A NY Times report on Israeli reaction to a war crime was infuriatingly context free. Genius annotation gives media critics a new tool.
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A ‘Genius’ approach for fixing New York Times pro-Israel bias
Monthly Archives: March 2016
Similar to the West Bank, Gaza’s workers protest to demand fair pay
Mahmoud Matter says that participating in demonstrations held by the workers’ syndicate in Gaza is his only hope to receive his wages. He has been employed by the Ministry of Health since 2010, but has not yet received a full wage. “I go early to my work every day, and do my best to efficiently do my duty and serve my people. But instead of being honored by receiving my salary, I am left to demonstrate and shout in order to get my right of a salary,” Matter said. “We are blackmailed in political splits, and left prone to extortion so that our leaders can achieve their narrow political interests,” he added.
Israeli army stations dedicated PR officer at site of Hebron execution
Dan Cohen visits the site Abed al-Fattah Yusri al-Sharif was executed in Hebron and finds a representative from the IDF Spokesperson Unit stationed there to prevent journalists from speaking to combat soldiers. As locals tell Cohen what occurred during the killing a young Israeli settler tells a Palestinian showing Cohen the area, “My father will kill you.”
Four Palestinians arrested for Facebook posts abused while in Israeli detention
Four Palestinians arrested this week for Facebook posts have spoken of physical assault during their detention and interrogation, in the latest evidence to emerge of abuse that rights groups say is systemic in Israel’s prisons.
‘Life in the camp is tough, but at least the war is far’: Palestinians flee Syria for Shatila refugee camp
Sonia Grieco follows two Palestinian families who have fled Syria to Beirut’s Shatila refugee camp. “The life in the camp is tough, but at least the war is far”, says Rajaa, a recently widowed mother of two.
Palestinians march in Negev to protest Bedouin evictions on 40th ‘Land Day’ commemoration
Palestinian citizens of Israel today marked “Land Day,” an annual commemoration of protests that began 40 years ago on March 30, 1976 when Israeli police killed six during a demonstration over land confiscations. As in years past, a general strike was announced for one day, and thousands protested in the north and the south of the country in opposition to a similar looming round of land expropriations.
Palestinians commemorate 40th anniversary of Land Day
Palestinians across the occupied West Bank on Wednesday gathered to commemorate the 40th anniversary of “Land Day.” The first Land Day, on March 30, 1976, saw thousands of Palestinians take to the streets in protest of the confiscation of thousands of acres of Palestinian land in the northern Galilee region of Israel. During the protest, six demonstrators were shot dead and over 100 were wounded. Forty years later, Palestinians are still taking to the streets in protest of massive Israeli land grabs.
The first Land Day, on March 30, 1976, saw thousands of Palestinians take to the streets in protest of the confiscation of thousands of acres of Palestinian land in the northern Galilee region of Israel. During the protest, six demonstrators were shot dead and over 100 were wounded.
Forty years later, Palestinians are still taking to the streets in protest of massive Israeli land grabs.
Netanyahu and Sen. Leahy tangle over Israel’s killing of Hadeel Hashlamoun, 18
The horrifying killing of 18-year-old Hadeel al-Hashlamoun at an Israeli checkpoint in occupied Hebron last September has at last become a public issue in the U.S. Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy has called on the State Department to determine whether the killing, and several other Israeli “extrajudicial killings,” violated the Leahy law.
National Lawyers Guild and human rights activists call for IRS investigation into charity status of Jewish National Fund
Today, Palestinian Land Day, the National Lawyers Guild submitted a regulatory challenge to the IRS requesting an investigation into the charitable status of the Jewish National Fund on grounds of discrimination and contravention of U.S. policy.
Activists to New Orleans City Council: Say no to products that support Israeli occupation
In an open letter to the city of New Orleans, the New Orleans Palestinian Solidarity Committee ask supporters to sign an online petition demanding the City Council pass a resolution making it illegal to carry products that directly support the Israeli occupation.
Wit, Conflict and other Entanglements: A discussion with Palestinian filmmaker Muayad Alayan
Silvia Hassoun interviews Palestinian filmmaker Muayad Alayan about his first feature film Love, Theft and other Entanglements, which presents a fresh and innovative way to look at the reality of occupation in Palestine. Alayan says, “We wanted to create a story that is somehow unreal like a fairy tale. Not because the characters and their problems are not real, they are very real, but because we wanted to express a state of mind and a feeling that I myself go through everyday living under occupation. My generation, the post-Oslo generation, we are really exploring the dark comedy and sarcasm.”
Eric Alterman contradicts himself about anti-Semitism on campus
Eric Alterman says he’s never heard “a single anti-Semitic syllable uttered” in 12 years on the CUNY faculty. Then he asserts without evidence that there is “no doubt” anti-Semitism at campuses across the U.S. Which is it?
