- My guest blog post for my local Jewish Federation discusses emergency assistance to Negev Bedouin during this summer: https://www.jfedgmw.org/on-
the-ground/emergency- assistance-to-negev-bedouin.
- This is an eye-opener from Tablet on Haredim as potential allies in the struggle for peace: http://www.tabletmag.com/
jewish-news-and-politics/ 181286/haredi-left-alliance? all=1.
- Pres. Reuven Rivlin warned that Israel’s challenges are not limited to the security aspect but include “the wave of violence, hatred and racism. We talk about things all the time, but unfortunately we do not show a sufficient degree of responsibility before them.” https://www.middleeastmonitor.
com/news/middle-east/13906- israeli-president-warns-of- increasing-racism-against- arabs-in-israel
- Board members found this a wonderful piece and an excellent reading list for a discussion group that could be a PPI activity: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/
09/09/opinion/roger-cohen-a- war-of-choice-in-gaza.html? ref=opinion. And here’s a great book list: http://www.bicom.org.uk/ resources/further-reading/
- This is an important article for those interested in deepening their understanding of Israeli military and political competitions: http://www.haaretz.com/news/
diplomacy-defense/.premium-1. 606466.
- This piece shows the divide between Israel under Netanyahu and the US, but there is nothing about the role of Meretz on the Left: http://www.al-monitor.com/
pulse/originals/2014/09/ron- dermer-arab-initiative-ehud- olmert-mahmoud-abbas.html#.
- This report from Human Rights Watch has lots of disturbing info: http://m.hrw.org/news/2014/09/
03/israel-reverse-illegal- plans-west-bank. Israel is taking agricultural land from five Palestinian villages for settlement expansion in G’voat. Even if little of it is private Palestinian property, it’s land used by Palestinians for agriculture, and we’re stealing it for Jewish settlements by declaring it “state land” and then allocating it to Jewish settlers. Nor does Israel allow the Palestinians to register land if they have a private claim to it.
Most American Jews don’t even realize this is being done by our beloved Israel, governed by a right-wing pro-settler govt., which has two centrist parties in the coalition, trying to restrain its worst excesses. They should leave, stop serving as a fig leaf for the radical right, and let the public see what happens when the country is governed by a right-wing coalition. Give the public a clear choice between the sane, moderate center left and the chauvinistic radical right of Bennett, Lieberman and the Likud.
- Last time, I shared Matti Friedman’s accusatory piece in Tablet on the international media’s alleged anti-Israel bias. This is a rebuttal by the former AP bureau chief in Israel, Steven Gutkin: http://www.goastreets.com/
life-ap-bureau-chief-israel/. What I like about this side of the story is Gutkin’s admission that “there’s no such thing as perfect balance and a complete lack of bias. Not when you’re dealing with human beings. But there is something called good faith, and I’m proud to say we had lots of it in Israel and Palestine. I say that in the spirit of fighting bias – not as a Jew, but as a journalist.” Gutkin says he “has a strong Jewish identity. But what I believe in most is humanity.”
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