Would the world like to do something about Israeli crimes?

The ethnic cleansing in East Jerusalem is one of the more revealing tragedies of this conflict. Occurring in the wide open and the world simply expresses outrage. Hollow criticism. The hardest working activists in Israel, Joseph Dana and Mairav Zonszein, film the evicted Palestinians and the hatred that so many Israelis feel for them: More…

Who said Israel wasn’t full of contradictions?

Yossi Sarid in Haaretz: I recently read in the papers about an officer who was promoted to deputy battalion commander in his reserve unit, an exemplary man by all accounts, yet whose subordinates complained: No way will a homosexual be in charge of us, it does not befit men’s men like us. I also recently…

Say no to West Bank products

So much for innocuous Israeli products: Ahava Beauty Products promises “beauty secrets from the Dead Sea” but the real secret is that its products come from stolen Palestinian natural resources in the Occupied Territory, and are produced in the illegal settlement of Mitzpe Shalem. The company’s appropriation of materials from the Dead Sea is, according…

The view from Gaza

My latest column for New Matilda features on the ground reporting from Gaza: Six months after the Israeli offensive in Gaza, Antony Loewenstein went to see how its people are coping under Israel’s continuing blockade The no-man’s land you must cross to get from Israel into Gaza is a 500-metre stretch of sand. We —…

Is settler violence not news?

Another week and more settler violence against Palestinian farmers in the West Bank. The Western media is typically absent from the scene. Activst blogger and journalist Joseph Dana continues his weekly eyewitnesses reports from the ground: 1 August 2009 South West Bank Ta’ayush joined the Christian Peacemaker Team to help accompany children to school near…

Treat them mean

Haaretz reminds us of the intimate connection between apartheid South Africa and Israel: South Africa began developing its nuclear program in 1949. To do so, it used know-how, equipment, technology and reactors used for research and for power that it bought from the United States, Britain, France and Germany. However, in 1976, the Western countries…

Bruno, not cool

I saw Bruno tonight, Sacha Baron Cohen’s new film. I’ve written before about Cohen and his work and I’ve often liked his chutzpah. But his latest work is pretty average. A few laughs, some witty one-liners but far too long and all-too-obvious. Like Borat, his work works far better in small segments. This, though, is…

The Israeli government ignores allegations by choice

The following statement was released today in Israel: Ten human rights and social change organizations in Israel have publicly declared support for the organization “Breaking the Silence” (Shovrim Shtika). In a letter to the Prime Minister, the Minister of Defense and the Foreign Minister, the organizations protested the Israeli government’s attack on the group, which…

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