Israeli ministers vote to impose new measures on human rights groups
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- Written by Kate Shuttleworth in Jerusalem Kate Shuttleworth in Jerusalem
- Published: 27 December 2015 27 December 2015
Israeli ministers have voted in favour of a bill that will crack down on human rights groups receiving funds from abroad, a move EU officials said was reminiscent of totalitarian regimes.
Read more: Israeli ministers vote to impose new measures on human rights groups
New U.S. Group to Enlist pro-Israel Faculty to 'Catalyze Campuses'
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- Written by Debra Nussbaum Cohen Debra Nussbaum Cohen
- Published: 10 December 2015 10 December 2015
[Pro-Israel groups is taking Campus BDS very seriously as a huge threat to Israel's continued settlements, occupation and system of injustice . . .]
Joining a list of like-minded groups, the Academic Engagement Network aims to engage academics on 50 to 100 campuses, to counter the rising tide of vocal supporters of boycott, divestment and sanctions.
NEW YORK – Enlisting faculty members at American colleges and universities as allies in the fraught battle against the BDS (boycotts, divestment and sanctions) movement is the main objective of a new organization that is being launched on Wednesday.
The Academic Engagement Network seeks "to preserve and defend freedom of expression on university campuses,” said Ken Waltzer, its executive director – especially at a time when students are protesting against and preventing pro-Israel presentations and debates on campuses around the country.
“We want to promote a sane middle ground of support for a two-state solution, and embrace uncompromising support for human rights for Arabs, Jews and others," Waltzer, emeritus professor of Jewish studies at Michigan State University, told Haaretz. "[We] are adamantly opposed to the BDS movement, and want to catalyze campuses in robust debate in matters regarding Israel, Palestine and the Middle East."
“We’d like to have five to 15 faculty members [affiliated with the AEN] on each of 50 to 100 campuses,” said Mark Yudof, chairman of the organization's national board of advisers.
“We’re well-connected with the leadership of higher education in America. There are strong relationships," he said. However, he added, “We don’t delude ourselves. Most faculty don’t want to be involved."
Read more on Haaretz . . . . http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/news/.premium-1.690705
Brookings conference on ‘future for Israelis and Palestinians’ featured zero Palestinians
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- Written by Philip Weiss Philip Weiss
- Published: 09 December 2015 09 December 2015
Last weekend the Brookings Institution in Washington hosted a three-day US-Israel conference that focused on such issues as the “future for Israelis and Palestinians” and, according to its own published agenda, there were no Palestinian speakers.
- See more at: http://mondoweiss.net/2015/12/brookings-conference-palestinians
What We Can Expect From Hillary Clinton on Israel/Palestine
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- Written by Stephen Zunes, Truthout | News Analysis Stephen Zunes, Truthout | News Analysis
- Published: 06 December 2015 06 December 2015
Supporters of the international legal framework - which has, with mixed success, governed international affairs since the end of World War II - have long expressed concerns over the prospect of former senator and secretary of state Hillary Clinton becoming president. Her support for the US invasion of Iraq (a flagrant violation of the UN Charter), as well as her hostility toward the International Criminal Court, her support for international recognition of Morocco's illegal annexation of occupied Western Sahara, and her attacks against the United Nations and a number of its key agencies raise concerns that her election would bring a return to the Bush administration's neoconservative rejection of longstanding international legal principles.
Kerry, at contentious U.S.-Israel confab, asks Israel to consider perils of single state
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- Written by Ron Kampeas Ron Kampeas
- Published: 06 December 2015 06 December 2015
[By "perils" of a one-state solution, Kerry means either accepting equal rights and democracy for all people or accepting apartheid and segregation in order to ensure Jewish supremacy over Palestinians and other non-Jews]
Kerry’s forceful questioning of Israeli policy as well Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon’s outright derision of U.S. Middle East policy the previous evening underscored the divisions that continue to dog the governments of President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Read more: Kerry, at contentious U.S.-Israel confab, asks Israel to consider perils of single state