Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Ben White
-
Could Netanyahu be on the way out?
The morning after Israel’s second election of the year failed to offer clarity about who exactly will form the next government, or whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will remain in office. Israeli media, citing sources within the elections committee, have reported that Likud and main opposition alliance Blue and...
-
Explained: The Nakba 70 years on
2018 marks the 70th anniversary of the Nakba, meaning ‘catastrophe’ in Arabic. So, what was the Nakba – and what is its significance today?...
-
Pre-meditated murder in Gaza
A week on from Israel’s deadly crackdown on Palestinian protests in the occupied Gaza Strip on Land Day it is clear that the killing of demonstrators constituted a case of pre-meditated murder. The evidence is overwhelming and almost entirely provided by Israeli officials themselves. First, consider the Israeli authorities’...
-
Israel’s ‘Jewish nation state’ bill is pushback against Palestinian citizens’ resistance
Last week, a Knesset committee approved a final version of the controversial “Jewish nation state” bill, sending it to the plenum for its three readings before becoming law. Some Israelis have claimed that the law does not really change much, and stems more from the desire of current ultra-nationalist...
-
Controversial anti-Semitism ‘definition’ faces resistance over free speech concerns
Pro-Israel groups in Britain are facing resistance in their attempts to use a controversial definition of anti-Semitism to stifle Palestine solidarity activism. Concerns over free speech are being heeded by universities and local authorities, in what is a boost for Palestine rights activists currently holding, or preparing to hold,...
-
Fear of Palestinian majority drives attacks on single democratic state
For those who always saw a so-called two-state solution as a means of preserving Israel as a ‘Jewish and democratic’ ethno-state, goodbye is the hardest word to say. As the Israeli government consolidates a de facto, single state that all its predecessors since 1967 helped forge, those urging ‘separation’...
-
Trump & Palestine: One year on
So, one year on, what can conclusions can we draw - and what impact has a Trump administration had?...
-
Fauda brings Israel’s ‘shoots and cries’ genre to the Netflix generation
There is a phrase in Hebrew which literally translates as ‘shoots and cries’ (or ‘shooting and crying’). As explained by literature scholar Karen Grumberg, “the Zionist solider, a man with a conscience, loathes violence but realises he must act violently to survive; the dilemma causes him to weep while...
-
Rights groups slam Israel Supreme Court for giving ‘green light’ to torture
The Israeli Supreme Court has been accused of redefining torture so as to permit it after a major new ruling was greeted with dismay by local and international human rights groups. Last week the court – sitting as the High Court of Justice – denied a petition brought by...
-
Facts about the First Intifada
The First Intifada is typically dated from 9 December 1987. It involved many forms of civil disobedience, including: massive demonstrations, general strikes, refusal to pay taxes, boycotts of Israeli products, graffiti and underground ‘freedom schools’, as well as unarmed forms of resistance such as stone-throwing and Molotov cocktails. By...
-
Why is Trump moving on Jerusalem now?
In comparison to the focus on opposition to the move and its possible ramifications, relatively little has been said about why Donald Trump’s administration has decided to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and signal its intent to relocate the US embassy from Tel Aviv. For example, one widely-shared piece...
-
BDS' effect on Israel
On the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, Middle East Monitor presents a round-up of the successes achieved by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement, a campaign launched in 2005 by a wide coalition of more than 100 diverse Palestinian groups. Though there are many ways...
-
Exclusive: Amnesty pledges to consider if Israel is committing apartheid
In an unprecedented development, Amnesty International has pledged to consider whether the Israeli government is committing the crime of apartheid in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt). This marks the first time that the global rights NGO has said it will investigate Israeli practices specifically with regards to whether they...
-
On the Arab-Jew, Palestine, and Other Displacements: Selected Writings of Ella Shohat
A book which takes into account 'imperial history, partition remappings, and post/colonial dislocations'...
-
BBC upholds complaint about failure to identify Israel advocates in BDS report
The BBC has conceded that it should have properly identified the Israel advocacy roles of interviewees featured in a report on the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, and acknowledged that the failure to do so constituted a breach of editorial standards. The finding of the Editorial Complaints Unit...
-
The untold story: why Priti Patel’s departure is 'a great loss for Israel'
It is easy enough to understand why an ambitious politician like Priti Patel would have wanted to court Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI), described this week by The Jewish Chronicle’s reporter Marcus Dysch as “the biggest lobbying group in Westminster”. But what about the Israeli government and its allies?...
-
Praise and protest: Reflections on how the Balfour centenary was marked
Following a year of build-up, the Balfour Declaration centenary has now come and gone. After the campaigns, events, articles and protests, I want to take a moment to make a few observations about how the centenary was marked. To my mind, there were two main aspects to the anniversary’s...
-
Balfour celebrations a reminder that the colonial past is not past
The 100-year anniversary of the Balfour Declaration is many things, but it should not pass without observing how, in 2017, Israel’s friends are still justifying the Zionist project with the same lexicon of colonialism as they were 100 years ago. Last week, a debate was held in Parliament on...
-
Grants to Israeli settlements could breach UK law, Charity Commission warns
The Charity Commission has warned that making grants to Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) could potentially constitute a breach of the Geneva Conventions Act of 1957, in a significant hardening of the Commission’s approach to the issue. It is understood to be the first time that...
-
Explained: The Negev
Until 1948, the Negev was a region of Palestine, and home to tens of thousands of Bedouin Palestinians...
-
Attack on UN agency exposes Israeli charge of Palestinian ‘incitement’
Last month saw yet another attack on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the body supporting Palestinian refugees in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) and wider region. “New UNRWA textbooks for Palestinians demonize Israel and Jews” ran the headline in The Jerusalem Post on 28 September, in...
-
‘There is no Palestine’ - Israeli incitement, rejectionism & anti-Palestinian racism
Senior Israeli officials who are against a two-state solution...
-
‘Britain should work to correct the errors of Balfour’
The Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad (PCPA), the European Palestinian Conference (EPC), and a number of other groups have launched a campaign called “Balfour: A Colonial Project”, in the lead up to the November centenary of the infamous British document. The campaign, which is intended to make Palestinian voices...
-
Separate and unequal: How Israel segregates its own citizens inside the Green Line
The pending demolitions of Khan Al-Ahmar and Susiya, two Palestinian communities in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, along with the forced expulsion of their inhabitants, have been attracting international concern and protests. Similarly, the recent eviction of a Palestinian family to make way for Jewish settlers in Sheikh Jarrah, a...
