Israel/Palestine

B’ Tselem, the Israeli campaign for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, reports: “On 3 November 2020, with the eyes of the world on the US elections, Israel demolished an entire Palestinian community in the Jordan Valley. A convoy of bulldozers drove up to the tiny shepherds’ community of Khirbet Humsah and razed it to the ground”. You can see a video of the demolished village here. Israeli forces left 74 people, 41 of them children, without shelter in the wind and rain. They demolished residential tents and sheds, livestock enclosures, storage sheds, kitchens, portable...

On 1 November, demonstrations in Israel showed solidarity with Israeli citizen Hallel Rabin, imprisoned for the third time, and for 25 days, for her continued refusal to serve in the Israeli army. Rabin, 19, said: “For too long, the good people of Israel have agreed to participate in the atrocities committed by the occupation. While I know my refusal is small and personal... It is time to shout: There is no such thing as good repression, no such thing as justifiable racism and no more room for the Israeli occupation.” She was refused exemption, three to two, by the five-person draft board as...

On Wednesday 30 September the Israeli government passed a law to suppress protests. For many months there have been weekly protests against Netanyahu in Jerusalem. The new law states that gatherings of over 20 people are illegal and that it is illegal to travel more than 1 km to attend a protest. This is, supposedly, to reduce the spread of Covid-19. It is true that infections in Israel have spread alarmingly. Many outbreaks have been linked to indoor religious gatherings — there is a much greater risk of Covid spreading indoors — but those have been allowed to continue. Outdoor protests have...

Mass demonstrations against Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's hard-right prime minister, have continued, as the country lurches towards its fourth election in two years. Following a previous wave of anti-Netanyahu protests which highlighted the corruption allegations against him, due to come to court in January, the latest mobilisations have focused on his mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic, where a precipitous easing of lockdown measures and inadequate social provision has seen both infections and unemployment spike massively. An article in the left-wing 972 magazine notes that, although...

Amid deepening political and public health crises, Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was reported by the daily Haaretz (23 July) to be set on calling new elections for 18 November. This would be the country's fourth round of general elections in the last two years. The next day Netanyahu denied the report, but tensions within the ruling coalition, agreed between Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-right Likud party and Benny Gantz's centre-right Blue and White party in May, and also involving Avigdor Lieberman's secular far-right Yisrael Beiteinu party and various religious fundamentalist...

Mass protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the coronavirus crisis have continued in Israel, with one protest converging on Netanyahu’s residence on Saturday 18 July. Demonstrators blocked roads and built barricades before being dispersed with water cannons. Netanyahu’s trial for corruption has now resumed, with the case expected to last years. Polling by the Israel Democracy Institute suggests just 29.5% of the Israeli public trusts Netanyahu’s handling of the pandemic. This backdrop of discontent and unrest has made it difficult for Netanyahu to proceed with plans...

The Israeli government’s plan to annex Palestinian territories remains stalled, with Israel coming under increasing pressure from other countries to change course. Egypt, France, Germany, and Jordan have all told Israel that pushing ahead with annexation would have “consequences” for diplomatic relations between the countries. Opposition from within the far-right settler movement, parts of which feel the annexation plan doesn’t go far enough, is also holding back government efforts. Meanwhile, public opposition to the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis is mounting. Tens of...

The 1 July date set by Israel’s hard-right government to launch its annexation of occupied Palestinian territories passed with what Palestinian journalist Amjad Iraqi, writing in +972 Mag., called “very little fanfare.” Iraqi wrote: “Disputes and unpreparedness within the Israeli government and the settler movement, along with growing international criticism in recent weeks, appear to have stalled the annexation process.” Speaking in a webinar, Iraqi added that debates within the government may also have contributed to limiting the Israeli state’s ability to act. “There are disputes between...