At least seventeen people were wounded, two of them seriously, when a bomb blew up in a bus in central Tel Aviv earlier today. This was the first bus bombing in the city since 2006, and although several armed groups voiced support for the bombing, Israeli police were cautious not to assign direct responsibility even hours after the attack. Uncharacteristically for a conflict area more than accustomed to suicide bombings, the bomb appears to have been left on the bus and set off some time after the bomber or bombers left the vehicle. Police described the attack as "amateur-like." In…

My friend Oded Adomi Leshem from Tel Aviv sent me an email he received from a friend of his in Gaza. She writes about what she is going through and what she does when missiles hit her neighborhood. She puts a human face on the suffering of people in Gaza. After all, it is ignorant to think this is a war affecting the IDF or Hamas. Civilians are paying the highest price in this war. Some Israelis are describing it as though it were the First World War, the  so-called "war to end all wars." But just as the 1914-18 war…

Israeli top model Bar Refaeli, whose every move, shmooze, instagram and tweet is reported extensively in Israeli media, got herself in a bit of a jam when one of her posts on Twitter didn’t seem to meet the criteria demanded by the masses who support the assault on Gaza. Refaeli tweeted on Nov 17: The response was quick and lethal (almost like a bird of "pray", which is how I suppose Refaeli would spell it (sorry Bar, I had to...)). She was bombarded on Twitter, and the mainstream media picked up on it, too [Heb]. She was even hit by…

Members of the Palestinian Union of Journalists and their supporters gathered in Ramallah's Al-Manara Square on Sunday to demonstrate against an Israeli attack on two media buildings in Gaza.   Ramallah, West Bank - Dozens of Palestinians in the West Bank - territorially separated from the Gaza Strip - protested in the territory's administrative center Ramallah on Sunday, accusing Israel of directly targeting journalists in an attempt to stifle the flow of information out of Gaza. Media NGOs, including Reporters Without Borders, have condemned the strike, which wounded six Palestinian journalists and damaged the equipment of foreign media covering the…

The Israeli Opposition Network is a group of Israelis who live in the United States. The members of the group have organized, during the past few months, in order to establish and promote critical and oppositional thinking from within Israel. Following the events, several members of the group formulated the following text. Last month, we started discussing strategies for countering the policies of the Israeli government, which we believe has become increasingly dangerous for its citizens. We wanted to communicate our concerns to Americans with longstanding connections to Israel. Little did we expect the urgency of the moment. By killing…

Rushdi Tamimi, 31, was shot by Israeli soldiers during a protest in Nabi Saleh on Saturday; he died today in a Ramallah hospital. 22-year-old Hamdi Falah died today after being shot four times by soldiers at a Hebron protest. In the past several days, Israeli forces have violently repressed demonstrations in East Jerusalem and the West Bank against the army's 'Operation Pillar of Defense.' Abir Kopty of the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee reported that protests held on Saturday and Sunday at Nabi Saleh, Ofer Military Prison, Hebron, Nablus, Jenin, and Bethlehem were put down through the use of tear gas, rubber…

A survey conducted in Gaza this September showed that a majority of its residents would prefer Fatah to Hamas if elections were held. Early this month President Mahmoud Abbas spoke again of a two state solution and even hinted at compromising on the right of return. What could Israel do in light of this but start a war? Israel can't deal with peace. It has become a war machine, and I'm not referring only to its over-militant decision makers and those who take their orders. Decades of media bias and dogmatic education managed to turn its citizens into a blinded…

Since the assault on Gaza began, Israeli TV has been covering events (at least on the Israeli side) almost 24/7. The Channel 2 studio is the one most watched, with generals, experts, analysts and politicians having a say. Yesterday they had their leading military analyst Roni Daniel reporting, just as initial reports about the IDF bombing a house that killed 11 people inside. Daniel is somewhat of an IDF spokesman. He doesn’t even attempt to report objectively, and at times voices his disgust with how the army is acting, usually by not using enough brute force to his liking. Which…

Each days brings new horrors. Sunday was the deadliest day since the beginning of this escalation, and the deadliest day since Operation Cast Lead. The level of destruction all over the Gaza Strip is appalling. Bulldozers were working in different places to dig under the rubble to find bodies. The Al-Dalou family was almost entirely wiped out, with 11 members, including four women and four children, killed when an Israeli missile destroyed their home in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City on Sunday afternoon. Israel clearly targeted Gaza's media, with the two towers which host many TV channels and agencies…

By Anna Momigliano It has been noted that this is the first war declared on Twitter. At this point I find myself wondering if this might be as well the first war lost on Twitter. Don't get me wrong, I am well aware that there are thousands of people on both sides in fear of their lives and that the use of social media is the least of their concerns. Nor do I think that the “media war” is even remotely as relevant as the actual conflict that is raging over Israel and the Gaza Strip. Yet, as someone who…

It is reassuring to know that in Israel everyone can have their voice heard. Thus, an Israeli anti-war demonstration held last Thursday was countered by a rally supporting the military operation in Gaza by Israeli forces. But there should be a limit on free speech, especially when some of those voices are calling for violence against others. In developed societies, incitement to violence is a punishable offense. Israel's standards should be no different. During Thursday's rally, right-wing Israeli member of Knesset Michael Ben-Ari (National Union) is seen encouraging the chanting crowd with phrases like, "leftist traitors," and "leftists out." He then…

By +972 and Activestills At least 23 people, among them 14 women and children, were killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza on Sunday, November 18th, bringing the total number of Palestinian casualties since the assassination of Ahmad Jabari to 69. Three Israelis were killed last week when a rocket hit a house in the southern town of Kiryat Malachi. Air strikes on Gaza continued throughout the day, as did rocket launches toward Israeli towns, including several rockets which were intercepted above Tel Aviv by the Iron Dome. At the time of writing, there hasn't been a breakthrough in the effort to reach…

The Tel Aviv bubble has burst - or it is in denial. Or a bit of both. Whatever the diagnosis may be, the fact that rockets from Gaza have reached the city for the fifth time in four consecutive days (rockets were just fired at around 18:45 while I was writing this), even if they have mostly not made impact, is shocking, and it is certainly a wake-up call. As Amir Oren said in Haaretz's opinion pages today: The significance of rockets fired on Tel Aviv and Jerusalem should not be underestimated. Since 1948, no Arab country, except Iraq in…