The Only Democracy? » Human Rights Activists in the Crosshairs
Participant Citizen Repressed: Rela Mazali on Ameer Makhoul’s letter
By Rela Mazali The letter from human rights defender, Ameer Makhoul, released and distributed by his family and friends, was written on May 30th, after Makhoul had spent 3 weeks in prison without access to even pen and paper, not to speak of lawyers, family visits, due process, humane and legal conditions. It made its way to his home by snailmail and then the original Arabic was translated into English. I first met … Read entire article »
Filed under: Human Rights Activists in the Crosshairs
Letter from Gilboa Jail
Ameer Makhoul has been in an Israeli jail for about six weeks now. Much of that time, he has been in solitary confinement and without access to a lawyer. He, his laywers, and his family say that he has been tortured, as we covered in a previous post. His trial is expected to begin in the next week. His wife, Janan, is an incredible feminist activist in her own right. Nadia Hijab interviewed Janan on the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Human Rights Activists in the Crosshairs
Links and Video about the Gaza Freedom Flotilla
Documents explaining international law and law of sea applicable to the Flotilla: Video: Daniel Machover, Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights, summary of analysis of international law applicable to flotilla attack. Downlaodable Documents: Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights document analyzing international law applicable to flotilla attack and a Diakonia analysis on the law of sea applicable to flotilla attack: Link concerning the criminalization of the four Palestinian citizens of Israel who were … Read entire article »
Filed under: Human Rights Activists in the Crosshairs
Bibi, Stop Racist Talk against Turks and Release All Footage!
(expanded version of Occupation Magazine post) Today (Saturday), Israeli PM `Bibi` again claimed, in rather crude terms, that the reason why the IDF killed 9 activists on Monday but today boarded the MV Rachel Corrie peacefully, is because of “…the difference between a ship of peace activists, with whom we don’t agree but respect their right to a different opinion from ours, and between a ship of hate organised by violent Turkish terror extremists…” This continues a race-baiting campaign against the Turkish ship and IHH, which started well before Monday’s attack. As CindyCasella’s excellent diary shows, just like in previous controversies the Israeli PR machine churns mostly lies. They are already backtracking from a claim IHH has Al Qaeda ties. But they’re still at it. Call Bibi’s racist bluff: demand that Israel release all … Read entire article »
Filed under: Human Rights Activists in the Crosshairs
Harrowing Update from Family of Ameer Makhoul
Ameer Makhoul, Director of Ittijah, a coalition of Palestinian Israeli Community Organizations, was arrested three weeks ago from his home in Haifa. Makhoul was unable to see his lawyer for the first weeks of his arrest and now his lawyers and his family, having seen him, assert that he has been tortured. Makhoul has not yet been charged with any crime, but the Israeli government is clearly paving the way for his indictment soon, and in the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Human Rights Activists in the Crosshairs, On The Ground Reports
Who’s Who of Banned Israeli Visitors
From Right To Enter: At this point, you could have quite the dinner party with the folks Israel leaves out! How do I get on that guest list? UPDATE: Eitan Bronner has an article on the dustup inside Israel over whether it was such a great idea to ban Noam Chomsky, after doing likewise to Jewish American journalist Jared Maslin, Falk, and Goldstone as well as my personal favorite, Spain’s most famous clown Ivan Prado. Maybe if … Read entire article »
Filed under: Human Rights Activists in the Crosshairs
Bereaved Families for Peace Shut Out of Israeli High School
by Jesse Bacon One of the most inspiring groups working to end the conflict is the Bereaved Families for Peace, which as their name implies is made up of Israelis and Palestinians who have lost their children to violence and who work together to end the conflict. As a parent, their work hits me extra hard I hope I will have their courage and that I will never need it. I was excited to read they … Read entire article »
Filed under: Human Rights Activists in the Crosshairs
Chomsky Denied Entry
By Rebecca Vilkomerson Well, it seems the fact that it was Noam Chomsky (who is on JVP’s advisory board) who got denied entry to the West Bank because of his politics, the story has broken through to the mainstream media (though not to the New York Times ). Yet again, we have to say: “the only democracy in the Middle East?” UPDATE: Ethan Bronner has now posted an article, which also lists several examples of similar … Read entire article »
Filed under: Human Rights Activists in the Crosshairs
Israeli Govt. Criminalizes Its Arab-Citizen Leaders: May 14 Update
(crossposted on Daily Kos) On Monday I reported here the arrest of two prominent Palestinian citizens of Israel – Dr. Omar Saeed and Ameer Makhoul – at a time when these news still banned from publication in Israel. The ban was partially lifted a few hours later, crumbling under the pressure of both the Israeli-Palestinian public openly protesting the arrests, and the Israeli blogosphere ignoring the gag. I suggested that the arrests signify a step up in the ongoing government campaign to criminalize politically legitimate activities of Israeli-Palestinians. Shin Bet secret-police chief Yuval Diskin has repeatedly expressed his eagerness to do this, with respect to leaders supporting the one-state concept (such as the above two). Since Monday, Palestinian and Israeli commentators voiced concerns similar to mine; most prominently perhaps Gideon Levy, whose … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discrimination, Human Rights Activists in the Crosshairs
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.