Israel: the consolidation of the ethno-nationalist state
JVL Introduction
We normally leave it to Jews for Justice for Palestinians (website or Facebook) or other specialist sites to keep us abreast of developments in Israel and the occupied territories.
But in the light of the rapid shift to the right, the increased pace of settlement activity, the daily violence against Palestinians, the virtual disappearance of any left/socialist alternative Zionist voice – and more – we thought an update wouldn’t come amiss.
Here is one week’s recommended reading circulated by the Foundation for Middle East Peace together with links to half-a dozen very recent Ha’aretz editorials. One spark of hope on the Jewish Israeli side is the increased awareness of looming disaster expressed by Ha’aretz, particularly in its editorials.
We would like to think that the Jewish Labour Movement, concerned as it is with “the centrality of Israel to Jewish life”, finds recent developments troublesome. But neither its website nor its Facebook page hints at any concern…
Foundation for Middle East Peace
Top news stories from Israel/Palestine
January 11, 2019
US-Israeli/Palestinian relations
Your tax dollars are propping up the intellectual heirs to an Israeli terrorist, Washington Post
“Those of us who support Israel often complain about the Palestinian Authority’s payments to families of terrorists, including some who have carried out horrific and fatal attacks on Israeli citizens. We must speak just as loudly against the funding of terrorism and incitement by Israeli extremists, especially when American taxpayers finance these activities through subsidies of tax-exempt organizations,” writes Jill Jacobs.
Occupation/Human rights
‘Israel’s permit regime isn’t about security, it’s about segregation’, +972 Magazine
The permit system for Palestinians allows Israel to recruit informants, suppress political activity, and create an opaque system of segregation and control.
PeaceCast: West Bank Settlements – 2018 Highlights, Americans for Peace Now
Brian Reeves, Director of External Relations at Peace Now, talks about the new West Bank settlement scandal: a plan to build another settlement near the West Bank town of Bethlehem, which would complete a ring around Bethlehem and severely threaten a two-state solution.
Expanding the Limits of Jewish Sovereignty: A Brief History of Israeli Settlements, Ha’aretz
“An unsettling new Breaking the Silence tour focuses on the history of the occupation. Every Israeli and visitor who cares about what’s happening here has take it,” write Gideon Levy and Alex Levac.
Their Pretense Is Over. The Settler Leadership Is a Violent, Lawless, Racist Gang of Vigilantes, Ha’aretz
The murder of Aisha Rabi is a milestone marking how the essential lawlessness of the settler initiative, the latent and overt racism at its core, have finally come to the surface.
Israel to seize 34 acres of land in Ramallah for settlement, Middle East Monitor
Israel’s Ministry of Finance has authorised a plan to illegally annex part of the Palestinian village of Deir Dobwan, east of the West Bank’s administrative city of Ramallah.
A selection of recent Ha’aretz editorials, Dec 2018-Jan 2019
The settlements have no raison d’etre without a strong, constant connection to Israel. The new road won’t whitewash the settlements and it won’t make the Palestinians disappear
Jan 11, 2019
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If You Wish to Be an Informant
On the website of far-right organization Im Tirtzu, there’s a special section for informers. The recent goings-on at the Hebrew University shows how the organization’s efforts are bearing fruit
Jan 09, 2019
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The occupation continues to corrupt and Bennett is a clear danger to academia in Israel (Education Minister Naftali Bennett did not hesitate to use any means at his disposal in his unrestrained rush to get a new medical school approved at Ariel University, while corrupting Israeli higher education along the way.)
Jan 06, 2019
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Bennett and Shaked’s new party will be committed to continuing the erasure of Israel’s liberal characteristics, liquidating its gatekeepers, moving the justice system back in time and adopting a primitive legal system to which the principle of equality is alien
Dec 31, 2018
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Netanyahu is putting pressure on the attorney general so that he doesn’t dare to indict him and wants to instill in the public the idea that a prime minister can retain this post even while on trial for corruption
Dec 28, 2018
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With Immunity From the System, Israeli Forces Risk Adopting Ethos of a Gang
Army and police chiefs must prove they won’t give in to lawlessness, following three incidents that showed questionable use of force against Palestinians easily goes unpunished
Dec 24, 2018
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Israel’s Bureaucratic Trick Against Asylum Seekers
Under an extreme right-wing government whose lust for ‘national purity’ has made it lose its moral compass, the Interior Ministry is failing to meet its commitment and refusing to decide on the asylum requests
Dec 18, 2018
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Israel Has Weaponized the Settlements
Settlement has become an act of punishment and revenge, creating a frightening equation in which the murder of Israelis is not terrorism but rather a building stone for the settlements
Dec 16, 2018