Our Wednesday News Analysis | Jenin and more: Jews across the world say Not In Our Name!

Jenin Camp under bombardment July 2023

"We call on all civil society groups to stand for justice for the Palestinian people and to demand that their governments call for expedited legal action against Israel’s illegal occupation and apartheid in international tribunals, including the International Criminal Court (ICC)."

Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL) is proud to be part of the International Jewish Collective for Justice in Palestine (IJCJP).

This is their statement condemning Israeli State’s Latest Assault on the Jenin Refugee Camp in response to the horrendous incursion in Jenin at the beginning of July 2023. “Israel’s appalling assault on the Jenin Refugee Camp on 3-4 July, 2023 is part of an ongoing pattern of dispossession, land theft and bantustanization against the Palestinian people. Israel’s apartheid, recognized as such by B’tselem, Amnesty international and Human Rights Watch, makes Palestinian lives unbearable.”

Global Jewish Network Condemns Israeli State’s Latest Assault on the Jenin Refugee Camp

We, the International Jewish Collective for Justice in Palestine (IJCJP), Jewish organizations from across the world, are outraged at this latest Israeli invasion of the Jenin Refugee Camp...

Read more: Jenin and more: Jews across the world say Not In Our Name!

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LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

Source: Substack
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/july-24-2023?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2

By HEATHER COX RICHARDSON
Published July 24, 2023

"The United States was the first nation to recognize Israel 75 years ago
and has been a staunch supporter ever since, to the tune of nearly $4 billion a year.

But the country’s rightward lurch is testing the strength of that bond.

'the core of that relationship is…on democratic values,
the shared democratic values and interests.'”

Today, Israel’s parliament passed a law that increases the power of the country’s right wing, headed by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel does not have a written constitution, and the prime minister’s ruling coalition is in control of both the executive and the legislative branches of government. The only check on them was the courts, which could overturn extreme laws that did not pass a “reasonableness standard,” which means they were not made according to a basic standard of fair and just policymaking.

The new law aims to take away that judicial power, and it passed by a vote of 64–0 after opponents walked out in protest. Netanyahu’s coalition has indicated it intends to continue to weaken the institutions that can check it. “This is just the beginning,” said National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

For 13 of the last 14 years, Netanyahu, who is under indictment for bribery, fraud, and breach of trust, has been Israel’s prime minister. Israeli democracy has weakened under him, in part because, as Zach Beauchamp of Vox explains, his support for Israeli settlement of the West Bank has fed an aggressive right-wing nationalist movement...

Read more: Letters from an American

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ANALYSIS | THE WHITE HOUSE VISIT THAT REALLY MATTERS IS NOT HERZOG'S, OR NETANYAHU'S

Source: Haaretz
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-07-19/ty-article/.premium/the-white-house-visit-that-really-matters-is-not-herzogs-or-netanyahus/00000189-6eda-de6d-a1ef-fffa8f030000

By Alon Pinkas
Published July 19, 2023

In the end, U.S. President Joe Biden rendered Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit to Washington inconsequential by delivering a clear message about ‘shared values’ via The New York Times

U.S. President Joe Biden speaking in the White House last week.Credit: JONATHAN ERNST/REUTERS

"… and then someone mentioned or led Tom Friedman to conclude that the United States is in the process of “reassessing” relations.”

Our narrative begins with seven months of “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu isn’t being invited to the White House.” It evolves into seven weeks of “President Isaac Herzog is being invited to the White House.” Once the second eclipses the first in public and political attention, the saga turns into “NYT columnist Thomas Friedman was invited to the White House.”

And that sums it all up: the visit that wasn’t and isn’t; the visit that is actually taking place; and the visit that really matters.

If anyone had any hopes or illusions that Herzog’s visit to Washington this week would assuage tensions and mitigate the widening crisis in U.S.-Israel relations, they were proved wrong.

Anyone entertaining such hopes and flirting with such illusions was delusional to have them in the first place. This crisis is real, it is substantive, it reflects a genuine disparity, it is not subject to rhetorical bandaging or political spin, and it is going nowhere given the trajectory Israel is on...

Read more: Analysis | The White House Visit That Really Matters Is Not Herzog's, or Netanyahu's