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Scottish Friends of Palestine
Briefing Paper
July 2023
Israel’s control of Palestinians under occupation Jeff Wright M/Weiss 02/02/2023
. . . pastoral scenes of Lifta, one of the hundreds of Palestinian villages that were ethnically cleansed by Jewish militias following the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. In a voiceover, Israeli guide Yahav Zohar tells how, as a child, he played in the village’s remains situated on a slope just outside of Jerusalem. Lifta, he recounts, had “unofficially become a park to the [surrounding Jewish] neighborhoods in which to play and to picnic.” Once he grew up and learned the village history, he says, “It changed the meaning of Lifta for me from a playground to a place that reminds me also of the Nakba . . . Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2023/04/the-law-and-the-prophets-offers-a-master-class-on-israels-control-of-palestinians/?ml_recipient=84434987622859782&ml_link=84434726620759644&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2023-04-30&utm_campaign=Daily+Headlines
Netanyahu surrounds himself with extremists promoting violence Michael F Brown EI 03/04/2023 The last few weeks have done much to highlight the extremists in the new Israeli government. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims to be above it, emphasizing in November to CNN’s Fareed Zakaria that “I decide the policy” and “I’ve had such partners in the past and they didn’t change an iota of my policies.” How’s that working out?
He’s not controlling the extremists, they’re dictating to him. Ultimately, he likes the direction. Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/michael-f-brown/netanyahu-surrounds-himself-extremists-promoting-violence
Worshippers assaulted for second night Maureen Clare Murphy EI 05/04/2023
On Tuesday, Israeli occupation forces raided al-Aqsa mosque and assaulted worshippers in shocking scenes recorded on video and widely shared on social media, generating international condemnation. Images of Israeli police standing over Palestinians on the ground and beating them with batons and rifle butts during Ramadan were disturbingly similar to events at al-Aqsa that precipitated a major confrontation between Israel and resistance groups in Gaza during May 2021 that rippled throughout historic Palestine. Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israel-brutalizes-worshippers-al-aqsa-second-night
These are the settler groups seeking to take over the Aqsa Mosque compound Jeff Wright M/Weiss 07/04/2023 An April 2022 report from the Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) described three of the more extremist Temple Mount groups. . . The Temple Institute, funded by the Israeli government . . . The Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement, a smaller group, “is more open about their desire to remove Dome of the Rock shrine and Al Aqsa Mosque . . . Return to the Mount is “one of the most extreme and dangerous Temple Mount groups,” according to the IMEU. Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2023/04/these-are-the-settler-groups-seeking-to-take-over-the-aqsa-mosque-compound/?ml_recipient=84887878253937775&ml_link=84887701498627390&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2023-04-30&utm_campaign=Daily+Headlines
Israel restricts Jerusalem’s Easter vigil Jeff Wright M/Weiss 13/04/2023
These cancellations—along with Israel’s restrictions on Christians’ access to the Old City and limits to Saturday’s church attendance–may not be directly related to tensions created by Israeli police’s violent incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque last week. But Christians point to recent Israeli practices and violent acts on the part of Jewish extremists—met with virtual impunity by Israeli authorities—that are gradually, systematically shutting them out of the Old City in violation of status quo arrangements agreed to by the three faiths, Judaism, Islam and Christianity. Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2023/04/jerusalem-churches-refuse-israeli-restrictions-on-annual-easter-vigil/?ml_recipient=85431620306208526&ml_link=85431303029130933&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2023-05-10&utm_campaign=Daily+Headlines
Israel delays treatment of 8 year old Aseel Mousa EI 21/04/2023
Earlier this month, he was diagnosed with a lung disease by al-Makassed hospital in occupied East Jerusalem. . . With the healthcare system under massive strain as a result of the complete blockade Israel has imposed on Gaza for more than 15 years, local doctors admitted they cannot provide him with the treatment he needs. In December, he was referred to Jerusalem’s al-Makassed hospital . . . Yet Israel soon began placing hurdles in the family’s way. Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/content/israel-delays-treatment-child-lung-disease/37566
Half a year with no welfare payments Rajaa Salah EI 25/04/2023 For the Alaam family, in particular, the lack of payments was devastating. They had lived comfortably in their small home in Khan Younis until the ceiling collapsed in 2017. For the past two years they rented a home. But the family struggled each month to pay the $100 rent, and without access to social welfare payments, their financial situation grew more dire. That is how they ended up on the doorstep of the ministry’s branch in Khan Younis. Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/content/half-year-no-welfare-payments-gaza/37591
Reject bogus definition of anti-Semitism Maureen Clare Murphy EI 26/04/2023
