michaellevinmusic  

Supporters of the Israeli denial
of equality of rights for
non-Jews, and of the Israeli
ethnic cleansing of non-Jews,
engage in “public relations”
(hasbara― Hebrew: הסברה)
in an attempt to mask Israel’s
horrific violations of
human rights. 

David Zonsheine, Bethlehem, West Bank

The poet Gwendolyn Brooks wrote that poetry
is “life distilled.” Gabriel Ash explores the poetry
of hasbara in his ironically titled essay: “How
to Make the Case for Israel and Win.”   ML

How to make the case for
Israel and win
by
Gabriel Ash

To the benefit of the many not-very-bright
Zionist wannabe apologists who read this 
blog assiduously, I decided to offer a clear
and simple method of arguing the case for
Israel. This clear and simple method has been
distilled from a life spent listening to and
reading Zionist propaganda. It is easy to follow
and results are guaranteed or your money back.

So don't hesitate! Take advantage NOW of
this revolutionary rhetorical system that will
make YOU a great apologist for Israel […].

Ready? 1..2..3..GO!

You need to understand just one principle:

The case for Israel is made of four propositions
that should always be presented in the correct
escalating order.

1. We rock
2. They suck
3. You suck
4. Everything sucks

That's it. Now you know everything that it took
me a lifetime to learn. The rest is details; filling
in the dotted lines.

You begin by saying how great Israel is. Israel
wants peace; Israel is the only democracy in the
Middle East; the desert blooms; kibutz; Israelis
invented antibiotics, the wheel, the E minor scale;
thanks to the occupation Palestinians no longer
live in caves; Israel liberates Arab women; Israel
has the most moral army in the world, etc.

This will win over 50% of your listeners immediately.
Don't worry about the factual content. This is about
brand identity, not writing a PhD. Do you really
think BP is 'beyond petroleum'?

Then you go into the second point: They suck.
Here you talk about the legal system of Saudi
Arabia, gay rights in Iran, slave trade in the Sudan,
Mohammad Atta, the burqa, Palestinians dancing
after 9/11, Arafat's facial hair, etc.

There is only one additional principle you need
to understand here. It will separate you from the
amateurs. You need to know your audience.
If you've got a crowd already disposed to racist
logic, go for it with everything you have. But if
you get a liberal crowd, you need to sugar coat
the racism a bit. Focus on women rights, human
rights, religious tolerance, "clash of civilizations,"
terrorism, they teach their children to hate, etc.
Deep down your audience WANTS to enjoy racism
and feel superior. They just need the proper
encouragement so they can keep their 
sophisticated self-image. Give them what they
crave and they'll adore you! But be careful not to
'mix n match,' because it will cost you credibility.

When you're done, there will always be
dead-enders insisting that abuse of gays in Iran
does not justify ethnic cleansing in Palestine. Take
a deep breath, and pull the doomsday weapon:
You suck!

You're a Jew-hater, Arab-lover, anti-Semite, you're
a pinko, a commie, a dreamer, a naive, a self-hater,
you have issues, your mother worked for the Nazis,
Prince Bandar buys you cookies, you forgot you were
responsible for the Holocaust, etc. The more the
merrier. By the time you end this barrage, only a
handful would be left standing. For mopping them up,
you use the ultimate postmodern wisdom:
Everything sucks.

War, genocide, racism, oppression are everywhere.
From the Roma in Italy to the Native-Americans in
the U.S., the weak are victimized. Why pick on
Israel? It's the way of the world. Look! Right is only
in question between equals in power; the strong do
what they can and the weak suffer what they must.
Ethics, schmethics. Life is a tale told by an idiot, full
of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Eat, drink!
Carpe diem! The Palestinians would throw us into the
sea if they could. Ha ha!

Trust me, that's as far as words can go. If you
followed this method faithfully, you've done your
work. You should leave the few who are still
unconvinced to the forces of order.

Congratulations!
You are now ready to
apologize for Israel like a pro.

Gabriel Ash
Jews sans frontiers
July 18, 2008

[Text highlighted and edited by ML; "Stop
Hasbara" image created and added by ML]

As the Jewish National Fund geared up for its
National Conference in September of 2011, it
was hustling teens to attend a “Teen Leadership
Seminar" to be held as part of the conference.
The publicity for the Seminar seemed to cry out
for a bit of a rewrite; this is my [Michael Levin]
version of their poster, with thanks to South
Pacific's “You've Got to Be Carefully Taught."

How today's liberal Zionists echo 
apartheid South Africa's defenders
by
Rania Khalek

“While the majority of black South African leaders are
against disinvestment and boycotts, there are tiny factions
that support disinvestment — namely terrorist groups such
as the African National Congress,” libertarian economics
professor Walter Williams wrote in a 1983 New York
Times op-ed.

Williams’ claim was as absurd then as it appears in
hindsight, but his sentiment was far from rare on
the American and British right in the 1980s.

Yet today’s so-called progressive and liberal Zionists
employ precisely the same kinds of claims to counter
the growing movement, initiated by Palestinians
themselves, for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS)
on Israel.

Indeed, looking back, it is clear that Israel’s liberal
apologists are recycling nearly every argument once
used by conservatives against the BDS movement
that helped dismantle South Africa’s apartheid regime.

“Singling out”

In a 1989 op-ed for the Christian Science Monitor,
University of South Africa lecturer Anne-Marie Kriek
scolded the divestment movement for singling out
her country’s racist government because, she wrote,
“the violation of human rights is the norm rather
than the exception in most of Africa’s 42
black-ruled states” (“South Africa Shouldn’t be
Singled Out,” 12 October 1989).

Kriek continued, “South Africa is the only country in
Sub-Saharan Africa that can feed itself. Blacks possess
one of the highest living standards in all of Africa,”
adding that nowhere on the continent did black Africans
have it so good. So, “Why is South Africa so harshly
condemned while completely different standards apply to
black Africa?” she asked.

Divestment opponents in the US provided similar
justifications. In 1986, for instance, Gregory Dohi, the
former editor-in-chief of the Salient, Harvard University’s
conservative campus publication, protested that those
calling for the university to divest from companies
doing business in South Africa were “selective in their
morality” (“I am full of joy to realize that I never had
anything to do with any divestment campaign …,”
Harvard Crimson, 4 April 1986).

Divestment was wrong not only because it would “harm”
black workers, Dohi claimed, but because it singled out
South Africa.

Déjà vu

Where have we heard these kinds of arguments before?

Arguing against BDS, The Nation’s Eric Alterman writes,
“The near-complete lack of democratic practices within
Israel’s neighbors in the Arab and Islamic world,
coupled with their lack of respect for the rights of
women, of gays, indeed, of dissidents of any kind —
make their protestations of Israel’s own democratic
shortcomings difficult to credit” (“A Forum on Boycott,
Divestment, Sanctions (BDS),” 3 May 2012).

Alterman’s only update to Kriek’s logic is his mention of
women’s and gay rights, a nod to The Nation readers’
liberal sensitivities.

Alterman’s sometime Nation colleague, reporter Ben Adler,
has also reprised Kriek’s and Dohi’s 1980s-style
arguments: “If you want to boycott Israel itself then you
need to explain why you’re not calling for a boycott of
other countries in the Middle East that oppress their own
citizens worse than Israel does anyone living within the
Green Line” (“The Problems With BDS,” 31 March 2012).

A scary brown majority

The late neoconservative war hawk, and long-time New
York Times columnist William Safire — who in 2002
insisted, “Iraqis, cheering their liberators, will lead the
Arab world toward democracy” — also sympathized
with white supremacist anxieties about the implications
of a single democratic South Africa.

One person, one vote “means majority rule, and
nonwhites are the overwhelming majority in South Africa,”
Safire wrote in a 1986 column. “That means an end to
white government as the Afrikaners have known it for
three centuries; that means the same kind of black
rule that exists elsewhere in Africa, and most white
South Africans would rather remain the oppressors
than become the oppressed” (“The Suzman Plan,”
7 August 1986).

Almost thirty years later, liberal Zionists exhibit the
same empathy with racists in their own hostility toward
the Palestinian right of return, which BDS unapologetically
champions.

Such a scenario would spell the end of Israel’s Jewish
majority, a horrifying prospect for ethno-religious
supremacists who, like whites in South Africa did,
fear the native population they rule.

Cary Nelson, a professor of English at the University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, well-known in academic
circles for his left-liberal activism, conveyed the same fears
in a recent anti-BDS tirade. He argued that “nothing in
decades of Middle East history suggests Jews would be
equal citizens in a state dominated by Arabs or
Palestinians” (“Why the ASA boycott is both disingenuous
and futile,” Al Jazeera America, 23 December 2013).

Nelson’s racism-induced panic is further distilled in a Wall
Street Journal op-ed, where he argues that the BDS
movement seeks “the elimination of Israel,” after which,
“those Jews not exiled or killed in the transition to an
Arab-dominated nation would live as second-class citizens
without fundamental rights” (“Another Anti-Israel Vote
Comes to Academia,” 8 January 2014).

Of course he wouldn’t put it this way, but Nelson fears, in
effect, that Palestinians might do to Jews what the Israeli
settler-colonial regime has done to Palestinians since
its inception.

Relying on puppets

Last December, Mahmoud Abbas, the autocratic puppet
leader of the Palestinian Authority, and chairman of the
Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), declared his
opposition to BDS, leaving Israel and its apologists
predictably overjoyed.

In The New Republic, Leon Wieseltier chides pro-BDS
academics for speaking on behalf of Palestinians. “Who
is Abu Mazen [Abbas] to speak for the Palestinians,
compared with an associate professor of ethnic studies
at the University of California, San Diego?” he quipped
(“The Academic Boycott of Israel Is a Travesty,” 17
December 2013).

Jeffrey Goldberg is just as derisive, writing in his
Bloomberg column that the American Studies Association
— which voted to boycott Israeli institutions — “is more
Palestinian … than the chairman of the Palestine Liberation
Organization” (“Some Lessons in Effective Scapegoating,”
16 December 2013).

These and other liberal Zionists insist that the Israeli
- and US-approved Abbas is the only authentic
representative of Palestinian sentiment. They ignore
the overwhelming support for boycotting Israel
among the Palestinian people.

But for many Palestinians, an apt comparison for Abbas is
with Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi, the black leader of the
Inkatha Freedom Party.

Buthelezi was often denounced by black South Africans as
a collaborator with the white apartheid regime and lauded
by British and American conservative opponents of
sanctions as the true voice of black South Africa.

In a 1985 address to representatives from US companies
operating in South Africa, Buthelezi insisted that the
majority of South African blacks firmly opposed
sanctions because they would “condemn a great
many millions and a whole new generation to
continue living in appalling slum conditions.”

In 1990, Buthelezi came out against an ANC-led campaign
of mass civil disobedience — marches, boycotts and
strikes — throwing his weight instead behind
“cooperation” and“negotiation” with the white regime.

This offers a striking parallel to the present-day Palestinian
Authority which continues to give legitimacy to the endless
“peace process” while suppressing direct action against
the occupation.

Buthelezi was only the most prominent of a handful of
black apologists and collaborators with the apartheid
regime. Others included Lucas Mangope, puppet
leader of the Bophuthatswana bantustan who also
fiercely opposed sanctions that would isolate his
white supremacist paymasters.

Mangope cringed at the idea of a one-person, one-vote
system in South Africa and spent the last days of apartheid
desperately clinging to power over his “independent” island
of repression.

Yet it wasn’t uncommon for US media outlets — including
The New York Times — to label Mangope, and others like
him, “moderate” black leaders.

Israel, it seems, has taken its cues directly from the
apartheid playbook, cultivating a small circle of
Palestinian elites willing to maintain the occupation
in exchange for power and comfort.

And liberal Zionists are more than happy to bolster the
ruse by using these comprised figures’ words against
Palestinians who still insist on their rights.

Think of the workers

When Mobil Corporation was forced to shut down its
operations in South Africa in 1989 due to what it
called “very foolish” US sanctions laws, its chief
executive, Allen Murray, feigned concern for the
impact on black workers.

“We continue to believe that our presence and our
actions have contributed greatly to economic and
social progress for nonwhites in South Africa,” the
oil executive declared (“Mobil Is Quitting South
Africa, Blaming ‘Foolish’ Laws in US,” The New York
Times, 29 April 1989).

Before finally giving in to boycott pressures, Citibank
also justified its refusal to divest by citing its obligation
to the South Africans it employed.

Last month, SodaStream chief executive Daniel Birnbaum
echoed this transparent posturing when he defended the
location of his company’s main production facility in the
illegal Israeli settlement of Maaleh Adumim.

The only thing keeping him from moving the factory,
Birnbaum claims, is his loyalty to some 500
Palestinian SodaStream employees. “We will not
throw our employees under the bus to promote
anyone’s political agenda,” he told The Jewish Daily
Forward (“SodaStream Boss Admits West Bank Plant
Is ‘a Pain’ — Praises Scarlett Johansson,” 28
January 2014).

“Constructive engagement” again?

Scarlett Johansson, the Hollywood actress who resigned
from her humanitarian ambassador role with the
anti-poverty organization Oxfam in order to pursue her
role as global brand ambassador for SodaStream,
applauded the company for “supporting neighbors
working alongside each other, receiving equal pay,
equal benefits and equal rights.”

Such appeals for cooperation with an oppressive status
quo in the face of growing support for BDS mirror
President Ronald Reagan’s insistence on “constructive
engagement” with apartheid South Africa.

While asserting in 1986 that “time is running out for
the moderates of all races in South Africa,” Reagan
opposed sanctions that could foster change. Today,
supporters of the endless Israeli-Palestinian “peace
process” also regularly insist that “time is running out,”
while fiercely opposing BDS.

Reagan praised his British counterpart Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher for having “denounced punitive
sanctions as immoral and utterly repugnant.” Why?
Because “the primary victims of an economic boycott
of South Africa would be the very people we seek to
help,” the president argued (“Transcript of Talk by
Reagan on South Africa and Apartheid,” The New York
Times, 23 July 1986).

The Reagan administration even funded a survey of
black South African workers to prove they loved working
for benevolent American corporations and adamantly
opposed divestment, never mind the fact that advocating
for sanctions under apartheid was a severely
punishable offense.

Fast forward to 2014 and Jane Eisner, editor of the
liberal Jewish Daily Forward publicly hails SodaStream
as the solution to the conflict, using her newspaper to
portray Palestinian workers as grateful to be employed
by the settlement profiteer, sentiments they expressed
while being interviewed under the watchful eyes of their
supervisors.

Taking racism a step further

Today, twenty-first century liberals and progressives who
are ideologically invested in Zionism have embraced the
rationales of racist right-wingers from a bygone era.

What’s more, liberal Zionists have taken the racism a step
further than Reagan and Thatcher ever dared to go with
South Africa.

Although they opposed sanctions, Reagan and Thatcher
regularly denounced apartheid as an unjust system that
needed to be dismantled.

Israel’s apologists, by contrast, firmly support the
maintenance of Israel’s discrimination against Palestinians
with their insistence that the country remain a “Jewish state”
and their continued denial of the Palestinian right of return.

Rania Khalek
Electronic Intifada
February 13, 2014
[Also see Michael Bueckert, "Guest Writer: Israel’s
anti-BDS tactics mirror White South
Africa’s defence of apartheid,” Middle East
Monitor, April 23, 2019; "Pioneer Jewish
South African Freedom Fighter Calls Israel ‘Apartheid
State’ ,” Haaretz, July 28, 2005; Amjad Iraqi,
"Palestinians are tired of proving Israeli apartheid
exists. There is nothing that an annexation bill
can tell us that decades of Israeli laws and policies
haven’t already," +972, June 17, 2020.]

How to fight the Israel-Apartheid
analogy in four easy steps – a guide
for useful Hasbara idiots

by

Ran Greenstein

Step one: But they have the vote

Start with fragmentation. When talking about Israel refer to
a mythical state that existed between November 1966 and
June 1967, the only period during which the majority of
Palestinians living under Israeli control were NOT subject
to military rule. Focus on the fact that Palestinians who
became Israeli citizens have the right to vote. Not quite a
right to vote for any party of their choice (various radical
lists were disqualified over the years) but still, a right to
participate in the elections.

In the process, ignore the 80% of the original inhabitants
of the territories that became part of Israel in 1948, who
have been physically excluded from exercising any civil
and political rights in their homeland. Ignore all those who
live under military occupation in the 1967 territories, with
no right to vote in Israel and no say in the way their
territories are governed by Israel (their own government
has no power over land, water, roads, housing,
development, population registration, and virtually
everything else that is relevant to their lives).

Go back to those citizens (about 15% of all Palestinians)
and assert how fortunate they are. Do not bother to read,
convey, and consider their own feelings, words,
analyses, politics. They have a very different opinion on
the applicability of the notion of apartheid to their own
situation, but why listen? Who is better qualified to
speak on their behalf than you?

Step two: But they started it

If you really have to, talk about the refugees (remember
those 80% mentioned above, who have been excluded
from any presence in Israel?). They have themselves
to blame for their situation. They started the war in
1948 and suffered the consequences, so what do
they want from you now?

In the process avoid paying attention to inconvenient facts:
that long before the 1948 war, all Palestinians residing on
land bought by official Jewish agencies had to leave their
homes. That no tenants living on land owned by official
Zionist agencies were allowed to stay (not even on a small
part of their land) once the land transaction was
completed. That well before 1948, dozens of towns and
hundreds of rural settlements were established by and for
Jewish immigrants, and that not a single one of them
allowed Palestinians to reside within their boundaries,
or even find employment within them, let alone become
full members of the community.

In other words, ignore the ever-expanding zone of
exclusion that was created by the Zionist movement
and its settlement agencies since the beginning of
the 20th century, from which all Palestinians were
barred. Pretend the whole thing started in 1948,
and they were responsible for it. Ignore the
Palestinian refugees, all of whom, regardless
of their personal involvement in military affairs
and political intentions, were equally barred
from returning to Israel after 1948. If you also
manage to ‘forget’ the massive evidence of
ethnic cleansing that took place during that
war, so much the better.

And remember: there are two important tasks to
be performed here: erase all traces of the
exclusion of the majority of Palestinians
from their land (if they are not there, by
definition they cannot be subject to apartheid),
and pre-emptively deny any subsequent claims
(if they lost their citizenship they cannot make
any claim to voting and other rights).

Step three: But we are not alone

As a fallback option, admit that the situation is
not perfect, but you are not the only one
practicing some form of discrimination
or exclusion. If everyone practices apartheid,
then the specific accusation against Israel is no
longer meaningful. Use whatever examples can
bolster your case: Kurds in Turkey, Basques in
Spain, Tibetans in China (and for the more
advanced, Saharawis in Morocco), allow you to
turn the tables against critics: why do they not
protest first against all these other oppressive
regimes? The answer may be that these are
indeed situations in which minority groups are
denied their right to independence. Yet, they
are granted equality and the possibility of full
assimilation if they so desire. Palestinians, in
contrast, have neither independence nor the
option of assimilation and equality, but why
worry about such petty nuances?

Try another tack: what about the
African/Muslim/Caribbean immigrants in
Europe, subject to various restrictions on
immigration, jobs, residence and political
rights? Of course, they are immigrants
rejected by the indigenous majority in
foreign countries, while Palestinians are
indigenous people denied rights in their own
homeland by recently-arrived immigrants,
but so what?

Or, take the legal precedent route: invoke the
right of states to give preferential treatment
to their ‘ethnic kin’ in the diaspora, recognised
by many European countries. But, do not stop to
consider that the very definition of Israel as a
state of the Jewish people (but not of its
indigenous Palestinians) is the source of the
conflict. And that in no European country do
the rights of ethnic kin come at the expense of
the indigenous ethnic groups that do not form
part of the ‘kin’.

Invoke other cases where ethnic and religious
symbols are employed by European states, in
their flag, anthem, crest and so on. That these
states (UK, Greece, Sweden and others) offer
all their citizens equal rights, regardless of
their ethnic or religious origins, and that none
of them allows differential access to resources
based on ethnic or religious identity is best left
out of the discussion. Rather, raise the problem
that Jews and Muslims cannot become UK
monarchs, never mind that 99.9% of Anglicans,
who are not of royal stock, are equally deprived
of that privilege.

Brutal honesty is another useful strategy,
especially when you can go back to the classics:
the Turks did it to the Greeks, and the Greeks
did it to the Turks. The Indians did it to the
Muslims, and the Pakistanis to the Hindus, the
Czechs and the Poles to the Germans, and the
Germans, before them, to everybody else. And
keep up to date: the Serbs, Croats, and Bosnians
have done it to each other. And, you have not
even mentioned yet the great massacres and
millions of deaths from enslavement, forced
labour, dislocation, and diseases, which
afflicted colonized populations in Africa and
the Americas. Why single Israel out, then? Why
are Israelis the only ones who have to meet
the charges of apartheid?

In those cases above (Turkey-Greece,
India-Pakistan, and so on), only a few percent
of the respective populations were affected,
while in 1948 Palestine 60% of the original
indigenous population (of the entire country)
became refugees; in those cases above, the bulk
of the respective population remained rooted in
their own territories, and retained their
independence, while in the case of 1948
Palestine the entire society was dislocated and
lost its ability to rule itself. But these are mere
technicalities, so avoid them at will.

More importantly, in all those cases, the acts of
dispossession, eviction, expulsion, dislocation,
confiscation, were once-off events, even if their
impact was of a long duration. Historical tragedies
and great injustices they were indeed, no doubt,
but life gradually returned to normal after that.
Not so in Israel/Palestine: the government,
parliament, political parties, military authorities,
construction companies, various religious and
social movements, and media organisations,
continue relentlessly to re-enact the historical
dispossession on a regular basis. It is not just the
Nakba of 1948 that matters: an ongoing
onslaught on Palestinians’ land, rights and
demographic presence is the central issue in
Israeli politics today (and has been for decades
though not always with the same intensity).
Literally, not a day passes without a new initiative,
bill, law, regulation, and campaign to restrict,
marginalise, exclude, silence and oppress
Palestinians and any others (including Jews)
who try to defend them and what remains of
Israeli democracy.

But we digress. All this can be easily
explained away by the ultimate weapon:
security!

