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Tag: Palestine

Israeli Settlers Send Death Threats, File Police Complaint Against Palestinian Who Filmed IDF Execution
An IDF soldier stands over the body of a fallen Palestinian who was accused of stabbing another soldier. (YouTube screenshot)
March 29, 2016
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Israeli Settlers Send Death Threats, File Police Complaint Against Palestinian Who Filmed IDF Execution

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.

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Jewish Activists Protest Israeli Rebranding Of Conflict At SXSW
An activist holds a "Stop Israeli Terrorism" sign outside the JW Marriott hotel in Austin, Texas on March 14, 2016. Jewish Voice For Peace organized the protest against the Israeli ambassador's appearance on the SXSW panel, "Building The Perfect Country." (Kit O'Connell)
March 18, 2016
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Jewish Activists Protest Israeli Rebranding Of Conflict At SXSW

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.

Read moreJewish Activists Protest Israeli Rebranding Of Conflict At SXSW
Can ‘Sousveillance’ Bring Down Police States?
A group of masked Japanese protesters film the police with a videocamera in this Dec. 21, 2008 photograph. (Flickr / David Shackelford)
March 17, 2016
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Can ‘Sousveillance’ Bring Down Police States?

Posted in Journalism, MintPress News, and SXSW

From the footage of Eric Garner’s death to YouTube videos of Israeli soldiers’ violence against Palestinians, recordings made by everyday people are providing powerful evidence against the actions of police states around the world.

One NGO is harnessing that power and using it against some of the world’s most repressive regimes and dangerous criminals. Videre Est Credere (Latin for “to see is to believe”) provides hidden cameras and specialized training to victims of war crimes and human rights abuses from Africa to Asia.

Oren Yakobovich, CEO of Videre, said the organization’s main goal is to force governments to “protect human rights, or take another kind of action to make people’s lives better. It doesn’t matter how they do it, whether it’s in court or changing legislation.”

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72 Percent Of Aid To Palestine Ends Up ‘In Israeli Hands’
In this Oct. 11, 2006 photograph, a volunteer holds a cement block during a home rebuilding project in Palestine. (Flickr / Amos Trust)
March 14, 2016
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72 Percent Of Aid To Palestine Ends Up ‘In Israeli Hands’

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Aid money to Palestine ends up benefiting the Israeli economy, and may even help perpetuate the occupation, according to an analysis published last year.

Published by Aid Watch Palestine, a Palestinian NGO that scrutinizes the spending of foreign relief money, the September 2015 study by Shir Hever suggests that at least 72 percent of foreign aid actually ends up back in Israeli hands.

Palestine’s economy is dependent on foreign aid, although foreign nations sometimes pledge more than they actually give. The World Bank reported that of $3.5 billion pledged to Palestine in 2015, “only 35 percent has been disbursed, $881 million less than what was supposed to be disbursed so far” by September.

“[D]espite over two decades of sustained aid, the occupation has not come to an end and Palestinians are not yet sovereign in their own country,” Hever noted in the report. “The question that arises is not only whether aid is effective, but whether it also causes harm.”

Read more72 Percent Of Aid To Palestine Ends Up ‘In Israeli Hands’
Despite Backlash, Haaretz Editorial Board Opposes Israeli Apartheid Policies
A copy of the Hebrew and English editions of Haaretz, a liberal Israeli newspaper, with a pair of reading glasses folded on top. (Wikimedia Commons / HMBR)
February 25, 2016
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Despite Backlash, Haaretz Editorial Board Opposes Israeli Apartheid Policies

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Haaretz is often described as one of Israel’s most influential newspapers, frequently compared to the U.S. “paper of record,” The New York Times.

Both papers share a similar, liberal Zionist viewpoint, but with a major exception: Haaretz is one of the few mainstream media outlets in either country to openly equate Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and its occupation of Palestinian territory with apartheid.

Last August, Haaretz correspondent and senior editor Bradley Burston wrote an editorial entitled, “It’s Time to Admit It. Israeli Policy Is What It Is: Apartheid.” Burston explained that while he once objected to the comparison between Israel and Apartheid South Africa, he now accepted the term could be applied to his home after repeated war crimes and human rights violations:

Read moreDespite Backlash, Haaretz Editorial Board Opposes Israeli Apartheid Policies
LA Times Runs BDS Ad Advising Top Oscar Nominees To #SkipTheTrip To Israel
"Free Trip to Israel At the Expense Of Palestinians" reads the headline of a BDS Movement advertisement published on Feb. 24, 2016 in the Los Angeles Times. (Jewish Voice For Peace)
February 25, 2016
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LA Times Runs BDS Ad Advising Top Oscar Nominees To #SkipTheTrip To Israel

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Today, the Los Angeles Times published the #SkipTheTrip advertisement, sponsored by Jewish Voice for Peace and the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, which Variety rejected last week.

Rebecca Vilkomerson, executive director of JVP, praised the LA Times decision in a press release. “We know that when people have access to information about Israeli policies and their impacts on Palestinian lives, they are more willing to speak out for justice. This is a small and important step toward that goal.”

Read moreLA Times Runs BDS Ad Advising Top Oscar Nominees To #SkipTheTrip To Israel