Dozens of groups from around the globe are calling on António Guterres, the UN secretary-general, to reject a flawed definition of anti-Semitism that conflates criticism of Israel and its state ideology Zionism with anti-Jewish bigotry. Meanwhile, under the guise of combating anti-Semitism, proxy groups for the Israeli government have escalated a smear campaign targeting Francesca Albanese, a UN human rights expert, by calling for her firing from the unpaid post. Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/reject-bogus-definition-anti-semitism-human-rights-groups-urge-un
Gaza residents fear moving into residential towers Tareq Hajjaj M/Weiss 27/04/2023 The way families in Gaza live has changed dramatically over the years, a reflection of the effect that shifting circumstances and time have had on generations and how they adapt to survive. An old-fashioned Gaza family would typically grow by building houses next to the old ones, expanding horizontally over the years as families swelled in size and children grew up, married, and had children of their own. Today, the new model sees people in Gaza living on top of one another, because there’s nowhere left to build. Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2023/04/gaza-residents-fear-moving-into-residential-towers-due-to-threat-of-israeli-bombardment/?ml_recipient=86699918101579050&ml_link=86699650208236698&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2023-05-22&utm_campaign=Daily+Headlines
Gaza graduates Ahmed Dremly EI 28/04/2023
The work is tiring, yet al-Siksik is nearly always eager to get home from work, shower and start his second job. He tutors adolescent and teenage students in English from his home in the Jabaliya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. This is the kind of work al-Siksik imagined he would be doing full time when he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English from Al-Azhar University in 2018. “Sometimes, I tutor poor children for free,” he said. But, with only four students who pay him $8 per month, he has had to supplement this income by working as a waste collector, which pays $288 monthly. Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/content/future-gaza-graduates-poverty-and-grueling-labor/37626
EU – Israel and shared values Ali Abunimah EI 04/05/2023
In fact, the European Union and Itamar Ben-Gvir share precisely the same values – even if they may quibble over some details or about how to express them. Those values, however, have nothing to do with democracy and human rights.
Just like Kahane and Ben-Gvir, the European Union supports Israel’s conception of itself as a “Jewish state” and fully endorses the Zionist ethnic cleansing and colonization of Palestinian land – as the EU’s top civil servant Ursula von der Leyen made clear in a video last week that generated outrage among Palestinians. Congratulating Israel on its “independence day,” von der Leyen whitewashed and erased the horrific violence of Israel’s creation – the deliberate ethnic cleansing of 800,000 Palestinians by Zionist militias and the Israeli army, and the destruction of hundreds of villages, towns and cities. Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/why-eu-should-honor-not-shun-genocidal-racist-itamar-ben-gvir
AI and facial recognition in oPt – Amnesty report Hebh Jamal M/Weiss 08/05/23
According to Amnesty International’s findings, the use of facial recognition technology by Israel to target Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem has escalated, particularly following protests and in regions surrounding illegal settlements. In Hebron and occupied East Jerusalem, the facial recognition software complements a comprehensive network of Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras, which surveil Palestinians almost continuously.“Automated Apartheid” exposes how this monitoring forms part of a calculated effort by Israeli officials to generate a hostile and coercive environment for Palestinians, with the ultimate goal of limiting their presence in critical zones. Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2023/05/israel-is-using-ai-and-facial-recognition-to-monitor-palestinians-amnesty-report-says/?ml_recipient=87696623392523974&ml_link=87696220592539592&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2023-06-09&utm_campaign=Daily+Headlines
Gaza attack - children “bear the brunt” M C Murphy & Ali Abunimah EI 9/5/2023
The airstrikes began in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, targeting a home belonging to Islamic Jihad leader Jihad Ghanam. Ghanam and his wife Wafa, both 61, were killed and Hashim Ghanam, Jihad’s 30-year-old son, was critically injured. Tariq Izzedine, who was involved in Islamic Jihad’s activities in the West Bank, where he was born and from which he was forcibly transferred to Gaza, was killed along with his two children Ali, 8, and Mayar, 12, when Israel struck their multi-story residential building in central Gaza City. Local dentist, Jamal Khaswan, a Russian national who chaired the board of al-Wafaa Hospital, was killed in the same strike as the Izzedine family, along with his wife Mervat and 19-year-old son Youssef . . . Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/content/children-bear-brunt-israel-targets-gaza-homes/37711
Israel’s war on Palestinian journalists is part of its war on Palestine Mariam Barghouti M/Weiss 11/05/2023
Since 2001, more than 21 journalists have been killed in what is seen as a “deadly pattern,” according to the latest report by the Committee on the Protection of Journalists (CPJ).
