NGO Monitor's most recent report on foreign government funding of Israeli left-wing NGOs glaringly omits publicly available financial statements, making their data unreliable and full of distortions. The pathetic truth is that NGO Monitor’s 'researchers' couldn’t be bothered to leave their office, drag themselves to the Registrar of Non-Profits, pay the necessary NIS 65 (about $16) and get the CD containing all of the information. NGO Monitor is one of the most influential organizations in Israel. A group of irksome right wingers with too much money originating from foreign donors, NGO Monitor is in fact one of the main engines propelling Israel's new…

Crowd control measures have killed 10 protesters since 2005. Meet 'the skunk,' the tear gas canister and the rubber-coated bullet - just some of the measures the IDF uses against civilian Palestinian protesters in the West Bank.  At least ten Palestinians have been killed by crowd control measures used by the IDF since 2005; 46 more were shot to death using live ammunition. These numbers, published by Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem, refer only to civilian protesters and not to people killed during IDF military operations or to Palestinians who were shot to death at checkpoints or near security fences.…

B'Tselem released a new report on the crowd control weapons used by the Israeli army. The report also details the relevant orders of the military and the Israel Police which regulate the use of these weapons, and which the security forces refuse to divulge. In addition it surveys the implementation of the regulations in the field and the detrimental results of violating them. Dozens of Palestinians have been seriously injured by use of these weapons. Additionally, security forces have killed at least 46 Palestinians in the West Bank when firing live ammunition at stone-throwers.   Israel’s Use of Crowd Control…

Six months after the Ministry of Defense announced plans to resume construction of the fence in Gush Etzion, the IDF informed settler leaders that construction will not be resumed until the route is reevaluated by government. The Gush Etzion settlement bloc just south of Bethlehem is the location of one of the biggest gaps in the wall in Israel-Palestine. Dozens of miles of the planned route of this project, launched ten years ago following the rise in suicide attacks in Israeli cities, remain unbuilt with construction at a full halt for nearly five years. The lack of construction is due…

The IDF video makes it appear extremely unlikely that border policewoman 'N.' was justified in shooting the Hebron teenager.  From the dark, fairly crude IDF video, there are so many things we don't know about the killing of 17-year-old Mohammed Salaymah by border policewoman "N." in Hebron a week ago. For one thing, we don't even know if N. was the only shooter; from the video it looks to me like two police officers might have fired at the boy. We don't know if Salaymah pulled a realistic-looking cigarette-lighter gun during the fight, which was N.'s stated justification for shooting…

Wednesday, November 14: Israeli forces have just killed a four-year-old and a seven-year-old in Gaza. Two children. Jeffrey Goldberg tweets*, correctly, that the fighting won’t solve anything. But his phrasing embodies everything that’s wrong with the mainstream media. It also points at the Israeli attitude towards both the Palestinians and the region: Prediction: Assassination of Hamas terror commander will not even partially solve Israel's Gaza problem. Israel’s Gaza problem? The fatalities suggest it’s the other way around. According to B’Tselem, 6500 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces from the start of the Second Intifada in September 2000 until to September…

Bir Nabala in the West Bank, just a few kilometers northeast of Jerusalem, was once an active center of commerce. But since 2006, the separation wall has turned it into an enclave isolated from Jerusalem and much of the West Bank. Residents have left and businesses have shut down. This B’Tselem video, released in conjunction with a new report on the wall, tells the story of Bir Nabala’s decline, through the stories of two banquet halls. For more on the separation barrier, read +972's series, 'The Wall, 10 years on'

Comments from IDF Spokesperson regarding the Hebron incident proven false. Last month, Mairav Zonszein posted a video showing a young Palestinian being assaulted and detained by a group of soldiers, most of them in civilian clothing. The incident happened at checkpoint 56 in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood of Hebron. After several Hebrew media outlets featured the clip, the IDF Spokesperson released the following comment: The video does not accurately depict the course of events that occurred yesterday. During routine activity in Hebron, a Palestinian individual refused to identify himself to soldiers following their request. The Palestinian individual confronted IDF forces on the scene,…

Since a 1979 High Court ruling that prohibited the requisition of private Palestinian land to build civilian settlements, the settlement enterprise has been based on the use of state land. Following the court’s ruling in the Elon Moreh case, and in line with policies of building settlements throughout the West Bank, the State of Israel declared more than 900,000 dunams as state land. This B'Tselem report finds that Israel’s application of its declarations policy was unlawful, since it classified some land as government property even though, under local law, it was private Palestinian property. Under the Guise of Legality: Israel's Declarations of…

Fear of night raids and imprisonment loom large in the imagination of almost every Palestinian child. Reports on specific cases of violence and abuse fail to capture the epidemic of instability Palestinian children face daily. By Vicky Hosker Days after a team of British jurists published a report on the experiences of Palestinian child detainees entitled Children in Military Custody, B’Tselem released footage of border policemen grabbing and kicking a nine-year-old boy in Hebron. The coverage cast a sharp but fleeting spotlight on two aspects of what life is like for children under military occupation: torture in prison (or fear of the same) and…

In what seems to be an orchestrated campaign of detaining and deporting internationals, the IDF conducted targeted arrests during Friday demonstrations across the West Bank. By the Popular Struggle Committee Coordination Committee Four Israeli activists and six foreign citizens, including a New York Times correspondent, were arrested this Friday in Nabi Saleh. The Israelis and the reporter were released last night after a short investigation. The international activists remain in custody and will most likely be deported. According to various reports, New York Times reporter Ben Ehrenreich was in Nabi Saleh to write up a story for the magazine, and…

IDF allegations that Israeli activist Elyakim Nitzany threw stones in Nabi Saleh had no evidence and no basis. Despite that, he was held in jail for three nights before being released. Another case of unfounded police claims.  Towards the end of the weekly protest in Nabi Saleh last Friday, a military jeep entered the village and a group of Border Police officers stormed out and arrested Israeli activist Elyakim Nitzany on the charge that he had assaulted IDF soldiers by throwing stones. (Two Palestinian women and an international activist were also arrested at the time, all of whom have since been released without charge.) Read more…

B'Tselem just released disturbing footage of a Border Police officer kicking a Palestinian child while another officer holds him on the streets of occupied Hebron.  The video was shot last Friday June 29 by a B'Tselem activist, from the window of his house, adjacent to the Tomb of the Patriarchs. According to B'Tselem, the person started shooting the video upon noticing a border police officer hiding behind the wall. The name of the child is Abed a-Rahman and he is only 9 years old. You can see the policeman at the start of the video appear, then disappear, and then…