Over 3,700 people have signed on to a call supporting the human rights organization, after the Knesset coalition chair calls to revoke its executive director's citizenship. By John Brown* B'Tselem Executive Director Hagai El-Ad addressed the UN Security Council last week, calling on its members to take real steps toward ending the military dictatorship over the occupied territories, which is nearing its 50th year. [tmwinpost] Following El-Ad's speech, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu published a statement condemning B'Tselem for joining the "chorus of slander" against Israel. It was only a matter of time before thousands of right-wingers took to social media…

It's time for both Israelis and Palestinians to recognize that we've reached a stalemate: nobody is leaving, and the status quo just isn't pragmatic. By Talal Jabari Whenever I think of the predicament of the Palestinian people, the voice of Juliet in Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" inevitably comes to mind: "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." [tmwinpost] After all, what is left of Palestine besides the memories and the name, and the former is quickly disappearing as the 70th anniversary of the creation of the State of Israel…

Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour has been in Israeli custody for over a year — all for publishing a poem against the occupation. On October 11, 2015, Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour was arrested by Israeli police during a night raid on her home in the village Al-Reineh, near Nazareth. On November 2, 2015, an Israeli court indicted her for incitement to violence. At the center of the indictment was a poem Tatour wrote in protest of the killing of Muhammad Abu Khdeir, Hadeel al-Shalamon, and members of the Dawabshe family in Duma. The indictment cites the full translation of the song, which…

Zionism today is the fence that encircles the Jewish people, granting it supremacy over the other people of this land.  By Noam Rotem The State of Israel is a Zionist state. All of us graduates of the Israeli educational system know this. Israel's first prime minister said it, Ehud Barak said it, even Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said it. This declaration can be found in our educational curriculums, and even in the IDF's educational curriculum. That is all good and well, but nowhere have I been able to find a formal definition for the term "Zionism"put forth by the Israeli…

Senior Likud official, angry that Hagai El-Ad demanded the UN act to end the occupation, admits there's no legal avenue to strip his citizenship — at the moment. The Israeli human rights organization says threats won't deter it. How does the only democracy in the Middle East deal with outspoken human rights activists? By threatening to revoke their citizenship, of course. “I examined whether, legally speaking, if I can ask the interior minister to revoke the citizenship of B’Tselem’s executive director,” declared the Israeli parliament’s coalition chair, David Bitan, who serves as the whip for Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party. [tmwinpost] “I checked, and…

Clinton campaign chairman Podesta writes to his daughter that Haim Saban and Danny Abraham ‘would not be with her if she wasn’t totally committed to Israeli security.’ In a hacked email released by WikiLeaks on Wednesday, Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta, answered an innocent question from his daughter with a revealing answer about what motivates two of Clinton’s biggest supporters to stand by her candidacy: Israel. On May 12, 2015, Podesta’s daughter, Megan Rouse, wrote: I’ve heard a concern from some folks who care deeply about Israel that Hillary will be the president “most unfriendly to Israel in our history, worse than Obama.”…

The very nomenclature of ’48 Palestinians and ’67 Palestinians shows how the Nakba remains at the root of Palestinian fragmentation. Roads function as a prime instrument of separation between the two. By Amahl Bishara Israeli policies preventing Palestinians from entering Israel and limiting Palestinian movement within the occupied territories have shaped Palestinian society, and the economy and politics in the West Bank and Gaza Strip for decades. What Israel terms “closure” is made material not only in checkpoints and roadblocks but also in the green license plates of cars registered to holders of Palestinian Authority identity cards (’67 Palestinians). However, less often explored are…

The police claim Rahik Shagiya Muhammad Yousef approached them at a checkpoint with a knife. A new video reveals that the officers fired 12 bullets, killing her when she no longer posed a threat. By John Brown* On Wednesday morning Israeli Border Police officers shot Rahik Shagiya Muhammad Yousef at a checkpoint in the northern West Bank. Yousef, 19, from the village Asira A-Shamaliya near Nablus, was shot after she allegedly approached the officers at Tapuach checkpoint and pulled out a knife. According to the Police Spokesperson, the officers reportedly called on Yousef to stop and fired warning shots in the air before…