But the number may be much higher. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Information, at least 45 Palestinian journalists have been killed since 2000, while the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate puts the number at 55. Since 2018, and in the span of five years, Israeli forces have injured at least 145 Palestinian journalists. This is not even counting the assaults on journalists during field coverage. Israeli forces and settlers have assaulted and detained international journalists, including journalists on assignment for the BBC, CNN, and the New York Times. Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2023/05/shireen-abu-aklehs-killing-made-clear-that-israels-war-on-palestinian-journalists-is-part-of-its-war-on-palestine/?ml_recipient=87968370633213551&ml_link=87968009708111668&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2023-06-09&utm_campaign=Daily+Headlines
“We left everything behind” — the Nakba at 75 Yasmin Abusayma EI 15/05/23
Fatima Abu Dayya, 82, was 7 when her family was forced to flee their village of Yibna, which was seized by Zionists in 1948. Yibna is 15 km southwest of Ramla.
“My father took the key of our house along with some clothes and then we traveled on a donkey-drawn cart. We first went to Ashdod,” she told The Electronic Intifada. She remembered the way there as “too long and filled with thick sand.” But Ashdod was not secure. “Ashdod and nearby areas were also subjected to airstrikes, so we were forced to leave and go to Gaza.” The family eventually stopped in the Beit Lahia area of Gaza, where Fatima grew up in a refugee camp. Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/content/we-left-everything-behind-nakba-75/37766
‘Collateral damage’: the human cost Tareq Hajjaj M/Weiss 18/05/2023
It’s quiet now in Gaza after five terrifying days of Israeli bombardment between May 9 to May 13, which killed 33 people, including six children. As the aftermath of the assault sets in, people who have been locked in their homes for the better part of a week are eager to walk freely outdoors. Crowds spill into the streets and observe the spectacle of destruction wrought by the Israeli airstrikes. Families will take their kids to the few free parks that can be found in Gaza, and maybe if they can, they will buy them a shawarma sandwich to try and relieve the pressures of war.
