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Tag: Israel-Palestine conflict

  • Israeli army kills 21-year-old Palestinian during West Bank raid

    Israeli army kills 21-year-old Palestinian during West Bank raid

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    The death of Ahmed Abu Junaid brings the toll of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire so far in 2023 to five, including three children.

    Israeli forces killed a 21-year-old Palestinian man on Wednesday during an incursion into the West Bank, Palestinian health officials said, the latest casualty as violence continues to surge in the occupied territory.

    The Palestinian Ministry of Health said that Ahmed Abu Junaid, 21, succumbed to a head wound from a bullet during an Israeli army raid into the Balata refugee camp in the city of Nablus, in the northern West Bank.

    His death brings the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire so far in 2023 to five, including three children.

    The Israeli army said it was carrying out arrest raids across the West Bank early on Wednesday. In the Balata refugee camp, a gunfight erupted between Palestinian fighters and Israeli security forces, the army claimed, acknowledging that a Palestinian was hit.

    Palestinian health officials said that Israeli special forces surrounded a house in the congested camp and unleashed live fire, tear gas and stun grenades at a crowd of young men.

    The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade – an armed coalition affiliated with Fatah, the secular political party that controls the Palestinian Authority – claimed Abu Junaid as a fighter.

    Since March 2022, Israeli military raids have surged in the West Bank as the army cracked down on Palestinian men mostly in refugee camps.

    Several developments on the ground during the past year have indicated that the occupied West Bank is approaching a serious shift in the currently unsustainable political and security status quo, analysts told Al Jazeera.

    At least 146 Palestinians were killed by Israeli security forces in 2022 in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, according to Israeli human-rights group B’Tselem.

    Last year’s death toll was the highest since 2004, during the second Intifada, or Palestinian uprising.

    While many of those killed during the past year were civilians, the Israeli army raids and killings are being conducted under the banner of crushing Palestinian armed resistance in the northern occupied West Bank.

    The Palestinians have viewed them as further entrenchment of Israel’s 55-year, open-ended occupation of the West Bank.

    A new, far-right Israeli government sworn in last month has taken punitive measures against Palestinians, including a ban on their flag in public spaces.

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  • Archbishop says desecration of Jerusalem cemetery a ‘hate crime’

    Archbishop says desecration of Jerusalem cemetery a ‘hate crime’

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    Anglican Archbishop Hosam Naoum says Israel is facing ‘religious radicalism’ as Christian graves are vandalised.

    Jerusalem’s Anglican Archbishop Hosam Naoum has called the desecration of a Protestant cemetery in Jerusalem a “clear hate crime,” days after Israel swore in the most far-right government in the country’s history.

    “This act is not just cowardly but disgusting, and any person with blood through their veins would reject such behaviour,” Naoum told a press conference on Wednesday.

    “This really shows a clear hate crime towards Christians in Jerusalem which we absolutely reject and condemn,” he added.

    Two unidentified men broke into Jerusalem’s Protestant Mount Zion Cemetery and desecrated more than 30 graves on Sunday, local media reported.

    Security footage circulated on social media shows one man of Orthodox Jewish appearance entering the graveyard, pushing over a cross-shaped tombstone and smashing it with rocks with the help of a second man.

    The graveyard, founded in 1848 and maintained by local communities, contains the graves of 73 men of the Palestine police service who were killed during the second world war.

    It is also the burial place of many senior Christian leaders including Samuel Gobat, the former bishop of Jerusalem.

    “We hope the Israeli authorities can take accountability and arrest whoever is responsible for this cowardly act, so such an event doesn’t reoccur,” the archbishop said, adding that Israel was sadly facing “religious radicalism”.

    “The point is that people living together from the three Abrahamic religions need to learn how to coexist and respect each others’ freedom of worship and holy sites, that’s very important,” he said.

    “This is all we ask. We aren’t asking for something impossible.”

    The graveyard is located in the proximity of the burial site of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed on May 11 by an Israeli sniper as she reported from the Jenin refugee camp.