Step four: But we need security

And if all else fails, invoke the magic word,
security. You are only in it for security. All
you care about is survival. You build a security
fence (on and through other people’s land),
you have security settlements (on other
people’s property), you strive to secure your
existence, your boundaries, your
demographic balance, your power, your rights.

You maintain the occupation because of
security fears (even if you were far more secure
before it), you neither annex the occupied
territories (because their residents would
endanger your security) nor do you leave them
(because to do so would constitute a threat to
your security), you establish settlements because
of security reasons (even if most settlers openly
deny that), you let Jews move freely in and out
of the country and burden Palestinians with
dozens of laws, hundreds of road blocks,
thousands of military regulations, all because
of security. You maintain a dual legal system
(due to security), different roads (for security
reasons), differential access to land and water
(needless to say why), and different education
systems (the s-word is responsible again).
What does all that have to do with apartheid?

Ran Greenstein
[Associate Professor in the Department
of Sociology at the University of the
Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa]
Israeli Occupation Archive
November 20, 2011

On “Pinkwashing”:                                                                                          

"Zionists love to ask me, “How would
you fare in Gaza?” to which I love to
respond, “How would I get to Gaza?”
— Saffo Papantonopoulou

Pinkwashing Exposed: Seattle Fights Back

“Pinkwashing" is a term activists have coined
for when countries engaged in terrible human
rights violations promote themselves as
"gay friendly" to improve their public image.
Israel is the country most famous for this
strategy, having initiated it as part of a
rebranding campaign that it has been engaged
in for the last decade. In 2012, activists in
the Pacific Northwestern region of the US
responded to an Israeli Consulate-funded
pinkwashing tour featuring Israeli gay and
lesbian activists that were coming to the
region. Local queer Palestine solidarity
activists exposed the "Rainbow Generations" tour as
pro-Israel propaganda and got some of the
events, including the tour's centerpiece event
hosted by the City of Seattle's LGBT Commission,
cancelled. A significant backlash ensued involving
the Seattle City Council and Seattle's leading LGBT
and HIV organizations. Through the inspiring
story of these activists' victory, Pinkwashing
Exposed explores how pinkwashing works and
what local activists are doing to fight back.”

Schulman, Sara. “Israel and Pinkwashing,’” New York
Times, November 22, 2011.  [Note: “A more
detailed documentary history of Brand Israel,
Israel’s campaign to re-brand itself in the
minds of the world, as well as the development of
pinkwashing as a funded, explicit and deliberate
marketing project within Brand Israel, also
written by Sara Schulman,” is available here:
"A documentary guide to ‘Brand Israel’ and the
art of pinkwashing,” Mondoweiss, November
30, 2011.]

BDSMovement.net. “Say No to Pinkwashing,”
Campaign Area. ["Pinkwashing is an Israeli
government propaganda strategy that cynically
exploits LGBTQIA+ rights to project a
progressive image while concealing Israel’s
occupation and apartheid policies oppressing
Palestinians….Anti-pinkwashing activists and
groups have pushed Palestinian rights to the
forefront of Pride events across the world.
More than 100 LGBTQIA+ groups supported
the call from Palestinian queers to boycott
Eurovision 2019 in apartheid Tel Aviv. Dozens
of queer filmmakers have withdrawn or opposed
screenings of their films at TLVFest, the Israeli
government-sponsored LGBT film festival in
Tel Aviv.”]

DecolonizePalestine.com. “Pinkwashing.”
["This article will explore in further detail
how pinkwashing functions and the
detrimental impact it has had and
continues to have on all Palestinians,
but especially queer Palestinians. It will
also push back against the idea, present
even in some critiques of Israeli
pinkwashing, that Israel would be a
queer haven “if only” there was no
occupation, or that Zionism and queer
liberation could eventually become
compatible…. The pinkwashing of Israel
relies on the understanding that the East
remains stubbornly backwards regarding
homosexuality because of a refusal to learn
from Western progressivism. However, as
Joseph A. Boone outlines in “The Homoerotics
of Orientalism”, this is ignoring several
hundred years of history where “it was
the uptight Christian West that accused
the debauched Muslim East of harboring
what it euphemistically called the ‘male
vice’ (sodomy)”….These efforts to transcend
these contradictions can best be understood
through the lens of homonationalism. This
term was coined by Jasbir K. Puar in her
excellent Terrorist Assemblages:
Homonationalism in Queer Times. In it she
describes homonationalism as the
framework in which certain homosexual
constituencies are able to embrace and be
embraced by nationalist agendas, including
the imperial expansion endemic to the war on
terror. Basically, (primarily, but not exclusively)
white cisgender queers can assimilate into the
nation, such as through openly joining the
national army and buying into a combination
of ethnic chauvinism, religious nationalism,
toxic masculinity, and the Islamophobia so
crucial to the war on terror.”]

Jewish Voice for Peace. “Pinkwashing,” [an
older (2016?), online collection of resources
regarding pinkwashing]. 

Global Social Theory. “Jasbir Puar,” (discussion of
“homonormativity" and “homonationalism”).
["Jasbir Puar (1967) is a queer theorist who
primarily works on the intersection of sexuality,
race and geopolitics. In particular, Puar is known
for proposing the concept of ‘homonationalism’,
which illustrates how homosexuality – and in
particular homonormativity, the adoption of
heteronormative values by the ‘queer’ community
– is instrumentalised as part of nationalist and
geopolitical interventions. In her book ‘Terrorist
Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times’
(2007), she further demonstrates how both
‘pinkwashing’ (the outward adoption of LGBT
friendliness to appear progressive and/or sell
products/services/ideas to the queer community)
and ‘gay shame’ (the shame associated with being
LGBT+) are used as part of (counter)terrorism.]

Kuntsman, Adi. "Queerness as Europeanness:
Immigration, Orientialist Visions and Racialized
Encounters in Israel/Palestine,” Darkmatter Journal,
May 2, 2008. ["As many studies of Israeli GLBT
organising show, the dominant Israeli queer
culture is complicit with racial and colonial
formations. The mainstream GLBT politics
in Israel are almost exclusively Jewish-Ashkenazi
and middle class; Israeli queer’s claims of
citizenship are based on patriotism and
militarism; and many gay night clubs
apply racial(ized) selection at the entrance,
a ‘face control’ of sorts where some Mizrahi
men are denied entrance. The growing queer
presence in Israel, and GLBTs claims to rights
and visibility are undoubtly important. But
such a presence, often oriented to the ‘West’,
and usually uncritical of its own racial and
class privileges, figures the queer as white,
European, and ‘progressive’, juxtaposing it
to all those who are marked as ‘traditional’
and backward’. The Israeli queer scene, in
other words, is saturated with the notion of
European superiority; queerness becomes
Europeanness. And just as in the case of the
Russia-speaking media, immigrant queers
seem to adopt Europeanness as symbolic
capital in negotiating their place in Israeli
society and the GLBT scene.”]

Letson, Robyn. “Coming Out? Against Apartheid:
A Roundtable about Queer Solidarity with Palestine,”
Upping the Anti, #11, 2011.

Sager, Maggie. "Palestinian queer
activists challenge the ‘pinkwashing’
of the Israeli occupation,” alQaws,
February 16, 2011. ["Queer Palestinians,
like Afghan and Iraqi women, have
consistently found their discourse co-opted
by neo-conservative hawks and progressives
alike in order to justify war and occupation
under the assumption that such actions will
‘liberate’ the oppressed….The clearest
message resounding from all three speakers
was that if one actually cares about LGBT rights
within Palestine, one should be working to end
the occupation. That Israel has cultivated a
vibrant and open gay enclave is laudable, yet
such accomplishments do not give the ‘Jewish
State’ a free pass to violate human rights,
including the rights of the gay Palestinians
they allegedly care for. As Haneen dryly
explained, “It doesn’t matter what the sexual
orientation of the Soldier at a checkpoint is,
whether he can serve openly or not. What
matters is that he’s there at all.” Sami echoed
the same sentiment, jibing that “the apartheid
wall was not created to keep Palestinian
homophobes out of Gay Israel, and there
is no magic door for gay Palestinians to
pass through.”] 

Kaufman, David. “Is Israel Using Gay Rights to
Excuse Its Policy on Palestine?” Time, May 13, 2011.
[Excerpt: “The Israeli government and its propaganda
organs ... insist on advertising and exaggerating its
recent record on LGBT rights ... to fend off international
condemnation of its violations of the rights of the
Palestinian people," says Joseph Massad, associate
professor of modern Arab politics and intellectual
history at Columbia University in New York City.”]

Doherty, Benjamin. "Pinkwashing and the Gay
International,” Electronic Intifada, June 2, 2011.
[Excerpt: "IGY is one of the main LGBTQ youth
organizations in Israel; unfortunately, not only
is it complicit with Israel’s policies, but it also
systematically promotes and proactively supports
the same structures that oppress and discriminate
against Palestinians. As we have already mentioned
in our first letter, IGY works closely with the Israeli
Defense Forces (IDF) in recruiting young queers to
the army – a clear proof that IGY is not only a gay
organization, but a homonationalist one that plays
an active role in maintaining the same oppressive
political system that we are working hard to resist.”] 

The Queer Shadow Gallery Collective. “Que(e)rying the
Israel-linked GayMiddleEast.com: a statement by
Arab queers,” June 23, 2011.

Doherty, Benjamin. "Arab activists
question Israel-linked GayMiddleEast.com,” Electronic
Intifada,  June 23, 2011. ["A group of Arab activists
and human rights organizations have issued a
statement about the Israeli-linked group
GayMiddleEast.com. This organization was
founded in 2003 by Shabi Assaf Gatenio,
and has recently appeared in the media
after the exposure of the Amina hoax
presenting itself as the credible and
authentic voice of LGBT Arabs.”]

Doherty, Benjamin. "Pinkwashing: “MotherTeresa
with a keffiyeh” by marc3pax,”
Electronic Intifada, June 24, 2011.
["Pinkwashing is a phenomenon that
Palestine solidarity activists have become
vocal in resisting.”]

pinkwatcher. “On Race, Palestine, and “Dividing the Gay
Community,” Pinkwatching Israel, October 21, 2011.
[Excerpt: "But what is happening now is nothing new.
Every social movement has at some point been fractured
along the lines of race, class, gender, and sexuality, and
ours is no exception. The second wave of feminist
organizing in the US excluded lesbians, transfolk,
and marginalized the voices of women of color.
The critique leveled at the movement at the
time by people of color such as bell hooks
and Audre Lorde was its assumption of
homogeneity, of having priorities and discourses
defined and set by those in positions of privilege
but who claimed to speak for all. The exact same
thing is happening now in the LGBT movement
on a global scale. We would do well to learn
from this history.”]

Pinkwatcher. "Divine Obfuscation: The
“Non-Political” Myth,” Pinkwatching Israel,
November 9, 2011. ["By claiming to be
non-political they are making the very
political decision to ignore the plight
of the Palestinians. By claiming to be
non-political, they are accepting the
apartheid wall around Bethlehem,
and the illegal Israeli settlements in
Jerusalem. There is no such as thing
as non-political. What these groups
really mean is that they have the
privilege of ignoring discrimination
against Palestinians, and that they
will take advantage of that privilege
because their interfaith and LGBT
“solidarity” efforts must fit within
a specific agenda of Israeli
occupation. LGBT solidarity and
interfaith dialog are admirable
goals, and will certainly be a core
part of creating a stronger, Middle
East. However, true solidarity and dialog
will not amplify one set of voices will
continuing to silence the voices of the
Palestinians.”]

Pinkwatcher. "ROADMAP TO DISPOSESSION:
Exposing IGY’s Program for the World
LGBTQ Youth Leaders Summit in Tel Aviv,”
Pinkwatching Israel, November 28, 2011.
[A visual roadmap exposing Israel’s gay
youth’s program for the World LGBT
Youth Leaders Summit in Tel Aviv.”]

Kouri-Towe, Natalie. “Trending Homonationalism,”
NoMorePotlucks.com. 2012. [Excerpt: Homonationalism
functions in complementary ways to Edward Said’s
concept of Orientalism, which describes how the
West produces knowledge and dominates ‘the
Orient’ through academic, cultural and discursive
processes. Like Orientalism, homonationalism
speaks to the ways Western powers (such as the
U.S. and Canada) circulate ideas about other
cultures (like Arab and Islamic cultures) in order
to produce the West as culturally, morally, and
politically advanced and superior. However,
unlike Orientalism, homonationalism speaks
particularly to the way gender and sexual rights
discourses become central to contemporary
forms of Western hegemony.”]

Horesh, Uri. “Israel’s pinkwashing exposed as
dishonest at New York debates,” Electronic Intifada,
April 6, 2012.

Alpert, Rebecca and Katherine
Franke. “Boycotting Equality
Forum’s Israeli Sponsorship,”
Tikkun, May 10, 2012.

Silverstein, Richard. “U.S. Gay
Rights Activists: Stop Pinkwashing
Palestinian Suffering!” Tikun
Olam, June 7, 2012.

Liphshiz, Cnaan, "Israel Advocates Play Gay
Card,” Haaretz, June 12, 2009. [Excerpt:
"Tel Aviv's burgeoning gay scene may be the
single most effective Israel-advocacy
instrument in the Zionist toolbox, according
to participants of a new program which uses
Israel's vibrant gay culture to improve the
country's image abroad.”]

Meronek, Toshio. “De-
Pinkwashing Israel,”Truthout,
November 17, 2012.

alQaws. "From Pinkwashing to
Pinkwatching,” February 1, 2013.
["alQaws is pleased by the increasing
debate around pinkwashing and the
growing local and international activism
dedicated to counter pinkwashing
activities and to challenge the discourse
around it. In the last year we witnessed
a move from Pinkwashing to proactive
and strategized pinkWATCHING efforts.”]

Schulman, Sarah. Israel/Palestine and
the Queer International, Durham, NC,
Duke University Press Books, 2012.
["Sarah Schulman is a longtime AIDS
and queer activist, and a cofounder
of the MIX Festival and the ACT UP Oral
History Project. She is a playwright and
the author of seventeen books….She is
Distinguished Professor of the Humanities
at The City University of New York,
College of Staten Island.”]

Alsaafin, Linah. "Though small, Palestine’s
queer movement has big vision,” Electronic
Intfada, July 12, 2013.

Doherty, Benjamin. “Reviving
Pinkwashing and Zionist fantasies
of violence against queers and
transgender people,” Electtronic
Intifada, February 27, 2013.

Papantonopoulou, Saffo. “Even
a Freak Like You Would Be Safe
in Tel Aviv": Transgender Subjects,
Wounded Attachments, and the
Zionist Economy of Gratitude,”
WSQ Women's Studies Quarterly,
Jananuary 2014, 42(1):278-293.
[Excerpt: "In 2007, the Israeli
foreign ministry officially
launched a campaign called
Brand Israel. With professional
corporate PR firms hired to
revitalize the apartheid state’s
international image, a total of
almost $20 million was set aside
for Israeli state propaganda in that
year alone. This rebranding
campaign, which persists today,
has consisted of multiple different
tactics. The tactic that has received
perhaps the most attention, and
theone with which I am the most
concerned here, is what has been
dubbed by Palestine solidarity
activists as “pinkwashing”….(T)he
question I want to pose, then, is
where, in the age of neoliberalism
and homonationalism, is the
transgender subject relative to
colonial economies of gratitude?
Ironically, to the extent to which
this question is beginning to be
addressed within the academy,
responses to pinkwashing as it
relates to transgender subjectivities
and politics have followed the gradual
“inclusion” of transgender subjects
into homonationalism.”]  

Meronek, Toshio. “Exposing Israel’s ‘Pinkwashing’,”
Common Dreams, June 23, 2014. [Originally published
by Waging Nonviolence]

Shalhoub-Kevorkian, Nadira, Sarah
Ihmoud, and Suhad Dahir-Nashif,
“Sexual Violence, Women’s Bodies,
and Israeli Settler Colonialism,”
Jadaliyya, November 17, 2014.

Abunimah, Ali. "AP corrects story falsely
claiming homosexuality is illegal for Palestinians,”
Electronic Intifada, July 7, 2015. 

Shabi, Rachel. “Israel, the rainbow flag and the
'pinkwashing’ problem. The country’s championing
of gay rights is a mere public relations activity,”
Al Jazeera, July 16, 2015.

Abunimah, Ali. “AP finds new ways to smear Palestinians
over same-sex rights,” Electronic Intifada, July 30, 2015.
[Excerpt: "Earlier this month, after being contacted by
The Electronic Intifada, the Associated Press retracted
the false claim that same-sex sexual relations are illegal
under Palestinian law. No longer able to disseminate this
fabrication, AP has seemingly come up with new tactics
to smear Palestinians and put a positive gloss on
Israel….Pinkwashing…”]

Shafie, Ghadir. "Pinkwashing: Israel’s
International Strategy and Internal Agenda,”
Kohl: A Journal for Body and Gender Research
Vol. 1, No. 1 (Summer 2015).  Download
the original pdf here.
[Excerpt: "One of the techniques Israel
uses in its pinkwashing campaigns is
to fabricate myths about “saving” Palestinian
queers from their homophobic and
oppressive families and communities by
bringing them to live in Tel Aviv – the
ultimate gay haven. Tel Aviv may be a
gay heaven for Jewish Israeli citizens,
or even for the hundreds of visitors who
engage in gay tourism. However, it is
neither friendly nor a haven for Palestinian
LGBTs and queers.”]

#CancelPinkwashing. “Post Creating
Change — A response from
#CancelPinkwashing,” January 27, 2016.

pinkwatcher. “Boycott Tel Aviv Pride
2016,” Pinkwatching Israel, May 27,
2016. [Includes six videos.]

Fox, Stephanie. “In Praise of Discomfort:
Learning From Dr. King and Confronting
Pinkwashing,” TruthOut, January 22, 2016.
[Excerpt: "Where am I behaving like the white
moderate who King so brilliantly takes to
task? Where is my community choosing
comfort over the urgent need for action?
Where do we want negative peace? Where
do we question the tactics of the oppressed
in their struggles for freedom? As a queer
Jew, the desire for the absence of tension
comes up most in my communities on
discussions of Palestine-Israel. King’s
teachings in that letter have everything
to do with why I asked the National Gay
and Lesbian Task Force to cancel two
events at their upcoming Creating
Change conference.”]

Behrendt, Liza. "Shutting Down a
Pinkwashing Event Is a Smart, Legitimate
Protest Against Israel's Occupation. We
shouldn’t expect Palestinians and their
allies to stop protesting for justice or
temper their message because of the
emotional toll on Jews,” Ha’aretz,
January 28, 2016.

Pasch, Jimmy. "LGBTQ Protests Against
Israel Are About Justice, Not Anti-Semitism.
Israel uses a reductive version of “gay rights”
to market itself with a positive, welcoming
image—despite its egregious human rights
abuses against Palestinians,” In These Times,
January 29, 2016. [Excerpt: "I first heard the term
“pinkwashing” at an event in Seattle four years
ago, where I saw that, as a Jewish queer, I was
the prime target for Israel’s latest public
relations strategy: marketing Israel as an
LGBTQ-friendly destination to shift focus
from its human rights abuses against all
Palestinians. A successful push by local
activists to cancel an Israel-sponsored
speaking event of LGBT Israelis had been
followed by intense backlash from several
LGBTQ and Jewish organizations. At a
report-back, Palestinian and Jewish activists
clarified why they had organized to cancel
the tour and led a discussion on pinkwashing,
insisting that, as queer people, we ask critical
questions about the use of our identities.
Which queer voices are allowed to be heard?
Whose experiences are erased? What power
structures are these narratives upholding?”]

Barrows-Friedman, Nora. “Israel’s first
trans officer helps with ethnic
cleansing,” Electronic Intifada,
April 12, 2017. [Excerpt: “Queer
and transgender activists protested
an event featuring an Israeli
soldier in Seattle on 5 April.
The event was supported by the
LGBTQ Commission, a body
that advises city leaders on lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgender
issues. Two commissioners
resigned in protest just days
earlier, criticizing the group’s
participation as an act of
pinkwashing. Pinkwashing is a
public relations strategy that
deploys Israel’s supposed
enlightenment toward LGBTQ
issues to deflect criticism
from its human rights abuse
and war crimes and as a means
to build up support for Israel
among Western liberals
and progressives.”]

Bratt, Scout. "Yes, Our Anti-Israel Protest Disrupted
LGBT Conference — That's the Point!” The Forward,
January 28, 2016. [Excerpt: “It’s because of this
interconnected struggle that we can’t sit quietly
and watch pinkwashing organizations like A Wider
Bridge paper over Israel’s harmful policies toward
Palestinians — policies that harm gay Palestinians
in Haifa as well as in Ramallah. This pinkwashing
is an integral part of Israel’s “Brand Israel” public
relations strategy, which appeals to racist ideas
of Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims as backward
and intolerant in contrast to the supposedly
enlightened Western liberalism of Israel. A
superficial embrace of “gay rights” has been
used as an effective way to advertise Israel’s
Western identity, at the expense of Palestinians
who are portrayed as needing to be “saved”
by Israeli liberalism — even as they are
simultaneously denied equal rights in the
Jewish state. Pinkwashing erases queer
Palestinians, or uses them as props for a
savior narrative, while intentionally
distracting from the oppression and
violence that they face under Israeli rule.”]

Barrows-Friedman, Nora. “Artists ditch
Israel’s pinkwashing film festival,”
Electronic Intifada, June 1, 2017.

Dolsten, Josefin and JTA. "Jerusalem Chief Rabbi
Calls Homosexuality ‘A Wild Lust That Needs to Be
Overcome’: 'It would be better if they cast off their
kippah and Shabbat [observance] and show their
true faces,' the rabbi said,” Haaretz, July 24, 2019.
[Excerpt: "The Sephardi chief rabbi of Jerusalem
said gay people cannot be religious Jews and
called homosexuality “a wild lust that needs to
be overcome.” Rabbi Shlomo Amar made the
remarks last week during a sermon.”] 

Ginsburg, Mitch. “Army’s ‘gay soldiers’ photo was staged,
is misleading: Male soldiers holding hands in IDF’s viral
photograph are not a couple, only one is gay, and they
both serve in spokesman’s unit,” Times of Israel,
June 12, 2012.