A total of 2,041 houses across the Gaza Strip were damaged during the airstrikes, while 31 buildings were completely destroyed, 93 families were made homeless, and 128 homes became uninhabitable, according to a report by the government media office. Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2023/05/collateral-damage-the-human-cost-of-israels-recent-assault-on-gaza/?ml_recipient=88602545736386140&ml_link=88602187807065320&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2023-06-10&utm_campaign=Daily+Headlines
Likud embraces “Death to the Arabs” rally M C Murphy EI 19/05 2023
Israel’s annual “Death to the Arabs” religious nationalist spectacle in Jerusalem’s Old City on Thursday featured harassment and assaults against Palestinians and journalists by both participants and police. . . Officially billed as a Jerusalem Day flag rally, the event purports to celebrate Israel’s acquisition of the eastern sector of Jerusalem by force following the 1967 War and its subsequent occupation and illegal annexation. Palestinians are forced to shut down their shops and their movement is restricted to make way for marchers who in recent years have come to be known for their racist anti-Palestinian chants as they seek to assert Jewish dominance over the entirety of the city. Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/netanyahus-likud-embraces-death-arabs-rally
Israeli medical apartheid Ghousoon Bisharat & Thomas Dallal M/Weiss 23/05/2023
Dr. Lina Qasem-Hassan, Board Chairwoman of Physicians for Human Rights Israel, describes her experience as a Palestinian doctor in the Israeli healthcare system, and how the Israeli healthcare system neglects Palestinians in Israel and the occupied territory. Watch the video here: https://mondoweiss.net/2023/05/whats-the-story-dr-lina-qasem-hassan-on-israeli-medical-apartheid/
PayPal upholds its ban on Palestinians Michael Arria M/Weiss 26/05/2023
“Access to online platforms should be enjoyed without discrimination,” read the letter, which was sent to PayPal CEO Dan Schulman. “The ability to use PayPal is critical for entrepreneurs, businesses, and freelancers with regional and international customers. This access is especially crucial for Palestinians given the devastating impacts to the Palestinian economy of Israel’s occupation and blockade of the Gaza strip. Arbitrarily denying financial services to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza infringes upon Palestinians’ ability to engage in online commerce, limiting opportunities for economic growth and empowerment.” Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2023/05/paypal-upholds-its-ban-on-palestinians/?ml_recipient=89327112315471205&ml_link=89326950603032210&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2023-06-11&utm_campaign=Daily+Headlines
Israel’s arsonist agenda M C Murphy EI 27/05/2023
This week, the Israeli government passed a budget that, in the words of Al Jazeera, “solidifies the ruling coalition’s religious, pro-settlement agenda” for the next two years.
After weeks of negotiations, the budget was passed after a promise of $68 million was made to Itamar Ben-Gvir’s extreme-right Jewish Power party for settlements in the Naqab and Galilee regions – areas in Israel populated by Palestinians. . . . Within hours of witnessing dozens of settlers escorted by soldiers igniting homes in the Palestinian village of Burqa, we now witness the commencement of substantial infrastructural endeavors aiming to solidify the presence of the nearby illegal Homesh outpost. Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/settlers-burn-palestinian-village-deliver-israels-arsonist-agenda
Settler construction of ‘biblical theme park’ Jeff Wright M Weiss 28/05/2023
A suspension bridge, a half-mile zip line, and impending plans for the construction of a cable car — all traversing what is known as the holy basin to the west and south of the Old City of Jerusalem — continue to turn what was not long ago an open, rolling landscape into a Biblical theme park focusing on the area’s Jewish heritage at the expense of its multi-cultural history and the Palestinians living in the area. . . . The cable car project, running from a station in West Jerusalem to a station on Mount Zion and on to the City of David in Silwan, “is potentially the most destructive of the projects currently under development in the historic basin,” Emek Shaveh charges. Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2023/05/settler-construction-of-biblical-theme-park-continues-at-a-rapid-pace-and-palestinians-expense/?ml_recipient=89508405451949136&ml_link=89508152085579492&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2023-06-12&utm_campaign=Daily+Headlines
Slow ethnic cleansing of Ein Samiya Mariam Barghouti M/weiss 31/05/2023
On Monday, May 22, at least 16 Palestinian families (almost 170 people) were forcibly expelled from their homes near the Ein Samiya spring and the Palestinian village of Kufr Malek, 27 kilometers northeast of Ramallah.
The spring is wedged between Kufr Malek and the illegal Jewish-only colony of Kohav HaShahar and the nearby illegal outpost of Moaz Ester. The Bedouin community, part of the Ka’abneh clan, has lived in that area for more than three decades, comprising 16 families living as herders and working in agriculture. Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2023/05/the-slow-ethnic-cleansing-of-ein-samiyas-bedouin-community/?ml_recipient=89780114209899961&ml_link=89779953158063937&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2023-06-12&utm_campaign=Daily+Headlines
Aid catastrophe M C Murphy EI 03/06/2023
The UN secretary-general warned of “catastrophic” consequences on Friday with UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine refugees, “on the verge of financial collapse.”
