The Only Democracy? » Archive
Haaretz Condemns Nakba Ban as “Mocking Democracy”
On May 15th, the day marking Independence Day for Israel, many Arabs within Israel and throughout the world commemorate the Nakba (the “catastrophe” in Arabic) when most of the Arab population living within the new-born state were forced to flee in 1948. Much of this population continues to live as refugees to this day, or as internally displaced persons within Israel. But public commemoration of Israel’s independence as a day of mourning could be penalized should a bill approved on Sunday by a ministerial panel be brought to the Knesset and cabinet for vote. In a scathing editorial, Haaretz laments this latest manifestation of the undemocratic agenda of the Netanyahu-Lieberman cabinet. The Knesset yesterday put Israeli democracy to shame when it passed the “Nakba Law” at first reading with a majority of 15 against … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discrimination
Declaration of Human Rights Too “Problematic” for Israeli Schoolchildren
In a related post, below, we learned about the militarization of education for Israeli children, including homework sheets filled with sketches of tanks and other weaponry as a method of learning to count and be indoctrinated at the same time. Now we learn that the same Israeli Department of Education which promoted the militarization of schools has taken quick action to keep certain rights enumerated in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights from troubling the minds of settler children. The Ariel municipality had bought as gifts for kindergarten children in the settlements hundreds of copies of the book, “We are all Born Free–the Human Rights Declaration in Pictures.” The book was published in a prestigious edition together with the Amnesty organization. Among the dozens of pages are 30 illustrations by leading world artists, who were asked to simplify the sections of the declaration to … Read entire article »
Filed under: Human Rights Activists in the Crosshairs
Closure of West Bank Villages Decried by Israeli Advocates and By Haaretz
In previous posts, we reported that the Israel Defense Force declared the Palestinian villages of Bil’in and Na’alin closed military zones on Fridays for a period of six months . Friday is the day on which the villagers, joined by Israeli and International supporters, hold their weekly demonstration against the Wall which separates them from their agricultural land. Now Haaretz reports that Israeli advocacy groups and attorneys are harshly criticizing the IDF closures as a breach of freedom of speech. From Yesh Din: The IDF is trampling on freedom of speech in a place that has turned into a symbol of protest. From Michael Sfard, a legal adviser to Yesh Din: Whoever signed this new order has apparently lost all sense of shame and pretense of representing a regime respecting freedom of speech and the rights of … Read entire article »
Filed under: Human Rights Activists in the Crosshairs
Israeli Think Tank Drops “Sabotage” Language, But It Still Doesn’t Smell Like a Rose
“What’s in a name?” Shakespeare’s Juliet famously asks. “That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet …” A related observation can be made about the word-changing antics of Israel’s leading think tank, the Reut Institute, in their policy report, “The Deligitimization Challenge: Creating a Political Firewall”. “Sabotage” (of global human rights groups) by any other name still smells bad. Recently, Ali Abunimah spotted the covert revision on the Reut website: Israel’s leading think tank the Reut Institute recently recommended that Israel’s government and intelligence agencies “sabotage” and “attack” peace and justice groups around the world that have been critical of Israel, as EI [Electronic Intifada] reported in February Reut was obviously embarassed by the wide exposure its underhand, and possibly illegal recommendations generated, so it has cleaned up its website. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Human Rights Activists in the Crosshairs
Israel to Reinvestigate Police Shooting of U.S. Activist Tristan Anderson
By Henry Norr A year ago. Israeli Border Police shattered the skull of Tristan Anderson with a high-velocity tear gas canister as he stood unarmed following a weekly demonstration against Israel’s Separation Wall in the West Bank village of Nilin. Since then, his family, friends, and supporters around the world continue the struggle to hold Israel accountable. Anderson, a now-39-year-old resident of Oakland, California, still lies in the Tel Hashomer hospital outside Tel Aviv, where he was … Read entire article »
Filed under: Human Rights Activists in the Crosshairs
Secular, Religious Israeli Students Hold Different Views on Equal Rights and Military Service
Last month we posted an article about Israel’s increasing rejection of democracy as a preferred form of government. On the question of equal rights for Arab citizens, about half of those surveyed opposed such equality. A new poll of Israeli high-school students reveals that nearly half of them also do not believe that Arabs citizens are entitled to the same rights as Jews in Israel. That view was held by 82 percent of religious students, and 39 percent of secular students. Some 91 percent of secular high school students said they want to enlist in the IDF, versus 77 percent of religious students. Eighty-one percent of the religious students said they would refuse orders to evacuate outposts and settlements in the West Bank, versus 36 percent of secular students. Nearly a third of the students said they … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discrimination, Featured
Beit Sahour Professor Faces Arrest by Israeli Military for Nonviolent Protest
Mazin Qumsiyeh reports on his likely arrest next week by the Israeli military when he returns from a lecture tour in the U.S. to his village in Beit Sahour near Bethlehem. His crime? Participation in nonviolent protests against the military takeover of the only remaining open land in Bethlehem, which the Jewish-Israeli settlers covet for themselves. Qumsiyeh is a U.S. citizen and professor who lived in America for 29 years before returning to Beit Sahour in 2008. He contrasts the freedoms … Read entire article »
Filed under: Human Rights Activists in the Crosshairs
Jamal Juma Calls on Obama to Support Palestinian Struggle for “A Life Free From Racial Discrimination”
Jamal Juma is the coordinator of the Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign (Stop the Wall) since 2002. He was arrested in December 2009 by the Israeli military following a series of protests against the construction of the Wall in the West Bank. He was one of 89 Palestinian human rights activists arrested in 2009; scores more have been arrested this year. With the intervention of Amnesty International, and campaigns by peace and justice organizations around the world, including Jewish … Read entire article »
Filed under: Human Rights Activists in the Crosshairs
Israeli Forces Invade Palestine Solidarity Project in Beit Ommar
The Palestine Solidarity Project reports on a March 8 raid by Israeli Forces on the Beit Ommar homes of the Project’s founders and family, and on the offices of the Project. This invasion comes one day after Beit Ommar residents blocked Routh 60 in southern Palestine, the main highway for travel between settlements in the area, in protest against Israel’s plan to annex religious sites as their national “heritage sites.” Bekah Wolfe, co-founder of the Palestine Solidarity Project with her husband Mousa Abu Maria, was … Read entire article »
Filed under: Human Rights Activists in the Crosshairs
Palestinian Child Released on Bail After Nine Days in Military Prison
Earlier we posted an article about a 12-year old Palestinian boy who was to be tried as adult by the Israeli military court. Up until recently, Palestinian children could be tried as adults as young as 12 years of age. However, in July of 2009, a military order was issued changing the age to 16 years of age. Settler children cannot be tried as adults prior to the age of 18. Amira Hass reports in Haaretz that on March 7, an Israel Defense Forces court agreed to release from custody the boy (now identified as 13 years of age), who had been held for nine days on suspicion of throwing stones at soldiers. An Israel Defense Forces soldier detained the boy and his 11-year-old brother in Hebron’s Old City, on the afternoon of February 27. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discrimination
Interactive Video
“You have a choice! Israeli Anti-Militarists Speak”
Four Israelis—Dorothy Naor, Sergeiy Sander and Eli Fabrikant, and Ofer Golani—talking about their personal histories, political views and activism in 132 short films.