I wish there was a kinder, gentler way than acts of ostracism to get Israel to end the occupation, but those ways have failed terribly.   I would not join a BDS protest; I'm a "two-stater" who believes Israel should remain a Jewish state because the alternatives would be worse, who believes Israel's "original sin" is the occupation, not Zionism, and so I don't think I'd really feel at home at your average BDS demonstration. There seems to be way too much loathing for everything about Israel in the movement - which is not to say everyone in the movement…

By choosing to avoid the Presidential Conference - an annual meeting of Israeli generals, politicians and business elites with their international fans, Prof. Hawking reminds that the occupation cannot be forgotten or avoided. A response to Haaretz's Carlo Strenger. The British Guardian on Wednesday reported that Prof. Stephen Hawking has cancelled his appearance at the fifth Presidential Conference due to take place this June, in protest of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians. The report was later confirmed by Cambridge University. A spokeperson for the Jerusalem-based conference called Hawking’s decision “outrageous and improper." One of Haaretz’s leading lefty columnists, Carlo Strenger, wrote an open letter to Hawking echoing…

Approximately 100 Palestinians and a handful of international activists entered the Rami Levy supermarket in the West Bank settlement of Sha'ar Binyamin Wednesday morning to 'protest occupation and settler terror' and to call for the boycott of 'the occupation and its products.' Two Palestinians and two internationals were beaten and arrested.  Palestinian and international activists were unarmed. Carrying flags and signs, they entered the supermarket, chanting for freedom. They say that the Israeli police used excessive force to disperse the nonviolent protest. Activist Abir Kopty, who was at the scene, reported that "as activists exited the building, about forty policemen…

The international community is highly unlikely to pressure Israel to end the occupation. Both the U.S. and Europe are expanding cooperation and aid, and refuse to use bilateral ties as leverage to change Israeli policy. A solution must come from Israelis or Palestinians or both; the outside world has an auxiliary role, at best One of the growing signs of pessimism regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the belief of many activists that only external pressure on Israel can lead to a just solution. This is the premise of a wide spectrum of efforts, from those calling for mild pressure and…

The right-wing watchdog group thinks that leftwing Jewish groups are not allowed to join coalitions with non-Jewish groups that criticize Israel's existence as a Jewish state, or allowed to take certain actions against Israeli policies because they are Jewish. This is a direct targeting of leftwing Jews as Jews. By Jeremiah Haber It's perfectly kosher for a rightwing Jewish organization like NGO Monitor to disagree vigorously with a leftwing organization like Jewish Voice for Peace. But in a recent op-ed in the New York Jewish Week,  Yiktzak Santis and Gerald Steinberg use the trademark tools of their organization --lies, half-truths, and insinuations -- to smear an organization…

An understanding of the profitable side of the occupation - way more considerable than most people imagine – could force us to change our entire political thinking. Ami Kaufman (on his +972 blog) and Emily Hauser (Open Zion) join the debate regarding the financial burden the occupation puts on the Israeli economy. As Ami notes, this is something that goes hand in hand with the conversation on J14 (a.k.a the "social justice" protest). Terminating the occupation and the expensive settlement project, the saying goes, would benefit Israeli economy more than any other measure the protesters offer. As both Emily and…

Facebook in Israel has been flooded all day with reports of cultural figures and venues announcing their decision to boycott the annual 'White Night' events sponsored by the Tel Aviv Municipality, in reaction to the weekend's police violence; meanwhile, over 100 protesters showed up at City Hall on Monday evening and disrupted a planned no-confidence vote against the mayor.  Following police brutality and violent arrests against protesters in Tel Aviv over the weekend, a variety of Israeli writers, artists and venues have announced that they will be boycotting Tel Aviv's White Night events this Thursday night. "White Night" is an annual…

Alice Walker, author of the award-winning novel 'The Color Purple,' has reportedly refused translation rights of her book to an Israeli publisher, citing Israel as an 'apartheid state' with policies worse than the treatment of blacks in the southern United States and South Africa. The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel posted on its website a letter said to be from Walker, in which she notes: I would so like knowing my books are read by the people of your country, especially by the young, and by the brave Israeli activists (Jewish and Palestinian) for justice…

Over 30,000 people are expected to attend the opening concert of Madonna's world tour "MDNA" tonight (Thursday) in Israel. The concert is being billed as a "peace concert" and costs more than NIS 15 million to produce. One of Madonna's dancers, a Palestinian named Ali Ramadani already made headlines after tweeting about his visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque: “At the amazing Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. I don’t want to say it’s in Israel, but Palestine, strength and honor.” A few Israeli newspapers are already reporting it as a "controversy." Madonna invited a variety of progressive and left-wing groups to come to…

Last week, the Grand Mufti of Egypt, Ali Gomaa, made an unprecedented visit to Jerusalem, where he worshiped at the famous Al Aqsa Mosque. His visit drew condemnation from Muslim leaders in Egypt, and even from some Palestinians. Muslim leaders across the Middle East have long followed a policy of boycotting travel to Jerusalem, until Israel ends its occupation of the city and Palestinian land. Some have labeled those who visit Jerusalem as "normalizers” of the occupation, and sometimes even traitors. This high-profile visit to Jerusalem was thus seen as a violation of this boycott policy, and has stirred much…

By Arik Segal What is known in Israel as the Israeli "Peace Industry" – a broad reference to civil society organizations and individuals working to advance peace – is facing some tough challenges in 2012 and 2013. The possibility of a preemptive Israeli attack on Iran, political and economic developments in Europe that will make it less supportive of peace-building initiatives, and the next general elections in Israel which seem likely to affirm Likud's leadership, will make peace seem so remote that the work of peace organizations could lose relevance. Despite working on the level of civil society, peace-promoting NGOs…

"It's much easier to sit at home and lob criticism through blogs and tweets, and post that this isn't changing the world overnight. But political change happens one step at a time...If you're sitting on the sidelines critiquing the runners, I have no respect for you. Get in the race, show you can run it faster, show you can get to the finish line, prove you have better ideas." -J Street Executive Director Jeremy Ben-Ami Flush from the success of its third annual conference, J Street stands at tough crossroads. Its first two years of heady success as the receptacle…

Israeli ambassador Michael Oren: Beinart 'beyond the Israeli mainstream,' his call to boycott settlements 'supported only by a marginal and highly radical fringe.' I reported here yesterday on Peter Beinart's op-ed in the New York Times, calling the American Jewish community to boycott Israel's settlements in the West Bank, and for American administration to stop the indirect funding of settlements through tax breaks to settlement products and organizations raising money for the settlements (this is just the most obvious way in which the United States is supporting in practice a policy that it appears to oppose, at least on a…