    Tensions have flared since Benjamin Netanyahu was sworn in as Israeli prime minister, inaugurating the country’s most far-right, religiously conservative government in history.

    Far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Tuesday entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem, in a move Palestinians called a “deliberate provocation”.

    The minister, widely regarded as a provocateur, has previously called for the displacement of Palestinians.

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  • Who are the ministers leading Israel’s new far-right government?

    Who are the ministers leading Israel’s new far-right government?

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    Benjamin Netanyahu returns as Israeli prime minister for a sixth time, despite being embroiled in a corruption trial.

    Netanyahu’s government – the most right-wing in the country’s history – was sworn in on Thursday. It includes ultranationalist and ultraorthodox Jewish parties.

    Some ministers in the new government have pledged to expand illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, while others have openly opposed Palestinian statehood.

    Here is a list of the top members of Netanyahu’s cabinet:

    Parliament Speaker Amir Ohana

    Former minister Amir Ohana is Israel’s first openly gay speaker of parliament.

    A member of parliament since 2015, the Likud party member is the third most senior figure after the president and prime minister, according to the country’s constitution.

    In 2019, he became the first gay man to hold a ministerial post when he was selected as Netanyahu’s justice minister.

    Defence Minister Yoav Galant

    A member of Netanyahu’s far-right Likud party, Galant, 64, began his military service as a navy frogman and had been slated to become head of the army in 2011.

    But he stepped aside over allegations that he carried out building work on his home without a permit.

    Since entering politics in 2015, he has served as minister for education, housing and immigration – and has been a prominent backer of Israel’s settlements, regarded as illegal under international law.

    Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich

    An illegal settler in the occupied West Bank who heads the hardline Religious Zionism Party, Smotrich will lead the treasury under a rotation deal with Aryeh Deri from the religious Shas Party.

    After his recent remarks that Israel would prosper if it embraced Biblical values raised concerns, Smotrich clarified that he champions free markets.

    Smotrich, 42, opposes Palestinian statehood. In the past, he has agitated against Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, condemned LGBTQ activists and called the justice system too liberal. He now says he will serve all Israelis. He previously served as transport minister.

    His new cabinet duties include a role within the defence ministry overseeing illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, which he wants to see expanded and, eventually, annexed by Israel.

    Foreign Minister Eli Cohen

    As intelligence minister in a previous Netanyahu government, Cohen, 50, has supported United States-sponsored normalisation deals between Israel and several Arab countries. He is a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party.

    National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir

    An illegal settler in the occupied West Bank who heads the far-right Jewish Power Party, Ben-Gvir secured an expanded cabinet ministry in charge of police. He has promised to focus on law and order for all citizens, but he favours freer open-fire regulations for Israeli security forces.

    Jewish Power Party leader Itamar Ben-Gvir is a prominent far-right face [File: Corinna Kern/Reuters]

    Ben-Gvir, 46, opposes Palestinian statehood and advocates the dismantling of the interim Palestinian Authority government.

    He once belonged to Kahane Chai, a Jewish armed group that is blacklisted in Israel and the United States. He has since disavowed some Kahane views.

    In 2007, he was convicted of incitement against Palestinians and support for terrorism. He is now a lawyer.

    Interior and Health Minister Aryeh Deri

    Deri, 63, an ultraorthodox rabbi, is the veteran leader of Shas, which draws support from religious Jews of Middle Eastern descent. His appointment to the new Netanyahu government has been challenged in Israel’s Supreme Court given his conviction for tax fraud – without prison time – last year.

    In 1999, Deri was sentenced to three years in jail for taking bribes. He returned to politics in 2012. Under his coalition deal, he will become finance minister in two years.

    Shas, along with another ultraorthodox party, United Torah Judaism, has long raised concerns among secular liberals by demanding welfare benefits and military draft exemptions for its constituents.

    Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf

    A leader of United Torah Judaism, which draws support from religious Jews of European descent, 72-year-old Golfknopf is a newcomer to national politics. He made headlines when he denied knowledge of a crisis over a shortage of housing that has priced out many Israelis.

    Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer

    A former ambassador to Washington, Dermer was key to forging Israeli ties with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in 2020 under a series of normalisation deals brokered by the US.

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  • Palestinian brothers killed after settler runs them over: Reports

    Palestinian brothers killed after settler runs them over: Reports

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    The brothers were fixing a tire after their vehicle broke down when an Israeli settler ‘deliberately’ ran a car into them, local media reported.

    Two Palestinian brothers have been killed after an Israeli settler ran them over with his car near a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank, according to the Wafa news agency.

    The two brothers, Mohammed and Muhannad Mutair, were “deliberately” run over at the Zaatara checkpoint, south of Nablus, the official Palestinian news agency said on Saturday.

    In a press statement, the director of the Jerusalem Governorate office in Qalandiya, Zakaria Fayala, said Mohammed’s body was transferred to a hospital in Nablus, while Muhannad was transferred to Hadassah Hospital before his death was announced.

    According to Fayala, the two brothers were travelling with three other siblings, running errands for their sister’s wedding next Friday, when their car broke down. They pulled over to fix one of the tires, before the settler’s speeding car “deliberately” ran into the group, resulting in the immediate death of Mohammed.

    The settler then fled the scene, Fayala said.

    Muhannad’s feet had been amputated by the car and he passed away not long after reaching Hadassa Hospital in critical condition, according to the Maan news agency.

    Qalandiya, where the brothers lived, has announced a general strike for Sunday.

    A spokesman for Fatah, the largest faction in the Palestine Liberation Organization, described the incident as “a new heinous crime committed by fascism”.

    “The Israeli occupation is determined to commit crimes, and our people are determined to respond and defend themselves,” Munther al-Hayek said in a statement.

    Last month, two other brothers, Jawad and Dhafr Rimawi, were killed by Israeli forces after a raid in their neighbouring village.

    According to the United Nations, 2022 has been the deadliest year for Palestinians since 2006.

    Israeli military raids and killings in Palestinian cities and villages are taking place on a near-daily basis, in parallel with a rise in Palestinian armed attacks, as well as an increase in Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians.

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  • Israel kills three Palestinians in Jenin, general strike called

    Israel kills three Palestinians in Jenin, general strike called

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    Ramallah, occupied West Bank – The Israeli army has killed three Palestinian men during a raid in Jenin, the latest people to die in a months-long Israeli campaign of near-daily raids in the occupied West Bank.

    The Palestinian ministry of health identified the three killed on Thursday morning as Siqdi Zakarneh, 29, Atta Shalabi, 46, and Tareq al-Damaj, 29.

    The ministry announced their death at approximately 5:30am (02:30 GMT).

    Zakarneh and al-Damaj were from the Jenin refugee camp, while Shalabi was from the town of Qabatya on the southern outskirts of Jenin.

    At least two other Palestinian men were injured by Israeli fire during the raid, including one in serious condition, local journalists told Al Jazeera.

    A general strike across Jenin governorate has been announced to mourn the three men, with schools, businesses and stores shut.

    The Israeli army, including special forces, raided Jenin and its refugee camp at dawn on Thursday and arrested several wanted Palestinian resistance fighters, during which clashes broke out between Israeli forces and armed Palestinian men.

    According to local journalist Mujahed al-Saadi, one of the men killed – Sidqi Zakarneh – was a fighter, while Shalabi and al-Damaj were civilians.

    Al-Saadi, as well as local media, said Zakarneh was affiliated with the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade – the armed wing of the Fatah political party but it remains unclear whether Zakarneh was engaged in fighting when he was shot.

    “Eyewitnesses said Zakarneh was shot in his car. The people who took him out of the car said they did not find any weapons on him,” Al Jazeera producer Ali al-Samoudi, who is based in Jenin, said.

    The second man who was killed, Atta Shalabi, was driving by with his brother on their way to work when they found Zakarneh killed in his car.