Abunimah, Ali. “Chicago Dyke March
accuser A Wider Bridge has record of
fabrications,” Electronic Intifada,
June 26, 2017.

Marom, Yael. “LGBTQ Israelis come out against occupation
and homophobia: In response to online homophobic
attacks, over 50 LGBTQ left-wing activists and NGO
workers in Israel-Palestine release a statement
condemning the occupation, racism and
pinkwashing,” +972, June 5, 2017.

Wise, Rabbi Alissa. “JVP: Reactions To Our Parade Protest
Were ‘Cruel,’ ‘Homophobic,’ and ‘Hyperbolic,’ The Forward
[Scribe], June 7, 2017. [Excerpt: "To be absolutely clear:
JVPers did not target vulnerable youth; they targeted a
jingoistic, nationalist parade to defend and celebrate a
state that denies equal rights for all its citizens, brutally
controls Palestinian life and land and fits the international
definition of an apartheid state. / Yesterday, the 50th year
to the day of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza,
and East Jerusalem, the JVP staff began our weekly staff
meeting by asking each other to answer a simple yet
difficult question: “Why is the Israeli occupation still
ongoing?” The discussion that followed was profound,
particularly in the wake of the backlash from our actions.
Reflecting on the words of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr., the answer that emerged for me was not Donald
Trump or Netanyahu. It was the moderates in the
Jewish community.”]

Maikey, Haneen. “Why We Should
Boycott Gay Pride in Tel Aviv,”
Newsweek, June 9, 2017.

Boggio Éwanjé-Épée , Felix, and Stella
Magliani-Belkacem, "The Empire of Sexuality:
An Interview with Joseph Massad,” Jadaliyya,
March 5, 2013. [Excerpt: “(W)hat I insist on is
that “sexuality” itself, as an epistemological
and ontological category, is a product of
specific Euro-American histories and social
formations, that it is a Euro-American
“cultural” category that is not universal
or necessarily universalizable.”] 

alQaws. "alQaws Statement re: media response to
Israel's blackmailing of gay Palestinians.” September
19, 2014. [Excerpt: "we are dismayed by what we
have noticed in the tone of some critical responses
to these revelations of Israeli Intelligence Unit 8200’s
practices.  These responses have a disappointed air,
as if they were saying, ‘Behave, Israel, we know you
are better than this,’ and more, a triumphant tone in
pointing out the hypocrisy of Israeli pinkwashing, but
only on a superficial level, ‘Israel isn't all that
progressive on gay issues, if they're running around
extorting gay Palestinians.’ But this is misleading.
The fact is, Israel is a military colonial power that
lacks good intentions toward any Palestinian people
it controls and such practices of surveillance and
entrapment are central to, even constitutive of, the
Israeli military state.  This chiding discourse
re-colonizes our bodies by implicitly suggesting
that queer Palestinians look to Israel as our savior,
another repetition of a familiar and toxic colonial
fantasy - that the colonizer can provide something
important and necessary that the colonized cannot
possibly provide for themselves.”]

Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural
Boycott of Israel (PACBI). “Surge in Support for Boycott
of Israeli LGBT Film Festival Shows Growing Respect for
Palestinian Picket Line: Fourteen filmmakers and other
artists declared their support for boycotting Israeli
government sponsored TLVFest,”  BDSmovement.net,
June 9, 2017.

Maikey, Haneen. "Why We Should Boycott
Gay Pride in Tel Aviv,” Newsweek, June 9, 2017.

Fox, Anna. “I’m a queer Jewish student. Is my acceptance
in organized Jewish communities conditional?” Jewschool,
June 14, 2017. [Excerpt: “Jewish institutional support for
queer Jews is conditional on their adherence to the
partyline on Israel-Palestine.”]

pinkwatcher. “Campaigners complain to IGLTA [International
Gay and Lesbian Travel Association] about complicity of
Israeli travel agencies,” Pinkwatching Israel, June 19, 2017.

rad fag. “Happening Now: Trans-led Coalition Shuts
Down Chicago Pride Parade," radfag.com, June 25, 2017.

Gupta, Amith. “Anti-Semitism accusations against
‘Dyke March’ prove pro-Israel lobby will torch LGBT
rights for marginalized people,” Mondoweiss, July 4, 2017.

Marom, Yael. “No more waiting: LGBTQ Israelis
must take the rights they deserve: The Israeli
government doesn’t believe LGBTQ Israelis should
be able to adopt children, yet continues to tell the
world what a wonderful place Israel for the queer
community,” +972, July 18, 2017. [Excerpt: "The time
has come to understand that between the
Nation-State Law, attacks on the “left-wing media,”
and Netanyahu’s corruption scandals, the LGBTQ
community is one of the last remaining fig leafs
propping up the deceitful image of Israel as a
Western, liberal country. The community has
great deal of power, and it’s time to stop playing nice.”]

Abunimah, Ali. “Video: Israeli pinkwashing protested
at Berlin pride parade,” Electronic Intifada, July 25, 2017.
[Excerpt: “Pinkwashing is the public relations strategy
that deploys Israel’s supposed enlightenment toward
LGBTQ issues to deflect criticism from its human
rights abuses. It often involves gross exaggerations
of Israel’s progressive policies, accompanied by outright
lies about Palestinians.”]

Farsakh, Leila, Rhoda Kanaaneh & Sherene
Seikaly. "Special Issue: Queering Palestine,
Introduction,” Journal of Palestine Studies,
47:37-12, 2018.

Elia, Nada. “Don't try to stop us from denouncing Israel’s
pinkwashing. Criticising the Israeli propaganda tactic
does not get in the way of activism against society’s
many other oppressive systems,” Middle East Eye,
April 19, 2018. [Excerpt: “Israeli snipers with orders
to shoot anyone who approaches the illegal “border”
do not stop to inquire about their target's gender
identity before pulling the trigger.”]

Kelleher, Patrick. “LGBT performers to boycott
Eurovision in Israel with online broadcast,”
PinkNews, April 24, 2019. [Excerpt: “A number
of artists—including LGBT+ and drag performers
—will be boycotting this year’s Eurovision Song
Contest with an alternative online broadcast. The
broadcast, which is called Globalvision, will air
online at the same time as the Eurovision final
in Tel Aviv as a part of the Boycott, Divestment,
Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.”]

Alqaisiya, Walaa. “Decolonial Queering: The
Politics of Being Queer in Palestine,” Journal
of Palestine Studies 47, no. 3 (2018): 29–44,

Marom, Yael. “LGBTQ activists block Tel Aviv Pride
March: 'There is no pride in occupation’ / The
activists were protesting what they called the Israeli
government’s cynical exploitation of the LGBTQ
community to appear liberal and progressive and
cover up its violation of Palestinians’ human rights
in Gaza and the West Bank," +972, June 8, 2018.

Abunimah, Ali. “LGBTQ filmmakers refuse to let Israel
use them to pinkwash its crimes,” Electronic Intifada,
June 8, 2018.

Shezaf, Hagar, and Jonathan Jacobson. “Revealed:
Israel's Cyber-spy Industry Helps World Dictators
Hunt Dissidents and Gays; Haaretz investigation
spanning 100 sources in 15 countries reveals Israel
has become a leading exporter of tools for spying on
civilians. Dictators around the world – even in countries
with no formal ties to Israel – use them eavesdrop on
human rights activists, monitor emails, hack into apps
and record conversations, Haaretz, October 19, 2018. 

Schulman, Sarah. "How the BDS movement convinced
‘Transparent’ creator Jill Soloway to shoot in L.A.
instead of Israel,” Mondoweiss, October 20, 2018.

Abdulhadi, Rabab. “Israeli Settler Colonialism in
Context: Celebrating (Palestinian) Death and
Normalizing Gender and Sexual Violence,”
Feminist Studies 45, no. 2 (2019): 541–73.

Ghanayem, Eman. “Colonial Loops of
Displacement in the United States and
Israel: The Case of Rasmea Odeh,” Women’s
Studies Quarterly 47, no. 3 (2019): 71–91.  

Hylton, Riri. "LGBTQ groups call for Eurovision boycott,”
Electronic Intifada, February 1, 2019. [Excerpt: “The
organization alQaws for Sexual and Gender Diversity
in Palestinian Society contends that Israel is engaged
in pinkwashing – the cynical use of LGBTQ rights by
states and corporations to downplay their negative
activities. Haneen Maikey, director of alQaws, said
that “Israel is using Eurovision as pop culture
diplomacy” and is seeking to “exploit” the
competition’s LGBTQ fans. Maikey alleged that
Israel was “feigning support for gay rights while
it incarcerates millions of indigenous Palestinians
in bantustans.”]

Skora, Stephanie. "A Wider Bridge: the “gay rights”
group funded by homophobes,” Electronic Intifada,
February 25, 2019. [Excerpt: "A Wider Bridge receives
funding directly from organizations with a long and
troubling pattern of giving to groups that could be
classified as right-wing, anti-gay, anti-Muslim,
pro-settlement; campus-specific organizations
dedicated to those causes; or agents and politicians
in the Republican Party. All eight of their publicly
available institutional funders have repeatedly
given to organizations that fit these categories.”]
Also see Stephanie Skora, “Pride with Prejudice:
Exposing a Wider Bridge’s Right Wing Funding,”
36 page pdf readable and downloadable here.

Fem Newsmagazine. "Feminism 101: What
is Pinkwashing?” March 2, 2019. [“Excerpt:
Perhaps the most noted example of
pinkwashing is Israel’s public relations
campaign to promote itself as the “gay mecca”
of the Middle East. This campaign emerged
in direct response to “bad press” it received
for human rights violations, particularly
following global media coverage of the Sabra
and Shatila Massacre. / Activists have
problematized pinkwashing efforts as
an attempt to mask and legitimize Israel’s
human rights abuses against Palestinians,
regardless of sexuality. Queer Palestinians
are not spared when Palestinians are
bombed en masse, nor are they given a
free pass out of Gaza. They are not exempt
from marginalization under Israeli apartheid,
and in fact suffer compounded violences as
hyper-transgressive individuals. Palestine’s
queers suffer the violences of settler colonialism
and occupation alongside homophobia and
transphobia. / Furthermore, queer Palestinians
are subject to epistemic violence as their
identities are routinely erased and manipulated.
Under a narrative that relegates queerness to
non-Arab spaces, Israel binarizes their identities
into the mutually exclusive categories of
“Palestinian” and “queer,” while obscuring
violence against Palestinians as a whole.
Alternatively, Israel posits itself as the savior
of Palestinian and Arab queers. Under this
inherently orientalist and Islamophobic
rhetoric, Palestinian society is deemed
backwards and Palestinian queers in need
of saving (by Israelis). / Israel’s campaign
is particularly ironic in light of its lacking
LGBT rights record. For instance, due to
Orthodox religious law, Israel bans gay
couples from participating in marriage
and adoption. Along this vein, pro-Israel
lobby AIPAC boasts the State’s progressive
stance on LGBT rights, but invited renowned
homophobe, Vice President Mike Pence, to
speak at their annual conference. The
premise of queer liberation is not used in
earnest, but rather as a strategy to distract
from other oppressions. Pinkwashing is not
exclusive to Israel, however;”]

Maikey, Haneen and Hilary Aked. "Eurovision has
turned into a ‘pinkwashing’ opportunity for
Israel – the LGBT+ community should boycott it,”
The Independent [UK], March 3, 2019.

Hylton, Riri. "LGBTQ groups call for Eurovision
boycott,” Electronic Intifada, February 1, 2019.

Barrows-Friedman. "Podcast Ep 5:
How "gay rights" group uses right-wing
funding to promote Israel,” April 18,
2019. [“An organization [A Wider Bridge]
with links to anti-gay, anti-Muslim and
Republican groups has no place
representing LGBTQ Jewry, and no
place calling itself ‘progressive,’”
she explains. The group, she adds,
is “essentially a propaganda and
backlash creation arm of the
Islamophobia industry that is
targeted at LGBTQ people.”]

Magid, Jacob. "As rest of right unites,
Kahane disciples declare merger with anti-LGBT
party,” The Times of Israel, July 28, 2019.

Queers for Palestine. "Our Lives, Our Streets!
— Palestine solidarity and the 2019 Berlin
Radical Queer March,” Mondoweiss, July 29,
2019. ["We are here. We are queer. We are
internationalists marching for intersectional
feminist politics, for trans liberation, for sex
workers rights, for freedom of movement and
the right to stay, for a free Palestine, in
solidarity with LGBTQI communities in Turkey,
Russia and everywhere, for freedom and justice
for all. And we will not be silenced!.”] Also see
"Our Lives, Our Streets! Palestine Solidarity
in the Radical Queer March Berlin 2019.”

Ashly, Jaclynn. "PA rescinds ban on LGBTQ
group after protests,” Electronic Intifada,
August 27, 2019. ["The Palestinian Authority
has rescinded a ban on a gay and transgender
advocacy group that caused outrage among
human rights organizations and fear among
some of its members and after a huge
backlash….On 17 August, Palestinian Authority
police spokesperson Louai Irzeqat issued a
statement targeting Al-Qaws (“The Rainbow”
in Arabic), claiming the group goes against
“traditional Palestinian values” and called on
citizens to report “suspicious figures attempting
to provoke and harm the Palestinian social fabric.”
It also accused the group of being “foreign
agents.” The statement came even though
Palestinian law does not consider homosexuality
a crime. “It makes all of us scared,” said
23-year-old Ahmad, who also wanted to remain
anonymous and is from the northern occupied
West Bank. “The PA should be the ones protecting
its citizens from violence, and now they are the
ones who are encouraging it.”]

Ashly, Jaclynn. "A burgeoning drag scene
challenges stereotypes,” Electronic Intifada,
September 5, 2019. ["Kawsar is part of a
burgeoning Palestinian drag scene in Jaffa
and Haifa, involving Palestinians from all
over historic Palestine – from Jerusalem to
Umm al-Fahm, in present-day northern
Israel. “I am prouder than ever to be
Palestinian and a drag queen in this
political situation,” Kawsar said, noting
that her shows and visibility are challenging
Israel’s attempts at pinkwashing decades of
colonization and its more than half-century
occupation of Palestinian territory.”]

Dommu, Rose. "This Israeli Artist’s
Transition Helped Lead Her to
Anti-Zionism,” Out, September 27, 2019.
["Most queer American Jews need to
understand that Israel/Palestine is their
problem, especially those who benefit
from publicizing the intersection of being
Jewish and queer but never talk about
their complicity with Israel/Palestine.
To me, that’s doing a disservice to the
truth and to their true position in the
world. We need to see a mass
organization of queer Jews making
sure that Palestinian solidarity and
Palestinian freedom and antizionist
Jewish identiy is on the agenda in
our workplace, in our social circles,
in our family dinners, everywhere
we go. There are very direct tiesbetween
queer issues andIsrael/Palestine issues….
Obviously the state of Israel pays a lot of
money to present itself as a queer-friendly
haven, what’s known as pinkwashing, so
any state propoganda that as a queer person
you see in your space, and festival you’re
invited to in Israel, every time you go to a
march and you see and Israeli flag, unpack
that shit and refuse to accept it as part of
your queer paardigm.” — Ita Segev]

Barrows-Friedman, Nora. "Israel uses
Latino HIV activist to pinkwash apartheid,”
Electronic Intifada, October 18, 2019.
["Dozens of Latino scholars are urging
a major HIV/AIDS justice organization
to stop helping Israel whitewash its
abuses of Palestinians. In July, Guillermo
Chacón, executive director of the Latino
Commission on AIDS, traveled to Israel
on a propaganda tour. It was hosted by
Project Interchange, a program of the
American Jewish Committee, a prominent
Israel lobby group.”]

Marshood, Hala and Riya Alsanah. “Tal’at:
A Feminist Movement that Is Redefining
Liberation and Reimagining Palestine,”
Mondoweiss, February 2020.

Barrows-Friedman, Nora. “LGBTQ
filmmakers boycott Tel Aviv film fest,”
Electronic Intifada, March 10, 2020.
["More than 130 queer filmmakers and
film artists from around the globe are
pledging to boycott TLVFest, the Tel
Aviv International LGBT Film Festival.
Palestinian and Arab LGBTQ activists
have called on artists to not participate
in the annual festival scheduled in
early June. “As filmmakers, film artists
and production companies committed
to LGBTQIA+ liberation, we understand
that our liberation is intimately connected
to the liberation of all oppressed peoples
and communities,” the pledge states.”]

Atshan, Sa’ed. Queer Palestine and the
Empire of Critique. Stanford University
Press, May, 2020. ["Sa'ed Atshan asks
how transnational progressive social
movements can balance struggles for
liberation along more than one axis.
He explores critical junctures in the
history of Palestinian LGBTQ activism,
revealing the queer Palestinian spirit
of agency, defiance, and creativity,
in the face of daunting pressures and
forces working to constrict it.”]

Alqaisiya, Walaa. "Palestine and the
Will to Theorise Decolonial Queering,”
Middle East Critique 29:1,
pp. 87-113. 

Arria, Michael. "‘Progressive’ NY
primary winner Ritchie Torres
participates in pinkwashing
pride event featuring an IDF
commander,” Mondoweiss,
June 26, 2020.

Maikey, Haneen. “A rallying cry for
Palestinian queer liberation,”
Mondoweiss,  July 30, 2020. [“We’ve
come to put an end to the Israeli
occupation’s attempts to exploit
our pain and “pinkwash” our struggle.
Over the past two decades, the
colonial propaganda of pinkwashing,
although persistent and well-funded,
hasn’t been able to erase us! If
anything, the failures of pinkwashing
have only emphasized that queer
liberation necessitates the liberation
of Palestine and all Palestinians!”]
["This speech was originally published
by Al Qaws on July 29, 2020.”]

Jackman, Michael Connors and Nishant
Upadhyay. "Pinkwatching Israel, Whitewashing
Canada: Queer (Settler) Politics and Indigenous
Colonization in Canada,”  Women's Studies
Quarterly, Vol. 42, No. 3/4, SOLIDARITY
(FALL/WINTER 2014), pp. 195-210. [“In
this essay, we ask how critics of Israeli
pink-washing—known as pinkwatchers—
varyingly challenge, engage, negotiate,
perform, or reproduce settler colonialism
on Indigenous lands…. By focusing on
these debates, we seek to critically explore
how certain queer praxes have worked to
normalize and invisibilize settler colonialism
in the Canadian context and to reproduce
Canada as a progressive queer-friendly
liberal state.”]

Elia, Nada. "How Palestine is a critical
feminist issue. Newly formed Palestinian
Feminist Collective is promoting a truly
intersectional and decolonial vision” Middle
East Eye, March 25, 2021. ["More than a
mere lip-service statement of solidarity,
the pledge lists six concrete steps and
commitments towards advancing a truly
intersectional and decolonial feminist
vision in Palestine. These include
embracing Palestinian liberation as a
critical feminist issue; pledging support
for Palestinian rights to free speech and
political organising; rejecting the
conflation of anti-Zionism with
antisemitism; endorsing the boycott,
divestment and sanctions (BDS)
movement; divesting from militarism;
and calling to end US political, military
and economic support to Israel.”]

Qutami, Loubni. “Why Feminism?
Why Now? Reflections on the ‘Palestine
is a Feminist Issue Pledge,’” Spectre
Journal, May 3, 2021.

Raza-Sheikh, Zoya. "Why the
LGBTQ+ community should care
about Palestine. Breaking down
the biggest questions surrounding
Palestine and how the LGBTQ+
community can show solidarity,”
Gay Times, June 29, 2021

Ben David, Tamar and Lilach Ben David.
"‘I’d rather die in the West Bank’: LGBTQ
Palestinians find no safety in Israel. Israel
markets itself to the world as an LGBTQ
paradise, but testimonies from asylum-seeking
queer Palestinians show it sentences
them to a life of hell,” +972, September
17, 2021.

Ihmoud, Sarah. "Palestinian Feminism:
Analytics, Praxes and Decolonial
Futures,” Feminist Anthropology 3, no.
2 (2022): 284–98.

Students for Justice in Palestine at
UCLA. "Purple-Washing: Israel’s Faux
Feminism Through the Lens of
Medical Apartheid,” Fem Magazine,
March 22, 2022. [Excerpt:
"Appropriating and capitalizing on
progressive conversations to benefit
their own agenda is a common
tactic settler states use to distract
from their own human rights
violations. The process in which
the state appeals to women’s rights
to propagate harmful agendas is
called purple-washing. In the context
of the Middle East and North Africa,
purple-washing rhetoric often plays
on tropes of civilized Europeans and
Americans rescuing Muslim women
from their oppressive surroundings.
The case with Israel is similar, where
they claim Israelis have “saved”
Palestinian women from “inherently
evil” Palestinian men. These tropes
are rooted in racism and Orientalism
— an imperialist philosophy that
upholds white supremacy by
stereotyping, exoticizing, and
generalizing Middle Eastern
communities. This is connected
to misogyny, which the occupying
state of Israel is not exempt from.
Israel employs purple-washing to
craft a state-controlled narrative
of gender equality for the
international community and the
US, but their settler colonial
practices towards Palestinian
women, such as medical apartheid,
are violent and do not reflect this
faux liberal jargon.”]

Alalami, Tara and Rawan Nabil.
“The Birds Shall Return: Imagining
Palestinian Feminist Futurities,”
Briarpatch, May 4, 2022.

Alqaisiya, Walaa. Decolonial
Queering in Palestine (Theorizing
Ethnography). New York: Routledge,
2023. ["This book provides a vivid
account of the political valence of
weaving queer into native
positionality and the struggle
for decolonisation in the settler
colonial context of Palestine,
referred to as decolonial queering.
It discusses how processes of
gender and sexuality that privilege
hetero-colonising authority shaped
and continue to define both the
Israeli-Zionist conquest of Palestine
and the Palestinian struggle for
liberation, thus future imaginings
of free Palestine. This account
emerges directly from the voices
and experiences of Palestinian
activists and artists; particularly,
it draws on fieldwork with
Palestine’s most established
queer grassroots movement, alQaws
for Sexual and Gender Diversity in
Palestinian Society, and a variety of
artistic Palestinian productions
(photography, fashion, music,
performance, and video art). Offering
a comprehensive and in-depth
engagement with the situated context,
history, and local practices of
Palestinian queerness, scholars,
students, and activists across
(de)colonial, race, and
gender/sexuality studies would
appreciate its unique insights; its
empirical focus also reaches to those
academics in the wider fields of
Middle Eastern, anthropological,
and political studies.”]

