Tag: 2023 Israeli judicial reform protests

Calling to Transfer Palestinians and Settle Gaza: Meet Netanyahu’s New Spokesperson

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Dr. Omer Dostri holds a PhD in Political Science and the belief that ‘Israel must order the rapid establishment of Israeli settlements in many of the areas it occupies’ in Gaza. In his new role, he will be responsible for the communications division of the Prime Minister’s Office

Calling to Transfer Palestinians and Settle Gaza: Meet Netanyahu’s New Spokesperson

A ‘Terrorist Onslaught’? This Is Why Netanyahu, Gallant Blame Iran for West Bank Violence

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Despite their complicated and often uneasy relationship, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant agree on one thing: Iran is behind Israel’s security problem.

A ‘Terrorist Onslaught’? This Is Why Netanyahu, Gallant Blame Iran for West Bank Violence

Related:

Netanyahu Reverses Firing of Israeli Defense Minister

What Israel’s Controversial Judicial Overhaul Means for Palestinians

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

What Israel’s Controversial Judicial Overhaul Means for Palestinians (archived)

For Palestinians, many of whom will have watched yesterday’s events from the sidelines, the judicial overhaul only stands to accelerate what has already been a worsening situation. The last couple of years have seen a major uptick in violence in the occupied territories, marked by deadly military raids and settler rampages. 2022 was the deadliest year for Palestinians in nearly two decades, and this year appears on course to beat that record. “The trends that we’re seeing have become much worse,” says Zonszein. “The reality on the ground for Palestinians was bad before [the judicial overhaul], and it’s bad now.”

Leading liberal Zionist voices call for ending U.S. aid to Israel

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The damage Israel is causing to its support base in the United States is becoming more apparent. A very bright warning flare went up this weekend, appearing once again in the New York Times. This time, it was columnist Nicholas Kristof who took a much bolder and far less speculative step than his colleague, Tom Friedman did last week by suggesting that the very heart of AIPAC’s mission—annual military aid to Israel—should be phased out.

Friedman, you might recall, floated the idea that a “reassessment” of the United States’ relationship with Israel might be on the horizon, if not already starting. As I noted, that was meant as a warning to Israel, not a reflection of any actual steps by Joe Biden’s White House to launch a policy process of reassessment. Indeed, as subsequent events confirmed, and as was indicated by the fact that Friedman cited no sources, even anonymous ones, this was the columnist trying to use his column to get Israel to back off because political winds are shifting. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not heed the warning, instead moving forward uncompromisingly on his domestic agenda and misleading the media about his conversation with Biden. Needless to say, that didn’t sit well in Washington.

Leading liberal Zionist voices call for ending U.S. aid to Israel

Israel President Herzog’s ‘honest’ speech to the US Congress

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Israel President Herzog’s ‘honest’ speech to the US Congress

But if we are honest with ourselves, we should admit that we have also copied the worst of imperial Europe. We share a dark past of settler colonialism, war, ethnic cleansing of Indigenous inhabitants and a persistent history of racism and discrimination including slavery in the Americas, and apartheid in Palestine.

Our success was made possible through the blood and tears of countless victims. We’ve treated our nemeses as warmongers, our critics as enemies, and our enemies as modern-day Hitlers, but no other states have waged as many wars, or embarked on as many military interventions in the past eight decades as we have.

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But unlike him [Chaim Herzog], I can no longer keep silent as our military and civilian occupation mutates into an apartheid system in the Middle East. I do not say that lightly; I say it with a heavy heart. I do not say it out of pity for the millions of Palestinians, most of whom stubbornly linger under occupation and in refugee camps, I say it out of pity for my people and what’s become of us as decades-long occupiers and dispossessors. Our chutzpah is self-defeating. Our hasbara is wearing thin.

I never was a particularly brave or charismatic parliamentarian and head of the opposition. But that stops now, knowing I will never again have a better platform to address your people and mine. We may have become rich and powerful but we’ve never been so divided, so fanatical; so morally bankrupt.

Friends speak truth to each other. Good friends speak the bitter truth. It befalls upon you, once again, to save us from ourselves. To free us and the Palestinians from an entrenching system of apartheid that is bound to lock us in hatred and violence for decades to come. There is little I can do, as a ceremonial president, other than to speak out.

So, I urge you to condemn racism and apartheid today, as you condemned apartheid in South Africa, albeit belatedly in the past. And I urge you to push us to come to terms with the Palestinians, who soon will become the majority between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

Do not believe a word Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says about the Palestinians; he has made a career out of trafficking in fear.