Jewish American blogger Richard Silverstein says it right: The Israeli Supreme Court, that toothless wonder when it comes to confronting the national security state, has permitted the state intelligence apparatus to throw up an entirely new set of non-security criteria in order to prevent Palestinians from studying at Israeli universities.
Showing all posts tagged human rights
Repeating bad actions time and time again
This story – Israeli commandos killed a senior Hamas militant in the West Bank on Thursday – led an American colleague to make the following observations: It is a classic Israeli technique to respond to uncomfortable political situations (such as the current moment of too much talk of a “peace process” and of “two states”)…
Directly killing women and children
This report is a few days old – I’ve been flying to the US – but its importance cannot be under-estimated: Amnesty International has accused Israel of repeatedly violating the rules of armed conflict during its recent offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. “Israeli forces repeatedly breached the laws of war, including by carrying…
Do Jews find this a pleasant progression?
Here’s an idea. The Palestinian minority in Israel and proper-thinking Israeli Jews should openly challenge this absurdity and explain to the world that Israel can’t be both a democracy and a Jewish state; it’s currently called apartheid: The Knesset plenum on Wednesday passed a preliminary reading of a bill that would mandate the imprisonment of…
A citizen’s way to protest oppression
The global BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) campaign against Israeli apartheid shows no sign of letting up. In fact, it’s only increasing as the political elite continues to ignore the state’s abuses. Here’s an interesting example from Sydney University’s Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies: ABN 15 211 513 464 Dr Jake LynchAssociate Professor and…
Israel may not be a democracy, J Street, but your words here are encouraging
Good on J Street for issuing this statement yesterday, in many ways pressuring other Jewish groups to follow suit. The deafening silence of most Zionist organisations speaks for itself; complicity: Today, J Street Executive Director Jeremy Ben-Ami issued the following statement: J Street is deeply troubled by legislative proposals under active consideration in Israel to…
No spin can erase this
Following yesterday’s report in the Fairfax press about Israel’s attempt to make it illegal for Palestinians to remember their Nakba, these letters were published today. First, the Sydney Morning Herald: January 26, 1938, was the sesquicentenary of the arrival of the First Fleet. It was also the date of “a day of mourning and protest”…
One more step to isolation
The Arab Association for Human Rights releases a statement on Israel’s shameful attempt to ban Palestinian mourning for the Nakba: The Arab Association for Human Rights (HRA), while reaffirming its unequivocal rejection of these bills, considers the (Governmental) Ministerial Committee support of the amendment, as effective implementation of the agenda of the fascist right-wing parties…