Freedman, Eliyahu. “‘Queerness is
part of Palestinian culture. We’ve
existed forever’ Elias Jahshan,
editor of the anthology ‘This Arab
is Queer,’ discusses sexuality in
the Arab world, Israeli pinkwashing,
and his dream of a liberated Jaffa,”
+972, January 18, 2023.

Jahshan, Elias. "How Tel Aviv became
a battleground for queer accountability.
From music festivals to Pride events,
Palestinian-Australian journalist Elias
Jahshan calls for LGBTQ+ artists to do
better for the community,” Gay Times,
March 24, 2023.

Queers in Palestine. "A Liberatory
Demand from Queers in Palestine,”
November, 2023. ["During these
times, and in line with its long-standing
exploitation of liberal identity politics,
Israel has been weaponizing queer
bodies to counter any support for
Palestine and any critique of its
settler-colonial project. Israelis
(politicians, organizations, and
“civilians”) have been mobilizing
colonial dichotomies such as
“civilized” and “barbaric,” “human”
and “animal,” and other
dehumanizing binaries as a
discourse that legitimizes the
attacks on Palestinians. Within
this settler-colonial rhetoric,
Israel seeks to garner and
mobilize support from Western
governments and liberal
societies by portraying itself
as a nation that respects
freedom, diversity, and human
rights, that is fighting a
“monstrous” and oppressive
society, illuminated clearly
through the declaration of the
Prime Minister of Israel “There
is a struggle between the
children of light and children
of darkness, between humanity
and law of the jungle.”] 

 

alQaws. Website. ["a Palestinian queer organization
that takes part in a great deal of political activism,
including anti-pinkwashing campaigns, as well as
working within the Palestinian queer communities
in Palestine, Israel and the diaspora. Their site has
a wealth of information on queer issues in
Palestine/Israel”]

Aswat. Website. ["Palestinian Feminist Center
for Gender and Sexual Freedoms’ mission is to
fuel our feminist-queer movements and shift
power to LBTQI women by investing in capacity
building, fostering collective feminist action,
advocating for sexual diversity and gender
justice, amplifying LBTQI+ women voices and
propelling queer-feminist organizing through
leadership development.”]

Extreme(ly Queer) Muslims Episode 3: Izzaddine talks Islam, Palestine, and Pinkwashing [6/19/17]

Homophobia and Pinkwashing: Part 9 of "The Bullet, The Ballot & The Boycott" by David Sheen
[at Emory University 12/12/15]

SHEFITA - Pink [Aerosmith cover] - Tel Aviv Official Pinkwash 2016   "Contrary to popular belief,
there's nothing fashionable about the occupation, so please, stop pinkwashing it!"

Ali Abunimah, co-founder of electronicintifada.net, discusses David Sheen's reporting on Israel's
treatment of African refugees, in a short segment from his lecture "Pinkwash, Greenwash,
Hogwash.” [2013]

“What is Queer BDS? Pinkwashing, Intersections,Struggles, Politics" (Angela Davis) [2012]

“In the past few years the Israeli government
and its supporters have been actively
promoting the country as the only nation
in the Middle East to support lesbian and
gay rights, and advertising their beaches
to the gay community as an ideal vacation
spot. Across the west lesbians and gays
have adamantly rejected this campaign on
the grounds that the Israeli government
is using gay and lesbian issues, and gays
and lesbians themselves, to cover up or
“pinkwash" their actions, deemed “criminal"
by the United Nations, against Palestinians.
In this talk, historian Elise Chenier offers
an overview of the history of queer politics
in the west to put the current movement
of queers against Israeli apartheid in
context.” [2014]

Image by Micah Bizant. Micah is “a trans
visual artist who works with social justice
movements to reimagine the world.”

“No to Eurovision Pinkwashing.
More Than 60 LGBTQ+ Groups Call
for Boycott of Song Contest in Israel.
Queer and trans liberation
organizations from nearly 20
countries across Europe and
beyond are calling on global
LGBTQIA communities to take
a stand for Palestinian human
rights and boycott the 2019
Eurovision Song Contest in
Israel.” [PinkwatchingIsrael.com,
1/29/2019]

Photo from Leil Zahra Mortada / Oumaima Dermoumi

Activists march in a Pink-Black Block, protesting against PInk-Washing
and against the Israeli occupation, during the Jerusalem Pride Parade,
June 6, 2019. Photo by: Keren Manor and Oren Ziv/ Activestills.org

“The members of the Shin Bet put a
cruel choice before gay Palestinians:
betray their people by spying for the
regime and risk being cruelly put to
death – all in exchange for keeping
their secret – or have their secret
exposed and be ostracized from their
families, exposed to violent attacks
and perhaps even murdered.”
[Haaretz, 9/23/14]

Click here to go to the ei podcast

Anti-Pinkwashing Activists Take Over London Pride

"More than 130 LGBTQIA+ filmmakers and film
artists from 15 countries have signed a groundbreaking
pledge committing not to participate in TLVFest,
the Israeli government-sponsored LGBT film
festival in Tel Aviv."

From Orgullo Crítico Madrid

Anti-pinkwashing protestors demonstrate in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square
in reaction to the city's annual Pride rally [June, 2020 / +972]

“From Madrid to Berlin – Queer BDS will fight.
Queer BDS will win!💪🏽” — Orgullo Crítico Madrid

Liberation in Palestine, A Queer
Issue - Haneen Maikey, February 28,
2014 [Haneen Maikey is founder &
director of alQaws for Sexual and
Gender Diversity within Palestinian
Society.]

Sharona Weiss in +972: "A Palestinian trans
woman’s story peels away Israel’s pinkwashing
veil. From oppressive institutions to social prejudices,
MC's ordeal embodies the dark reality of
LGBTQ Palestinians who thought they could
find safety in Israel.” [6/8/23]

“Filmmakers are pulling out of the
Tel Aviv LGBT film festival.
Citing accountability in the
queer community to communities
of colour, Puerto Rican filmmaker,
André Pérez, joins Ana Čigon
(Slovenia) and withdraws from
the festival.”

Kohl: A Journal for Body and Gender Research

"This is a time of emergency, argues Thau,
and “Just as when there is existential danger
to the body we don’t observe laws of manners
and respect… all the more so at a time of danger
to the life of the soul,” adding that "There is no
avoiding going out to war and sometimes even
making extreme and shocking statements.” To
put it directly, "There is no place for weakening
the Torah rebellion because of conventions of
politesse.”

Say No to #pinkwashing, Yes to #BDS
(Boycott Divestment & Sanctions)! 🌈💖💪
A special musical appeal to BBC Eurovision
Song Contest-host The Graham Norton
Show, starring drag king Beaujangles, in
support of the Palestinian call to
#BoycottEurovision2019.

“Our Lives, Our Streets! —
Palestine solidarity and the
2019 Berlin Radical Queer March"

Anti-Zionist Israeli Trans Woman Artist Says
Queer Jews Must Stand With Palestinians,
Support BDS

Izzy Mustafa is “a Brooklyn-based
Palestinian transgender man who
grew up in the Diaspora.”

"A left-wing activist holds up a Palestinian flag
at Tel Aviv Pride,  June 28, 2020 (Oren Ziv/Activestills)”
/ Shai Gortler and Haokets: "Why I brought a Palestinian
flag to an Israeli Pride rally. I reject the
government's exploitation of the LGBTQ+ struggle
to further its supremacist goals" [+972,
July 17, 2020].

Pinkwatching Israel’s Pinkwatching Kit [2012]

"Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem
and former Sephardic Chief Rabbi of
Israel Shlomo Amar said that recent
earthquakes in Israel are a direct result
of the rise in rights and freedoms for
LBGTQ+ people during his weekly lesson.
Using a passage from the Talmud to
demonstrate his claim, Rabbi Amar
made the case that the earthquakes
that have struck Israel in the aftermath
of the devastating earthquakes in
Turkey and Syria can be attributed to
the rise in gay marriages in Israel."

"On Wednesday, July 29th [2020], alQaws for Sexual
and Gender Diversity in Palestinian Society
along with other queer and feminist Palestinian
organizations will hold a protest in occupied
Haifa to raise our voices against the patriarchal,
colonial, and capitalist oppressions on LGBT
and queer Palestinians, and to demand an
end to violence against our bodies and lives."

Aswat

“There is no pride in the occupation” // "My name is Ayelet.
I’m a 16 years old trans teen and an activist in the Mesarvot
network, an Israeli Network supporting war resisters and
political objectors. Last Friday (June 10th), at the Israeli
pride parade in Tel Aviv, I was arrested for holding the
Palestinian flag with the slogan “there is no pride in the
occupation” in Hebrew….I made this sign not only to show
my objection to the Israeli occupation of the West bank
and the Gaza strip, but also to protest the way the Israeli
government uses the LGBTQ+ community to justify the
occupation. The government uses Pinkwashing - displaying
superficial support for LGBTQ+ rights in order to justify
horrible actions.” [6/16/22]

"This Lesbian Day of Visibility, we’re holding
close the memory of movement transcestor
Leslie Feinberg Z”L, a trans lesbian Jew who
stood in lifelong solidarity with Palestinians
and viewed her/hir work for LGBT and
Palestinian liberation as deeply connected.
As Leslie observed in a speech to the
Palestinian queer women’s group
أصوات - Aswat in 2007, countries from the
US to Israel “use the experiences of women,
of gays, of transgenders as pretexts for
imperialist war,” even as they support
anti-LGBT policies and countries that serve
their interests. She/zie believed that the
rights of LGBT people “should not be
placed in competition with the long
struggle of the Palestinian people, including
Palestinian LGBT people, for
self-determination, for the right to return to
their homes, and the struggle against
apartheid and the occupation of their
lands.” In fact, she/zie thought that LGBT
liberation was not possible without the
liberation of all people oppressed by
imperialist war and racism, particularly
Palestinians. Your memory is a blessing,
Leslie." — JVP, 4/26/21

Queers for Palestine march in Berlin,
Germany on July 27, 2019. (Photo:
Montecruz Foto) / Mondoweiss

"Israeli activists block the Tel Aviv
pride parade to protest against
pinkwashing and in solidarity with
the Great March of Return in
Gaza, June 8, 2018. (Activestills
/Keren Manor)

alQaws: “5 Ways to Support Palestinian Queers”

1) Center Palestinian LGBTQ voices in your reporting

We are constantly talked about but our voices are rarely heard.
When reporting on issues that pertain to LGBTQ Palestinians,
just ask yourself: whose voice does this story center? If it
doesn't center the voices of LGBTQ Palestinians, then your
actions might lead to more harm even if your intentions are
to help. Come talk to us and hear our perspective. Do not
simply copy and paste translated Hebrew/Israeli media to tell
our story. alQaws activists and staff always provide our names
when interviewed, so if you read an article/post with a claimed
quote from us with no name attributed, you should know it is
not from us.

2) Realize that colonialism, patriarchy and homophobia
are all connected forms of oppression

Singling out incidents of homophobia in Palestinian
society ignores the complexities of Israel's colonization
and military occupation being a contributing factor to
Palestinian LGBTQ oppression. We have been living under
more than 7 decades of Israel's military occupation. We see
the Israeli occupation of our land and bodies as connected
to and amplifying the diverse forms of oppression
experienced in every society around the globe. alQaws
believes the way to truly counter homophobia in Palestine
is by understanding and applying the broader political
context in any solidarity activities. We ask that you situate
Palestinian LGBTQ oppression within the larger context
of Israeli occupation, colonialism, patriarchy and
homophobia at large.

3) Steer clear of pinkwashing

Perpetuating tiresome tropes of presenting Palestinians
as inherently oppressive and Israel as a liberal state
that protects LGBTQ rights is counter-productive and
factually baseless. Israel is a settler-colonial state that
offers no rights to Palestinians, queer or otherwise. Our
struggle as queer Palestinians is against Israeli colonialism
as much as it is against homophobia and patriarchy in
Palestine. Israel uses pinkwashing tactics to lie about
“saving” LGBTQ Palestinians from their society. We ask
that you steer away from these lies that are intentionally
used to justify their colonization of Palestine. alQaws
and our allies in Palestine will continue to amplify our
message as well as provide protection and a political
home for LGBTQ Palestinians. Israeli LGBTQ groups do
not have a say in the work that should be done to fight
patriarchy and homophobia in Palestine, including the
incitements led by the Palestinian police.

4) Understand our commitment to our local
community organizing

alQaws has been organizing in historic Palestine to
educate Palestinian society on sexual and gender
divesity since 2001. We are a small team of
dedicated activists who believe change comes
from working within our local context. We put
enormous daily and strategic efforts in our local
grassroots advocacy organizing in Palestine.
Therefore, and especially in such a crisis, we
prioritize providing education and safety to our
communities first. Please be patient with us as
we respond to your media inquiries.

5) Support our work and vision

We believe in the power of people to make social
change possible. Some practical ways you can help
amplify our vision for change is by educating
yourself and your networks on the work that we do
at alQaws. Follow us on social media, share our
resources, talk to your friends and family about
the importance of standing up against bigotry
towards LGBTQ people, and make sure that your
vision of liberation and freedom in Palestine
includes us all.

On “Greenwashing":

From IsraeliLaundry.org

Abu Ata, Alex. “Water apartheid leaves Palestinian
children ill,” Electronic Intifada, May 23, 2012.

Abulhawa, Susan. "Israel’s desalination
miracle, Santa Claus and other fairy
tales," Middle East Eye, August 12, 2016.

Abunimah, Ali. “Activists burst occupation profiteer
SodaStream’s “feel-good” bubble,” Electronic
Intifada, November 20, 2013. [Also see Amena
Saleem, "Israel steps up SodaStream marketing
in attempt to greenwash Israeli settlement crimes,”
Electronic Intidada, February 3, 2013.]

Abunimah, Ali. “Are Israeli arms sales hiding
behind “agriculture” in South Sudan?” Electronic
Intifada, July 25, 2019. [“When Ziv first came
to South Sudan he said his goal was to help
the country “recover from war,” using – as
OCCRP puts it – “Israel’s experience in
agricultural development as a model.”
The claim that Israel has expertise in
irrigation and cultivation to share with
African countries is a major part of the
propaganda accompanying its effort to
win diplomatic support on the continent.
But as with most Israeli propaganda,
it’s a sham. What Israel has really sown
across the continent are atrocities and
suffering including by arming South
Africa’s apartheid regime and supplying
weapons during the genocide in Rwanda.”]

Abunimah, Ali. “If it’s against Jewish law, then
why is Israel doing it?” Electronic Intifada, January
28, 2004.  ["The Israeli army has destroyed
hundreds of thousands of Palestinian olive and
citrus trees throughout the Occupied West Bank
and Gaza Strip in recent years. Yet in a startling
admission, a staffer at the Jewish National Fund
for Israel (JNF) has written that, “it is against
Jewish halachic law to uproot fruit bearing
trees….Nowhere on its website or in its
fundraising literature does the JNF mention that,
in fact, Israel has engaged in the massive,
systematic destruction of Palestinian fruit-bearing
trees, all over the occupied territories, and in parts
of Palestine in which Israel was established in
1948.”] 

Abunimah, Ali. "Israel wants to protect environment
as it massacres Gaza marchers,” Electronic Intifada,
April 5, 2018. [Excerpt: "Israel is trying to present
itself as environmentally friendly as it prepares
once again to massacre civilian marchers in the
occupied Gaza Strip. Its propaganda is all the
more cynical, given the environmental catastrophe
its decade-long siege has imposed on the two
million Palestinians in the coastal enclave.”]

Abunimah, Ali. “New “Green Israel” ads on CNN
greenwash sewage of occupation and apartheid,”
Electronic Intifada, June 22, 2012.

Agha, Zena. "Climate Change, the
Occupation, and a Vulnerable Palestine,”
Al Shabaka, March 26, 2019. [Excerpt:
"Although Palestinians and Israelis inhabit
the same physical terrain, Palestinians
under occupation will suffer the effects
of climate change more severely. The
ongoing Israeli occupation – now in its
fifty-second year – prevents Palestinians
from accessing resources and pursuing
measures to support climate change
adaptation, which is understood here
as the adjustment in human or natural
systems in response to the effects of
climate change.”]

Ahmed, Sanjidah and Hadeel Abdelhy.
"Environmental justice, not dialogue, for
Palestinians,” The Chronicle [Duke], October
24, 2018. [Excerpt: “Frankly, we find J Street
U Duke and Duke Environmental Alliance’s
celebration of this event as a “peacemaking
event” to learn about Arava’s efforts to “loosen
the tension between even the oldest of feuds”
to be both ludicrous and shameful. We reject
the premise that dialogue between Israelis and
Palestinians can solve environmental problems
when Israeli violence is responsible for
Palestinian environmental degradation and
unbearable living conditions. As we have
clarified, this not a mere “feud.” The
environmental degradation in Palestine
is the result of Israel inflicting decades
of environmental violence as a method
of collective punishment to ensure the
complete domination and annihilation
of Palestinian people.”

Al-Haq. "In the Aftermath of COP26: A
Rights-Based Solution to Climate Change
is Needed to Counter Israel’s Greenwashing,”
November 21, 2021. ["The Preamble of the
Paris Agreement requires that due
consideration is given to human rights
obligations when addressing climate change.
It is urgent to adopt an intersectional approach
to climate change-related challenges,
as loss and damage are mostly felt
by the most vulnerable communities,
 and ensure that self-determination
and participation are placed at the
core of the humanity fight against
climate change.”]

Al-Haq. "World Water Day: Israel’s
Discriminatory Policies in Palestine
Constitute a Systemic Attack on the
Palestinian People’s Right to Water
and Sanitation at a Time of
Unprecedented Global Pandemic,”
Alhaq.org, March 22, 2021. [“The
ongoing pillage by Israel, and with
the complicity of corporate actors,
of Palestinian water resources in the
occupied West Bank is having a
disproportionate affect on Bedouin
and herder communities and
Palestinian farmers. These
communities depend fully or
partially on water for their survival
and livelihoods, and are particularly
severely affected by Israeli and
corporate pillage of their natural
resources including water.”]

Alikhan, Zubayr. "The devastating
environmental effects of Israeli
settler-colonialism in the West Bank.
Israeli settlement expansion is not only
illegal, it is also destroying Palestine’s
environment through the urbanization
of the West Bank,” Mondoweiss,
January 31, 2022. [Excerpt: “Israeli
settlements embody urbanization and
the immense harm it poses. First,
Israeli settlements are almost entirely
built on confiscated Palestinian
agricultural or grazing lands and
are only erected after clear-cutting
and uprooting local flora, namely
olive trees: a primary source of
food and income for Palestinians.”]

Alliance for Water Justice in
Palestine. “Greenwashing Israel:
Water Firms in California,” June 6, 2016.

Al-Sammak, Ahmed. “Gaza:
Palestinian farmers suffer from
climate crisis, occupation. Water
shortages, heatwaves and open
conflict have taken a toll on
agriculture in the besieged enclave,”
Middle East Eye, November 28, 2021.
["Abu Saeed has seen Israeli forces
bulldoze his land three times over
the last decade - a practice done by
the army under the pretext of
flattening terrain near the separation
fence in order to give troops better
visibility into the Palestinian territory.
“Climate change and the occupation
are too much,” Abu Saeed said. Even
before the siege, Abu Matwy saw 130
dunams (32 acres) of land he cultivated
with plums, peaches, almonds and
citrus east of the village of al-Msader
flattened by Israeli bulldozers in 2000,
at the beginning of the Second Intifada.
He received a paltry $1,400 in
compensation. The siege has also had
a dire impact on water supplies in Gaza,
affecting agriculture.”]

Amnesty International. “Troubled
Waters: Palestinians Denied Fair Access
to Water,” October 30, 2009. ["Israel is
denying Palestinians their right to access
to adequate water by using discriminatory
and restrictive policies.”]

al-Qedra, Fedaa. "Pollution on tap in Gaza,”
Electronic Intifada, March 14, 2022.
["Access to water is among the many
issues examined by Amnesty International
in its recently published report
documenting how Israel runs an apartheid
system. The report states that “Israel has
consolidated complete control of all water
resources and water-related infrastructure
in the Gaza Strip, including the coastal
aquifer, which is the only freshwater resource
in Gaza.” Due to over-extraction and
pollution, more than 95 percent of water
from the coastal aquifer is unfit for human
consumption. No transfer of water from
the occupied West Bank to Gaza is
allowed by Israel, the Amnesty report
adds. Israel, the occupying power,
charges hefty sums to supply Gaza
with water. The annual bill paid to
Israel is around $20 million.”]

Ashly, Jaclynn. "Drowning in the waste of
Israeli settlers. Some 19 million cubic
metres of wastewater from Israeli
settlements flows through the occupied
West Bank each year,”  Al Jazeera,
September 18, 2017.

Baroud, Ramzy. “Gaza’s forthcoming
crisis might be worse than anything we
have ever seen. When almost all of Gaza’s
water is not fit for human consumption
because of a deliberate Israeli strategy,
one can understand why Palestinians
continue to fight back as if their lives
are dependent on it; because they are,”
Common Dreams, April 1, 2022.

Baroud, Ramzy. “War on nature: How Zionist
colonialism has destroyed the environment in
Palestine.” Middle East Monitor, February 11, 2019.

Baroud, Ramzy and Romana Rubeo. 
“Israel's'environmental crisis' is of its own making.
Israel's destruction of the environment in
Palestinian territories is now threatening
Israeli lives,” Al Jazeera, July 7, 2019.

B’Tselem. “Olive harvest, 2018: Israeli settlers injure
Palestinian farmers, harm trees and steal olives,”
December 6, 2018.

Barghouti, Dr. Mustafi. “Israel seizes 87% of our water
and wants to sell us sea water in return,” Palestine
Monitor, July 27, 2017.

Baroud, Ramzy. “War on nature: How Zionist
colonialism has destroyed the environment in
Palestine,” Middle East Monitor, February 11, 2019.
[Excerpt: “Palestine contains vast colonisation
potential which the Arabs neither need nor are
qualified to exploit,” wrote one of Israel’s founding
fathers and first Prime Minister, David Ben
Gurion, to his son Amos in 1937.”]

