Independent Jewish voices

My latest New Matilda column examines the decline of Israel’s image and the rise of prominent Jewish dissent:

The Israeli occupation of Palestine reaches an inauspicious anniversary this year. By the end of June, it will be 40 years since the Jewish State occupied the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and the Golan Heights. In that period, any goodwill that may have existed toward Israel in its relationship with the Arab world has largely dried up. Its brutal occupation of Palestinian land threatens to destroy the State from within and yet, despite the moral decay necessary to perpetuate the Zionist illusion, few Jews dare to speak out in protest.

A reader of the Australian Jewish News, the largest Jewish publication in Australia, is rarely forced to read reports on the countless Israeli obstacles for Palestinians living in the West Bank or Gaza. Every measure is justified as a ”˜security’ precaution but is, in fact, designed to subjugate the occupied (for a full picture of the situation on the ground, see Haaretz journalist Amira Hass’s recent report).

After years of constant public campaigning against Israel’s delinquent behaviour, the Jewish State’s international image has recently taken a battering and now the Israeli Government’s obsessive approval of the Bush Administration’s manoeuvres is destined to leave Israel exposed like never before.… 

My New Matilda archive is here.

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