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Tag: Palestine

Amid Anti-BDS Pressure, Facebook Israel Appoints Long-Time Netanyahu Advisor To Policy Post
File: A Muslim woman wearing a hijab uses a tablet computer to photograph a fence in Israel. January 6, 2016. (Flickr / U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv)
June 23, 2016
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Amid Anti-BDS Pressure, Facebook Israel Appoints Long-Time Netanyahu Advisor To Policy Post

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

An advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is taking a top post at Facebook amid calls for increased censorship on the social network.

Facebook recently announced that Jordana Cutler would head policy and communications at the social media giant’s Israel office. Cutler currently works as the chief of staff for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, and is a long-time advisor to the prime minister.

“The appointment comes amidst growing Israeli government frenzy concerning incitement allegations and BDS, the global non-violent movement against the Israeli occupation of Palestine, whose often viral presence online exposes Israeli human rights violations,” wrote Dorgham Abusalim, a foreign policy analyst at Mondoweiss, on Monday.

Read moreAmid Anti-BDS Pressure, Facebook Israel Appoints Long-Time Netanyahu Advisor To Policy Post
Green Party Candidate Jill Stein Endorses BDS Movement As Dem- & GOP-Backed Bans Spread
Jill Stein in the woods at the Texas Tar Sands Blockade tree village on Oct 31, 2012. (Wikimedia Commons / Tar Sands Blockade)
June 9, 2016
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Green Party Candidate Jill Stein Endorses BDS Movement As Dem- & GOP-Backed Bans Spread

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:

Read moreGreen Party Candidate Jill Stein Endorses BDS Movement As Dem- & GOP-Backed Bans Spread
‘A Fig Leaf For The Occupation’: Israeli Human Rights Group Ends Cooperation With Israeli Military
Palestinian volunteers with the B’Tselem human rights organization learn how to use video cameras to document the actions of the IDF and Israeli settlers in the West Bank, in 2014. (B'Tselem)
June 3, 2016
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‘A Fig Leaf For The Occupation’: Israeli Human Rights Group Ends Cooperation With Israeli Military

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.

Read more‘A Fig Leaf For The Occupation’: Israeli Human Rights Group Ends Cooperation With Israeli Military
How A 100 Year-Old British Colonial Contract Continues To Shape The Middle East
The Mayor of Jerusalem Hussein Effendi el Husseini [al-Husseini] (Ottoman), meeting with Sergts. Sedgwick and Hurcomb of the 2/19th Battalion, London Regiment, under the white flag of surrender, Dec. 9th, 1917. (Wikimedia Commons)
May 17, 2016
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How A 100 Year-Old British Colonial Contract Continues To Shape The Middle East

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Tuesday marked the 100th anniversary of a decision by French and English diplomats to divide the Middle East into competing empires — a decision that continues to influence unrest in the region even today.

The historic Sykes-Picot agreement, named for its authors, diplomats Mark Sykes of Great Britain and François Georges-Picot of France, was secretly signed on May 16, 1916, although the world was not aware of its existence until after the Russian Revolution of 1917.

Signed by the U.K. and France during a meeting at Downing Street in London, with the agreement of the Russian Empire, it was intended to divide the two imperialist nations’ sphere of influence after an anticipated victory against the Ottoman Empire in World War I.

Britain took control of land between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea, including modern-day Jordan, southern Iraq, and the Mediterranean ports of Haifa and Acre. France took parts of Turkey, northern Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, while Russia took Istanbul, Armenia, and the Turkish Straits.

Read moreHow A 100 Year-Old British Colonial Contract Continues To Shape The Middle East
No Sneakers For Nakba: Reebok Denies Shoe Celebrating Israeli ‘Independence’
A Reekbok "pump" sneaker in blue and white with "Israel 68" inscribed near he heel. (Reebok Israel)
May 13, 2016
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No Sneakers For Nakba: Reebok Denies Shoe Celebrating Israeli ‘Independence’

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.

Read moreNo Sneakers For Nakba: Reebok Denies Shoe Celebrating Israeli ‘Independence’
Tax Docs Reveal Goldman Sachs Donated $18,000 To Violent, Illegal Israeli Settlers
Israeli soldiers patrol an open air market in the Palestinian city of Hebron in this August 2004 photograph. (Wikimedia Commons / Justin McIntosh)
April 18, 2016
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Tax Docs Reveal Goldman Sachs Donated $18,000 To Violent, Illegal Israeli Settlers

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.”

Read moreTax Docs Reveal Goldman Sachs Donated $18,000 To Violent, Illegal Israeli Settlers