RSS Feeds
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
Israeli-Arab voters succeed in forcing their will on party Afif Abu Much - Al-Monitor "the Arab street succeeded in forcing its will on the leadership of the Joint List. It has succeeded in initiating a new kind of discourse, which had not existed previously. It is a discourse rooted in a desire to integrate into Israel society and become part of the country’s circle of decision-makers. That is why we are hearing more and more statements from various parts of the Joint List, which do not reject future cooperation with Blue and White, in order to improve the situation of the Arab public and to help send Netanyahu home. After all, that is what most of the Arab public wants, given the incessant campaign of incitement, which Netanyahu waged and continues to wage against them, in his capacity as prime minister. This is what led to the party’s historic decision to recommend Gantz. It signaled that the Arab parties were returning to the political game, for the first time since 1992, when the Arab parties recommended Yitzhak Rabin for prime minister." ca 25/10/2019
...
The judge who designed the legal foundations of Israel`s occupationMichael Sfard - +972 "In tandem with the protections he implemented for the important rights and freedoms dear to the Ashkenazi middle class of the time (freedom of expression, freedom from religious coercion, the battle against government corruption), Shamgar turned the Supreme Court into an ally of the security establishment, ready to assist in strengthening and deepening the other legal system Israel has created – the one that governs the occupied Palestinian territories and the settlement enterprise. In that section of Shamgar’s court, attorneys and judges utilized (and continue to utilize) their valuable knowledge and skills to uphold a system that commits brutal and unforgivable violations of human rights." ca25/10/2019
...
Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association comes out in support of a bill that protects Palestinian childrenMichael Arria - Mondoweiss "While we fully support Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorists, we believe that the detention and interrogation of children is a very last resort only in the most urgent cases. It should never be a normal course of action,” reads a statement put out by RRA." ca25/10/2019
...
Who Needs the Strategic Affairs Ministry?Yael Patir - IMEMC "The staff of the Foreign Affairs Ministry was trained to represent the State of Israel. They know that to provide diplomatic protection for Israel, they must create a unique fit suitable for the place, time and target audience. And yet, the Netanyahu government wanted to reinforce the narrative of the Israeli right wing – in Israel and abroad – and to do this he had to mark an international enemy to be fought for cohesion’s sake. That’s how the perfect demon was found: the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement." ca25/10/2019
...
Rewarding the Israeli Attackers in the Settlements Amira Hass - Haaretz - Just as I write this column Monday afternoon, Israeli soldiers are preventing olive harvesters from the Palestinian village of Burin from accessing their grove to harvest olives. I repeat: their land, their olive grove, their trees. The grove is adjacent to the spot where last Wednesday masked Jewish Israelis attacked volunteers from Rabbis for Human Rights, including 80-year-old Rabbi Moshe Yehudai, with rods and rocks. The volunteers had joined the olive harvesters from Burin in the hope that their presence would ensure the Palestinians’ safety. The rabbi’s assailants had come from the Yitzhar settlement and its outposts. That is also where those who attacked Israelis soldiers came from. 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. [bz]22/10/2019
...
Release them! Gush Shalom - We all feel very sorry for Naama Issachar, Israeli girl on her way home, Jailed in Russia On a flimsy pretext. [bz] But who even heard of Hiba al Labadi Jordanian girl jailed in Israel Now on hunger strike? Administrative Detention. No need of any pretext. 15/10/2019
One land, dividedKirsty LG - Green Olive Tours - It’s summertime in Scotland and finally after four intensive months I feel enough distance and cooling of the air to be able to reflect on my time in Jerusalem. the city and the land have both enchanted and enthralled me. Layer upon layer of history and religious diversity have created a depth of culture that is unlike anywhere else I’ve been in the world. I would call Jerusalem a melting pot but the ingredients don’t mix so easily here as they do in other great cities of the world. (...)I feel sad that most Israelis will never get to drive to Ramallah and experience the hustle and bustle of the old city or the divine cakes at Vanilla café in the shiny new area of the city. Similarly, most West bankers can only dream of hiking up Ein Gedi, floating in the Dead Sea or visiting the Tel Aviv beaches again. The human spirit is resilient however and there is always someone worse off with a staircase of suffering leading from East Jerusalem, to the West Bank, to Gaza and down from there to other Arab states like Syria and Yemen. This resilience of spirit impresses me but it’s not ok in the same way as Apartheid in South Africa wasn’t OK. (This essay got the first prize in the 2019 Green Olive Competition). [ak] 15/10/2019
...
"The destruction of asociety": First the U.S. invaded Iraq — then we leftit poisonedDavid Masciotra - Information Clearing House "Fortunately, there is amovement to criminalize environmental contaminationcaused by war. Damage to nature and the humanenvironment must be considered a war crime.Scientists are currentlyasking international lawmakers to adopt a fifth Geneva Convention which wouldrecognize damage to nature as a war crime, alongsideother war crimes. I hope that will make a differencein our ability to protect human lives and our environment." ca 13/10/2019
...
Congress should impeach David Friedman, too Josh Ruebner - Mondoweiss "While we’re at it, let’s add another Trump administration official, although for reasons having nothing to do with Ukraine, who also richly deserves to be impeached: US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.Can the House of Representatives impeach an ambassador? Yes, it can. Although it has never successfully done so, there have been several efforts to impeach ambassadors and consular officials in the past and Friedman would make an excellent precedent for being the first one to be impeached." ca 11/10/2019
...
