The Only Democracy? » Victories for Democracy
New resource in the fight for Israeli Democracy
By Jesse Bacon Amidst the dispiriting news coming from both American and Israeli democracy, one of the signs of hope has been the people who have continued to resist the downward trend. Association for Civil Rights in Israel is one of those hope-inducing groups, and they recently launched a new english-language version of their website Project Democracy, along with partners like Shatil and Zochrot. Their first post is a good a motto for our work as … Read entire article »
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A true Democracy; if Israel would only let it
A Palestinian state – despite serious obstacles – could become the true democracy of the Middle East, if only Israel would let it. The world is abuzz with the news that Palestinian leadership is talking about soliciting support from the UN for a declaration of statehood (hey, remember when pre-Israel did that in 1947?). The US has kept mum on the topic so far – good for them – but Israeli spokespeople have been adamantly critical of the motions. Their main argument is that it would violate the terms of the Oslo agreements. Ignoring for the moment that the main conclusion to come out of Oslo was the agreement to keep talking and discuss the real issues later, this is a serious case of the pot calling the … Read entire article »
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Mike Leigh joins the growing Israeli boycott festival
By Jesse Bacon You could already have a quite a film festival with the stars supporting the Ariel settlement boycott. Now one of my favorite directors Mike Leigh, has refused to come to Israel at all. On the same weekend that I heard JVP advisory board member Udi Aloni speak about artists who let themselves be used by the government versus those who don’t, Leigh gives us a good example. He had already refused to come … Read entire article »
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Premiere of a Film Documenting Relationships between Israelis and the People of Palestinian Susiya
Tuesday, September 28th, brought us at the Villages Group great satisfaction. On that day, we and many of our friends in Susiya had the pleasure of attending the world premiere of the film “The Human Turbine” at the Haifa International Film Festival. Over a period of two years from 2008 to 2010, a film crew headed by director Danny Verete and producer Yehuda Bitton documented the evolving ties between the people of Susiya and the Israelis … Read entire article »
Filed under: On The Ground Reports, Victories for Democracy
Audrey Farber responds again to NIF guidelines, UPDATED.
By Audrey Farber As anyone knows who has actually seen the new NIF guidelines , the mention of the character of the state of Israel doesn’t come until the very end. In fact, as would be expected from a grant-making institution, the majority of the guidelines cover standard funding topics. They require the grant applicants to be in full compliance with laws, to be relevant to NIF, to be a non-profit, and to maintain standards of … Read entire article »
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Jewish Voice for Peace’s Rabbinical Council and a sweet and redemptive new year
By Jesse Bacon We have been posting less frequently in the past week at The Only Democracy? because of the Rosh Hashana holiday, enough so that we missed one of the proud moments of this season. Our mother organization Jewish Voice for Peace has announced its first ever Rabbinical Council. While not an on-the-ground development in Israel/Palestine, I believe it will be inspiring to many readers of TOD? and has the potential to combat inequality and … Read entire article »
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Israeli right wing admits to dispossessing Palestinians, says Nakba was worse
By Jesse Bacon Reading the press coverage of Jewish Voice for Peace’s fabulous campaign in support of the Israeli theater artists boycotting settlements, I was struck by an item in Arutz Sheva, the settler’s news service, which ends with this paragraph.. The liberation of Israeli territory in the War of Independence in 1948 was accompanied by a massive exodus of Arabs, and dozens of Jewish communities were then built atop the ruins of Arab villages whose inhabitants had fled, as opposed to the Six-Day War in 1967, when the return of Judea and Samaria [Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza] to Israel was less violent and was not accompanied by an Arab exodus. Paradoxically, leftists in Israel consider communities built on the ruins of Arab … Read entire article »
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Real Dialogue happening in the Israeli Knesset?
By Jesse Bacon Or at least in Foreign Policy magazine. Dimi Reider has a great article about far-right and far-left members of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset. See if you can guess which person quoted is Likud speaker Reven Rivlin and which is Palestinian Israeli Member Ahmed Tibi. mending the gaps within Israel should happen in the context of moving toward a one-state solution across the Green Line. ‘Barak, Livni, Peres and recently Netanyahu are not even … Read entire article »
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Pixies Cancel Concert in response to Gaza Freedom Flotilla Attack
By Jesse Bacon I wrote earlier about how moved I was by the call for the Pixies to cancel their concert in Israel. What my blog post could not accomplish by itself, the Gaza Flotilla attack has. The Pixies have cancelled their concert, according to Ha’aretz. We can only hope for better days, in which we will finally present the long awaited visit of the Pixies in Israel.” I can only add, “to a free Israel and Palestine.” Here’s … Read entire article »
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What’s So Funny ‘Bout Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions: Elvis Costello’s Beautiful Message
By Jesse Bacon , I was a little young to get Elvis Costello, as opposed to the Pixies. He was well on his way to the iconic status, vaguely sterotypical rabbi look, dorky glasses and angst that made him a kind of hipster patriarch and unfortuantely led to a cameo in the hideous would-be 80’s epic 200 Cigarettes. But I was always amazed at how much yearning he worked into pop songs, made them carry … 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.