Meanwhile, food assistance to Palestinians from the World Food Programme is set to dry up simultaneously, most impacting families in Gaza, where the majority of people are food insecure after 15 years of Israeli-Egyptian blockade. The World Food Programme this month will be suspending food aid to some 200,000 Palestinians, pointing to a funding shortfall of $51 million. By August, the agency will be forced to “completely suspend operations in the West Bank and Gaza if no funding is received,” affecting an additional 100,000 beneficiaries.
Gross mistreatment of Palestinian children Jeff Wright M/Weiss 04/06/2023
Recently released report by Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP).
Take, for example, then 17-year-old Laith. According to DCI-P’s May report, Arbitrary by Default: Palestinian Children in the Israeli Military Court System,
Early on the morning of September 20, 2017, around 2 a.m., Israeli soldiers entered Laith Karma’s home in Kafr Ein village, outside of Ramallah. Laith… was bound, blindfolded, and physically assaulted by Israeli forces. He was neither informed of the reason for his arrest nor presented with a warrant.
Over the next eleven hours, Laith was transferred to multiple locations, including a military checkpoint and an Israeli police station in an illegal settlement. “While inside the jeep, it felt like the trip took hours,” he later told Defense for Children International-Palestine.
Laith arrived at Israel’s Ofer military compound around 1 p.m. During interrogation, he was questioned about throwing stones, a “security offense” under Israeli military law. He denied the allegations. The interrogator printed out a statement in both Arabic and Hebrew and made him sign it…. On August 6, 2018… Israeli forces released Laith without explanation. He spent nearly 46 weeks in military detention and was never formally charged with a crime. This prolonged detention forced him to miss his final year of high school. Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2023/06/new-report-exposes-gross-mistreatment-of-palestinian-children-by-israeli-police-military-and-courts/?ml_recipient=90142472030652085&ml_link=90142342818826088&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2023-06-18&utm_campaign=Daily+Headlines
Toddler shot dead by Israeli soldier M C Murphy EI 06/06/2023
A Palestinian toddler died from his injuries on Monday, four days after he was shot by Israeli troops in Nabi Saleh, a village near Ramallah in the central occupied West Bank.
Defense for Children International-Palestine said that Muhammad Haitham Ibrahim Tamimi, 2, was in the back of his father’s car outside their home on Thursday evening “when Israeli forces opened fire indiscriminately.”
The rights group added that the boy was struck in the head and his father was hit in the shoulder. Muhammad was airlifted to a hospital near Tel Aviv, where he later died. Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/palestinian-toddler-dies-after-being-shot-troops
Mossad roots of the bogus IHRA anti-Semitism definition Ali Abunimah EI 08/06/23 The controversial definition of anti-Semitism adopted by the European Union and dozens of countries, local governments and institutions within the bloc has led to “widespread restrictions of the right of assembly and freedom of expression.” That’s one of the sobering findings of a new report from the European Legal Support Center (ELSC), an organization that defends Palestinian rights advocates from pervasive censorship.
The report also draws attention to how the effort to redefine criticism of Israel as anti-Semitism – which eventually culminated in the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism – was originally funded by Mossad, Israel’s notorious global spying and assassination agency. Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/mossad-roots-bogus-ihra-anti-semitism-definition
I saw Israel’s ‘final solution to the Palestinian problem’ in Lebanon 41 years ago, and I see it again today Rev Dr Don Wagner M/Weiss 13/06/2023 . . . We visited a Red Crescent hospital near the Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps the next morning. We were taken to a hospital wing that had been struck by the Israeli bombing the previous day. Suddenly air-raid sirens went off and we were rushed to the basement with the patients and hospital staff. Again, Israeli F-16s were bombing various targets in the area. About twenty minutes later a series of ambulances arrived at the hospital’s emergency entrance and unloaded stretchers carrying teenage girls — some having lost limbs and others enduring severe burns. Hospital workers had just unloaded 19 body bags with girls who had died. As the families of the teenagers began to arrive, learning that their loved ones had been lost, the cries and wailing of the mothers and sisters pierced our hearts. Everyone in our group wept with them. Later, we learned that the UN staff had provided the Israeli military with the route of the Palestinian girls’ field trip, but the military commanders chose to ignore the information, and the three clearly marked UN school buses were targeted on the coastal road.