Beiler, Ryan Rodrick. “The sun also shines … but not
equally on all,” Electronic Intifada, May 6, 2017.

B’Tselem. “Olive harvest, 2018: Israeli
settlers injure Palestinian farmers, harm
trees and steal olives,”
December 6, 2018.

B’Tselem. “Parched: Israel’s policy of water
deprivation in the West Bank,” May, 2023.
[Executive Summary / downloadable PDF
of full report]  

B’Tselem. “Water Crisis,” section on B’Tselem
website, accessed March, 2019. [Excerpt: "In 1967,
Israel seized control of all water resources in the
newly occupied territories. Israel retains exclusive
control over all the water resources between the
Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, except
for a small section of the coastal aquifer in the Gaza
Strip. Israel uses the water as it sees fit, ignoring the
needs of Palestinians in the West Bank and in the
Gaza Strip, subjecting them to a mostly man-made
watershortage. Neither area is supplied enough water.
In Gaza, even the water that is supplied is
substandard and not potable.”] 

Butmeh, Abeer. "Palestine is a climate justice issue.
The fight for climate justice for all is directly
connected to the Palestinian struggle,” Al
Jazeera, November 28, 2019. [Excerpt:
"Israel cultivates an image worldwide as
“green”, but the reality is dramatically
different. Israel relies on unsustainable
agricultural and water use practices that
depend upon the exploitation of
Palestinians’ land and water.
Additionally, 97.7 percent of Israel’s
electricity production comes from
fossil fuels, and Israel is seeking
to export natural gas and electricity
generated from fossil fuels to Europe.”]

Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle
East (CJPME), “Factsheet," August, 2018.
[Downloadable fact sheet. “This
factsheet discusses how the Israeli government
uses "greenwashing" by pretending to be
environmentally-friendly in order to deflect
attention from its human rights abuses
against Palestinians.]

Chhaya, Meeraj. "Greenwashing the Naqab,”
The Nakba Files, November 19, 2018. [“…
based on two reports published by Who Profits
Research Center in February 2017
entitled, “Greenwashing the Occupation: The
Solar Energy Industry and the Israeli Occupation
”and “Greenwashing the Naqab: The Israeli Industry
of Solar Energy”. Who Profits is a research center
dedicated to exposing the role of the private sector
in the Israeli occupation economy.”]

Considine, Meghan Clare and Max
Gruber. “Notes on the Palestine Poster
Project Archive: Ecological Imaginaries,
Iconographies, Nationalisms and
Knowledge in Palestine and Israel,
1947–now,” Third Text, November 10, 2022. 

Cook. Jonathan. "Israel greenwashing the “war on terror,”
Electronic Intifada, March 30, 2010.

Cooper, Therezia. "SodaStream: Greenwashing the
Israeli occupation,” Palestine Monitor, October 3, 2012.

Corradin, Camilla. "Israel: Water as a tool to dominate
Palestinians. Israel deliberately denies Palestinians
control over their water sources and sets the ground
for water domination,” Al Jazeera, June 23, 2016.

Cronin, David. "Water apartheid in Gaza and Flint,”
Electronic Intifada, March 18, 2016. ["The letter
from Gaza to Flint — signed by various activists,
including the prominent doctor Mona el-Farra —
notes that Israel controls Palestinian water. The
Israeli occupation steals from the coastal aquifer
that is Gaza’s main source of water, prevents
Palestinians from building sewage treatment
facilities and forces them to buy water at prices
they cannot afford. Ordinary people in Flint do
not enjoy any sovereignty when it comes to
water, either.”]

Deprez, Miriam. "Even animals are divided by Israel’s
Wall and occupation threats to the local environment,”
Middle East Monitor, August 20, 2018.

Elia, Nadia. "Israel's 'greenwashing' now extends to
co-opting vegetarianism in its 'moral' army of
occupation,” TheNewArab, September 19, 2017.

Environmental Justice Atlas. “Greenwashing
by the Jewish National Fund, Israel,” May 30, 2019.

Forensic Architecture. “Herbicidal Warfare
in Gaza,” January 16, 2020. ["Since 2014,
the clearing and bulldozing of agricultural
and residential lands by the Israel military
close to the eastern border of Gaza has
been complemented by the unannounced
aerial spraying of crop-killing herbicides.
This ongoing practice has not only
destroyed entire swaths of formerly
arable land along the border fence,
but also crops and farmlands hundreds
of metres deep into Palestinian territory,
resulting in the loss of livelihoods for
Gazan farmers.”]

George, Alan. “Making the Desert Bloom” A Myth
Examined,” Journal of Palestine Studies 8.2,
1979: 88-100. ["The major conclusions
which thus emerge are: 1. That only about
half of Palestine has a true desert climate;
2. That expansion of the cultivated area
was already under way before the
occurrence of mass Zionist immigration;
3. That by about 1930 all those areas
which could be cultivated by the
indigenous Arab population were
already being farmed by them; 4.
That the area within what became
Israel actually being farmed by Arabs
in 1947 was greater than the physical
area which was under cultivation in
Israel almost thirty years later; 5. That
the impressive expansion of Israel’s
cultivated area since 1948 has been
more apparent than real since it
involved mainly the "reclamation” of
farmland belonging to the refugees;
this is probably as true for the Negev
desert as for the rest of Israel.”]

Gisha. "New multi-media
investigation proves herbicide
spraying by Israel near Gaza
fence damages lands and crops
deep inside the Strip,” July
21, 2019.

Handmaker, Jeff, Adri Nieuwhof and Phon
van den Biesen. "Greenwashing event glosses
over Israel’s atrocities,” Mondoweiss, May 12, 2020.

Hass, Amira. "Israel Incapable of Telling Truth
About Water It Steals From Palestinians. Water
is the only issue in which Israel (still) finds it
difficult to defend its discriminatory, oppressive
and destructive policy with pretexts of security
and God,” Haaretz, June 22, 2016.

Hawari, Yara. "Resisting greenwashing in the 
Naqab: Unity Intifada continues. Israel’s relentless
land theft in the Naqab is serving to bring
Palestinians closer together,” Al Jazeera,
January 28, 2022. 

Hendrix, Steve. "The famed ‘Jericho banana’
is vanishing. Under Israeli occupation, there’s
not enough water,” Washington Post, September
25, 2020. ["The end of the banana era represents
the broad shift in Palestinian agriculture over
the course of Israeli control of the West Bank
and its water. At the time of the 1967 war,
the area around Jericho was known for
lemons, oranges and bananas. But over
the decades, as Israel sank more deep
wells to supply growing Israeli settlements
in the occupied territory, the springs began
to dry out earlier and earlier each year,
according to studies by the World Bank and
other international organizations. Palestinian
surface wells grew brackish as water tables
dropped, the sweet water becoming too
mineralized for citrus and bananas.”] 

Holm, Julie. “Greenwashing the Occupation,”
MIFTAH, February 1, 2012.

Horowitz, Adam. "‘If you’re for justice for
Palestinians, you’re for climate justice’: Zena
Agha on climate change and the future of
Palestine,” Mondoweiss, April 29, 2019.

Hughes, Sara. “Greenwashing” the Occupation:
The role of environmental governance and the
discourse of sustainability in sustaining the Israeli
occupation of Palestine,” paper presented to
American Association of Geographers Annual
Meeting, April 10, 2018.

Institute for Palestine Studies. “Israeli
Greenwashing: Quasi-Governmental Agency
Displaces Palestinians in the Naqab/Negev
Desert,” IPS Digital Project, March 17, 2022.
["The IPS Palestine Chronology provides a
day-to-day account of events in, and related
to, Palestine going back to 1982. The
database offers a wealth of information
for everyone interested in the Palestinian
question. This featured entry for the newly
released month of January 2022 focuses on
how Israel through the Jewish National Fund
use greenwashing to divert from its
displacement of Palestinians living in Israel.”]

International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network.
"Greenwashing Apartheid: Stop the JNF" /
The Jewish National Fund’s Environmental
Cover E-Book V. 4, May 15, 2011.
Downloadable pdf. [Contributing authors include
Salman Abu-Sitta, Corey Balsam, Jesse Benjamin,
Max Blumenthal, Judy Deutsch, Coya White
Hat-Artichoker, Sara Kershnar, Joel Kovel,
Mich Levy, Akram Salhab, Eurig Scandrett,
David Schwartzman, Ismail Zayid]  

Jewish Voice for Peace.  “Greenwashing
Introduction,” IsraeliLaundry.org,
November 23, 2011. 

Jewish Voice for Peace. “Greenwashing,”
2011. [Archive of Israeli Laundry.org].

Kate. "Eight EU countries tell Israel to
pay up after destroying solar panels
donated to Bedouin village,” Mondoweiss,
October 23, 2017.

Kattenburg, Daniel. “Adapting to
climate change under ‘water apartheid,’
Mondoweiss, September 9, 2019.
["‘Water apartheid’, it’s called: Jewish
settlers receive copious volumes for
cheap, Palestinians scrape and scratch
to get what they need, at great cost.
A highly asymmetrical, discriminatory
and exploitative regime formalized in
law, achieved through physical separation
and enforced by soldiers and police.
The very definition of apartheid.”]

Koppelman, Susan. “Veolia, Mekorot and
the struggle for Palestinian water rights,”
Mondoweiss, March 22, 2014.

Levidow, Les. "Holding the Green
Line: Israeli Ecological Imperialism,”
Matzpen, February 10, 1990.  

Lorber, Ben. “Covering up crimes with
trees; the greenwashing of Israel’s apartheid,”
Earth to Earth, July 17, 2012. [Originally
posted to International Journal of Socialist Renewal.]

Lorber, Ben. "Israel’s environmental
colonialism and eco-apartheid,” Links, July
12, 2012. [Excerpt: "Today, as Israel portrays
itself as a “green democracy”’, an eco-friendly
pioneer in agricultural techniques such as drip
irrigation, dairy farming, desert ecology, water
management and solar energy, Israeli factories
drain toxic waste and industrial pollutants down
from occupied West Bank hilltops into Palestinian
villages, and over-pumping of groundwater
aquifers denies Palestinians access to vital water
sources in a context of increasing water scarcity
and pollution.”]

Ma’an News Agency. “Israeli forces spray
weed killers near Gaza border, burn
Palestinian crops,” January 24, 2017.

McKernan, Bethan. “Israel seizes solar panels
donated to Palestinians by Dutch government,”
Independent [UK], July 3, 2017. [“Of particular
note is that Jubbet al-Dhib is very close to
Israeli outpost villages – settlements illegal
under both Israeli and international law –
which enjoy a full connection to the main
power grid.”]

Middle East Monitor. “Israel army cuts
water supply to Jordan Valley village,”
September 19, 2019. 

Middle East Monitor. "Israel turns West
Bank into toxic waste dump,” August
18, 2018. ["According to Palestinian
experts, Israeli disposal of its wastes is
a clear violation of international laws
related to environmental protection.
Speaking to Anadolu, head of the
Palestinian Environment Authority
Adala Al-Atira said: “There are 98
Israeli landfills across the occupied
West Bank.” This is in addition to the
scores of landfill sites which are used
by the illegal settlements but have not
been officially recognised or allocated.”]

Middle East Monitor. "Israel settlers dump
sewage on Palestinian school in Qalqiliya,”
November 2, 2018. [Also see Middle East
Monitor, "Israel settlers flood Palestinian
farmland with sewage,” May 9, 2018.]

Middle East Monitor. "Israel settlers
flood Palestinian farmland with
sewage,” May 9. 2018.

Middle East Monitor. "Nearly 1,600
trees vandalised by Israel settlers in
the West Bank since start of 2020,”
March 20, 2020.

Miller, Anna Lekas. "Settlers Dump
Sewage On Palestinian Land. Anna
Lekas Miller reports on a protest
in the West Bank village of Sebastiya,
where Israeli settlers from Shavei Shomron
have started dumping their sewage,”
Daily Beast, March 8, 2013, updated
July 12, 2017.

Murphy, Maureen Clare. “Apartheid
tech is no climate change solution,”
Electronic Intifada, August 13, 2021.
["Israel is finding a new opportunity
for “climate diplomacy” following a
foreboding new report published this
week by the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change, a scientific group
assembled by the UN. This “diplomacy”
involves Israel greenwashing its
oppression of the Palestinians and
bolstering its international reputation
by promoting the civilian application of
technologies developed in the context
of military occupation and colonization.”]

Murphy, Maureen Clare. "Herbicide warfare
against Gaza farmers,” Electronic Intifada,
July 23, 2019. [“Israel’s military propagandists
are at it again. A video recently tweeted by
COGAT, the bureaucratic arm of Israel’s
military occupation, celebrates its efforts
to teach Palestinian farmers in the West Bank
about hybrid fruits and vegetables. What
the military doesn’t boast of in its cheerful
short video is its systematic poisoning of
besieged Gaza’s most fertile
agricultural land.”]

Murphy, Maureen Clare. "A tree-hugging
“peace” film detached from Palestine’s
reality,” Electronic Intifada, April 17, 2014.

Murray, Nancy. "Farming while Palestinian:
a World Water Day outrage,” Mondoweiss,
March 22, 2019.

Nassar, Tamara. "Israel “drastically
escalates” destruction of EU-funded
energy projects,” Electronic Intifada, March
26, 2018. [“There is no realistic avenue for
Palestinians living in Area C to ‘legally’ install
or maintain solar panels,” the report states.
This reality forces Palestinians to either leave
the area or build without permits and live in
constant fear that their homes will be
demolished and their solar panels
confiscated.”]

Nassar, Tamara. "Israel uses Palestinian
land to illegally dump toxic waste,” Electronic
Intifada, December 7, 2017. ["Israel has
turned the occupied West Bank into a
dumping ground for its waste in violation
of international law. “Israel’s environmental
policy in the West Bank, including situating
polluting waste treatment facilities there, is
part and parcel of the policy of dispossession
and annexation it has practiced in the West
Bank for the past 50 years,” a new report by
human rights group B’Tselem says.”]

Nieuwhof, Adri. "Israel is world’s leading
practitioner of water apartheid,” Electronic
Intifada, March 29, 2017. [Excerpt: “Israel
markets its water expertise as an agent of
change internationally but uses water as a
weapon of war against the Palestinians,
according to South Africa’s minister of water
and sanitation, Nomvula Mokonyane.”]

Palestinian BDS National Committee.
"Palestine is a climate justice issue –
Israeli apartheid is not ‘green’,”
Mondoweiss, December 4, 2019.
[Excerpt: "Israel’s racist and false claim,
“making the desert bloom,” is intended
to hide its violent destruction of
Palestinian society and its unsustainable
agricultural and water use practices. /
97.7% of Israel’s electricity production
comes from fossil fuels, including natural
gas extracted in part by illegally exploiting
Palestinian gas resources. / Israel is
seeking to export energy to Europe to
create dependency upon its fossil
fuel-based and illicitly generated
energy sources. / Israel generates
wind and solar energy in illegally
occupied Palestinian and Syrian land.
/ Warfare, a pillar of Israel’s economy,
is one of the world’s most polluting
industries.”]

Palestinian Information Center. “Israeli
settlers poison Palestinian wheat fields
in Jordan Valley,” February 24, 2020.

Patel, Yumna. "'Agricultural terrorism’:
Palestinian crops face destruction by Israeli
settlers. Palestinians farmers are left without
a source of income as settlers destroy crops
just months before harvest,” Middle East Eye,
May 27, 2018.

Patel. Yumna. "UN expert: ‘Israel’s policy
of usurping Palestinian natural resources
has robbed the Palestinians of vital assets’,”
Mondoweiss, March 19, 2019. [Excerpt: “The
report reads: For the almost five million
Palestinians living under occupation, the
degradation and alienation of their water
supply, the exploitation of their natural
resources and the defacing of their
environment is symptomatic of the lack
of any meaningful control they have over
their daily lives as Israel, the occupying
power, exercises its military administrative
powers in a sovereign-like fashion, with
vastly discriminatory consequences.]

PNN. "Israel floods Gaza with rainwater,
again,” January 19, 2020. Excerpt: “For
the third time in the past week, Israeli
Occupation on Saturday opened the
dams collecting rainwater towards
farmland east of Gaza City, flooding
hundreds of dunams of agricultural
land. According to WAFA, Israel opened
the dams and drained the collected
rainwater toward the Gaza Strip flooding
and damaging hundreds of dunams of
land planted with wheat, barley, peas,
cabbage, and cauliflower.”]

Rothchild, Alice. "Climate Justice and
Palestine: The New Intersectionality,”
Grassroots International, February 19,
2016. [Excerpt: “[G]roups like Grassroots
International, an organization mobilizing
resources from progressive US donors,
look to the climate justice movement in
Palestine as a source of information and
inspiration. “They are advancing a powerful
vision of climate justice, by developing
sustainable livelihoods, protecting the
environment and fighting against the
Israeli occupation, all at the same time. 
As the just transition movement grows
in the US, calling for a transition from
the extractive, exploitative economy to
resilient, thriving communities, stronger
solidarity with Palestine’s climate justice
movement will be key to achieving
that vision.”]

Sasa, Ghada. "Israel: Greenwashing
Colonialism And Apartheid,”
MES Major Paper, York University,
2017. ["This paper combines scholarly
research with personal narrative,
drawing on my personal experience,
as a Palestinian who witnessed Israel’s
injustices first-hand.”]

Schivone, Gabriele. “Countering
Israeli greenwashing at the
People’s Climate March,”
Electronic Intifada, September
21, 2014.

Shezaf, Hagar. “120 olive trees
belonging to Palestinians destroyed
in West Bank. Every year, olive
picking season sees an increased
incidence of destruction of trees
in Palestinian villages,”  Haaretz,
November 11, 2019.

Silver, Charlotte. "How the Jewish
National Fund bluewashes Israeli
apartheid,” Electronic Intifada,
June 18, 2014. [Excerpt: “This
“bluewashing” agenda seeks to
extract the issues of water in
Palestine from the broader
political circumstances, focusing
on technical solutions to water
scarcity and emphasizing Israel’s
conservational approaches to
wastewater and agricultural
practices. The salient facts are
ignored — Israel exercises total
control over all the natural water
sources in the region, deliberately
gives Palestinians insufficient water
and even denies their ability to
collect it, and thus maintains a
system of water apartheid.”]

Silver, Charlotte. “Israel’s
hydro-apartheid keeps
West Bank thirsty,” Electronic
Intifada, August 1, 2016.
[Excerpt: "Of course there
is no water scarcity in the West
Bank. What we suffer from is
induced scarcity – it’s called the
occupation. This is the regime
imposed on Palestinians
immediately after the war in
June 1967. Israel rules through
military orders, which have the
direct and intended result of
keeping Palestinians short on
water. It is not an ongoing
gradual dispossession as with
land and settlements, but was
done in one sweep by Military
Order No. 92,in August 1967.”]

Silver, Charlotte. "Silicon Valley
accord recycles myth of Israel’s
green record,” Electronic
Intifada, March 7, 2014.

Stop the JNF. "Stop the Jewish
National Fund Greenwashing,”
BNC, January 27, 2012.

Stop the Wall. "Israeli Shepherd
Settlements-Ecological
Colonialism in the Jordan
Valley,” STW website, July
25, 2022. ["an account of
the brutalization of the
Jordan Valley by Israeli
settler-shepherds who,
along with the violent
Hilltop Youth and the
Israeli military, are ranging
against pastoral Palestinian
communities.”]

Sweiden, Ruqyah. “Israel’s
Green Washing Campaign,”
The Jerusalem Fund, November
1, 2021. 

The Palestine Project. “Israeli
violations biggest threat to
Palestinian biodiversity,” WAFA,
June 4, 2020.

Trade Union Friends of Palestine.
"The Histadrut: Its History and Role
in Occupation, Colonisation and
Apartheid,” May 2011. [Excerpt:
"Unfortunately the Histadrut is
not only part of this process
of domination but has utilised
its supposedly left wing credentials
to pose as the acceptable face
of the Israeli occupation.”]

United Nations Conference on
Trade and Development. “The
Beseiged Palestinian Agricultural
Sector,” 2015. [Forty five page
report downloadable here.]

United Nations Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs in the occupied Palestinian
territories [OCHA]. “The humanitarian
impact of the takeover of
Palestinian water springs by
Israeli settlers – OCHA
factsheet,” March 2012.

Weiss, Philip and Adam Horowitz.
“Global Earth Day coalition drops
SodaStream over complicity in
Israeli occupation,” Mondoweiss,
April 22, 2014.

Westbrook, Stephanie. “EarthDay
in Israel: Apartheid Showing
Through the Greenwash,”
Mondoweiss, April 24, 2010.

Westbrook, Stephanie. “Earth
Day In Israel: Apartheid Showing
Through The Greenwash,”
Countercurrents, April
24, 2010. 

Westbrook, Stephanie.
"Italian-Israeli water
conference is showcase for
international law violations,”
Mondoweiss, October 2, 2016.

Who Profits. “Greenwashing
the Golan: The Israeli
Wind Energy Industry in the
Occupied Syrian Golan,”
March, 2019. [Downloadable
fourteen page pdf]

Who Profits. “Greenwashing
the Naqab: The Israeli
Industry of Solar Energy,”
February 2017. [Downloadable
twenty four page pdf]

Who Profits. “Greenwashing the
Occupation: The Solar Energy
Industry and the Israeli Occupation,”
January, 2017. [Downloadable
eighty page pdf]

Winstanley, Asa. “Greenwashing:
Israel’s latest colonial tool against
Syria,” Middle East Monitor,
November 30, 2016.

Yaghi, Amjad Ayman. “Desperate
work for desperate people. Israel’s
attacks continue to harm health
and the environment after the
bombing stops,” Electronic
Intifada, October 15, 2019.
[Excerpt: "The UN accepted the
invitation but Israel refused to
cooperate with the UN, during
or after the attack, and the
delegation never entered Gaza,
according to Hilles. “The Israeli
occupation doesn’t want the
world to see its crimes,” Hilles
said.”]