    “Atta attempted to help Zakarneh but as soon as he approached, the Israeli army shot him,” said al-Samoudi, based on information received from Shalabi’s brother, Mohammad.

    Shalabi was a labourer working in Israel, according to his brother. He had a work permit and was on his way to the Jalameh checkpoint in Jenin when he was killed.

    The context surrounding the killing of the third man, al-Damaj, remains unclear.

    After the incident, the Israeli military said that its forces had been conducting “counterterrorism” activity near Jenin when its soldiers were “targeted with direct fire and responded with live fire” during one arrest raid.

    Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for the Palestinian Authority (PA) presidency, said in a statement that the “Israeli occupation government is trying to ignite the region by continuing its crimes against the Palestinian people”, adding that the frequent killings of Palestinians are creating “an explosive situation”.

    The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society said in a statement that two men were arrested during the raid – Bajes Kayed and Khaled Misbah Abu al-Hayja – both former prisoners in Israeli jails.

    Local media reported that Israeli forces also shot at Palestinian Red Crescent ambulances during the raid. Videos shared online showed the aftermath of their targeting, with several bullet holes showing on the windshield and inside the ambulance.

    Four Palestinians killed in less than 24 hours

    The killing of the three men comes less than 24 hours after the Israeli army killed a Palestinian man from the town of Silwad on the outskirts of Ramallah in the central occupied West Bank.

    The man was identified as 32-year-old Mujahed al-Najjar. Residents told Al Jazeera al-Najjar was killed in a firefight with the Israeli army in the nearby village of Deir Dibwan following a manhunt.

    Israeli authorities said they believe that al-Najjar was behind several shootings in recent days at the Ofra military base, which was built on Silwad lands and stands at its entrance.

    On Thursday morning, the Israeli army raided Silwad and arrested al-Najjar’s father and brother.

    Tensions in the occupied West Bank and Israel have been on the boil since last year.

    Israeli army raids and killings of Palestinians across the occupied West Bank have increased and happen on a near-daily basis, in parallel with a rise in Palestinian armed attacks, as well as an increase in settler attacks against Palestinians.

    The raids have been particularly focused on the northern occupied West Bank cities of Jenin and Nablus, where Palestinian armed resistance is growing.

    More than 200 Palestinians, including more than 50 children, have been killed by Israel in the occupied territories of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip in 2022 – the deadliest year for Palestinians since 2006.

    More than 25 people have been killed in Israel.

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  • What is in Al Jazeera dossier for the ICC on Abu Akleh’s killing?

    What is in Al Jazeera dossier for the ICC on Abu Akleh’s killing?

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    Testimonies in the dossier show that Israel’s killing of the reporter has led to widespread, crippling fear among Palestinian journalists about their safety.

    The Hague, the Netherlands – A dossier submitted by Al Jazeera to the International Criminal Court (ICC) with a formal request to investigate the killing of veteran television correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh shows how her death unfolded and how it has had a “chilling effect” among Palestinian journalists, a lawyer for the global TV network says.

    Abu Akleh, a Palestinian American correspondent with Al Jazeera for 25 years, was killed by Israeli forces on May 11 on a road in Jenin in the northern occupied West Bank.

    The request received by the court on Tuesday includes statements from witnesses and their video footage, including new unseen footage, lawyer Rodney Dixon KC said.

    The chronology produced from the evidence shows “the only firing that was going on” when Abu Akleh and her colleagues were on the road was “firing at the journalists”, Dixon explained.

    Abu Akleh and her colleagues at the time were wearing protective helmets and jackets emblazoned with “PRESS”. The evidence produced by Al Jazeera counters claims by Israeli authorities that Abu Akleh was killed in a crossfire.

    In September, it said there was a “high probability” an Israeli soldier “accidentally hit” the journalist but that it would not launch a criminal investigation.

    The submission also includes cases of other Palestinian journalists who have been targeted by the Israeli authorities, including the bombing of Al Jazeera’s Gaza office in 2021.

