Our Wednesday News Analysis | Israel wants the world to be quiet

Ambassador Danny Danon attends a UN Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East in New York City. (AFP file)

Whether Israelis will ever comprehend the irreparable damage inflicted on their country’s reputation by their UN ambassador, Danny Danon, is a moot point. The damage Israel has done to itself through its barbaric practices in the Occupied Territories is simply impossible to overcome.

Danon, however, utilizes a peculiar approach to defending Israel within international institutions: he relies on bullying, intimidation and an overt attempt to silence anyone who dares to challenge the official Israeli narrative — particularly female leaders. But what makes his behavior most outrageous is his deployment of these abrasive tactics to suppress an issue that demands the utmost sensitivity: the systemic use of sexual violence and human rights abuses against Palestinians.

A confrontation took place during a UN General Assembly session convened this month to mark International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict. Senior UN officials were presenting harrowing findings documenting sexual violence against Palestinian detainees. True to form, Danon refused to engage with the substance of the reports. For Israeli diplomacy, the enemy is never merely the armed adversary; it is the judge, the independent human rights observer and the UN investigator whose sole mandate is to document violations of international law.

The immediate target of Danon’s wrath was Pramila Patten, the UN secretary-general’s special representative on sexual violence in conflict. Instead of reflecting on her grim findings, Danon demanded Patten’s resignation. He accused her and the broader international community of harboring an “obsession” with targeting Israel.

When Vanessa Frazier, the secretary-general’s special representative for children and armed conflict, attempted to intervene on a point of order as per established protocol, Danon unleashed a vitriolic verbal assault. Refusing to yield, he shouted over her, ordering her to “be quiet” and drowning out the chamber with his outbursts. “Shame on you. You are part of this obsession,” Danon bellowed.

While such unruly behavior should have resulted in Danon’s immediate removal from the chamber, the diplomatic asymmetry of the UN prevailed. It was Frazier who found herself trying to de-escalate, politely clarifying that her procedural request was “not personal.” Danon shot back with typical defiance: “You will not be allowed to bully us.”

Herein lies the supreme irony of Israel’s diplomatic relationship with the UN and international law. Israel stands as one of the most egregious, serial violators of international law in modern history — a decades-long pattern of behavior left unpunished by Western vetoes, which have ultimately emboldened it to carry out an ongoing genocide in Gaza. Yet Israeli officials persistently claim the mantle of the ultimate victim, alleging they are a target of antisemitism, bias and now “bullying” by the very institutions they defy...

Read more: Israel wants the world to be quiet

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‘RESPONSE TO ANTISEMITISM IS DECOLONIZATION OF PALESTINE’: PAPPÉ ON ZIONISM AND EUROPE

Source: Palestine Chronicle
https://www.palestinechronicle.com/response-to-antisemitism-is-decolonization-of-palestine-pappe-on-zionism-europe-and-the-future/

By Romana Rubeo
Published June 27, 2026

Addressing the Second Jewish Anti-Zionist Congress, Ilan Pappé urged Jewish anti-Zionists to challenge Zionism while advancing Palestinian liberation.

Ilan Pappé addressed the Second Jewish Anti-Zionist Congress. (Photo: The Palestine Chronicle)

‘Universal Voice for Palestine’

DUBLIN – Opening his keynote address at the Second Jewish Anti-Zionist Congress in Dublin, Israeli historian Ilan Pappé admitted that, after more than four decades of activism, he had often questioned whether a specifically Jewish anti-Zionist movement was necessary at all.

After all, he reflected, the struggle for Palestine should never depend on religious or ethnic identity.

“What we need is a universal voice for Palestine,” Pappé said during his address. “Who cares whether you are Jewish, Muslim or Christian? If you are a human being with even a modicum of decency, how can you remain indifferent to the suffering of the Palestinian people?”

Yet, he acknowledged, recent political developments had convinced him that a distinct Jewish anti-Zionist voice remains indispensable—not because Jews bear greater moral responsibility than others, but because Judaism continues to be invoked to justify Israel’s policies and silence criticism of them.

Referring to the appointment of a prominent pro-Israel lobbyist as chief adviser to Britain’s incoming prime minister, Pappé argued that whether such lobbying networks possess the extraordinary influence often attributed to them is almost secondary. What matters politically, he said, is that governments believe they do.

That perception, he argued, continues to shape Western policy, where accusations of antisemitism are routinely weaponized to shield Israel from accountability despite overwhelming evidence documenting occupation, apartheid and genocide.

“This is abnormal,” Pappé said. “It is unjust. It is immoral.”

For that reason, he argued, Jewish anti-Zionists carry a particular responsibility to dismantle the idea that Zionism represents Judaism itself.

“If we fail to challenge the idea that Zionism represents the only authentic expression of Judaism,” he warned, “we should not be surprised if others eventually conclude that this is what Judaism itself represents.”...

Read more: ‘Response to Antisemitism is Decolonization of Palestine’: Pappé on Zionism and Europe

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NEITHER VICTORY NOR LIBERATION: AFTER THREE YEARS OF WAR, WE NEED A PALESTINIAN STATE SIDE BY SIDE WITH ISRAEL

Source: Haaretz
https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2026-06-28/ty-article-opinion/.premium/neither-victory-nor-liberation-we-need-a-palestinian-and-israeli-state/0000019f-0ab9-db84-a1df-9bbfc11d0000

By Ayman Odeh
Published June 28, 2026

Beyond all the narratives and all the historic score-settling, human life is the most precious thing of all: people are more important than land, and this land is already saturated with too much blood

Israeli and Palestinian Standing Together activists in 2018 hold up signs that say 'Two nations, one hope.' Credit: Eliyahu Hershkovitz

After three years of continuous bloodshed, the overall picture of the whirlwind that has visited the Middle East is beginning to come clear. What began at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict turned into a regional war with direct involvement of the United States and indirect involvement of China and Russia. It culminated in a crisis with global ramifications that, based on various estimates, cost the world economy around $2.2 trillion.

All this makes clear just how important the Palestinian issue continues to be to Israel's main story. And its influence also extends far beyond Israel's borders.

The following are 10 insights from the war. All of them lead to the conclusion that there will be no peace, stability or security for the Middle East without a just solution to the Palestinian issue.

The aftermath of a settler arson in the West Bank. Credit: AFP/ZAIN JAAFAR

1. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's life's work has been the attempt to bypass the Palestinian issue, as is clear from his book "A Place Among the Nations." He therefore worked to destroy the Oslo Accords, signed the Abraham Accords, and stood at the UN podium two weeks before Hamas' attack on October 7, 2023 and showed a map of the Middle East that contained no mention of the Palestinians.

But in an irony of history, the most prominent mark left by his time in office is actually the constant presence of the Palestinian issue. The man who tried to bypass it discovered that it may be possible to postpone addressing historical questions, but it's impossible to make them disappear...

Read more: Neither Victory nor Liberation: After Three Years of War, We Need a Palestinian State Side by Side With Israel