Continuing forcible displacement and dispossession of Palestinian Christians Jeff Wright M/weiss 15/06/3023 It’s not uncommon that a Christian Palestinian tour guide is asked when his family became Christian, as if they were evangelized by Western missionaries. The polite response? “On the day of Pentecost, some fifty days after Jesus’ resurrection.” A more pointed, perhaps impatient response: “My friend, you became a Christian because my family suffered a harsh Roman occupation to bring the Christian faith to the world.” . . . According to a report released in May, Palestinian Christians: The Forcible Displacement and Dispossession Continues, “There are many who are surprised to learn that Palestine has always been—and still is—the home of a vibrant Christian community. Sadly, there is a real risk that the presence of a Christian community in Palestine will soon come to an end.” Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2023/06/new-report-describes-continuing-forcible-displacement-and-dispossession-of-palestinian-christians/?ml_recipient=91139150749632073&ml_link=91138911755044861&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2023-06-19&utm_campaign=Daily+Headlines
Teen with mental disability shot dead Tamara Nassar EI 15/06/2023
. . . Meanwhile, Israeli occupation forces killed a mentally disabled teenager on Tuesday during their incursion into Balata refugee camp on the outskirts of the West Bank city of Nablus. Israeli soldiers killed Faris Abd al-Munim Hashash, 19, while he was hiding behind a wall and observing the area where the army was stationed about 200 meters away.
He was shot with three live bullets, one in the abdomen and two in his thighs. Israeli forces also injured seven other people, including two children. Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/tamara-nassar/israel-kills-teen-mental-disability-refugee-camp-raid
Merchants of death – Paris Air Show David Cronin EI 20/06/2023
Drones are weapons of domination. Children in Gaza grow up with the sound of these remote controlled warplanes buzzing in their ears. The sound offers a reminder that millions of Palestinians have no privacy. Israel is omnipresent. Drones and helicopters were flown over Jenin this week, as Israel conducted a raid in which six Palestinians were killed.
Little more than a month earlier, drones carried out a total of 115 airstrikes during the latest major offensive against Gaza, according to data published by The Jerusalem Post.
Drones, that newspaper suggested, are central to Israel’s recent military activities. Long used over Gaza, they now make regular appearances in the West Bank. Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/david-cronin/merchants-death-celebrate-israels-dream-paris-air-show
U.K. bill outlaws the boycotting of Israel Michael Arria M/Weiss 20/06/2023
New legislation in the UK’s parliament would prohibit public bodies from boycotting Israel. The bill, which UK Communities Secretary Michael Gove introduced, would include boycotts of the illegally-occupied Palestinian territory and Golan Heights.Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2023/06/u-k-bill-would-outlaw-schools-and-other-public-bodies-from-boycotting-israel/?ml_recipient=91592146654595038&ml_link=91591892282639998&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2023-07-19&utm_campaign=Daily+Headlines
Jerusalem’s Armenian community fears erasure Jessica Bauxbaum M/Weiss 24/06/2023 While Palestinians have long fought against land theft, Jerusalem’s centuries-old Armenian community is now facing their own land rights’ crisis as a property deal threatens to transform part of their neighborhood into a luxury resort. Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2023/06/jerusalems-armenian-community-fears-erasure-after-controversial-land-deal/?ml_recipient=91954371778053813&ml_link=91954269262972481&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2023-07-19&utm_campaign=Daily+Headlines
UK related articles
Penalised by Lloyds Bank for supporting Palestine Michael Arria M/Weiss 02/04/23 During Israel’s assault on Gaza in May 2021 two LBP employees expressed solidarity with Palestinians within LBP’s company chat portal. The bank launched an investigation over the posts and determined that the women had breached the company’s “professional integrity” policies. They were hit with a final written warning for “gross misconduct” that will permanently stay on their internal record at the bank. LBP also notified the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) about the issue, which means that the incident would show up on background checks potentially conducted by future employers. Read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2023/04/lawsuit-two-muslim-women-say-they-were-penalized-by-lloyds-bank-for-supporting-palestine/?ml_recipient=84434987622859782&ml_link=84434726646974059&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2023-04-30&utm_campaign=Daily+Headlines