    “That’s all to show that this has been going on for some time and that Al Jazeera has been targeted generally,” said Dixon, who investigated the killing of Abu Akleh, compiled the evidence and submitted it to the ICC on behalf of Al Jazeera.

    Another witness statement that the dossier includes is from Al Jazeera journalist Givara Budeiri. In 2021, Israeli police arrested and assaulted Budeiri and destroyed the equipment of Al Jazeera cameraman Nabil Mazzawi. They were covering a sit-in in the occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah to mark the 54th anniversary of the Naksa, the event in 1967 when Israel seized what remained of the Palestinian homeland.

    “She was detained and beaten and tortured on the 5th of June 2021,” Dixon said.

    “What we’ve emphasised in this submission is that those who were interrogating her kept saying that this is because you are with Al Jazeera,” he said.

    ‘Chilling effect’

    Witness testimonies in the dossier point to fear among journalists and how such attacks are affecting Palestinian journalists’ ability to work on the ground, Dixon said.

    Al Jazeera journalists who were interviewed highlight how Abu Akleh’s killing has had a “chilling effect” and has created concerns about how to go about their work safely.

    The evidence shows that “Shireen was such a cautious journalist, always going to every measure to protect herself and others,” Dixon said. “And on the day they had taken all those measures. And the witnesses have consistently said that this was a shock – that they were suddenly fired on, directly.”

    Previously, he explained, there was an unwritten code under which Israeli forces would tell journalists they were not welcome in an area or shoot tear gas or even warning shots.

    The fact Abu Akleh’s killing happened “in a situation where they did not expect it at all has made people realise that they could be next”, Dixon said.

    “So it’s completely new ground where they are deeply concerned there are no boundaries,” the lawyer said. “Wherever they go now, they could be fired at because this has happened once, and there have been no consequences.”

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  • The Killing of Shireen Abu Akleh

    The Killing of Shireen Abu Akleh

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    From: Fault Lines

    Fault Lines investigates the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by Israeli military forces.

    On May 11, 2022, Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was reporting from the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank when an Israeli soldier shot and killed her.

    The Israeli military would eventually admit it was “possible” she was killed by their fire.

    But Abu Akleh was also an American citizen and her killing has brought into sharp focus the United States’s handling of her case.

    In The Killing of Shireen Abu Akleh, Fault Lines spoke with witnesses from that day and took questions to the White House and State Department about whether the US will investigate her shooting.

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  • Palestinian shot dead in West Bank after killing Israelis

    Palestinian shot dead in West Bank after killing Israelis

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    Mohammad Souf, 18, stabbed several Israelis at the Ariel settlement’s industrial entrance in the occupied West Bank.

    A Palestinian killed at least two Israelis and wounded four others in an attack in a settlement in the occupied West Bank before he was shot and killed by Israeli security personnel, Israeli paramedics and Palestinian officials said.

    The Magen David Adom paramedic service said that two people were killed in the settlement of Ariel. The four wounded were hospitalised in a serious condition.

    It was the latest attack in a wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence this year that has seen near-daily Israeli raids on the occupied West Bank, in which Palestinians are arrested or killed, as well as attacks by Palestinians against Israelis.

    The Israeli military said the Palestinian, named by the Palestinian health ministry as 18-year-old Mohammad Souf, first attacked the Israelis at the entrance to the settlement’s industrial zone, then proceeded to a nearby petrol station and stabbed more people there. The army said the man then stole a car, intentionally collided with a car on a nearby highway and struck another person, before fleeing the scene on foot.

    It said the attacker was shot by a soldier, and that troops were searching the area for additional suspects.

    Amateur video aired on Israeli television appeared to show the suspected attacker running down a highway and collapsing to the ground after he was shot. The Palestinian health ministry later said that Souf was from the nearby village of Hares.

    Israeli forces raided Souf’s family home and, according to Palestinian media outlets, physically attacked family members.

