The Only Democracy? » Discrimination
Intolerance–Then and Now
This post is a bit of a departure for the website. While our focus is generally on what is happening in Israel and Palestine, we want to also occasionally draw the connections between the political culture here in the U.S. and in Israel and Palestine, and how they influence one another. Yesterday in Manhattan and LA, protests were held at the Museum of Tolerance in each city. The occasion was an event to honor the Freedom … Read entire article »
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Video from Israelis speaking out against Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions bill
Below is a short video of Israeli celebrities and several activists, among whom I was honored to appear. The video is in Hebrew and for an Israeli audience, but there are English subtitles. The video essentially is self-explanatory, but to give you a synopsis we are coming out strongly against the bill currently in advanced stages in the Israeli parliament (Knesset) that will make it illegal to support and advance boycotts, divestment campaigns and/or a call for sanctions (and perhaps other non-violent political expression) against Israel for its unlawful acts against Palestinians. We are all coming out for democracy, freedom of thought and expression, and stating that this law won’t stop us from resisting the occupation. From the Coalition for Women for Peace’s channel: This is the promo for a series of … Read entire article »
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Eviatar: Three Dead Children
Guest Post by Aharan Eviatar The recent ghastly events in Arizona, especially the killing of Christina Greene, gunned down by a political lunatic at age nine, lead one to think of the phenomenon of political killing of children and what it implies for society. In particular, I would like to bring up along with Christina, two other cases of killing of little girls, one in Arizona and the other in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The story … Read entire article »
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African Asylum Seekers in Israel
Debbie Herdan is a midwife and former Tel Aviv resident who was very active in the organization Hagar and Miriam, which works with African women in Israel who are either pregnant or have recently given birth. Debbie worked with Eritrean, Sudanese and Darfurian asylum seekers for several years and writes that they became like family to her. She passed on the following messages encouraging people in Israel to come out to a rally on December 24th in Tel Aviv (corner of Rothschild and Sheinkin at 10 am, for those who want to attend). The occasion is the declared intention of the State of Israel to require refugees to live in a refugee camp (run by the Prison Service). From Alma Zohar: Hello everyone, In the Jewish state, they are about to finally establishing … Read entire article »
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Israeli government thanks Palestinians for help with the fires…
By Jesse Bacon ..By not recognizing their names and refusing them entry for award ceremony in their honor. . This should remind us just how arbitrary the whole edifice of permits and checkpoints is that it can keep out people who helped contain the horrible fires and prevent worse disaster. I am also reminded of the U.S. soldier who was the first to die in the Iraq War and was posthumously awarded the citizenship he was … Read entire article »
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The deputy assassin
By Rela Mazali In the second piece below, Israeli activist Nurit Peled-Elhanan comments on the recent appointment of a new Deputy Chief of Staff, Yair Naveh, who orchestrated (at least some of) Israel’s summary executions widely wordwashed as “targeted assassinations.” Peled-Elhanan claims the appointment is, in fact, apt and fitting to the deeds and spirit of Israel’s army. In response to these and to the appointment, she says, it is the parents and educators of Israel who bear responsibility for taking action. She writes, We must gather up our courage and teach our children to refuse. Refuse to take part in an organization that is led by war criminals, murderers of children. An organization like that cannot be anything but a crime organization. … There are so many possibilities, children, to contribute to … Read entire article »
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Strawberry Fields Forever
From Gisha’s Gaza Gateway This week the Israeli Ministry of Defense announced the “beginning of the export season” in the Gaza Strip. “The export season” entails the continuation of a short-term program, sponsored – from planting through to distribution – by the Dutch government. The program allows a few farmers in Gaza to sell strawberries and flowers in European markets. So far this week, 7 trucks have left the Strip. As has been the case in every … Read entire article »
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What “looks and acts like a banana republic? “
By Rela Mazali Two recently published items present what I see as telling, if limited and even evasive, probes into the extent and depth of Israel’s militarization, each revealing a different manifestation of it. The first (truncated in the English version which omitted the passages of personal testimony from soldiers and police, included in the Hebrew original) looks at the confusing, contradictory maze of authorities in charge of the checkpoints that monitor the passage of West Bank … Read entire article »
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Meir Kahane (of unblessed memory) Comic Strip Hero
By Jesse Bacon Ma’an News reported last week on a comic book honoring Meir Kahane, the slain Jewish fascist leader whose politics were even too much for the Israeli Supreme Court. His party remains banned. Reading the comic strip, a few things become clear. First of all, the artistic quality is incredibly poor. If only the Middle East conflict could be solved by a comic-off, Joe Sacco’s recent Footprints in Gaza would have it shellacked. Second, … Read entire article »
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Terry Fletcher responds to Audrey Farber’s post on Palestinian democracy
In her recent post A true Democracy; if Israel would only let it, Audrey Farber paints a very rosy picture of Palestinian democracy, both present and future. Other commentators and human rights organizations paint a quite different picture, at least of the present. In this New York Review of Books article, Nathan Thrall asserts, A year into Fayyad’s first term, Mamdouh al-Aker, then head of the PA’s human rights organization, spoke of the government’s “militarization” and asserted that “a state of lawlessness had shifted to a sort of a security state, a police state.” Charges of authoritarianism have intensified since. Abbas, whose term expired during the war in Gaza, has been ruling by presidential decree. There has been no legislature since June 2007, and judicial rulings are frequently ignored by the security … Read entire article »
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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.