Israelis and Palestinians haven’t even agreed to sit down with one another to negotiate, but John Kerry is very positive about talks on his latest trip, during press conference in Tel Aviv at which he warns of war
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Monthly Archives: June 2013
Obama had a liberal Jewish base, and didn’t work it
George W. Bush relied on a splinter group in the Jewish community for his worst ideas about the Middle East: the neoconservatives. Why didn’t Obama show have that degree of conviction on the basis of the support he had from liberal Jews who opposed settlements?
Kerry and Abbas discuss– Mohammed Assaf
In Dubai, thousands of fans waited in the heat to catch a glimpse of Mohammed Assaf, and the newly-minted star from the Gazan refugee camp did not disappoint: “I will never forget the suffering of the Palestinian people,” he said. “I live the Palestinian cause every day…. Trust me I will use my music, my singing, my art and my fame to give justice to the Palestinian cause.” And as John Kerry tried to jumpstart peace talks in Palestine, Assaf was all that he and Palestinian President Abbas could talk about
Meet Mr. Palestine
Why is this man smiling? ‘Imad AbdulAziz of Nablus has been arrested 17 times for his political activities on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and spent six years in Israeli jails. Once he was shot in both legs. But AbdulAziz is also a bodybuilder, and widely beloved
Attack in Tel Aviv: ‘Jewish girls do not go out with Blacks!’
Tel Aviv continues to witness low-level anti-African attacks on a regular basis. David Sheen shares an account from Friday where two Jewish men attacked a group of friends out for the night because one person in the group was African. Incidents like this are so commonplace they rarely merit any mention in the media, but by North American standards, any one of these stories would be considered scandalous. Above, an African refugee watches an anti-refugee demonstration held by right-wing activists in south Tel Aviv on December 31, 2012.
Exile and the prophetic: Obama’s Robben Island
Marc Ellis on Obama: What you didn’t want to be remembered for – being the first African American President of the United States – is what history will remember you for. Significant, but as I’m sure you would agree, not enough.
Exile and the Prophetic: Obama’s reverence for Mandela has failed on every count
Is Obama’s failure to reach Mandela’s eminence simply a difference in context and generation? No doubt this plays a part. But the deeper issue lay elsewhere. Mandela knew himself, had a purpose and struggled for it. When he suffered, he had a deep reservoir of commitment from which to draw. This combination made Mandela great. This is exactly what Obama lacks.
Leak inquiry launched over ‘NYT’ story on American-Israeli cyberwar targeting Iran
General James Cartwright is the target of an leak investigation after a story was published by the New York Times revealing details about the U.S.-Israeli cyberwar on Iran. National security blogger Marcy Wheeler raises an interesting question about the leak: is Cartwright being investigated for what he revealed about U.S. officials’ anger at Israel over a cyberwar program gone awry?
Israel issues demolition notice for every single structure in West Bank village of Susiya
Land, property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Restriction of movement ‘We will not give up; to give up is to die” – Susiya resists mass demolition orders Susiya (ISM) 27 June by Khalil Team — Today, June 27, 2013, the Israeli Civil Administration served thirty-four demolition orders in the Susiya village, which is […]
Gaza in shadows
Candid photos taken in Gaza that offer a “glimpse of the situation in the Gaza Strip, a closed, besieged place put under a blockade by the Israel”
‘Courage is Contagious’: Glenn Greenwald electrifies Chicago crowd speaking on Snowden, journalism and the NSA
Friday night in Chicago Glenn Greenwald addressed the Socialism 2013 conference live via Skype and reflected for the first time on the past month in the wake of his interview with Edward Snowden, and subsequent disclosures regarding the National Security Agency’s spying on American citizens. In an impassioned introduction, journalist Jeremy Scahill called Greenwald the “conscience of America” and attacked his critics in the beltway press corps.
‘Listen Mandela’ — Apartheid Land 2013
Video artist Eitan Meir Altman has uploaded a powerful video, “Welcome to Apartheid Land 2013”, photos of Palestinian apartheid to the soundtrack of an anti-Apartheid song from South Africa
The homogeneity and ‘intense political programming’ of Jewish day schools
Yarden Katz reflects on his experience at Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School outside of Washington DC and how students received “intense political programming” directly from AIPAC.
Chomsky is to Jews what Clarence Thomas is to blacks– representing a fringe, says WNYC’s Lehrer
“I always thought having Clarence Thomas as the only black person on the Supreme Court is like having Noam Chomsky as the only Jew at the U.N. You know– from the group, but opposed to the positions of probably 90 percent of the group on the salient issues.” –Brian Lehrer on WNYC
Israeli Prime Minister directly involved in efforts against BDS movement
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is directly involved in growing efforts to combat the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement. Yedioth Ahronoth reported this week that Netanyahu met with a small group of unnamed “Jewish millionaires” at the Israeli Presidential Conference last week in Jerusalem to enlist them in the “war” against the BDS movement.
Snowden is a hero in NY hall, but AP exec won’t touch him with a bargepole
Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst, says the Snowden case makes him think we live in a totalitarian state. Debra Sweet, activist, says the analogy is to Watergate, a scandal that could upend the government
Letter from a West Bank refugee camp
Professor Robin D. G. Kelley pens an open letter to an African-American pro-Israel lobbyist organization: the Vanguard Leadership Group. The letter was prompted by Alice Walker’s bold and principled open letter to Alicia Keys, which urged the singer to boycott her upcoming concert in Israel.
In ’90, the Jewish establishment refused to embrace Mandela– and failed to represent the community
The Jewish establishment refused to embrace Nelson Mandela on his visit to NY 23 years ago because he had not come out in favor of Israel. This led progressive Jews, who felt unrepresented by the establishment, to form Jews for Racial and Economic Justice
Exile and the prophetic: Kerry’s couples therapy is a setup for failure
Counseling Palestinians to sign on to a permanent Israeli occupation is suicide, Marc Ellis warns John Kerry
‘New York Times’ profile of group bent on sanctioning Iran fails to mention Israel connections
The New York Times recently profiled United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), a hawkish group bent on monitoring Iranian commerce at sea and promoting sanctions against the country. But the article had a glaring omission–there was no mention of Israel, despite the fact that the group has connections to Israel lobby groups and receives funding from organizations with a focus on Judaism and Israel.
McDonald’s refuses to sell where Ben & Jerry’s will — occupied territory
Fast food giant McDonald’s has confirmed their company’s refusal to open a franchise inside a mall being built in the West Bank settlement of Ariel. Omar Barghouti cheers the decision
When will hotly contested NY mayoral field make mincemeat of Weiner’s statements denying occupation?
Anthony Weiner has again denied that the West Bank is occupied. When will Christine Quinn, John Liu, William Thompson Jr and Bill de Blasio leap on these objectionable statements?
A true story of bovine resistance
The 1948 war was the incomplete war in the eyes of Israeli generals. In 1967 they finished the job. The first intifadah, 20 years deferred, was the inevitable response
Yiddish classic of pogrom– ‘Our shtetl is burning’– is adapted to Palestinian experience
“And you stand there looking on, With futile, folded arms” — Accusation against Polish authorities during pogrom is now leveled against Israeli authorities in occupation
Assaf’s victory teemed with references to Al Aqsa, martyrs, Palestine as the Arab mother– and ‘every free human’
“I dedicate this win to the Palestinian people, I dedicate it to the souls of the martyrs, martyrs of the Palestinian revolution, I dedicate it to every free human, I dedicate it to the prisoners, the wounded, to all Palestinians and the Arab world.” — Mohammed Assaf on his Arab Idol victory night