holy to three great faiths,” he wrote, explaining that a true, sustainable peace requires reconciliation on a personal level, including a direct appeal to the Israeli public laying out the advantages of peace. Such an appeal was issued in the form of the invitation of Israel’s prime minister to the palace in Oman and the playing of the Israeli anthem in Abu Dhabi in the presence of Israel’s minister of culture. Both events showed the Israelis what normalization of the ties and fruits of peace could look like. However, it takes at least two to make peace. The other side is not Oman, Abu Dhabi or Bahrain. It is not even Saudi Arabia, which assassinated a journalist. (Israel carefully avoided condemning that act.) The other side — the Palestinian people — lives under occupation across the fence.-rh 13/11/2018
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Netanyahu reported to say he would quit, but nobody can succeed himTOI STAFF - The Times of Israel - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly told a former senior official he would be willing to leave political life if there were a worthy successor, amid a series of corruption scandals and persistent rumors of early elections. Netanyahu made the comment to an unnamed senior law enforcement official, saying he would leave political life “tomorrow,” according to a Channel 10 news report Sunday.-rh13/11/2018
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Orthodox-only Israeli views of Pittsburgh massacre show the danger of mixing church and stateJonathan Ofir - Mondoweiss - The October 27 massacre of 11 Jewish worshippers at a Pittsburgh synagogue is accentuating serious rifts within the global Jewish community, and in the underpinnings of Zionism. The dilemma for Orthodox Jewish leaders in Israel has been, How to acknowledge that the murdered were Jewish, without giving any points to the Conservative movement of which they were part –that is, without conceding that their synagogue is in fact a synagogue. For the Orthodox hold a complete monopoly on the Israeli church-state unity, embodying the “Jewish state” notion in a fundamentalist and inherently illiberal way and refuse to recognize more liberal denominations, to which most American Jews belong, since that might erode their state- power hegemony in Israel. And so more liberal Jews, who have been calling for Jewish unity and solidarity in response to the most grievous anti-Semitic attack in American history, have gotten a rude awakening. And liberal Zionists are being forced to come to terms with the fact that their Zionism is the means by which that orthodox fundamentalist sectarianism actually works; and their power to oppose such fundamentalism as Zionists is limited.-rh13/11/2018
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Has The BDS Campaign Really Achieved So Little?Ben White - IMEMC News & Agencies - "Last March, outgoing Jewish Agency chair Natan Sharansky declared that the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign had `been almost fully defeated`. Sharansky’s pronouncement came two years after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced BDS had been `beaten`” [ry]12/11/2018
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As a journalist in the First Intifada, I learned not to believe what the IDF saysMeron Rapoport - +972 - "In March 1987, Oren Cohen, then a reporter in the occupied territories, received a tip about a female Palestinian detainee who had been tortured and had a miscarriage in prison. The police denied she even existed, until Cohen exposed their lies. Today, he says, no one would even care." - id 8/11/2018
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On Boycotts, Academic Freedom, and the Struggle for Justice in Israel-PalestineBruce Robbins - The Nation - When the young Palestinian-American Lara Alqasem was finally allowed to enter Israel after being detained at the airport and threatened with deportation, who won? Liberal Zionists, many of whom had championed her case, felt they had cause to celebrate. You see, they could now tell the world, Israel is not (yet) the bastion of build-the-wall intolerance that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, like his buddy in the White House, has wanted to make of his country. On October 16, two days before the Israeli Supreme Court’s decision, Jeremy Ben-Ami, president and founder of J Street, had an op-ed in Haaretz under the title “The Ban on Lara Alqasem Is a Gift for BDS, and a Disaster for Israel.” -rh6/11/2018
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Netanuyahu’s Courting of Bolsonaro is the Latest of Israel’s Alliances with Far-right FiguresJonathan Cook - Dissident Voice - The victory of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil’s presidential election last week has won Israel a passionate new friend on the international stage. The world’s fifth-most populous nation will now be “coloured in blue and white”, an Israeli official said, referring to the colours of Israel’s flag. The Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately called to congratulate Bolsonaro, a former army officer with a pronounced nostalgia for his country’s 20-year military dictatorship. Critics describe him as a neo-fascist.-rh6/11/2018
