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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
Yes, Corbynism poses a threat — but not to Britain`s JewsMatan Kaminer - +972 - Smearing Jeremy Corbyn as an anti-Semite has become a popular hobby among members of the British establishment — perhaps because what he stands for is a direct threat to their ideological and economic interests [ry]31/7/2018
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A common Enemy: Why Israel is embracing fascism in EuropeRamzy Baroud - MEMO - Orban said, “We are fighting an enemy that is different from us. Not open but hiding; not straightforward but crafty; not honest but base; not national but international; does not believe in working but speculates with money; does not have its own homeland but feels it owns the whole world” [ry]31/7/2018
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Adolf and Amin Uri Avnery - Gush Shalom - “According to [Netanyahu’s] story, until the meeting Hitler did not even think about exterminating the Jews, but only about their expulsion from Europe, preferably to Madagascar, then a French colony. But then came the Mufti and told him something like ‘if you expel them they will come to Palestine. Better kill them all in Europe’ `What a wonderful idea!` Hitler must have answered, `Why did I not think of that myself?`” [ry]31/7/2018
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Trump`s funding cuts to Palestinian refugees put lives at riskZaha Hassan - Al Jazeera - UNRWA is not a political organisation and should not be used in political games [ry]31/7/2018
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The Apartheid Prime MinisterHaaretz Editorial - The vote on the law has updated the political fault line in Israel: the discrimination camp vs. the equality camp; the supporters of apartheid against the supporters of democracy. It is true that Israel’s Arab citizens have been discriminated against since the state’s establishment by the governments on both the left and right. But liberal basic laws and High Court of Justice rulings during the past generation advanced the drive toward equality and integrating the minority, which Netanyahu is now seeking to destroy. [bz]30/7/2018
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Did Israel Just Stop Trying to Be a Democracy?Omri Boehm - NYT "Israel’s policy of promoting Jewish settlements has created de facto apartheid in the occupied territories of the West Bank. The nation- state law now formally endorses the use of similar apartheid methods within Israel’s recognized borders. What was long suspected has finally been made brutally clear: Israel cannot be both a Jewish state and a liberal democracy." ca30/7/2018
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Ex-IDF chief, Golani vets back Druze ‘brothers’ amid fury over nation-state lawAlexander Fulbright - Times of Israel "We, the officers, commanders and soldiers from generations of the Golani Brigade, wish to embrace, support and share in the pain of our Druze, Bedouin and Circassian brothers and sisters, as well as all the ethnic groups that serve in the various security forces and who have tied their fate to the [Jewish] people dwelling in Zion since the establishment of the state,” the letter read." ca27/7/2018
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Three Israeli Supreme Court justices greenlight state to commit war crime B`Tselem - "Justice Sohlberg, who wrote the ruling, stated that the “undisputed” premise of the examination is that “construction in the Khan al-Ahmar compound, both the school and the dwellings, is unlawful,” ...In so ruling, the justices chose to confine their role to handling mere bureaucratic issues, yet that is not why they were appointed to the Supreme Court. Choosing this technical approach enabled them to ignore the context of Israel’s longstanding policy vis-à-vis the people living in Palestinian communities in the West Bank and set aside the directives of international humanitarian law (IHL). Yet this judicial formalism only thinly veils the heart of the matter: the fact that Israel intends to commit a war crime." ca27/7/2018
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What My Escape From Hitler’s Germany Taught Me About Trump’s AmericaHenry Siegman - The Nation "And what Trump’s America teaches us about Netanyahu’s Israel." ca27/7/2018
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An Israeli twist on homophobia and racismYacov Ben Efrat - Challenge - "The people who stand behind these laws – as well as laws changing the face of the High Court, religionizing the army and the schools, applying Israeli law to the West Bank settlements, and preferring “Zionist” culture – are not the ultra-Orthodox. They are the Jewish Home and the Likud: Israeli fundamentalist parties that are closely connected to the populist Right in Europe and the United States." - id 25/7/2018
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Israel helps White Helmets, but rejects Syrian refugeesAkiva Eldar - Al Monitor - "The evacuation of White Helmets members and their families from Syria was an admirable gesture by Israel, but hardly enough to compensate for the expulsion of Syrians from the Golan Heights after the 1967 war." - id 25/7/2018
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Video Exposes Netanyahu Invoking God to Destroy Iran RegimeRichard Silverstein - Tikun Olam - "It’s not clear whether the PM knew he was being videotaped or not. Probably not, otherwise he would never have said what he did. Or possibly, unencumbered by his new-found bromance with Donald Trump, he’s emboldened to say things he would never have thought of saying publicly." - id25/7/2018