    No Palestinian faction has claimed responsibility for the attack, but it was hailed by spokespeople for Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. In a statement, Hamas spokesman Abdel Latif al-Qanou said that the operation demonstrated “the ability of our people to continue their revolution and defend Al-Aqsa Mosque from daily incursions”.

    The left-wing PFLP said the attack was in response “to the policy of field executions pursued by the [Israeli] occupation and its security services against our people, the last of which will not be the Palestinian girl Fulla Masalmeh who was killed in Beitunia yesterday”.

    Deadliest year

    Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid sent condolences to the families of the Israelis killed in the attack and said Israel was “fighting terror nonstop and full force”.

    “Our security forces are working around the clock to protect Israeli citizens and harm terror infrastructure everywhere, all the time,” he said.

    This year’s surge in Israeli-Palestinian violence in the West Bank and east Jerusalem has killed at least 25 people on the Israeli side and more than 130 Palestinians, making 2022 the deadliest year since 2006.

    Israel says its almost nightly arrest raids in the West Bank are needed to dismantle armed networks at a time when Palestinian security forces are unable or unwilling to do so.

    The Palestinian Authority says the raids undermine their security forces and are aimed at cementing Israel’s open-ended 55-year illegal occupation of territories they want for their hoped-for state.

    Hundreds of Palestinians have been rounded up in such raids, with many placed in so-called administrative detention, which allows Israel to hold them indefinitely without trial or charge.

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  • ACLU asks top US court to review law against boycotting Israel

    ACLU asks top US court to review law against boycotting Israel

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    Washington, DC — A top civil rights group in the United States has asked the Supreme Court to review a lower court’s ruling that upheld an Arkansas state law penalising companies that boycott Israel.

    The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a petition on Thursday asking the top court to take up the case, arguing the Appeals Court decision violates the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which protects the right to free speech.

    “When a state singles out particular boycotts for special penalties, as Arkansas has done here, it not only infringes the right to boycott — it also transgresses the First Amendment’s core prohibition on content and viewpoint discrimination,” ACLU lawyers wrote in their filing.

    In June, the appeals court ruled in favour of the law, saying boycotts fall under commercial activity, not “expressive conduct” guaranteed by the First Amendment.

    The law follows similar measures passed by dozens of US states to curtail the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which pushes to pressure Israel through non-violent means to end abuses against Palestinians.

    Several rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have said Israel’s treatment of Palestinians amounts to apartheid.

    The Arkansas case started in 2018 when The Arkansas Times, a publication in the city of Little Rock, sued the state after refusing to sign a pledge not to boycott Israel to win an advertising contract from a public university.

    The law requires contractors that do not sign the pledge to reduce their fees by 20 percent.

    A federal district court initially dismissed the lawsuit but a three-judge appeals panel blocked the law in 2021, ruling it violates the First Amendment. In June, a full appeals court reversed the panel’s decision, essentially reviving the law.

    The Supreme Court is the final level of appeal and review in the US judicial system. If the top court refuses to take up the case, the appeals court’s decision will stand.

    The nine-seat Supreme Court has a conservative majority with three justices appointed by former President Donald Trump, a staunch supporter of Israel.

    Rights advocates have warned that anti-boycott measures do not only push to unconstitutionally silence Palestinian rights activism but also threaten free speech rights in general — and are being used to restrict boycotts of other entities, including the fossil fuel industry.

    Brain Hauss, a senior staff lawyer with the ACLU, said the June decision to uphold the anti-BDS law in Arkansas “badly misreads” legal precedents and withdraws protection for freedoms exercised by Americans for centuries.

    “Worse yet, the decision upholds the government’s power to selectively suppress boycotts that express messages with which the government disagrees,” Hauss said in a statement on Thursday.

    “The Supreme Court should take up this case in order to reaffirm that the First Amendment protects the right to participate in politically-motivated consumer boycotts.”

    Americans for Peace Now (APN), an advocacy group that describes itself as pro-Israel and pro-peace, also called on the Supreme Court to review the ruling.

