In the hills east of Jerusalem, overlooking the Palestinian city of Jericho and the Jordan Valley, stands a religious Jewish settlement whose red-tile roofs, neat gardens and brightly colored playgrounds give the sense of permanence. Mitzpe Yericho has stood on this escarpment, close to the Dead Sea – the lowest point on earth – since…
JERUSALEM — Some 71.5 percent of Jewish Israelis say they do not view Israel’s control of the West Bank as “occupation,” a monthly survey found. The same percentage of Arab respondents to the survey called it an occupation, according to the May Peace Index survey of the Israel Democracy Institute released Monday. Asked “Which of the…
A controversial new organization calling itself If Not Now is rapidly gaining attention, members and steam. But critics say that its mostly millennial members aren’t accomplishing anything substantive with its current approach. The group’s profile recently climbed when its founder, Simone Zimmerman, was very publicly fired by United States presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who had…
The Israeli government’s intention to maintain the status quo in the territories it has occupied since 1967 is facing two new challenges. The Europeans want products made in the settlements to be labeled as such. And Human Rights Watch is calling for companies to stop doing business in the settlements altogether. Both moves are tactics…
Israel supporters who are deeply troubled by occupation are often in a bind. If the non-violent tool of BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) against Israel is considered treyf by most of the Jewish community, and if many Israel supporters themselves are loath to invoke a blanket boycott on the country, then what can they do?…
Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee said Israel has as much right to the West Bank as the United States has to Manhattan. Speaking at a press conference at Jerusalem’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on Wednesday, the former Arkansas governor, who gave a speech in the West Bank settlement Shiloh on Tuesday said, according to The Guardian: “I…
The European Union agreed this week to push ahead with labeling Israeli goods made in settlements in the occupied West Bank, a move that has alarmed the Israeli government; but now there are proposals to go much further, including targeting Israeli banks. In a paper to be published on Wednesday, the European Council on Foreign…
“So you’re going to support racist nationalism to get a free trip?” That’s the question a college housemate asked me when I returned from Birthright. She had seen the freshly uploaded photos that decorated my Facebook profile that week: my friends and I slathered in clay at the Dead Sea, riding camels in the Negev,…
100% of profits support our journalism
