Israel’s Palestinian citizens brought the country’s busiest highway to a crawl as they drove in a slow convoy towards Jerusalem to protest police inaction over a tide of violence that has swept their communities. More than 70 lives have been claimed so far this year.
It would be a grave mistake to assume that the continuing political deadlock in Israel is evidence of a deep ideological divide. There is nothing divided about Israel. In this month’s general election, 90 per cent of Israeli Jews voted for parties that identify as being either on the militaristic, anti-Arab right or on the religious, anti-Arab far-right.
New film The Voice of Ahmad documents an extraordinary story from Israel’s early years – and erased from its official history – when the kibbutz movement adopted small numbers of Palestinian teens at the same time as stealing the village lands of their new recruits.
The strangest thing about the coverage of the deadlock between the Israeli right and the “center-left” is that none of the parties view it that way. According to their own assessments, only a tiny fraction of the new parliament consider themselves to be on the so-called center-left.
As the Joint List endorses former general Benny Gantz for prime minister over Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s Palestinian citizens have found themselves once again characterised as a threat to the country’s supposed ‘Jewish and democratic’ politics.
Netanyahu’s failure to secure a majority for his far-right coalition in the election was all the more glaring, given that he conducted by far the ugliest – and most reckless – campaign in Israeli history, including a bid to bypass his military chiefs to wage war on Gaza to postpone the vote.
Every Israeli prime minister understands that a military entanglement with Hezbollah, Lebanon’s armed Shia movement, is a dangerous wager, especially during an election campaign. So why is Benjamin Netanyahu risking a dangerous clash on Israel’s northern border?
The real fight in Israel’s imminent election re-run isn’t between the right wing and a so-called ‘centre-left’ but between two rival camps within the ultra-nationalist right. The outcome may prove a moment of truth for the shrinking secular right as it comes up once again against an ever-more powerful religious camp.
Western states have not only turned a blind eye to Israel’s outrages, but are actively assisting in silencing anyone who dares to speak out, leaving Israel to luxuriate in its impunity. This was starkly illustrated when hundreds of heavily armed Israeli soldiers, many of them masked, raided a neighbourhood of Sur Baher, on the edges of Jerusalem, to demolish dozens of Palestinian homes.
Israeli police forced out the Siyam family from their home in occupied East Jerusalem last week, the final chapter in their 25-year legal battle against a powerful settler organisation. The family’s defeat represented much more than just another eviction. It was intended to land a crushing blow against the hopes of some 20,000 Palestinians living in the shadow of the Old City walls.
With last night’s Panorama programme on a supposed ‘institutional anti-semitism’ in Labour under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, the BBC demonstrated that it has become a media attack dog in the hands of the ruling Conservative party
Human rights groups have warned that the ban entry to Afula’s public park for Palestinian citizens marks a growing trend by local authorities representing the Jewish majority towards explicit separation of public space in ways reminiscent of apartheid South Africa.
The arrival of Nigerian televangelist T B Joshua to Nazareth represents a growing trend of foreign Christians, driven by apocalyptic readings of the Bible, interfering ever more explicitly in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories – and in ways that directly aid the policies of Israel’s far-right government.
As with previous peace plans, Donald Trump’s ‘deal of the century’ makes impossible demands of the Palestinians. The aim once again is to force the Palestinians to reject it – and provide Israel with a pretext to seize more of their homeland
Israel has left its physical and political mark within the historic walls of Jerusalem’s Old City. To consolidate its grip, it has demolished Palestinian homes, expelled residents, empowered Jewish settlers, damaged local traders, and imposed sweeping restrictions making it virtually impossible for most Palestinians to pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque.
At least 60 pieces of legislation were drafted by right-wing members of the Knesset during the last parliament to move Israel from a state of de facto to de jure annexation, according to a database by Israeli human rights group Yesh Din.
A new interactive map shows not only that Israel aimed to annex the West Bank from the outset but that the trajectory of its policies means it will not rest until all Palestinians under occupation are driven off their lands.
As Trump prepares to bring his ‘deal of the century’ out of the shadows, he knows he can rely on bipartisan support for his plan to eradicate the Palestinian cause.
In recent weeks, a political “resistance” movement has emerged in Israel against Netanyahu, echoing the one against Donald Trump in the US. With Gantz as its figurehead, it has mobilised over the threat Netanyahu poses to Israel’s system of checks and balances. The chief concern has been the far-right’s intensifying assault on the supreme court, the last relatively liberal institution.
Israel is close to building a $55 million cable car through occupied East Jerusalem, despite opposition from archaeologists, architects, Palestinians, and a tiny community of Jews. Critics say the project is intended to hide the local Palestinian population from some 3 million tourists who visit Jerusalem each year, turning the city into a ‘Disneyland’ focused on promoting Israeli interests.