Britain declares war on a slogan Kit Klarenberg and David Cronin EI 24/04/23 From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free . . . Suella Braverman, the British home secretary, recently complained about “so-called anti-Israel protesters singing anti-Semitic chants like ‘from the river to the sea’ with impunity.” . . . Contending that aspiring for freedom in Palestine amounts to hatred of Jews is patently absurd. The patently absurd arguments of Israel and its supporters are nonetheless taken seriously by the West’s ruling elites. So it comes as little surprise that Britain – which has supposedly protected free speech for centuries – is going to war against a slogan. Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/content/britain-declares-war-slogan/37576
Palestinian book launch scuppered Asa Winstanley EI 17/05/2023
Palestinian author Ghada Karmi’s latest book launch was canceled last week after lobbying by pro-Israel group Yachad, The Electronic Intifada can reveal. The Balfour Project, a charity registered in Scotland, had invited Karmi to speak to rapper and activist Lowkey about her new book One State: The Only Democratic Future for Palestine-Israel at an event scheduled for 11 May. . . Yachad had rung the Balfour Project’s board of trustees, likely the vice-chairperson, former British consul-general in Jerusalem Vincent Fean, a source with inside knowledge told The Electronic Intifada.
The source said that Yachad had “threatened to break any affiliation” with the Balfour Project if they didn’t cancel the talk. Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/asa-winstanley/palestinian-book-launch-scuppered-uk-zionists-yachad
British spies pull the PA’s strings Asa Winstanley & Kit Klarenberg EI 31/05/2023
A cache of leaked documents obtained by The Electronic Intifada reveals the extent of British intelligence penetration of Palestinian Authority forces, including “daily direction” from a UK military officer. The documents detail how shadowy British contractor Adam Smith International (ASI) has influenced the Palestinian Authority for almost 15 years.
They expose several military intelligence trainers, naming names for the first time.
Two of the British agents, including a likely MI6 officer, worked closely with Israeli spies.
Some ASI personnel who worked with the Palestinian Authority are named in the files as also working with the contractor’s controversial “Free Syrian Police” project.
The program used British government funds to support al-Qaida-linked groups fighting the Syrian government – inadvertently, ASI claims. ASI training to the Palestinian Authority is done in Ramallah, Jericho and Jordan, under the ultimate command of a US general, and in coordination with Israel. Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/content/revealed-how-british-spies-pull-pas-strings/37646
Labour’s new bankroller is Israel lobbyist Asa Winstanley EI 10/05/2023
The UK Labour Party’s latest corporate mega-donor is a pro-Israel businessperson whose firm profiteered from South African apartheid. Gary Lubner’s company played an important role busting international sanctions against the South African apartheid regime in the 1980s.
. . . Successive annual reports show that Lubner is a long-standing donor to the United Jewish Israel Appeal, a lobby group with close ties to the state of Israel. Read more: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/asa-winstanley/labours-new-bankroller-israel-lobbyist-south-african-apartheid-profiteer
UK Free Speech Tsar appears to support fraudulent IHRA definition of anti-Semitism R I & Analysis 19/06/3023 Arif Ahmed, a Cambridge philosophy professor, is to become the government’s first “free speech tsar” for higher education in England. He will oversee a regime that could fine universities and student unions. The biggest issue on campuses is the transgender debate and Zionist attacks on Palestine activism – but it was the latter that Professor Ahmed singled out for attention. Read more: https://www.redressonline.com/2023/06/uk-free-speech-tsar-appears-to-support-fraudulent-ihra-definition-of-anti-semitism/
Hugh Humphries
Secretary
Scottish Friends of Palestine
0141 637 8046
info@scottish-friends-of-palestine.org