From the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation
of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since
1967 [March 15, 2019]

For a larger version of the pdf [where you can read the
footnotes]: https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/
cjpme/pages/4388/attachments/original/
1539275897/210-En-Israeli_Greenwashing_v02.pdf?1539275897 

Farming Without Water: Palestinian Agriculture in the Jordan
Valley [EWASH Palestine, 7 minutes,  2014.] "This short film
introduces the strain under which Palestinian farmers continue
to live in the Jordan Valley. Water shortages prevent farmers
from growing productive crops, while right next door the
Israeli water company Mekorot pumps millions of gallons
from the ground in order to supply water to illegal
settlements. Palestinians have systematically been denied
their right to dig wells or build water infrastruture since
1967, when the Israeli army completed its occupation of
all of historic Palestine. No Palestinian has received a permit
to build a water structure since 1967, and “illegal” water
infrastructure is routinely demolished.” — Teaching Palestine

"Context: Mekorot” from  Alliance for Water
Justice in Palestine

Parched: Israel’s policy of water deprivation in
the West Bank / "The Israeli apartheid regime
works to promote and perpetuate Jewish
supremacy in the entire area it controls from
the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea,
deliberately creating a huge disparity in water
consumption between those who enjoy the
luxuries afforded by a first-world water
superpower and those – all of them Palestinian
subjects – who suffer a chronic water shortage.
This cruel, systematic exploitation of a basic
resource towards political ends is especially
damaging to the most vulnerable Palestinians
communities, who live in the hottest, most arid
areas of the West Bank, as part of a policy
aimed at dispossessing them of what little
property and land they have." 

Gaza Water Crisis: Political Solution Needed,
not a Technological One [10/23/18]

Images from @CorpOccupation [9/28/19]:
“Palestine solidarity groups protest Israeli
land grabs in Jordan Valley & the exploitation of water
and other natural resources. Peaceful protest suppressed
by military. 2 detained and later released. 1 girl from Youth
of Sumud injured when soldier hit her arm with a gun. #BDS"

Water Justice in Palestine

Alliance for Water Justice in Palestine

Israeli sewage-dumping affects Palestinian villages [July, 2010]

Haaretz, February 14, 2020.

B’Tselem [The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in
the Occupied Territories]: "Water in Gaza: Scarce, polluted and
mostly unfit for use," August 17, 2020

DecolonizePalestine: Resources about Greenwashing

Gisha: "Stop the aerial herbicide
spraying” [July 18, 2019]

Uprooted: the Destruction of Olive Trees by Israel

Not Enough Water in the West Bank?

200 Trees Uprooted by Israeli Army West of Salfit
["Israeli bulldozers uprooted on Saturday 200
trees in the town of Bidya, west of Salfit. The
uprooted trees vary between olives, figs, grapes,
peaches, lemons, and fruit and perennial
almonds….The Israeli occupation forces had
uprooted more than 200 olive trees in the town
of Derastia, northwest of Salfit, two months ago.
Meanwhile, Jewish settlers began razing and
vandalizing farmers' lands two days ago in
Khillet Alayyan and Khillet Hassan in Bidya town
under the protection of the IOF soldiers. Local
sources reported that settlers uprooted olive,
fig and grape trees, removed stone chains,
demolished agricultural rooms, and caused
great damage to the area."]

"Gaza farmers: ‘Israel destroyed all of our crops’" — Middle
East Monitor, January 16, 2020. [Excerpt: "After the dams
which were built in areas controlled by Israel to block
rainwater streaming through valleys crossing the Gaza
Strip had been opened twice, Gazan farmers claim
that all of their crops were completely destroyed….“The
opening of the water dams destroyed all of our crops,
our infrastructure and irrigation network.” Thousands
of dunams of agricultural land in the east of
Al-Sheja’ea, an eastern neighbourhood of Gaza City,
were left damaged.”]

A Palestinan woman protecting an olive tree
from destruction. Photo: intifada.de via

Palestinians 'devastated' after Israeli
settlers destroy olive trees / “Israeli
human rights group Yesh Din, which
documents settler attacks on Palestinians
and their farmland across the occupied
West Bank, notes that such attacks are a
daily reality, and "are part of a calculated
strategy for dispossessing Palestinians
of their land”. "The settlers are doing
this to push us off the land," Salah said.
"They think that if they keep making us
tired through these attacks and financial
losses, that we will leave and it will make
it easier for them to take the land.” “But
that will never happen," he said." 

"Mekorot builds water networks in Israel's illegal settlements
& manages water stolen from Palestinians. By refusing the
construction of water networks in 45 Bedouin villages, Mekorot
collaborates with Israel in implementing “water apartheid."

From Visualizing Palestine

Who Profits Research Center: "As Israel continues to
position itself as a global leader in “friendly"
environmental solutions, let's keep remembering
the ways in which this trend is based on the continued
de-development and colonization of the Palestinian
people and is used to greenwash Israeli occupation.

Solar energy, wind energy and agritech projects all
happen at the expense of the Palestinians in all their
geographies, and the Syrian communities in the Golan,
facilitating deprivation, exploitation and land grab. 

For more, check out our reports:

Agribusiness as Usual-
https://whoprofits.org/report/agribusiness-as-usual/

The Solar Energy Industry and the Israeli Occupation-
https://whoprofits.org/report/greenwashing-the-
occupation-the-solar-energy-industry-and-the-
israeli-occupation/

Greenwashing the Naqab- https://whoprofits.org/
report/greenwashing-the-naqab-the-israeli-
industry-of-solar-energy/

Wind Energy in the Golan- https://whoprofits.org/
flash-report/greenwashing-the-golan/ "

"Israel Declares War on Palestinian Water,”  Haaretz, 9/30/2021 

Jonathan Ofir: "New report outlines how Golda Meir’s
Israel poisoned Palestinian land in ethnic cleansing
operation. In the early 1970s, Golda Meir’s
government poisoned the lands of Aqraba in the
West Bank to force out its Palestinian inhabitants
and clear the way for an illegal Jewish settlement.”
[Mondoweiss,  June 25, 2023]

Zochrot: "As far as Zochrot is concerned,
marking the location of Palestinian
communities that were destroyed in
1948 is part of the effort to make
recognize its responsibility for the
Nakba ("The Catastrophe"; the
Palestinians' term for the 1948 war),
and for the right of the refugees to
return to their villages. This goal is
unacceptable to most Israelis. But
providing information about these
villages also contributes to knowledge
of the country's history and culture,
and to greater awareness of the factors
that have shaped the Israeli landscape.
This has taken on added importance
mainly in light of recent efforts by
planners and environmental protection
groups to preserve "cultural landscapes”
- in other words, areas whose landscape
was shaped by human activity."

"On Sunday, November 20th 2022 the Green Olive
Collective joined in conversation with human rights
activists Maya Rosen and Daniel Roth, whose recent
report shed light on the greenwashing tactics of the
Jewish National Fund (JNF) and the way its deliberately
opaque structure facilitates the expropriation of
Palestinian land for Jewish settlement. / The JNF
owns the land where over half the population of
the state of Israel lives. It is best known around
the world for its forestation, tree planting, and
environmental conservation efforts. This ethical
image is contrasted by the central role the JNF
plays in the ongoing dispossession of Palestinians
on both sides of the Green Line."

Gideon Levy, "The pathological sadism of
Israeli settlers,”  Haaretz,  January 24, 2019.
[Excerpt: "Who are the human scum who
drove all-terrain vehicles down to the
magnificent olive grove owned by Abed
al Hai Na’asan, in the West Bank village
of Al-Mughayyir, chose the oldest and
biggest row, and with electric saws felled
25 trees, one after another? Who
are the human scum who are capable of
fomenting such an outrage on the soil, the
earth, the trees and of course on the farmer,
who’s been working his land for decades?
 Who are the human scum who fled like
cowards, knowing that no one would bring
them to justice for the evil they had
wrought?”] Accessible version.

"Israelis flood sewage into Palestinian olive groves": "Israeli
settler violence against Palestinians and their property is
a routine occurrence in the occupied West Bank, and most
acts of vandalism and attacks by settlers often go unpunished
by the Israeli authorities.”  [Image: "A Palestinian
woman walks next to sewage water flowing from Israeli
settlements in the West Bank village of Kafr Thulth, near
Qalqilya, December 2012. Ahmad Al-Bazz / ActiveStills]

 "Israel's water control” [Middle East Eye, 2021] / “The
extent to which the Palestinians can adapt to climate
change is heavily constrained by the situation of the
occupation.” London School of Economics (LSE)
professor Dr Michael Mason’s research into the
impacts of climate change on Palestinians in the
West Bank and Gaza gives us an insight into
Israel’s control of water resource."

"Environmental Justice Has No Borders: A Call to
the Environmental Justice Movement” / Sign the
Pledge: bit.ly/NoGreenwashingPledge 

[ORGANIZATIONAL SIGNERS: 

About Face Veterans Against The War

Adalah Justice Project

Adalah-NY

American Muslim Bar Association (AMBA)

Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC)

Australians for Palestine 

Baltimore Nonviolence Center

Catalyst Project

Church Women United in New York State

Daarna

East Michigan Environmental Action Council (EMEAC)

Eyewitness Palestine

Global Environmental Justice Project

Gods' Grace Outreach Ministries, International

Grassroots Global Justice Alliance

Healing our Homeland, Gaza

Jewish Voice for Peace

Jewish Voice for Peace-Boston

Jewish Voice for Peace-Central Ohio

Jewish Voice for Peace-New Haven

Jewish Voice for Peace-Twin Cities

Jews for Palestinian Right of Return

Little Village Environmental Justice Organization

Lutherans for Justice in the Holy Land

Madison-Rafah Sister City Project

Minnesota BDS Community

Movement for Black Lives

Mujeres Unidas y Activas

NDN Collective

North New Jersey Democratic Socialists of America

Peace Action WI

Red Banner Anti-Imperialist Collective

Sari-Sari Women of Color Arts Coup

Showing Up for Racial Justice-San Francisco

Showing Up for Racial Justice-Toronto

St. Louis Friends of Bethlehem

Terra Advocati

The American Muslim Bar Association (AMBA)

The Art Odyssey

Uprooted & Rising

US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR)

Vermonters for Justice in Palestine

Visualizing Palestine

Vote Climate

Yalla Indivisible]

Water Justice in Palestine

"Israeli forces destroy irrigation ponds in the al-Jiftlik village,
in Jordan Valley.” / "Israel has severely restricted Palestinian
access to water in the area, particularly the 23 underground
wells used for agriculture. Local water springs are susceptible
to dryness and depletion as a result of Israel’s control over
water. The Israeli water company, Mekorot, has depleted the
wells and has been granted a monopoly on the drilling,
restoration, distribution and selling of Palestinian water.
In contrast, Palestinians have been forbidden from
constructing new wells or restoring existing ones."

"In the village of Jaba in Bethlehem district this month,
Israeli squatter settlers chopped down and destroyed 300
olive trees….Instead of preventing the settlers’ violence,
the Israeli army were filmed attacking journalists who
were covering the attack on Palestinian peasants."

Mekorot: "Apartheid in a Pipe” by Apartheid Adventures [2012]

Stop the Wall: "Factsheet: Cutting the lifeline – Stop the annexation
of Palestinian water ,” June 26, 2020.

Greenwashing Bingo: the winner … The Sierra Club

Visualizing Palestine, Nov. 2023

From South Africa BDS Coalition’s Rainbowwashing Series 

"NABLUS, Nov 10, 2019, (WAFA News) -Israeli
occupation forces prevented Palestinians from
harvesting their olive crops in the village of
Sebastia, northwest of Nablus, according to a
local official. Mayor of Sebastia, Mohammed
Azem, told WAFA Israeli forces kicked farmers
out of their land under the pretext of lacking
prior coordination, despite the fact that their
lands are located beyond the fence that
surrounds the illegal Israeli settlement of Shafi
Shomron. He said farmers found dead pigs in
their land and were shocked to find that their
lands were flooded with sewage by settlers from
the nearby illegal settlement."

On “Disabilitywashing”:

"Disability occurs in all walks of life. Disability justice cannot
be separated from the rights of all people: Food, Water,
Medicine, Shelter, Breath, Sleep, Self-Determination.
Thousands of Palestinians have become permanently
disabled in the recent attacks on Gaza. We are not
burdens. We are beautiful. Because we are survivors.
The targeting of hospitals, ambulances, and rehabilitation
facilities are attacks on disabled people. Disability justice
means resisting together. From solitary cells to open air
prisons. We will be liberated as whole beings. We are far
greater whole than partitioned. To Exist is to Resist.
FREE PALESTINE.” — Sins Invalid 

ASL DisabilityJusticeForPalestine

Abu Eltarabesh, Hamza. "How Israel stole
this fisherman’s sight and sense of smell,”
Electronic Intifada, February 18, 2020.

Abunimah, Ali. "Video: Settlers cheer as Israeli
soldiers attack disabled Palestinian child,”
Electronic Intifada, October 21, 2014. [“This
disturbing footage shot by Palestinian
videographer Samih Da’na and published
by the Israeli nongovernmental organization
B’Tselem documents the violent abuse of a
developmentally disabled Palestinian child.”]

Abusalama, Shahd. "Disabled Palestinians call
for solidarity with Khader Adnan from Gandhi’s
grandchildren and world,” Electronic Intifada,
February 16, 2012.

Abusalama, Shahd. "‘Don’t tell my mother
that I am blind’: Muhammad Brash grasps
for light in the darkness of Israeli jail,”
Electronic Intifada, July 28, 2012. [Excerpt:
Ever since his arrest, he has suffered from
medical neglect every day. It’s this that
left Muhammad in two forms of
darkness: His blind eyes that see no
colors but black, and his dark cell
where he dies every day and may spend
the last day of his life.”]

Agre, Deborah. "What is mental health when
trauma is ongoing?” Middle East Children’s
Alliance, January 22, 2019.

Akkad, Dania. "'Shoot to maim': How Israel
created a generation on crutches in Gaza.
Doctors tell MEE that Palestinian protesters’
crippling injuries, especially to lower limbs,
were inflicted deliberately,” Middle East Eye,
March 29, 2018. [Excerpt: "When you have
almost 90 percent of the people injured in
the lower limb, it means that there is a
policy to target the lower limbs -
Marie-Elisabeth Ingres, Doctors Without
Borders]

Alashi, Nura. "The John Silvers of Gaza,”
We are Not Numbers, December 5, 2016.

Algherbawi, Sarah. "When Israel bombed
disabled Palestinians,” Electronic Intifada,
July 15, 2019. [Excerpt: "A probe by
Human Rights Watch concluded there was
no evidence of the building being used by
armed groups around the time of Israel’s
attack. The fact that Israel had caused
immense damage to a charity working
for people with disabilities was omitted
from most, if not all, reports by
mainstream media on the May offensive.”]

Al Ghussain, Alia. "No access to education
for Bedouin children with disabilities,”
Electronic Intifada, February 17, 2016.

Alhaj, Mohammad. "The intifada’s lasting
injuries,” Electronic Intifada, July 6, 2015.

Alhajjar, Mohammed A, and Maha Hussaini,
 "Shattered limbs, broken dreams: Life
for Gaza athletes after surviving Israeli
bullets. 'My life has completely stopped.’
Three athletes whose dreams were
interrupted by Israeli bullets tell their
stories to MEE ,” Middle East Eye,
September 1, 2018.

Al-Jadir, Raya. "Mohamed Dalo and the art of
living with disability in Gaza,” The New Arab,
February 22, 2018. [Excerpt: "Living in Gaza
is a real struggle for anyone - but if you are
disabled then it is an entirely different matter;
Palestinians have been suffering under the
occupation for more than 65 years, and people
with disability suffer the same fate of not knowing
or interacting with other countries, so they are
unaware of the opportunities and facilities that
are available for people with special needs, or
even what they want or need.”]

AlJamal, Yousef M. "Vital medicines run out in
Gaza,” Electronic Intifada, October 16, 2019.
[Excerpt: "Israel’s siege – imposed since 2007
– has affected Gaza’s healthcare system
enormously. A new report by the World
Health Organization states that of the 516
items on Gaza’s essential medicines list,
nearly half had less than a month’s stock
remaining in 2018.”]

Almasri, Abier. "Disability Rights Defender
in Gaza Addresses UN. Recounts Harrowing
Experience Fleeing during Latest Escalation,”
Human Rights Watch, June 30, 2021. [Excerpt:
"Abeer al-Harakli, a 28-year-old disability
rights defender from Gaza, addressed the
United Nations earlier this month at the 14th
session of the Conference of States Parties
to the Convention on the Rights of Persons
with Disabilities. She described in detail the
difficulties and fear that people with
disabilities in Gaza face when attempting to
flee hostilities. Fleeing an attack, she said,
“is the most difficult thing for us, people
with disabilities.”]

Alnaouq, Mahmoud. "One story: the cost of
protest,” We Are Not Numbers, December 19,
2018. [Excerpt: "Yaser, I learned, had been shot
while participating in the Great Return March.
His left leg had been shattered by one of those
exploding bullets we’d been hearing about that
struck fear into our hearts…. Yaser was sitting
on a sand dune, dreaming of returning to his
family’s historic homeland. Then, an explosion
ripped the air, sounding very close. At first, Yaser
thought it was the sound of a tear gas bomb.
"I tried to stand up, but I couldn't. I looked down
at my legs and saw that the left one was a mass
of blood and torn flesh…" Yaser told me, recalling
 shock. He had been shot by a type of bullet that
explodes inside the body. His leg bones were
shattered and most of the flesh was pulverized.”]

Amer, Ruwaida. "Israel puts Gaza’s deaf
people in extreme danger,” Electronic Intifada,
October 29, 2021. [Excerpt: "The Atfaluna
Society for Deaf Children in Gaza City
conducted a survey of 102 people shortly
after a ceasefire brought an end to Israel’s
bombardment in May. More than 84 percent
of those surveyed had a disability. More than
38 percent of respondents replied that their
homes were slightly damaged. Another eight
percent stated that the damage to their
homes was severe. Almost 19 percent replied
that their movements were curtailed during
the attack and they could not fulfill their
basic needs as a result.”]

Asad, Mohammed. "Palestinian prosthetics
centre, providing limbs for those injured by
Israel. Prosthetic technicians make limbs for
Gazans who have lost theirs while taking part
in the Great March of Return,” Middle East
Monitor, March 6, 2019. [Excerpt: "Some 160
of those wounded during the protests have
lost limbs, statistics from the Ministry of
Health have revealed. This was a result of
the occupation’s targeting of demonstrators
with live ammunition and explosives, fragments
of which entered their bodies, tearing through
their joints and limbs.”]

Ashly, Jaclyn. "How Israel is disabling Palestinian
teenagers: Survivors of Israeli live fire speak about
Israel's 'kneecapping' practice of shooting youth
in their lower limbs," Al Jazeera, September 21, 2017.

Associated Press. "Israeli Forces Kill
Unarmed Autistic Palestinian Man.The
shooting death of an unarmed autistic
Palestinian man by Israeli forces is drawing
angry condemnations from Arab residents
and leaders and is further raising tensions
in the region as Israel prepares to annex
parts of the occupied West Bank,” May
31, 2020.

Barrows-Friedman, Nora. "Israeli captain: “I will
make you all disabled,” Electronic Intifada,
September 1, 2016.

Blumenthal, Max. "Evidence Emerges of Israeli
“Shoot To Cripple” Policy In the Occupied West
Bank: Israeli soliders use live fire and expanding
bullets to shatter the legs of West Bank protesters,”
Alternet, August 8, 2014.

B’Tselem [The Israeli Information Center
for Human Rights in the Occupied
Territories]. "If the heart be not callous.
On the unlawful shooting of unarmed
demonstrators in Gaza,” downloadable
pdf report, April 2018. [Excerpt: “Israel’s
position that it may use live and potentially
lethal fire against unarmed demonstrators
who are endangering no one undermines every
moral principle, contradicts the provisions
of international law and is unlawful. The
same holds true for Israel’s insistence on
continuing to apply the same directives
despite the resulting high number of
deaths and injuries.”]

B’Tselem [The Israeli Information Center for
Human Rights in the Occupied Territories]. “Seven
months of protests by Gaza fence: Over 5,800
Palestinians wounded by live Israeli gunfire,”
November 22, 2018. ["Approximately 2,300
of the casualties are minors. Doctors have
had to perform amputations on 90 protesters,
including 17 minors and one woman. In the
majority of cases (82), the amputations were
of lower limbs.”] 

B’Tselem [The Israeli Information Center for
Human Rights in the Occupied Territories]. “Shoot
and abandon: 155 amputees and 27 paralyzed
in two years: How Israel punishes those who
dare protest the siege of the Gaza Strip,”
January 30, 2020.

Cannon, Suzanne. "Public Transportation in East
Jerusalem is Not Accessible,” BIZCHUT website,
April 2, 2012. [Excerpt: “ (I)n spite of the
obligations under the Equal Rights for People
with Disabilities Law and its regulations, the situation
in East Jerusalem is appalling and what have become
acceptable standards for accessibility to public
transportation in other locations around the country and in
neighborhoods in West Jerusalem, have been passed
over in the east of the city. The outcome of this
harsh violation of the law is a serious blow to the
rights of thousands of residents with mobility
and sensory impairments to freedom of movement,
and to the their right to be included in society and
live a life of dignity: the buses and minibuses do
not have room for people who use wheelchairs,
there are no ramps, no seats dedicated to people
with disabilities, no accommodations for people
with sight impairments, no public announcement
systems, no enlarged signs with contrasting
colors, as laid down in the regulations.”]

Cappellini, Flavia. "Riding, despite Gaza:
Palestinian cycling champion Alaa al-Dali.
Cycling champ Alaa al-Dali's leg was shot to
pieces by an Israeli sniper. Now he's making
a comeback as a para-cyclist,” Al Jazeera,
June 2, 2019.

CBM. “Palestine (Gaza),” CBM website. [Excerpt: In
the 1980s, the Intifada brought a sudden interest
in physical disability: The number of persons with
permanent disabilities due to war injuries rose.”]

Clare, Dr. Gerry. "Trump and Israel's 'Vision' for the
Palestinians Is to Blind Them. Literally; Working as
an eye doctor in East Jerusalem, I saw first-hand
how Israel maims Palestinians as a form of crowd
control. Now Trump is cutting U.S. funds to the
hospitals that treat them,” Haaretz, September
16, 2018. [Haaretz article behind paywall ... PDF
version.]

