The Only Democracy? » Human Rights Activists in the Crosshairs
NYT Bronner Tries A Less Biased Path to Reporting on Palestine –and Trips Up
As the New York Times long-standing Jerusalem bureau chief, with primary responsibility for reporting on the Israel-Palestine conflict, Ethan Bronner has endured bruising criticism for pro-Israeli bias, recently exacerbated by charges of conflict of interest upon the revelation that his son has been inducted into the Israeli army. So Bronner craned his journalistic neck to peek at things from another perspective with a front-page story called “Palestinians Try a Less Violent Path to Resistance,” and you know right away from that headline … Read entire article »
Filed under: Human Rights Activists in the Crosshairs
How Israel Gagged on Its Own Gag Order
by Gila Svirsky This story is a testament to the Internet. (Ed.: in particular blogger Richard Silverstein who broke the story!) And to Anat Kam, the whistleblower, who is widely regarded in Israeli security circles as a traitor and will probably soon be charged with treason. Anat (I’ll use her first name, though I don’t know her) is a 23-year old journalist who wrote for the popular Israeli portal Walla. Some months ago, Anat … Read entire article »
Filed under: Human Rights Activists in the Crosshairs
Wife and Nine Children of Bil’in Political Prisoner: Life Without Adeeb
Adeeb Abu Rahma, a taxi driver from the West Bank Village of Bil’in, is known for his firm committment to nonviolence during the weekly demonstrations against the Wall. At the July 10, 2009 demonstration, he was grabbed by Israeli soldiers as he walked away from them, his message of resistance on a sign he held. He has been imprisoned ever since, without trial. Adeeb is the sole provider for his nine children, wife and mother. Bil’in Village reports on an interview with Adeeb’s … Read entire article »
Filed under: Featured, Human Rights Activists in the Crosshairs
Swedish Palestinians Barred Entry for Promoting Coexistence
A Jewish-Palestinian joint dialogue group arrived from Sweden’s Olof Palme Centre for a visit to Israel. You might think they would have no problems gaining entrance into Israel. You would be wrong. Here’s the Ha’aretz editorial on the subject. Last week Israel deported three Swedish women from Ben-Gurion International Airport who had arrived in a group of seven young people of Jewish and Palestinian heritage, active members of a Jewish-Palestinian education group in … Read entire article »
Filed under: Human Rights Activists in the Crosshairs
Palestinian Police Crack Down on Protest for Israeli Army. UPDATE: They Apologize
by Jesse Bacon Organizer Mousa Abu Maria, whose home was raided March 8th, has been detained again. This time, the force attempting to suppress his demonstrations in Beit Ommar was not the Israeli army, but rather the Palestinian Authority police. It seems both Israeli and Palestinian officials can agree on something: that protest must be crushed. His wife and co-organizer Bekah Wolf reports: While Salam Fayyad and other PA ministers march in Bil’in and Bethlehem declaring … Read entire article »
Filed under: Human Rights Activists in the Crosshairs
Israeli Military Offers “Cartoon” Theories to Explain Fatal Shooting of Bi’lin Protester, and Declines to Investigate
Ha’aretz reports that a year after Bassem Abu Rahmeh was fatally shot in the chest by a tear gas grenade as he stood unarmed at the weekly protest against the Wall in the West Bank village of Bi’lin, the military prosecution has decided that it would not investigate his death. Although ballistic experts had concluded that the grenade was fired directly at Abu Rahmeh based on footage of the shooting from three separate video cameras, the military found … Read entire article »
Filed under: Human Rights Activists in the Crosshairs
Jerusalem City Government Muzzles a Tour
by Rebecca Kirzner Sometimes it’s just too easy. I mean, really. Sometimes, the total idiocy of your political enemy just makes it so much easier to promote your ideas. This week, the Jerusalem Municipality requested that Ir Amim, a Jerusalem-based non-profit organization, remove its study tours of East Jerusalem from the events listing on the municipality website. Ir Amim is an Israeli non-profit organization which promotes a politically sustainable future for Jerusalem, and a Jerusalem which respects … Read entire article »
Filed under: Human Rights Activists in the Crosshairs
Israeli Soldiers Torture Another Man for Organizing Demonstrations, UPDATED with Graphic Photos and Video.
From the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee Omar Alaaeddin from the village of al Ma’sara was nabbed from the Container Checkpoint on Sunday the 14th. He was released yesterday with no charges pressed against him. Alaaeddin reports having been tortured in the Israeli Russian Compound Jail in Jerusalem. Omar Alaaeddin, who is involved in organizing demonstrations in the village of alMa’asra south of Bethlehem, was arrested a week ago on Sunday at the Container Checkpoint, as he was … Read entire article »
Filed under: Human Rights Activists in the Crosshairs
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
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.