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The March of Folly Uri Avnery - Gush Shalom - "The Israeli authorities pretended to take this seriously. A frightening picture was painted for the Israeli public: 1.8 million Arabs, men, women and children, would throw themselves on the border fence, break through in many places, and storm Israel`s cities and villages. Terrifying." - id 25/7/2018
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Tisha B’Av and the mainstreaming of the Temple discourseYudith Oppenheimer/Ir Amim - +972 - The further Israel moves from a solution to the conflict, the more it finds itself in need of the symbols of the religious right. As long as liberal Israelis do not fully renounce the sanctification of blood and land, they will be unable to present a real alternative. [bz]24/7/2018
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This racist new law makes me ashamed to be Israeli Daniel Barenboim - Guardian/Haaretz - We have a law that confirms the Arab population as second-class citizens. It follows that this is a very clear form of apartheid. I don’t think the Jewish people lived for 20 centuries, mostly through persecution and enduring endless cruelties, in order to become the oppressors, inflicting cruelty on others. [bz]24/7/2018
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Trump Is Israel’s “Useful Idiot” Philip Giraldi - Information Clearing House "It would probably surprise most American friends of Israel to learn that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has visited Moscow three times so far this year, particularly as Russia has been getting vilified in the U.S. mainstream media on an almost daily basis. There is a reason for the Russophobia beyond what Moscow might or might not have done in the 2016 election. Russia has become a particular target of hostility for the burgeoning number of neoconservative foundations, also closely linked to Israel, whose funding from defense contractors depends on having a powerful enemy. The ability of Israel and its supporters to play both sides regardless of what the accepted perception of what American interests might be should therefore be an issue of some concern." ca20/7/2018
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Arabic was an official language in Israel for 70 yearsMichael Schaeffer Omer-Man - +972 "The Jewish Nation-State Law states, implicitly and explicitly, that Israel belongs not to all of its citizens, over 20 percent of whom are not Jewish. Instead, it declares that Israel belongs to the Jewish people, some half of whom are not Israeli citizens." ca20/7/2018
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Israel nation-state law serves as rallying cry for each side`s political baseOren Liebermann - CNN News "Ahmad Tibi, a member of Knesset from the Joint Arab List party, yelled at the Israeli leader, "You passed a racist law, an apartheid law! Why are you so afraid of Arabic?" Tibi and virtually every other member of the opposition -- Israeli and Arab -- had lambasted the nation-state bill as, at best, unnecessary and, at worst, blatantly discriminatory." ca20/7/2018
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Video Exposes Netanyahu Invoking God to Destroy Iran RegimeJuly 20, 2018 VIDEO - Tikun Olam "Israel’s Kan TV news ran a video recorded two weeks ago at a gathering of Likud Party activists which Bibi Netanyahu addressed. It’s not clear whether the PM knew he was being videotaped or not. Probably not, otherwise he would never have said what he did. Or possibly, unencumbered by his new-found bromance with Donald Trump, he’s emboldened to say things he would never have thought of saying publicly." ca20/7/2018
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Israel declares itself apartheid state, and gov’ts must hold it accountable Omar Barghouti, Press Release - Mondoweiss "Omar Barghouti from the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) commented:Israel has dozens of racist laws, including some which strikingly fit the UN definition of apartheid. But with the constitutional power of this Basic Law, Israel is effectively declaring itself an apartheid state and dropping its worn-out mask of democracy.From now on, it will not just be legal to racially discriminate against the indigenous Palestinian citizens of the state. It will be constitutionally mandated and required. This should stir people, institutions and governments to take effective action to hold Israel accountable." ca 20/7/2018
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The ‘ultimate deal’? For Israel, maybe. We Palestinians will never accept it Hanan Ashrawi - The Guardian "The US should abandon its misguided assumption that anyone, whether in the region or beyond, can “deliver” the Palestinian people or sign up on our behalf. This approach, concocted by a team of US “peacemakers”, is one-sided, misplaced and totally divorced from genuine peacemaking. It has only reaffirmed that Jared Kushner, Jason Greenblatt and US ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, are extensions of the most extreme rightwing Israeli government coalition and its active lobbyists and campaign donors in the US. One would have to be totally delusional to expect any kind of justice or genuine peace from such “peacemakers”, who are complicit in financing the illegal Israeli settlements that are forcibly built on stolen Palestinian land." ca20/7/2018
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Why Irish sanctions on settlement products don`t scare IsraelAkiva Eldar - Al-Monitor - "Israel’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying the Senate in Dublin was backing a “populist, dangerous and extremist anti-Israel boycott initiative that hurts the chances of dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians; it will have a negative impact on the diplomatic process in the Middle East.” Who, exactly, is Israel’s dialogue representative? Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has pledged that a Palestinian state would not be established on his watch?" - id 18/7/2018