Cook. Jonathan. "Gaza’s disabled cut off
from payments,” Electronic Intifada, September
11, 2019. [Excerpt: “Israel has absolute control
not only over the physical borders of Gaza,
but also over our monetary system, too,” he
said. “We depend on the Israeli currency of
the shekel and Israel’s banks can turn on and
off the money supply at will….Abu Rahma said
the disabled workers included the poorest and
most vulnerable among Gaza’s population of
1.5 million, and many were in danger of
starvation if payments were not resumed
soon.”]

Copley, Theo Yang. "What Disability Justice
Has To Offer Social Justice,” Grassroots Instite
for Fundraising, November 1, 2011.

Dahman, Mohammed. "Gaza Strip’s amputees
face death, dashed dreams under blockade.
Thousands of Palestinians shot by Israeli forces
during protests this year are now languishing,
unable to provide for their families and at risk
of deadly infections,” Asia Times, December 11, 2018.

Defense for Children International [DCI]. “Stopped
at the door: Disability and the right to education
(Part 1),” December 16, 2016. 

Defense for Children Intenational [DCI]. “Stopped
at the door: Disability and the right to education
(Part 2),” December 22, 2016.

Diakonia. "Call for action regarding disability
in Gaza,” December 4, 2012. ["In November,
the people of Gaza have lived under constant
threat due to the conflict in the region.
International agencies working with disability
in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) now
call for action to ensure the well-being of a
forgotten group in the conflict; people with
disabilities....Ensure that people with disabilities
have immediate access to all humanitarian
interventions in the Gaza Strip. This includes
protection, health and nutrition as well as
psychosocial support.”]

Doctors without Borders/ Medecins sans
Frontieres. “Gaza: Thousands of People Shot
during Protests Require Urgent Treatment,”
November 29, 2018. [“Thousandsof people
shot by the Israeli army during protests in
Gaza this year are overwhelming the Gazan
medical system with complex wounds,
infections, and disabilities, the international
medical humanitarian organization Doctors
Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières
(MSF) said today.”]

Estrin, Daniel and Abu Bar Bashir. “Inside
Gaza's Factory Making Prosthetic Legs For
Palestinian Protest Amputees,” National
Public Radio ["All Things Considered”],
October 31, 2018.

Gadzo, Mersiha. "'Life is all about trying’:
Disabled Palestinians defy challenges.
Despite the obstacles, Palestinians in Gaza
show a strong will to defeat their disabilities
and achieve their dreams,” Al Jazeera,
December 3, 2018. ["Artificial limbs made
in Gaza are typically of poor quality since
the blockade has disrupted imports of
prosthetic limbs and raw materials used
to make them.”]

Giacaman, Rita [Birzeit University]. "Mental health,
social distress and political oppression: The case
of the occupied Palestinian territory,” Global Public
Health 6(5):547-559,  July 2011.

Glazer, Hilo. "'42 Knees in One Day': Israeli Snipers
Open Up About Shooting Gaza Protesters. Over 200
Palestinians were killed and nearly 8,000 were injured
during almost two years of weekly protests at the
Israel-Gaza border. Israeli army snipers tell their
stories,” Ha’artez, March 6, 2020. ["There was a
story about one sniper who had 11 knees all told,
and people thought no one could outdo him. And
then I (Eden, Golani Brigade) brought in seven-eight
knees in one day. Within a few hours, I almost
broke his record….My locator wasn’t supposed to
shoot, but I gave him a break, because we were
getting close to the end of our stint, and he didn’t
have knees. In the end you want to leave with the
feeling that you did something, that you weren’t a
sniper during exercises only. So, after I had a few
hits, I suggested to him that we switch. He got
around 28 knees there, I’d say.”]

Hacker, Emily. "Israel’s assaults on public
health infrastructure amount to war crimes,”
Electronic Intifada, June 2, 2022. ["Israel relies
on – among other strategies – the destruction
of Palestinian health infrastructure, the
targeting of medical personnel, and inhibiting
Palestinian access to health care to enforce
its regime of apartheid. Yet Western health
officials often overlook these acts, which are
nothing short of war crimes, and this passive
complicity violates our promise as health
care professionals to do no harm.”]

Hajjaj, Tareq and Pam Bailey. "'Blinding the truth’:
Israeli snipers target Gaza protesters in the eyes,”
The New Arab, December 20, 2019. [“Israeli sniper
targeting participants in Gaza's weekly Great Return
March protests have aimed for the legs – and eyes.
To date, Gaza's Ministry of Health reports that 50
protesters have been shot in the eye since the
demonstrations began March 30, 2018 – leaving
them permanently blind.”]

Helm, Sarah. "‘Will he lose his leg?’: Thousands
of Gaza protesters facing life-altering injuries
from Israeli high velocity bullets,” The Independent
UK], November 11, 2018. [Excerpt: "Human rights
groups dispute almost every element of this
[IsraeliDefense Forces] analysis. Amnesty International
has called Israel’s sniper fire “a murderous assault”
on the protesters, calling on governments world
wideto impose a comprehensive arms embargo on
Israel./ "It seems likely that, in order to defuse the
growing international criticism of the slaughter,
the rules of engagement were changed and Israeli
snipers came under new orders to shoot to kill
less and shoot to maim more, [Breaking The
Silence's Yehuda Shaul] suggests.”]

Hoyle, Charlie. "Mental health in Palestine among
world's worst,” The New Arab, May 12, 2017.
[Excerpt: "Political and social conditions endured
by Palestinians under Israeli military occupation
have left a scar on the psychological wellbeing of
civilians….A study of adolescents in the besieged
territory after the 2008-9 Israeli offensive found
that 30 percent reported symptoms meeting the
criteria for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, according
to a report by Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP)
investigating the health impact of 50 years of military
occupation. / Among areas heavily bombarded
during the 2014 war on Gaza, 54 percent of children
were recorded as suffering from severe PTSD, whose
symptoms include flashbacks, nightmares, avoidance
behaviour, difficulty sleeping, and intrusive distressing
recollections of traumatic experiences. / Following the
52-day war, which killed more than 2,200 Palestinians,
the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that
more than 20 percent of the Gazan population may
have developed mental health conditions which
required psychosocial care.”] Also see Al Jazeera.
"Save the Children: Gaza children on brink of mental
health crisis: Research by the rights group found 95
percent of young people surveyed in Gaza showed
deep psychological distress,” June 4, 2018.

The Hub. "Resources for Social Justice
and Disability,” December 20, 2016.

Humanity and Inclusion. “Palestinian Territories,” 2018.

Humaid, Maram. "Gaza hospitals: 'Israel was
shooting to kill or cause disability’: Al Jazeera
speaks to doctors and Palestinians injured during
Gaza's Land Day protests at a hospital struggling
to cope,” Al Jazeera, April 3, 2018.

Humaid, Maram. "Palestinians launch first
national amputee football team in Gaza.
The squad of 20 amputee footballers from
Gaza hopes to play in the Amputee Football
World Cup next year,” Al Jazeera, December
3, 2021. ["Ahmed Alkhodari, 23, lost his leg
in March 2019 during the Great March of Return
three years ago. Hundreds of Palestinians
were killed, and tens of thousands were
wounded in Israeli firing as they attempted
to cross the fence demanding a return to
towns and villages located inside Israel from
where their ancestors were ethnically
cleansed in 1948. At least 156 of those
who were wounded faced amputations.”]

Human Rights Watch. “Gaza: Israeli Restrictions
Harm People with Disabilities. Neglect by Hamas
Authorities, Armed Conflict Cause Further
Hardship,” December 3, 2020. [Report]

Imani. "Relationships with Abled Allies Sometimes
Feels like Dating F–kBois: All About Them,” Crutches
and Spice [Blog], April 25, 2017. [Excerpt: “Some
movement that will accept us, and appreciate our
passion and diversity and genuinely include us.
We do not want least amount of inclusion necessary
so they can fall asleep congratulating themselves
for their efforts in the name of diversity.”]

International Middle East Media Center [IMEMC]. “On
40th Friday of Great March of Return and Breaking
Siege, Israeli Forces Kill Palestinian Civilian With
Disability and Wound 18 Other Civilians, including
4 Children and 2 Paramedics,” December 28, 2018.

International Middle East Media Center [IMEMC].
"Al Mezan: Israel Claims Immunity from All Damages
Inflicted on Gaza Protestors,” February 13, 2019.
[Excerpt: "Adalah and Al Mezan appeal to Israeli
Supreme Court against lower court ruling finding
that Gazans may be denied compensation for
damages because Gaza is defined by law as an
‘enemy territory’. Israeli military forces shot
Palestinian high school student Attiya Nabaheen
on his 15th birthday in the front yard of his family
home in the Gaza Strip on 16 November 2014.
Nabaheen was returning from school. He was
not armed and was not involved in any violence.
As a result of the shooting, Nabaheen was
paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair for
the rest of his life.”]

International Middle East Media Center [IMEMC].
"Deterioration of the Palestinian Disabled Persons’
Conditions Continues,” December 5, 2013. [Excerpt:
"The above data indicates a steady rise in the number
of disabled persons in the oPt due to sustaining
injuries resulting from the Israeli military attacks
since the beginning of Al-Aqsa Intifada in 2000
….In the Gaza Strip, the rights of disabled persons
have continued to deteriorate due to the ongoing
Israeli policy of imposing the illegal closure, which
is a form of collective punishment banned under
the international humanitarian law. Conditions of
the disabled persons have worsened due to the
deteriorating humanitarian conditions in the
Gaza Strip resulting from the Israeli-imposed
tightened restrictions on the freedom of movement
of people in addition to the serious and catastrophic
shortage of fuel and power supplies, medicines and
medical supplies, including assisting medical devices.
This affects the major services offered to disabled
persons and denies them access to services of health,
water, clean drinking water, environmental health
and education and rehabilitation. Care and
rehabilitation associations for persons with
disabilities suffer from ongoing crises due to
the daily outages of electricity for long hours
– around 12-16 hours daily.”]

International Middle East Media Center [IMEMC].
"Israeli MK [Deputy Knesset Speaker Bezalel
Smotrich]: Tamimi ‘Should Have Gotten Bullet,
at Least in Knee,’” April 24, 2018.

International Middle East Media Center [IMEMC].
"Mandela Institute: Palestinians taken to Israeli
prison hospital are not given medical treatment,”
December 28, 2016.

International Middle East Media Center [IMEMC].
"Mental Disability On the Rise Under the Israeli Siege.”
June 10, 2015. [Excerpt: "The number of mentally
disabled people in the Gaza Strip has increased
substantially in the last years. It so happens that
70% of the cases come from the communities located
near the fence that separates Gaza from the territories
occupied in 1948. The doctors and people responsible
for the care of these children believe that this is due to
the fact that these populations have been the most
attacked in the successive massacres committed by
Israel in Gaza.”]

International Middle East Media Center [IMEMC].
"Soldiers Assault A Blind Man in His Home, Near
Bethlehem,” February 20, 2019.

International Middle East Media Center [IMEMC].
"UN Special Rapporteur: Israel “In Profound Breach”
of Palestinians’ Right to Health,” March 26, 2018.

Israel Palestine Timeline. "Karam Mohammad
Fayyad,” December 28, 2018. ["Karam Mohammad
No’man Fayyad, 26, a disabled Palestinian man,
was shot in the head and killed by Israeli forces
at the Great March of Return east of Khan Younis
in Gaza. In addition to Karam, Israeli soldiers shot
and injured at least eight other protesters with
live ammunition, including a medic and a
photojournalist, during the Great March Of
Return processions in the besieged Gaza Strip.”]

Jabr, Samah. "What Palestinians experience
goes beyond the PTSD label. In Palestine,
traumatic threats are ongoing and enduring,
with no ‘post-traumatic’ safety,” Middle East
Eye, February 7, 2019. [Excerpt: “The
psychiatric definition of trauma does not
accommodate the most commonplace
experience for Palestinians: humiliation,
objectification, forced helplessness, and
daily exposure to toxic stress….In Palestine,
traumatic threats are ongoing and enduring.
There is no “post-traumatic” safety. The
phenomena of avoidance and
hyper-vigilance are considered to be
dysfunctional psychological reactions
in a soldier who has returned to the
safety of his hometown. But for tortured
Palestinian prisoners, such symptoms
are reasonable reactions, insofar as
the threat lives on; they may be
re-arrested and tortured again at
any time.”][Also see Goldhill, Olivia.
"Palestine’s head of mental health
services says PTSD is a western
concept,” Middle East Eye, January 13,
2019. / “I question the methodology.
I think they’re measuring social
psychological pain and social
suffering, and they’re saying this
is depression,” she says. “What is sick,
the context or the person? In Palestine,
we see many people whose
symptoms—unusual emotional
reaction or a behaviors—are a
normal reaction to a pathogenic
context.”]

Jaffee, Laura Jordan. "Disrupting global disability
frameworks: settler-colonialism and the geopolitics
of disability in Palestine/Israel,” [abstract], Disability
and Society, March 11, 2015.

Kate. "60% of the 10,500 protesters treated for
injuries in Gaza were shot by Israeli forces in the legs,”
Mondoweiss, December 14, 2018. [See: “Pitman, Todd.
"In Gaza protests, Israeli troops aim at the legs,”
Associated Press, December 9, 2018.}

Khatib, Alaa and Silvester Kasozi. "Disability and
Explosive Remnants of War in Gaza,” three page
downloadable pdf, This Week in Palestine, July, 2014. 

Kubovich, Yaniv [and Associated Press]. “Disabled
Palestinian Protester Killed in Clashes Was Shot in
the Head, Gaza Medical Records Say,” Haaretz,
December 29, 2017.

Lamm, Nomy. "This Is Disability Justice,”
The Body is Not an Apology, September 2, 2015.

Leichman, Abigail Klein. “Israel’s military
inclusion program inspires US Corps of Honor.
Chairman of the US President’s Committee for
People with Intellectual Disabilities plans to
implement revolutionary program based on
Israel's successful model,” ISRAEL21c, October
6, 2020. ["Less than a year later, Neeley
accompanied the task force to Israel. He
visited some of the 28 bases where about
450 Special in Uniform soldiers are stationed.
“I was blown away,” Neeley tells ISRAEL21c.
“I talked to the commanders about how the
integration has helped relieve some of the
garrison responsibilities like logistics, food
services, medical services, transportation
and administrative jobs so you can move
soldiers without disabilities to the frontline.
I saw how the IDF trains young people with
autism to read satellite imagery and see
things you and I can’t see.” … JNF-USA
National Vice President Alan Wolk also is
helping Neeley plan the Corps of Honor.
“It’s not a JNF project but we’re providing
guidance and cobranding,” says Wolk,
chairman of the Special in Uniform
taskforce and a board member of
JNF-USA’s Task Force on Disabilities.”]

Levy, Gideon. "Bleeding, blindfolded and cuffed,
Osama tried to run. Then came the second shot.
Osama Hajajeh, a Palestinian shepherd boy, is in
the hospital with serious gunshot wounds to both
his legs. Photos of him being shot while trying to
flee Israeli commandos, bound and blindfolded,
illustrate just how low the IDF has come. 'He's not
a hero. He just wanted to live,' his father says,”
Haaretz, April 24, 2019. [Excerpt: They shot the
momentarily blind and handcuffed boy even though
they could have easily grabbed him without incurring
any injury. They were standing next to him, at zero
range. How fast can a bound and blindfolded youth
run? But no. They didn’t try to catch him. Why would
they? Commandos, you know: First you shoot, then
you shoot again, and only then do try to clarify what
happened.”]

Levy, Gideon. "Israel condemned this Gazan
fisherman to life in eternal darkness. Let the
sailors in their white uniforms know what
they do in the name of the rite of security
to helpless fishermen who endanger no
one and who have done no harm,”
Haaretz, October 5, 2019. Also see Levy,
Gideon and Alex Levac, "A Gazan blinded
by Israeli navy gunfire loses a final glimmer
of hope. Seven months after a Gaza
fisherman was shot in the eyes by Israeli
navy troops and lost his sight, he was
finally allowed into Israel for an
examination, after repeated refusals.
The news was not good,” Haaretz,
October 4, 2019.

Levy, Gideon. "The Israeli Military First Took His Legs,
Then His Life: On Friday, a sharpshooter shot and
killed Ibrahim Abu Thuraya, a Gazan double amputee,
as he protested from his wheelchair near the Israeli
border,” Haaretz, December 17, 2017.

Levy, Gideon and Alex Levac. "The Disabled
Palestinian Slowly Walked Away. Then, Israeli
Troops Shot Him in the Back of the Head. Mohammad
Khabali started to retrace his steps. Security camera
footage shows three soldiers moving ahead, to within
80 meters of him. Suddenly two shots are heard. The
mentally disabled young man collapses, dead,”
Haaretz,  December 13, 2018. 

Liebowitz, Cara. "At the Intersection of White
Privilege and Disability,” The Body is Not an
Apology, November 29, 2017.

McIntyre, Jody. "From isolation to disability
union leadership,” Electronic Intifada, August
23, 2010. [Excerpt: "As a disabled person, if
you need to get medical treatment outside of
Bethlehem, in Ramallah or in Nablus, you
have to pass through checkpoints and possibly
face hours of waiting and delays, which can
be especially difficult for people with
mobility difficulties.”]

Médecins Sans Frontières [MSF]. “Gaza: A
long ordeal awaits hundreds of wounded
from the March of Return,” August 8, 2018.
[Excerpt: "For the past four months, the March
of Return demonstrations in Gaza have been
met with lethal force by the Israeli army.
While the numbers of protesters and
casualties have now decreased, the
violence is not over – fresh gunshot
wounds occur every week.”]

Médecins Sans Frontières [MSF]. “Treating
resistant infections in Gaza under the blockade,”
September 2, 2019. [Excerpt: "Médecins Sans
Frontières (MSF) is dealing with immense
challenges while treating many people who
have developed bone infections after having
been shot by the Israeli army during protests
in Gaza, Palestine over the last year. These
infections are adding to the already
complicated path to recovery that these
injured people must tread. Their serious
and complex wounds require months –
if not years – of dressing, surgery and
physiotherapy. Infections prevent recovery,
and to make matters worse, many of them
are resistant to antibiotics.”]

Médecins du Monde [MdM]. "Mental health and
psychosocial impacts of occupation-related violence
in Palestine,” November 16, 2017. [Excerpt: “most
of these problems are nurtured by harmful
occupation policies which clearly affect the
foundations of the Palestinian society and
prevail its fulfilment. While 2017 marks anniversary
of 50 years of occupation and 10 years of blockade in
Gaza, it is more than time for the international
community to take concrete action to have these
daily violations on right to health immediately ceased.]

Medical Aid for Palestinians [MAP]. “Hairdressing
and hope: realising the rights of people with
disabilities in Gaza,” November 24, 2017.
[Excerpt: "Occupation, blockade and closure
have detrimentally impacted the employment
opportunities of Palestinians with disabilities.
Gaza has the world’s highest unemployment
rate – around 43% – which makes it even more
challenging for people with disabilities to gain
and keep jobs. In December 2016, the Palestinian
Non-Governmental Organizations Network stated
that 90% of people with disabilities in in Gaza
were unemployed.”]

Medical Aid for Palestinians [MAP]. "Voices from Gaza:
Living with a disability under blockade,” MAP website,
July 21, 2017. [Excerpt: "Last month, Medical Aid for
Palestinian’s (MAP) team in Gaza met Palestinians with
disabilities who participate in our ‘Inclusive and
Accessible Society’ project to discuss the barriers they
face in attaining full and equal participation in society.
/ The group first talked about the harm caused by
Israel’s military offensives to people with disabilities
in Gaza. / They highlighted the increase in the number
of Palestinians with a disability as a result of Israeli
military offensives on Gaza, with a quarter of the
group disabled directly or indirectly by the actions
of the Israeli military, including shelling of civilian
areas. During Israel’s 2014 offensive more than
2,000 Palestinians were killed and 11,000 injured,
10 per cent of whom received permanent disabilities.
/ The group also talked about the consequences of
Israel’s failure to protect health facilities and
personnel and other civilians and civilian infrastructure
during its military offensive, including their responsibility
to take all necessary measures to ensure the protection
and safety of persons with disabilities in situations
of risk.]

Medical Aid for Palestinians [MAP]. "MAP joins
call for the blockade and closure on Gaza to be lifted,”
MAP website, July 13, 2018. ["Joint letter on behalf
of 23 International, European, Israeli and Palestinian
human rights and development organisations,
calling on the European Union to urge Israel to
immediately and unconditionally lift the closure
and blockade on Gaza, 12 July” / Excerpt: “We
are writing regarding the alarming situation in
the Gaza Strip, to call on you to urge the Israeli
authorities to lift the more than a decade-long
closure and blockade imposed on the 2 million
Gaza Strip residents….Financial assistance alone
will not reverse this accelerating trend and will
not fulfill the basic rights of Palestinians in Gaza.
As interest for increased humanitarian relief grows
internationally, we fear that there can be no effective
development and humanitarian aid as long as
Israel maintains its illegal closure….As
representatives of international, European, Israeli
and Palestinian human rights and development
organisations, we urge European leaders to clearly
recognise Israel’s primary responsibility over the
unlawful closure and blockade of the Gaza Strip,
which is the root cause of its continuous
de-development and amounts to a form of
collective punishment prohibited by
international law.”]

Medecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without
Borders. "Gazans’ injuries risk permanently
shattering lives,” November 29, 2018.

Medecins Sans Frontières / Doctors
Without Borders. “In half of the injured
we received… the bone has literally been
turned into dust,” May 10, 2018.

Medecins Sans Frontières / Doctors
Without Borders. "MSF teams seeing
unusually severe gunshot wounds in
Gaza,” April 19, 2018. [Excerpt: “Half of
the more than 500 patients we have
admitted in our clinics have injuries where
the bullet has literally destroyed tissue
after having pulverised the bone”, said
Marie-Elisabeth Ingres, MSF’s country
manager in Palestine. “These patients
will need to have very complex surgical
operations and most of them will have
disabilities for life.”]