‘We don’t want to find ourselves in a position like apartheid South Africa’: A report from Israel’s first national conference against BDS
One of Israel’s biggest newspapers, Yedioth Ahronoth, staged the country’s first national conference against the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement in Jerusalem. Antony Loewenstien reports,”It was a surreal day, filled with determination to defeat BDS, but participants were seemingly incapable of truly understanding why the movement was surging globally. Fear, paranoia, anger and determination was ubiquitous amongst the panelists and audience. BDS could never have imagined a more high-profile advertisement for its agenda.”
Senior advisor to Clinton calls Obama’s rationale for withdrawal from Mideast ‘strange, bizarre, illogical, odd’
Tamara Cofman Wittes, a senior adviser on the Middle East to Hillary Clinton, says Obama’s belief that US energy independence allows us to withdraw from the Middle East is “bizarre, illogical” and shows the “inconsistency and incoherence” of his foreign policy.
The occupation of the American mind, documented
The new documentary “The Occupation of the American Mind,” narrated by Roger Waters, asks when US public opinion will shift on Israeli treatment of Palestinians and what it will take for the media to shift from reflexive pro-Israel reports.
‘Road to South Africa has never been shorter’ — as U of Chicago launches divestment campaign
A group at University of Chicago announces a divestment campaign from Boeing, Caterpillar, Motorola, and seven other companies that “perpetuate apartheid” in Palestine. Meanwhile an Israeli farmer says BDS is working, “and how.”
Right to education, from Pine Ridge to Palestine
Next week the 2016 Right to Education tour will arrive in the United States. During the first two weeks in April students from universities across Palestine will be speaking at American university campuses about their experiences studying under Israeli occupation and the impact of colonialism on their education. Organizers are putting a spotlight on two locations the tour will be arriving in this year: The University of Hawaii and the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Both of these locations reflect the long history of US settler-colonization and their inclusion in the tour aims to accentuate the continuing struggle of both the Kanaka Maoli and Oglala Sioux indigenous peoples.
Obama said in Cuba what he couldn’t say in Palestine
In Cuba, President Obama revealed himself as a man of the left who cares about racial justice, human rights, and not being trapped by colonial history. His bold statements apply to Palestine too, but the president will just have to settle for opening Cuba.
Video: Meet the brave shoemaker who filmed Israeli soldier executing a Palestinian
Imad Abu Shamsiyah, the Palestinian who shot the video of an Israeli soldier executing a Palestinian youth in Hebron last week, is a shoemaker who says he will never leave his house despite pressure of Jewish settlers, even though he needs to present his number, 242, at a checkpoint in order to enter the ghetto he lives in.
No Escaping the ‘Cohen’: Nick Cohen is becoming a Jew (again)
British journalist, Chomsky detractor, Iraq war supporter, and fanatical opponent of fanatical Islamism Nick Cohen has re-outed himself as a Jew (sort of).
A ‘longtime activist for social justice,’ Booker worries his anti-BDS stance will ‘rankle’ and ‘upset’ people
Joining the chorus of establishment voices trying to paint anti-Zionism as anti-Semitism, Senator Cory Booker says the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign (BDS) is “anti-Jewish”
Rejected by Brazil, Israeli settler leader Dani Dayan given diplomatic post in US
Last year Brazil refused to accept Israel’s bid for settler leader Dani Dayan to become the country’s next Israeli ambassador. According to a statement from Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office today, Dayan will now take a post in U.S. as the newest Consul General in New York instead.
Reflections on the Brussels attack
Richard Falk writes that the Brussels attack for which ISIS claimed responsibility exhibits the new face of 21st century warfare for which there are no front lines, no path to military victory, and acute civilian vulnerability. As such, it represents a radical challenge to our traditional understanding of warfare, and unless responses are shaped by these realities, it could drive Western democracies step by step into an enthused political embrace and revived actuality of fascist politics.
Netanyahu defends Israeli military after soldier caught on tape executing Palestinian: ‘Any challenge to the morality of the IDF is outrageous’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the Israeli army Sunday as controversy gripped the country over a soldier caught on video shooting a Palestinian in the head as he lay on the ground: “Any challenge to the morality of the IDF is outrageous and unacceptable. The soldiers of the IDF, our children, maintain high ethical values while courageously fighting against bloodthirsty murderers under difficult operational conditions.”
Hebron settlers file complaint against Palestinian who filmed execution
Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bentzi Gopstein, far-right settlers and followers of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, have filed a complaint with Israeli police against Emad Abu Shamsiya, the Palestinian videographer who captured the execution of an incapacitated Palestinian suspect in Hebron. In their letter to the police, they claim that Abu Shamsiya’s presence during the killing is no coincidence, but was coordinated with the alleged attack in order to capture damning video.