Trump`s Decision to Abandon Syria`s Kurds Is Bad News for All U.S. Regional Allies Amos Harel - Haaretz - There is also a lesson for Israel’s leadership, apparently. Just a few months ago Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his ministers were jostling one another during that mortifyingly groveling ceremony in which a settlement in the Golan Heights was named after the American president. Since then, a promise to sign a defense pact between the two nations, tossed into the ether on the eve of the second election, seems to have evaporated. Again one must wonder whether too much reliance hadn’t been placed on Trump, at the cost of Netanyahu distancing himself far from the Democrats and undermining traditional bipartisan support in Washington for Israel. [bz]8/10/2019
...
The Africa-Palestine Conference: Why South Africa Must Lead the WayRamzy Baroud - CounterPunch - “[…] South Africa is yet to take the kind of action that, when combined with others measures of international solidarity, could finally force Israel to dismantle its system of Apartheid in Palestine” [ry] 7/10/2019
...
Is a new revolution in the making in Egypt? A correspondent in Egypt - Al-Monitor " For the second week in a row, demonstrations against Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi were held in the cities of Qena, Luxor, Sohag and al-Warkh near Giza governorate...In response to the protests, Sisi said that public opinion in Egypt would not accept the rule of “political Islam.” ca 4/10/2019
...
How Netanyahu mainstreamed an anti-democratic visionHarry Reis - +972 "...the stakes of the election outcome are far higher than the political survival of one man. Throughout these last two rounds of forced elections, Israelis glimpsed an anti-democratic future – one controlled by a narrow immunity-annexationist coalition that would have protected Netanyahu as a man above the law. While Netanyahu failed to emerge with the majority required to enact that dark future, his irregular maneuvers over the course of the past two elections — attacking the judiciary, inviting extremists into his coalition, and undermining voting rights — upended a number of key democratic norms." ca4/10/2019
...
The suspect Samer ArabidGush Shalom statement - After two days of Shabak interrogation the suspect Samer Arabid was rushed to an intensive care ward. Not much chance for A serious investigation: The Israeli media Already judged him, Calling him `terrorist` and `murderer` Before he even stood trial. [bz]1/10/2019
How the Right Has Tried to Rebrand Anti-SemitismMairav Zonszein - New York Review of Books - Such false accusations of anti-Semitism do not come without a cost: the most dangerous long-term effect, which we are already beginning to see unfold, is that they will obscure and pervert people’s understanding of what actual anti-Semitism is—and thus undermine the battle to combat it.[bz]1/10/2019
...
Articles Archive
Current Articles
1/2024
12/2023
11/2023
10/2023
9/2023
8/2023
7/2023
6/2023
5/2023
4/2023
3/2023
2/2023
1/2023
12/2022
11/2022
10/2022
9/2022
8/2022
7/2022
6/2022
5/2022
4/2022
3/2022
2/2022
1/2022
12/2021
11/2021
10/2021
9/2021
8/2021
7/2021
6/2021
5/2021
4/2021
3/2021
2/2021
1/2021
12/2020
11/2020
10/2020
9/2020
8/2020
7/2020
6/2020
5/2020
4/2020
3/2020
2/2020
1/2020
12/2019
11/2019
10/2019
9/2019
8/2019
7/2019
6/2019
5/2019
4/2019
3/2019
2/2019
1/2019
12/2018
11/2018
10/2018
9/2018
8/2018
7/2018
6/2018
5/2018
4/2018
3/2018
2/2018
1/2018
12/2017
11/2017
10/2017
9/2017
8/2017
7/2017
6/2017
5/2017
4/2017
3/2017
2/2017
1/2017
12/2016
11/2016
10/2016
9/2016
8/2016
7/2016
6/2016
5/2016
4/2016
3/2016
2/2016
1/2016
12/2015
11/2015
10/2015
9/2015
8/2015
7/2015
6/2015
5/2015
4/2015
3/2015
2/2015
1/2015
12/2014
11/2014
10/2014
9/2014
8/2014
7/2014
6/2014
5/2014
4/2014
3/2014
2/2014
1/2014
12/2013
11/2013
10/2013
9/2013
8/2013
7/2013
6/2013
5/2013
4/2013
3/2013
2/2013
1/2013
12/2012
11/2012
10/2012
9/2012
8/2012
7/2012
6/2012
5/2012
4/2012
3/2012
2/2012
1/2012
12/2011
11/2011
10/2011
9/2011
8/2011
7/2011
6/2011
5/2011
4/2011
3/2011
2/2011
1/2011
12/2010
11/2010
10/2010
9/2010
8/2010
7/2010
6/2010
5/2010
4/2010
3/2010
2/2010
1/2010
12/2009
11/2009
10/2009
9/2009
8/2009
7/2009
6/2009
5/2009
4/2009
3/2009
2/2009
1/2009
12/2008
11/2008
10/2008
9/2008
8/2008
7/2008
6/2008
5/2008
4/2008
3/2008
2/2008
1/2008
12/2007
11/2007
10/2007
9/2007
8/2007
7/2007
6/2007
5/2007
4/2007
3/2007
2/2007
1/2007
12/2006
11/2006
10/2006
9/2006
8/2006
7/2006
6/2006
5/2006
4/2006
3/2006
2/2006
1/2006
12/2005
11/2005
10/2005
9/2005
8/2005
7/2005
6/2005
5/2005
4/2005
3/2005
2/2005
1/2005
12/2004
11/2004
10/2004


Home page  back