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The new era of Jewish terrorAviad Mendelbaum - Ynet - "It is clear that a handful of fringe elements who either perpetrate or support Jewish terrorism are an exception to the rule, but ... the tolerance for radical views in the Israeli public is growing." - id 18/7/2018
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How a West Bank Highway`s Roadsign Captures the Israeli Psyche Amira Hass - Haaretz - The subconscious becomes fully visible in the language in which the [warning] sign is written: Hebrew only. In my same query, four months ago, I asked Netivei Israel’s spokespeople why the sign wasn’t written in Arabic as well. Here’s the answer I received: “Due to your inquiry, which drew our attention to this, we will consider adding Arabic-language writing to informational signs in areas with a mixed population.” But the signs remain just as they were. In the Israeli consciousness, Palestinians are happenstance people who have no rights in the place where they live. In the Israeli subconscious, as reflected by this Hebrew-language sign and the explanation for it, the Palestinians have completely disappeared from this place. They don’t exist. [bz]17/7/2018
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Netanyahu’s War on TranscendenceMarilyn Garson - CounterPunch - “I have always refused to refer to Gaza as an open-air prison. Prisons are permanent institutions in our societies. Individuals are convicted and sentenced to prison for a time […]. Gaza is a ghetto. […] A ghetto is, by definition, a crime. When we call Gaza a ghetto, we begin by acknowledging that the occupation and blockade are massive crimes, inexcusable and escalating” [ry]16/7/2018
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Trump Turns to Gaza as Middle East Deal of the Century CollapsesSheldon Richman - AntiWar - "Thus the Trump-Kushner strategy may be to destroy, in the name of humanitarianism, any prospect of genuine Palestinian liberation. The effect could be to dump the Gazans in Egypt, effectively if not physically, while Israel continues to gobble up the West Bank" [ry]16/7/2018
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How one law exposes what Israel has always tried to hideOrly Noy - +972 "From the moment it was established, Israel granted its Jewish citizens privileges at the expense of Palestinians. The ‘nation-state bill’ reveals the choice Israelis have to make about the future of their country." ca13/7/2018
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Return To The Ghetto: Israel’s Nation State Law Would Make Early Zionists Turn In Their GravesRebecca Stead - Information Clearing House "Whichever strand of Zionism these thinkers adhered to, they were united in the perceived need to rid Jews of anything that made them different and therefore singled them out for ridicule, abuse and, at its most extreme, violence and death. All envisaged an end to the ghettoisation of Jews in Europe, both physically and culturally. Over 100 years later, Israel’s “Nation State” law threatens a repeat of this dark period in Jewish history and would leave Zionism’s founding thinkers turning in their graves." ca13/7/2018
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Israeli president slams bill that could lead to Jewish-only communitiesAFP, Jerusalem - Alarabiya - The so-called nation-state law, which the government hopes to have approved by the end of the month, could become part of the country`s basic laws which serve as a de facto constitution. The clause Rivlin criticized would allow the state to “authorize a community composed of people having the same faith and nationality to maintain the exclusive character of that community.” That was seen as allowing towns to exclude Arab citizens, who account for some 17.5 percent of Israel`s population, or even other Jewish communities. Rivlin said that the legislation “could harm the Jewish people worldwide and in Israel, and could even be used as a weapon by our enemies.” -rh11/7/2018
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Can Ethiopia-Eritrea Reconciliation Offer Hope for Israel-Palestine? Richard Silverstein - Tikun Olam - "Over the past few days, I’ve watched as something unimaginable has happened. Two countries engaged in war for two decades, who have together killed 80,000 of each other’s citizens, have reconciled." - id11/7/2018
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A Very Intelligent Person Uri Avnery - Gush Shalom - "SO, COME next election, would I vote for Barak? The opportunity would arise only if Barak decides to accept the challenge and succeeds in uniting behind him all the opposition parties, which hate each other. That by itself would be a Herculean task. If that happens, I would recommend voting for him. To be honest, I would recommend voting for anybody who seriously challenges Bibi. I believe that Bibi is leading Israel toward an abyss – an eternal war against the Palestinians, a war nobody can win." - id 11/7/2018
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Diary of the Tel Arad (Khan al-Ahmar) PalestiniansRay Hanania - The Arab Daily News - "Anne Frank’s story is not about life in the death camps or about the atrocities committed by the Nazis at their concentration camps, where 6 million Jews and millions of non-Jews were murdered. Her story is the substance of life during the Holocaust, about the fear and the fright that human beings experience under the oppression of a brutal military regime that hunts them down, expels them, forces them to flee their homes, and destroys all their property. For the people of Khan Al-Ahmar, the oppression they are experiencing echoes that. Stealing a person’s land, home and possessions, and forcing them to flee in the face of military threats, is in fact a form of death." - id 11/7/2018
