Israel is trying to deport Human Rights Watch's Omar Shakir, claiming democratic states have every right to defend themselves. The only problem? Israel is neither democratic nor acting in self-defense. By Hagai El-Ad At the heart of the Jerusalem District Court's recent ruling to authorize the deportation of Omar Shakir, the Israel and Palestine director of Human Rights Watch, one can find the self-victimizing lie that views Israel as a “defensive democracy.” [tmwinpost] The ruling, handed down by Judge Tamar Bazak-Rappaport, did not reinvent the wheel; she is only following the path paved by the Knesset members who legislated, the attorneys who defended, and the Supreme Court justices who made this all possible.…

Adam Rafaelov refused to serve in the IDF due to his opposition to Israel's policies in the occupied territories. 'My struggle for exemption is over, but the struggle for freedom and equality for all people between the river and the sea continues.' By +972 Magazine Staff The Israeli army discharged conscientious objector Adam Rafaelov on Tuesday after imprisoning him for 104 days for refusing to be drafted due to his opposition to the occupation. [tmwinpost] Rafaelov, 18, from Kiryat Motzkin in northern Israel, was sent to prison a total of eight times since July of last year, when he was first…

The attacks on the vacation rental company for its decision to pull all listings from West Bank settlements miss one thing: Airbnb does not support boycotting Israel. By Frima (Merphie) Bubis On Monday evening, American hospitality company Airbnb announced it would be pulling its listings from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The announcement came just a few days before Human Rights Watch and Israeli settlement monitoring organization Kerem Navot were set to publish a major report about Airbnb listings in the West Bank — some of them on private Palestinian property in some of the most violent outposts in the West Bank.…

The campaign to stop the deportation of the asylum seekers is an encouraging reminder that Israeli society's collective conscience has not yet totally disappeared.  It is impossible not to gaze in astonishment at the Israeli public's overwhelming mobilization for asylum seekers under threat of deportation. From educators to academics, from pilots who say they will refuse to fly asylum seekers against their will to residents of south Tel Aviv who oppose the deportation, it seems that not a single sector of Israeli society has refrained from expressing its contempt for the move. [tmwinpost] The campaign is also understandably human, and there are…

A man with no legs, shot in the head, is the perfectly harrowing metaphor for life in Gaza, and for Palestinians on a whole. Helpless, Static. Stunted. Embed from Getty Images Israeli soldiers shot in the head and killed Ibrahim Abu Thurayeh, 29, a man with no legs, who was holding a Palestinian flag near the Gaza border fence on Friday. [tmwinpost] Abu Thurayeh, who according to several sources lost his legs and vision in one eye during an Israeli air strike in 2008 during Operation Cast Lead, was killed by Israeli soldiers while protesting along the Gaza border fence along with some 3,500 other Palestinians. Following…

‘Looted and Hidden’ digs through the archive of films taken by the Israeli army in 1982, and shines light on more property stolen by Israel: the history of Palestinian cinema. Rare images from the archive of Palestinian films and photographs, documenting decades of Palestinian history from before 1948 and after the Nakba, are finally seeing the light of day in a new film by Rona Sela — curator, researcher of visual history and culture, and lecturer at Tel Aviv University. Nearly all of the images from the archive were confiscated when the Israeli army raided the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s offices…

We refuse to listen to what human rights groups say about the West Bank and Gaza Strip because we do not want to admit we are ultimately responsible. By Assaf David How does Israel, its institutions, its academy, and its mainstream media, understand the goings on the Palestinian side? Through the crosshairs, of course. [tmwinpost] This is not new, but these crosshairs are located in the wider context of Israel's political institutions. This aspect deserves a closer analysis, since the discourse surrounding these institutions contains a kind of knowledge that molds our consciousness, while erasing knowledge of a different kind. Are Fatah and Hamas…

Palestinians are no longer allowed to bring sandwiches with them when exiting the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military has instituted a travel ban on food, toiletries and most electronic devices for Palestinians exiting the Gaza Strip. [tmwinpost] The army sent the new directive to Gisha, an Israeli NGO that promotes freedom of movement for Palestinians, a day before it went into effect earlier this month. The directive was not, however, published in the “Status of Closure Authorizations,” a document meant to inform Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank about restrictions on movement. Not even USB drives Even Palestinians traveling abroad,…

I grew up believing the Arabs wanted to throw us into the sea. Then I met a Palestinian from Gaza, and started to question everything I was ever taught. By Osnat Ita Skoblinski As a young girl I believed that Arabs were evil. My belief wasn’t based on personal experience — it was just common knowledge. As befits a coastal country, Israelis would often talk about “throwing people into the sea” — either the evil Arabs throwing us into the sea, or us throwing them in first as a preventive measure. [tmwinpost] I spent first grade studying in a bomb shelter because…

For over a week, Jewish activists from across the globe have joined Palestinians in an effort to rebuild a depopulated village in the West Bank.  By: Ahmad Al-Bazz / Activestills.org It has been over a week since 250 Palestinians, Israelis, and diaspora Jews came together to establish the "Sumud Freedom Camp" on the site of Sarura, a former Palestinian village in the West Bank, whose residents were expelled by Israeli forces between 1980 and 1998 ("sumud" is Arabic for steadfastness). Organizers announced that the “camp will stand until the families can return to the homes.” In the daytime, activists worked together to…

A new map seeks to provide new information on the Palestinian cities, towns, and villages that were erased and replaced since the inception of the Zionist movement. By Tom Pessah Immigrants coming to Israel are unlikely to know the name “Mlabes,” but Israelis are more acquainted with it. After all, it is the name of a local newspaper, a young singer, a shawarma joint, and a chapter of the Israeli Scouts. [tmwinpost] But all these have one thing in common: they are associated with the city of Petah Tikvah, northeast of Tel Aviv. According to the Petah Tikvah City Archive's website, Mlabes was the…

Former top generals and commanders in Israel have launched a new campaign that pushes for unilateral separation from Palestinians. But their messaging reminds us just how racist the notion of a Palestinian 'demographic threat' really is. A new campaign in Israel by a group of former top military and security officials warns that Palestinians will soon be the majority in the country. It is billed as a centrist, pragmatist approach to enhance Israel's security in lieu of a peace process, which it may be — but it is also blatantly racist. [tmwinpost] Launched Sunday to coincide with the Paris Peace summit that…

We want to work with the Israeli Left to build a future based on equality and justice for all. But not at any cost. I was recently asked about what kind of conditions need to exist to for real Arab-Jewish partnership to exist in the Israeli Left. Opinionated, smart Palestinians (I try my best to be one of them) will do all they can to avoid this question. That makes sense, since any attempt to rise to the challenge is actually roundabout way of admitting that such partnership is possible. This takes the Arab, and the Jew for that matter, out of their comfort zone.…