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New Al Jazeera film uncovers `rotting foundation` of U.S. Israel lobbyAntony Loewenstein - +972 - “People at AIPAC know that something has changed,” Gallagher says. “They know something is wrong. They are not as effective as they used to be.” He worries that the day is coming soon when AIPAC wouldn’t be able to deeply influence the Israel lobby crafted in the U.S. Congress, as it does today, and that the pro- Israel lobby will have to operate without AIPAC’s power. “There’s this big bowling ball that’s being hurled towards them [AIPAC] and the response is to run faster,” Gallagher continues. “They need to get on the bowling ball and start dancing.”-rh 6/11/2018
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The rise of the global far-right could energize the anti-occupation movementEli Bitan - +972 Magazine - Israel’s decision to peg its foreign policy to far-right authoritarians is a poor one, characterizing the paranoid and anxiety-driven era of Benjamin Netanyahu. But it is not the entire story: Trump, Orban, Modi, Duterte, and now Bolsonaro have happily jumped on the bandwagon. They are taking advantage of Israel’s liberal credit around the world in order to bolster themselves. In effect, they end up undercutting that very liberal credit. [bz]6/11/2018
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The Only One Who Dared Stand Up to TrumpChaim Levinson - Haaretz - Perhaps because of Abbas’ background in the PLO, and his various wanderings in the world, he realized what leaders of other, polite, civilized states didn’t. As one who hasn’t lived for 50 years in grand palaces, but wandered from country to country, he knows the rules of the street: When extorted, don’t cooperate. Because complying with extortion isn’t the end – it’s only the beginning. When you’re facing a bully, don’t fold. Maybe you’ll get hit, but you may also be standing at the end of the fight. (...) The great Trump is sitting in Washington exploding because little Abu Mazen doesn’t give a damn.[ak]6/11/2018
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Why Gaza’s status quo is unlikely to changeTareq Baconi - +972 - In Gaza, despite Hamas’ pacification, a shift to nonviolent protests, and UN warnings of collapse, Israel shows little intention of lifting the blockade [ry]5/11/2018
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It will cost usNadav Eyal - Ynet - There is a difference between amicable ties—which Israel should maintain with every country except those tainted by war crimes and crimes against humanity—and a tight relationship with countries that might jeopardize Israel`s future once their authoritarian leaders disappear [ry]5/11/2018
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Why did the PLO suspend its recognition of Israel?Mariam Barghouti - Al Jazeera - The Palestinian Liberation Organization has suspended its recognition of Israel for a second time in three years [ry]5/11/2018
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Israeli residents near Gaza abandoned by the government Mazal Mualem - Al-Monitor "In other words, Netanyahu, as opposed to Liberman, believes in the arrangement with Hamas option, but when this does not materialize, it emerges that neither of the two leaders has an action plan. In addition, neither wants a military operation in Gaza. Netanyahu is the one with direct responsibility for the Gaza conundrum and the fact that Israel has no clear policy. Nevertheless, Netanyahu continues to preserve his image in public opinion polls as Mr. Security. This is in spite of the fact that he has served as Israel’s prime minister over the last decade, in which the Gaza problem has not been solved, but only worsened." ca 2/11/2018
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Arming Jews hasn`t saved us in the past. Why would it now?Roni Masel - +972 - "The massacre at the Pittsburgh synagogue last weekend has led many to return to an age-old question: should Jews be arming themselves in the face of violent anti-Semitism?" - id 1/11/2018
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Netanyahu Disappeared from Israel for an Entire 24 Hours and No One KnewRichard Silverstein - Tikun Olam - "In most other western countries reporters track the schedule and physical presence of their leaders. They know where they are at any given moment and, if newsworthy, they’re there to report it. Not so in Israel, a country which neither western or democratic. Nor apparently do its reporters know where their PM is at any given moment. I find that exceedingly strange." …"Such normalization by Oman, erodes support for the Palestinian cause in the Arab world." - id 1/11/2018
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Khashoggi’s murder will bury the Crown PrinceYacov Ben Efrat - Challenge - "Officially, Israel has refrained from condemning Khashoggi’s slaying. Supreme security interests motivate cooperation with Israel buffs like Viktor Orban, Rodrigo Duterte, Jair Bolsonaro, and Donald Trump." - id1/11/2018
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A very hot debate Press Release - Gush Shalom - "The extreme rightists Eithan Meir of Im Tirzu and the "Orientalist" Dr. Mordechai Kedar. - frustrated on where both issues now stand - were countered by peace activists Rabbi Arik Asherman of Torat Emet and Adam Keller of Gush Shalom in a more and more Israeli style debate. https://youtu.be/66yJ_nB5-K0 " - id1/11/2018
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