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By Razing Khan al-Ahmar, Israel Will Bulldoze Illusions of Peace ProcessJonathan Cook - Common Dreams - It would be gratifying to believe that Western governments care about the inhabitants of Khan al-Ahmar – or the thousands of other Palestinians who are being incrementally cleansed by Israel from nearby lands but whose plight has drawn far less attention. (...) As Khan al-Ahmar demonstrates all too clearly, there will be no end to the slow-motion erasure of Palestinian communities until western governments find the nerve to impose biting sanctions on Israel. [bz]10/7/2018
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Neo-Liberalism and the Retreat of DemocracyDAVID SCHULTZ - Counterpunch - Democracy across the world is under siege. This according to the latest Freedom House report documenting that for 2017, “democracy faced its most serous crisis in decades” as seventy-one countries experienced declines in freedom or fair government, including the United States, and only thirty-five an improvement. This was the twelfth consecutive year of decline in democracy world-wide.-rh4/7/2018
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`For many young American Jews, the Trump-Bibi axis is the enemy`Edo Konrad - +972 - "Bradley Burston insists that his views about Israel haven`t changed since he moved here in the 1970s. It`s Israel which has changed. `I would like to have two states. But hundreds of thousands of Israelis said ‘you can’t have it,’ and they run the country.`" - id4/7/2018
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Settler Terrorists Call for Burning Palestinians Alive Richard Silverstein - Tikun Olam - "The vanguard of Israel’s youth are no longer on kibbutzim or even in Unit 8200 or in the vaunted high-tech sector. Instead, they are in the yeshivot of Yitzhar, they sit learning the Torah of genocide at the feet of “rabbis” like YItzhak Shapira, Yitzhak Ginsburg, Dov Wolpe, and Dov Lior. They and Judeo-scum like them participated in the pulsa di nura which passed a sentence of death on Yitzhak Rabin, weeks before his assassination." - id 4/7/2018
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Kushner, Greenblatt, Friedman and the absent Palestinian presidentYacov Ben Efrat - Challenge - "The perplexing thing is that although Kushner and Greenblatt were sent to discuss a plan that concerns the Palestinians, they view Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) as an absentee landlord." - id4/7/2018
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Princely Visits Uri Avnery - Gush Shalom - "Yared Kushner may well be a genius, just like his father-in-law. But even his brilliant Jewish brain will not find another solution. And all the power of the United States will not suffice to keep the Palestinian people down forever. The Big Plan is just another prescription for eternal war. I wish that Europe, including the post-brexit Britain, were willing and able to prevent this catastrophe. If I had met the prince on the sandy seashore, I would have told him just that." - id4/7/2018
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Australia’s decision to end direct aid to PalestineDr. Hanan Ashrawi - PLO Department of Culture and Information - I would like to remind Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop that since 1948 Israel has imprisoned more than one million Palestinians without due process and killed roughly 75,000 Palestinians. Every single Palestinian family has thereby been affected by this longstanding injustice. It is disconcerting that the Palestinian leadership is being charged with ‘politically motivated violence’ by Foreign Minister Bishop. We have been committed to non-violent resistance and to legal and responsible forms of countering Israeli violations and violence. It is ironic that Israel has not been held accountable for its ‘official and unofficial’ violence carried out both by its occupation army and extremist settlers, while the Palestinians are expected to remain docile and subservient victims. We strongly urge the government of Australia to reconsider its decision and not embolden Israel in its unilateral and illegal policies. Bringing Israel to compliance with international law and international humanitarian law would be the most constructive action for governments interested in peace and justice.” [ak]3/7/2018
Between Adelson and BDS, Birthright Has Become a Political BattlefieldAllison Kaplan Sommer - Haaretz - Birthright Israel has done its best to stay above the political fray ever since its founding in 1999. Like most major institutions, though, in these divisive times it is losing the struggle to remain detached from deep political differences. Over the past months, it has been targeted directly by young activist Jews, angry over what they believe is the program’s refusal to deliver a balanced message to its participants regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The activities have ranged from protests against the Birthright gala in New York, to leafleting Birthright participants boarding their flights to Israel, to the high-profile walkout of five female participants toward the end their trip to Israel last Thursday, opting instead to join a Breaking the Silence tour in Hebron. This last event kicked off what the activist group IfNotNow predicts will be a long, hot summer against the program.[ak]3/7/2018
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The Peace Deal That is All IsraelStanley L. Cohen - CounterPunch - "The notion the United States can or will play a role as a fair and honest broker in seeing that justice be had for Palestinians is so much doctored myth and little else" [ry]2/7/2018
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