Adventures of a Gonzo Journalist
Posted in Archive, Journalism, and MintPress News
While members of both major political parties seek to oppress the free speech rights of human rights activists, the presumptive Green Party nominee is taking a stand against foreign wars and imperialism.
On Monday, Dr. Jill Stein tweeted a link to a statement in support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, demanding radical change in U.S. foreign policy:
Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News
An Israeli NGO that protects the human rights of Palestinians announced last month that it would cease cooperating with the Israeli military in investigating soldiers’ crimes.
Founded in 1989, B’Tselem is dedicated to “promoting a future where all Israelis and Palestinians will live in freedom and dignity.”
One of the group’s major activities is exposing murders and other war crimes by members of the Israeli military assigned to enforce the country’s apartheid policies against the indigenous Palestinian population, including restrictions on freedom of movement. After collecting evidence of crimes against Palestinians, often through hidden cameras and other surveillance technologies, the group seeks legal justice for the victims.
“Ever since B’Tselem was established more than 25 years ago, it has applied to the Military Advocate General Corps (MAG Corps) regarding hundreds of incidents in which Palestinians were harmed by soldiers, demanding the incidents be investigated,” wrote B’Tselem in “The Occupation’s Fig Leaf: Israel’s Military Law Enforcement System as a Whitewash Mechanism,” a report issued May 25.
Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News
Under intense pressure from activists, a global manufacturer of athletic footwear and clothing has backed away from plans to honor Israel with a special sneaker.
On Monday, Reebok announced a blue and white sneaker with “Israel 68” emblazoned on the heel to mark the 68th anniversary of the signing of the Israeli Declaration of Independence on May 14, 1948, an Israeli national holiday known as Yom Ha’atzmaut, or Independence Day.
“Moshe Sinai, the CEO of Reebok Israel, explained that these sneakers were to be a one time celebratory release as a collector’s item in Israel and the world,” The Jerusalem Post reported on Tuesday. (The article was later deleted from the news outlet’s website, but can still be found in Google’s web cache.)
Supporters of the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement flooded social media with condemnations of the sneaker.
Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News
Goldman Sachs is a financial supporter of one of Israel’s most violent, racist illegal settlements in occupied Palestine.
Documents published last week by Haaretz, one of Israel’s most liberal mainstream newspapers, revealed that the controversial investment banking giant made an $18,000 tax-deductible donation to the Brooklyn-based Hebron Fund, via the Goldman Sachs Charitable Gift Fund.
All Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories are believed to be in violation of international law. And while settlements are known for the violent actions of their residents, Hebron in particular has achieved a reputation for settlers’ extreme actions against indigenous Palestinian residents.
“Hebron is a perpetual nightmare,” wrote Maya Haber, director of programming and strategy for Partners for Progressive Israel, in Haaretz. ”About 700 Jews live in tiny fortified urban settlements at the center of a city inhabited by 180,000 Palestinians.”
Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News
After a video of an Israeli soldier executing an incapacitated Palestinian suspect went viral, two Israeli settlers are demanding a police investigation of the activist who recorded the act and the human rights group that released it online.
On March 24, Abd al-Fattah Yusri al-Sharif and Ramzi Aziz al-Qasrawi, 21-year-old Palestinian men, were shot by Israeli Defense Forces soldiers after allegedly stabbing an Israeli soldier at a checkpoint near Hebron.Emad Abu Shamsiya, a Palestinian staff member at the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, recorded Elor Azraya, an IDF soldier, shooting al-Sharif at point blank range in the head as al-Sharif was on the ground, motionless but alive.
Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bentzi Gopstein, two settlers known for subscribing to an extremist form of Zionism, have filed a formal police complaint alleging wrongdoing by Abu Shamsiya and B’Tselem, according to a March 27 report from Mondoweiss, a progressive Jewish news site.
Posted in Journalism, MintPress News, and SXSW
At least two dozen activists drummed, rapped, and danced as SXSW attendees streamed into the JW Marriott in downtown Austin, Texas, on Monday morning for a panel titled “Building The Perfect Country.”
Panelists included Ido Aharoni, the consul general of Israel in New York and one of the key minds behind “Brand Israel,” a campaign aimed at boosting the nation’s image abroad by adopting marketing techniques used by successful companies.
“Our brand was almost universally, is almost universally associated with conflict,” Aharoni said at the panel held during SXSW, the annual nine-day music, film and technology festival held here. He compared Israel to other countries like Turkey, which are perceived more favorably than Israel even though they’re also home to “geopolitical conflict” and human rights abuses.
Organized by the local chapter of Jewish Voice For Peace, the protesters outside the panel objected to the idea that a country based on occupation could be anything resembling perfection.
