In what many critics claim amounts to a power grab, Netanyahu began pushing through changes last week to Israel’s basic laws, the equivalent of a constitution. The move was described as “terrifying” by Elyakim Rubinstein, a conservative former supreme court judge.
Israel's Palestinian citizens brought the country’s busiest highway to a crawl as they drove in a slow convoy towards Jerusalem to protest police inaction over a tide of violence that has swept their communities. More than 70 lives have been claimed so far this year.
Israel benefits from a strong military and even stronger allies, but analysts warn the state faces major challenges Al Jazeera – 17 April 2018 It appears Israelis have every reason to be in festive mood this week as they celebrate the 70th anniversary of their state’s founding. This “Independence Day”, which Israel marks according to […]
The current obsession with BDS reflects a changing political environment for Israel. Concealment at source of damning information is no longer easy, so the battle must be taken to those who disseminate this information. The urgency has grown as artists refuse to visit, universities sever ties, churches pull their investments and companies back out of deals.
Arabs and Muslims have always struggled to gain entry to Israel. Palestinians are routinely abused at the borders, and thousands, especially from Jerusalem, have been stripped of the right to return home after living abroad. But new figures show entry denials have increased nine-fold in the past five years. Among those increasingly turned away are political activists.
Israel's 1.7 million Palestinian citizens are facing a tidal wave of incitement and hate speech on social media, including from government ministers, community leaders have warned. They say the increasingly hostile political climate in Israel is stoking violence from the police and street gangs, and has laid the ground for a recent raft of racist legislative proposals.
It was the trial almost no one in Israel wanted. It exposed not just the rogue actions of one soldier but the dark underbelly of Israeli society and its "citizens' army". Elor Azaria was taken to the Israeli public's bosom, celebrated as the "child of us all". But like many of his fellow soldiers and commanders, he consorted with the most extreme settler leaders in Hebron and used social media to express his hatred of Arabs.
For leftwing Israelis, as well as Israel's Palestinian minority, Netanyahu is considered the king of incitement. His current conduct has revived memories of the mid-1990s, when Yitzhak Rabin, was drumming up support for the Oslo Accords. Footage of the period shows Netanyahu addressing crowds holding aloft placards of Rabin in Nazi uniform. Months later, Rabin was assassinated.
Israel is reported to be ready to expel an award-winning Australian journalist, Antony Loewenstein, after he asked a too-probing question of an Israeli politician. It is unsurprising to learn that Israel has no serious regard for press freedom. But more depressing has been the lack of solidarity shown by journalistic colleagues, most especially the Guardian.
Palestinian lawmakers in Israel have found an unexpected ally inside the government against a new bill banning mosques from using loudspeakers to broadcast the call to prayer. A parliamentary vote was delayed after worries from health minister Yaakov Litzman that the bill might apply to synagogues too. The setback, however, is likely to prove short-lived.