    “A Supreme Court decision on this case, if it decides to take it up, could have broad repercussions in the United States and beyond,” APN President Hadar Susskind said in a statement.

    “We hope the Court discusses the matter and rules that states have no business imposing conditions on the free speech rights of individuals, organizations and companies. You may support or oppose boycotting Israel or the occupation, but as a government you must not impose your opinion on others or sanction them for their views.”

    Anti-BDS laws often restrict boycotts of Israel as well as any Israeli-occupied territories. Last year, several US states threatened sanctions against Ben & Jerry’s after the ice cream company decided to stop doing business in the occupied Palestinian West Bank.

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  • Israeli President Isaac Herzog to visit White House next week

    Israeli President Isaac Herzog to visit White House next week

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    White House says Joe Biden and Herzog will discuss deepening regional integration and ‘ironclad’ US-Israel relationship.

    US President Joe Biden will host his Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog in Washington, DC next week to underscore what the White House has called the “enduring partnership and friendship” between the two countries.

    On Monday, the Israeli and United States governments said Herzog will meet with key policymakers in the US capital during his visit on October 25-26.

    Biden and Herzog will “consult on key issues, including regional and global challenges of mutual concern, opportunities to deepen Israel’s regional integration and ways to advance equal measures of freedom, prosperity and security for both Israelis and Palestinians”, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.

    She added that the US relationship with Israel is “ironclad”.

    The Israeli presidency is a largely ceremonial position, but Herzog’s trip comes shortly before crucial legislative elections in the US and Israel next month.

    The Israeli government said Biden extended an invitation for Herzog to visit Washington when the US president was in Israel in July.

    “The purpose of the visit is to reinforce the strong partnership between the United States and Israel and to reflect the deep ties between the two nations in these challenging times,” the Israeli government said in a statement on Monday.

    “President Herzog and President Biden will discuss strategic, security, and economic issues, including joint initiatives concerning the climate crisis.”

    Biden has pledged to strengthen unconditional US military and diplomatic support for Israel, which receives $3.8bn in annual military aid from Washington.

    Meanwhile, the US president has failed to deliver on a campaign promise to re-establish a US consulate for Palestinians in Jerusalem.

    Despite calling for a two-state solution to the conflict, Biden also has refrained from criticising Israeli abuses against Palestinians, including the expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem – territories that would be home to a future Palestinian state.

    Instead, the US administration has focused on regional “integration”, advancing a vision of the Middle East where Arab countries cooperate militarily and economically with Israel to ward off perceived common threats – namely Iran.

    The announcement of Herzog’s visit coincides with an uptick in violence by Israeli settlers and security forces against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

    Asked about intensifying settler attacks against Palestinians, a State Department official on Monday called for calm from both sides.

    “Since mid-September at least 23 Palestinians and four Israelis have been killed, and it is vital that these parties themselves take urgent action to prevent greater loss of life,” State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters.

    “And we continue to emphasise the point that Israelis and Palestinians deserve to have equal measures of security, stability, and justice and dignity and democracy.”

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  • What’s behind rising violence between Israelis and Palestinians?

    What’s behind rising violence between Israelis and Palestinians?

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    Video Duration 25 minutes 05 seconds

    From: Inside Story

    Dozens have been killed in Israeli military raids and attacks in the most violent year since 2015.

    The United Nations is expressing alarm at a rising number of attacks in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and has urged Israeli and Palestinian leaders to restore calm.

    An Israeli soldier was killed when a Palestinian gunman allegedly opened fire at a checkpoint near a refugee camp in Occupied East Jerusalem on Saturday. That followed the deaths of at least four Palestinians in Israeli raids.

    The UN says at least 120 Palestinians and 11 Israelis have been killed since January, the worst year of violence since 2015.

    Can anything be done to reduce the tension?

    Presenter: Hazem Sika

    Guests:

    Gideon Levy – Columnist at Haaretz

    Sawsan Zaher – Palestinian human rights lawyer

    Guy Shalev – Executive Director, Physicians for Human Rights Israel

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