Middle East Monitor. "41% of disabled Palestinian
children suffer more than one disability, reveals
UNICEF,” December 14, 2016. [Excerpt: “Israel’s
military offensive against the Palestinians in
Gaza two years ago led to more than 2,260
people being killed; a further 11,000 were
wounded. According to the General Union for
Disability in Gaza, 40 per cent of the Palestinians
wounded in the 2014 war have long-term disabilities.”]

Middle East Monitor. "Book on Israel’s deliberate
maiming of Palestinians wins top academic prize,”
September 17, 2018. [Excerpt: "A US scholar has
won a prestigious prize for a book which argues
that Israel intentionally maims Palestinians under its
control. Rutgers University Professor Jasbir Puar
was awarded the National Women’s Studies
Association’s Alison Piepmeier Book Prize for
“The Right to Maim: Debility, Capacity, Disability”.]

Middle East Monitor. “English MSF doctors struggle
with ‘bones pulverised by Israel bullets’ in Gaza,”
January 25, 2019. [Excerpt: "Doctors working with
international charity Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors
Without Borders) have described their grim task of
“replacing the centimetres of bones pulverised by
Israeli bullets in the bodies of protesters” in the
occupied Gaza Strip…. According to MSF, “in protests
held along the fence that separates Gaza from Israel
since 30 March 2018, 6,174 people have been injured
by live bullets fired by the Israeli army”, with “nearly 90
per cent of those were injured in the lower limbs”.]

Middle East Monitor. "UN: over 1,400 Palestinian
Protesters May Suffer Long-Term Disability,”
July 13, 2018.

Middle East Monitor. "WHO: 3 children a month
in Gaza left disabled for life,” June 3, 2019.
[Excerpt: "The report by the WHO, released on
Friday, cited data collected between March
2018 and March 2019, and stated that in the
past year alone, a total of 172 Gazans were
injured in such a way that they were left
disabled for life, 36 of whom were children,
meaning that one person is affected every
other day. Amputations make up an
overwhelming proportion of permanent
disabilities, with the most common cause
being high-intensity gunshot wounds
resulting in 121 amputations. Health
agencies and organisations have warned
that the number could rise if Gaza’s
medical services are not urgently upgraded.”]

Mohaisen, Doaa. "Disabled Gaza woman finds
joy in mens work,” We are Not Numbers,
January 2, 2015. [Excerpt: "If she really allows
herself to dream, despite the eight-year Israeli
blockade, Samah wishes she could held
exhibitions abroad or at least export her
handmade products. Palestinians from the
West Bank and Arabs from other countries
have promised to buy from Samah once the
blockade is over, but it has been years now.
"People with disabilities often are able to
perform better than normal people when they
get the opportunity,” she said. She tells other
people with handicaps, “Don't ever feel
disability is the end. It is not. If you wake up
and an idea pops into your head, go for it.
Write it on paper and hang it on a wall as
inspiration.”]

Moore, Jack. "Gaza’s walking wounded:
Israeli snipers have shot 6,392 protesters
in lower limbs this year. A wave of sniper
fire has left Palestinians of all ages
incapacitated or permanently disabled,”
The National, December 9, 2018.

Murphy, Maureen Clare. "Israel claims
self-defense after paralyzing Palestinian,”
Electronic Intifada, November 25, 2018.
[Excerpt: "It is not surprising that Israel’s
system of oppression and injustice would
clear itself of wrongdoing in the shooting
of Abu Aram. As human rights groups stated
this week, Israelis responsible for war crimes
against Palestinians “have not been subject to
any independent legal investigation in Israel.”]

Murphy, Maureen Clare. "Israel has injured
24,000 Gaza protesters,” Electronic Intifada,
November 25, 2018.

Murphy, Maureen Clare. "Israel kills
and “honors” people with disabilities,”
Electronic Intifada, December 3, 2021.
["To mark International Day of Persons
with Disabilities, the Israeli military
tweeted a photo of its communications
tower in Tel Aviv lit in purple on Friday.
The military claimed that the gesture was
“in honor of people with disabilities in
Israel and around the world.” Twitter
users quickly seized on the irony and
hypocrisy by highlighting Israel’s myriad
crimes against Palestinians with disabilities.
/ Earlier this year, Israeli occupation forces
demolished a disabled Palestinian man’s
home for the sixth time. The man, Hatem
Abu Riyala, was paralyzed after he fell while
protesting the demolition of his home in
2009. https://t.co/e6IxHpaoAl — Human
Rights Watch Watcher (@queeralamode)
December 3, 2021."]

Murphy, Maureen Clare. "Israeli forces
kill Palestinian mother, disabled man,”
Electronic Intifada, January 1, 2016.

Murphy, Maureen Clare. "Israeli military
absolves itself of killing disabled protester,”
Electronic Intifada, May 17, 2019. [“Abu
Thurayya was sitting in his wheelchair
and holding a Palestinian flag “when he
was shot in the forehead in what appears
to have been a deliberate act of killing,”
according to the human rights group Al-Haq.
“Under international humanitarian and human
rights law, [Abu Thurayya] was entitled to
special protection not only as a civilian
under the control of the occupying power,
but also as a person with disability who
moreover lost his legs as a consequence
of a prior assault by Israel on the Gaza
Strip,” Al-Haq adds. “The perspective of
persons with disabilities must be taken
into account in the assessment of whether
certain conduct amounts to prohibited
inhuman acts. As such, the killing of
Ibrahim Abu Thurayya may not only
amount to an arbitrary deprivation of
life but also an act of torture or
ill-treatment.” The United Nations
human rights chief at the time
condemned Israel’s killing of Abu
Thurayya, calling it “incomprehensible”
and a “truly shocking and wanton act,”]

Murphy, Maureen Clare. "No access
to education for Bedouin children with
disabilities,” February 17, 2016.
[Excerpt: "The Bedouin town of Shaqib
al-Salam, or Segev Shalom, in the
southern Naqab region, is — unlike
many other such towns in Israel —
officially recognized and was
government-planned. However,
like so many members of their
community, the Bedouin residents
of Shaqib al-Salam are subjected
to institutionalized neglect from
the Israeli government.”]

Murphy, Maureen Clare. “Palestinians
lose legs as Israel punishes them by
denying medical care,” Electronic
Intifada, April 12, 2018. [Excerpt:
"The legs of two Palestinians were
amputated on Wednesday after
Israel refused to allow them to
leave the blockaded Gaza Strip for
treatment. Human rights groups
had appealed to the Israeli
authorities to allow for the transfer
of Yusif Karnaz, 20, and
Muhammad al-Ajouri, 17, to a
hospital in the occupied West
Bank for surgery that would save
their limbs. The youths were shot
during the launch of the Great
March of Return protests along
the Gaza-Israel boundary on 30
March. But COGAT – the
bureaucratic arm of Israel’s military
occupation that postures as a
humanitiarian body – denied
their requests for permission to
travel for specialized surgery
unavailable in Gaza. Israel
admitted that it refused the
request as a form of punishment
for protesting.”]

Murphy, Maureen Clare. “Police
execution of disabled Palestinian
is a war crime,” Electronic Intifada,
June 9, 2020. [Excerpt: “…[H]uman
rights groups have long dismissed
Israel’s self-investigations as
whitewashing mechanisms, the true
purpose of which is to discourage
international judicial scrutiny. /
Palestinians with disabilities killed /
For example, Israel absolved itself
over the killing of Ibrahim Abu
Thurayya, a double-amputee who
was shot during protests in the Gaza
Strip in December 2017. Occupation
forces killed several other Palestinians
with disabilities during the Great March
of Return protests that were launched in
Gaza a few months after Abu Thurayya
was killed. One of them was Fadi Abu
Salmi who, like Abu Thurayya, had lost
his legs during Israeli airstrikes years
earlier.”]

Namey, Isra. "Palestinian amputee
children find freedom in football.
Promising amputee football juniors
train hard to present Palestine in
international tournaments,” The
National, November 17, 2019.
[“Like many of her teammates on
the teams sponsored by the
International Committee of the
Red Cross, Aisha was injured during
the 2014 Gaza War. The conflict
lasted 50 days and killed 1462
Gazan civilians and six Israeli
civilians.”]

Noor Society for Disabled. Website accessed 2018.
["Noor Society for People with Disability is a a
non- profit organization works in both sectors
(Aida and Al Azza camp). it works to rehabilitate
people with disability, share awareness for parents
and community, and merge them in the society
through occupational, physiotherapy, speech
therapy, and learning difficulty program.”]

Ofir, Jonathan. "‘I remember the knee in the
crosshairs, bursting open’ – Israeli snipers
boast of shooting ‘ducks’ in Gaza,”
Mondoweiss, March 8. 2020.

Palestinian Center for Human Rights. “Israeli
forces kill elderly disabled Palestinian during
demolition of 34 homes in Khan Yunis,”
Electronic Intifada, July 12, 2004.

Palestine Chronicle. "UN: 1,400 Palestinian
Protesters May Suffer Long-Term Disability,”
July 13, 2018.

Patel, Yumna. "Israeli soldiers shoot and kill
a disabled Palestinian man on International Day
of Disabled Persons,” Mondoweiss, December 5, 2018.

Physicians for Human Rights—Israel. “Amputees: The
challenges faced by Gaza Strip amputees
seeking medical treatment,” PHR Report,
May, 2016. ["Israel runs a colonial occupation 
regime in the West Bank and continues
to be the effective sovereign of the Gaza
Strip as well. It is the entity that prohibits
or permits the entry and exit of individuals
into and out of the Palestinian territories
—including patients leaving in order to
seek medical care.”]

Puar, Jasbir K. "The Right to Maim:
Debility, Capacity, Disability (ANIMA:
Critical Race Studies Otherwise),” Duke
University Press Books, 2017. ["In The
Right to Maim Jasbir K. Puar brings her
pathbreaking work on the liberal state,
sexuality, and biopolitics to bear on our
understanding of disability. Drawing on
a stunning array of theoretical and
methodological frameworks, Puar uses
the concept of “debility”—bodily injury
and social exclusion brought on by
economic and political factors—to
disrupt the category of disability.
She shows how debility, disability,
and capacity together constitute an
assemblage that states use to control
populations. Puar's analysis culminates
in an interrogation of Israel's policies
toward Palestine, in which she outlines
how Israel brings Palestinians into
biopolitical being by designating them
available for injury. Supplementing its
right to kill with what Puar calls the right
to maim, the Israeli state relies on liberal
frameworks of disability to obscure and
enable the mass debilitation of Palestinian
bodies. Tracing disability's interaction with
debility and capacity, Puar offers a brilliant
rethinking of Foucauldian biopolitics while
showing how disability functions at the
intersection of imperialism and racialized
capital.”]

Rahman, Anjuman. “Disabled,
underage or critically-ill in
hospital, Israel soldiers’ abuse
with no limits. Al-Ajlouni, 25,
suffered from a state of shock,
as well as severe pain in the neck
and shoulders following his abuse
at the hands of the Israeli
officers,” Middle East Monitor,
February 24, 2022.   

Roberts, Rachel.  "Ibrahim Abu Thuraya: Disabled
Palestinian activist shot dead by Israeli troops in
Jerusalem protest. Outrage after double amputee
among of eight Palestinians killed since Donald
Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital,”
The Independent [UK]. December 16, 2017. Also
see Abusalama, Shahd, "Ibrahim Abu Thurayya: an
icon of dignity and defiance,” Electronic Intifada,
December 18, 2017.

Rothchild, Alice. "IARPP [International Association
for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy]
clamps down debate on Palestinian mental health
at its conference in NY,” Mondoweiss, June 1, 2018.
[Excerpt: "A professional, international organization
that is focused on the social and relational aspects
of mental health might be expected to welcome a
conversation that explores the impact of longstanding
human rights abuses, military occupation and siege
on a captive civilian population. Indeed, even the
diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder may
not be applicable to a society where the trauma
is ongoing and rarely “post”…. But some staff at the
IARPP responded more like an arm of the Israeli
government than a professional mental health
organization.”]

S., Aaron. "How Israel Changes the Lives of The
Disabled,” Jerusalem Online, November 18, 2018.
[Hasbara excerpt: "Israel’s commitment to protecting
the rights of those with disabilities, influences all
aspects of Israeli society. From (…) to “Special
in Uniform”, a unique project which helps those
with special needs enlist in the Israel Defense
Forces, to (…) Israel is proud to advocate on
behalf of those with disabilities and will
continue to work to advance equality and
tolerance on a global scale.” (… as long as it
is not equality for non-Jews in Israel, the oPt,
or the Palestinian diaspora— ML)]

Sayrafi, Imad. "Invisible People: Women and Girls 
with Disabilities and access to Rights Organizations
to in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Palestinian
Refugee Camps in Lebanon,” downloadable pdf,
Birzeit University, 2013.

Strickland, Patrick O. "How Israel’s “smart”
weapons killed a disabled Gaza teen,” Electronic
Intifada, February 9, 2015. [Excerpt: “Israel
targeted a medical facility for the disabled
on 12 July, the day before the Abu Jayab
home was struck. At least four persons were
killed and dozens injured when bombs
crushed the Mabaret Palestine Society, a
center for people with disabilities, in Beit
Lahiya, a town in northern Gaza. / On 21
July, Israeli tanks shelled the al-Aqsa
hospital in Deir al-Balah, killing three
people and injuring forty more, the human
rights group Al-Haq reported. / Israel
bombed the al-Wafa hospital in the Shujaiya
neighborhood of Gaza City two days later,
on 23 July. / Doctors were forced to
evacuate at least fourteen patients who
were paralyzed or in a coma at the time,
Ma’an News Agency reported. / The Israeli
army claimed that Palestinian armed groups
used the hospital as a base. However it was
revealed that Israel used fabricated satellite
images to “justify” its bombing of al-Wafa.”]

Synenko, Alyona. "He thought if he just ran
fast enough, he could get out of Gaza. There
are some 1,600 amputees in Gaza. Here’s the
story of one,” Haaretz, May 19, 2019. 

Tayeh, Asmaa. "UN funding cuts jeopardize deaf
children,” We are Not Numbers,” October 20, 2018. 

Ullah, Areeb. "Disabled Palestinian man killed
by Israeli soldiers in Gaza. Ibrahim Abu Thuraya
lost his legs and a kidney in 2008 during an
Israeli air strike on a refugee camp in Gaza,”
Middle East Eye, December 15, 2017.

United Nations Development Program of Assistance
to the Palestinian People. "Children with Disability:
Restoring their Right to Education in Gaza; Shams
Al Amal’s School [for the Physically Disabled] Allowed
around 160 students children with Disability return
to their School After its Reconstruction.” [Excerpt:
"Shams Al Amal School is one of the only few schools
caring for children with disability in Gaza and was
almost completely destroyed during the 2014 hostilities.
This has led to the displacement of more than 160
students and teachers with physical disabilities.
Determined not to close its doors despite the
numerous challenges; the school operated in
tents and temporary shelters until it was
reconstructed….According to Palestinian Central
Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), Around 1,134 individuals
injured in the war on Gaza Strip in 2014 are
expected to be left disabled. Following the 2014
hostilities, 24 schools were completely destroyed
and 190 schools, including 70 UNRWA schools and
120 government schools, have been damaged in Gaza.
12 higher education institutions were damaged, in
addition to tens of kindergartens, according to the
Palestinian Ministry of Education.”]

United Nations News. "Hundreds of wounded Gaza
protesters risk limb amputation without immediate
help, warns top UN official,” Masy 8, 2019.

United Nations Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs [OCHA]. "Addressing rehabilitation
needs of Palestinians seriously injured during Gaza
demonstrations: Over 1,400 may suffer long-term
disability,” Posted on 10 July 2018 as part of The
Monthly Humanitarian Bulletin | June 2018. ["This
article was contributed by the World Health
Organization and the Disability Working Group”]

United Nations Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs [OCHA]. "Excessive use of
force and lack of accountability ,” Posted on 4
July 2017 as part of The Monthly Humanitarian
Bulletin | May-June 2017. [Excerpt: "In 2016,
19 Palestinians were killed and over 3,200 injured
during such clashes; nearly 14 per cent of these
injuries were from live ammunition. Serious injuries
often result in long-term disability, rendering young
Palestinians in constant need of medical treatment
and humanitarian assistance, and disrupting the
lives of their entire families.”]

United Nations Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs [OCHA]. "Gaza Emergency
Humanitarian Snapshot (as of 20 August 2014, 8:00 hrs),”
OCHA website, August 21, 2014. [Excerpt: “An
estimated 1,000 children injured will suffer from
a disability for life, and a further 6,000 children
will have a parent with a life-long disability.”]

United Nations Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs [OCHA]. "Gaza: people
with disabilities disproportionately affected
by the energy and salary crisis,” OCHA website,
Posted on 11 October 2017 as part of  The
Monthly Humanitarian Bulletin | September
2017. [Excerpt: "The Palestinian Ministry of
Social Development estimates that over 49,000
individuals in the Gaza Strip (or 2.4 per cent
of the population) suffer from some type of
disability, a third of them children. More than
1,100 of these people, including about 300
children, became disabled as a result of
injuries incurred during the 2014 hostilities,
including approximately 100 amputees.”]

United Nations Program of Assistance to the
Palestinian People. "Children with Disability:
Restoring their Right to Education in Gaza;
Shams Al Amal’s School Allowed around 160
students children with Disability return to their
School After its Reconstruction.” [2014?]

World Health Organization. “Gaza: Waiting for
Treatment, Thousands of patients in Gaza
cannot access much-needed health care,”
WHO in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,
November 16, 2018. 

World Health Organization. “Health Access:
Barriers for Patients in the Occupied Palestinian
Territory,” Monthly Report, May, 2018. [“According
to the WHO’s monthly Gaza healthcare access report,
in May 2018 Israel approved permits for just 59% of
all patients seeking to exit Gaza for treatment in East
Jerusalem, the rest of the West Bank or abroad. These
permits are critical for many patients unable to access
the medical treatment they need within Gaza. Israeli
authorities denied 201 Gaza patients (including six
children) permission to cross Erez for healthcare in
May, including 37 cancer patients. In addition, 718
patients (including 164 children) missed appointments
due to Israeli delays, 23% in need of cancer treatment.
Due to Israeli forces’ violence response to the “Great
March of Return” demonstrations, more than a thousand
patients in Gaza require specialist limb reconstruction
care. The WHO’s report however, shows that only 36%
of orthopaedic applications were approved to exit Gaza
for medical treatment….The accessibility of healthcare
is a fundamental element of the right to health. As the
occupying power, Israel has an international legal
obligation to ensure humanitarian assistance to the
population under its control, including access to
medical care.” — MAP.]

YMCA Jerusalem. "The International Day of People
with Disabilities,” press release, December 3, 2016.
[Excerpt: “(We, at the East Jerusalem YMCA - Rehabilitation
Program) believe that the following issues needs to
be further addressed at this stage:….Opposing the
practices of the military occupation against the
Palestinians, generally, and people with disabilities,
specifically, namely those held in Israeli prisons as
well as those experiencing ill-treatment whether in
their houses, on the streets or at checkpoints, given
that similar unjust practices are incompatible with
the basic rights and most importantly, the right
to live and the right to a dignified living.”]

Sins Invalid. "10 Principles of Disability Justice,” September 17, 2015.

Abu Eltarabesh, Hamza.  "How Israel Stole this Fisherman’s Sight
and Sense of Smell,” Electronic Intifada, Ferbruary 18, 2020.

Abu Eltarabesh, Hamza.  "Gaza’s Team of Champions,” Electronic
Intifada, July 5, 2018.

Gideon Levy in Haaretz.

"Palestinian double amputee killed by Israeli sniper.
Gaza funeral for Ibrahim Abu Thurayyah, who was
killed while protesting US move to name Jerusalem
as Israel's capital,” Al Jazeera, December 16, 2017.

Chart from Physicians for Human Rights—Israel.
“Amputees: The challenges faced by Gaza Strip
amputees seeking medical treatment,” PHRI Report,
May, 2016.

"Israeli army commander: I will make all the youth of Al-Duheisha
camp disabled,” Middle East Monitor, August 26, 2016. For more
information about the notorious “Captain Nidal”: Barrows-Friedman,
Nora. "Israeli officer threatens to kill Palestinian youth and his
family,” Electronic Intifada, December 23, 2016.

"Israeli prison authorities denied Hassan Tamimi his medication, which
made him fall into a coma and lose his eyesight.” [7/19/18

Or Kashti. "Israel Is Violating the International
Convention on Disabled Rights, Report Finds.
A coalition of [30] rights groups submitted an
alternative report to the UN Committee on the
Rights of Persons after dismissing the
government's version as 'very partial and
lacking’ Haaretz, December 6, 2020.

"Hundreds of Palestinian citizens of Israel protested in the city of
Haifa, Israel, on Tuesday, 2 June, 2020 against the Israeli police
killing of an unarmed autistic Palestinian man just days earlier.
Israeli police shot and killed Iyad el-Hallak in Jerusalem on 30 May,
2020 as he made his way to his special needs school. The Palestinian
protesters also expressed support for American citizens protesting
the police killing of African American man George Floyd on 25 May,
2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Mati Milstein/NurPhoto
via Getty Images)"

Facebook page of The General Union of Disabled Palestinians

"A new project in Gaza is giving hope to Palestinian amputees
who want to continue playing football….This unique
programme, organised by the International Committee of
the Red Cross, is giving some Palestinians another shot at
the sport. Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Jamjoom reports from
Gaza.” [4/10/19]

Oliver Holmes, "'Palestinian lives matter': Israeli
police killing of autistic man draws US comparison.
Caregiver for Iyad Halak says she told police he
was disabled shortly before he was shot,” The
Guardian [UK]. June 1, 2020. Also see Maureen
Clare Murphy, "Police execution of disabled
Palestinian is a war crime,” Electronic Intifada,
June 9, 2020.

"Gaza: Nine out of ten children suffering from PTSD
after Israel's May offensive / Israel’s air offensive on
the besieged Palestinian enclave has caused far-reaching
trauma amongst children, according to a human rights
monitor [Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor]”  {"if the
symptoms of PTSD are so severe that they affect
your ability to function in society or in the workplace,
then this would be considered a disability}

"When Israel bombed disabled Palestinians”
[article by Sarah Algherbawi in ei]

"Two organizations – Parents Against Child
Detention and PsychoActive: Mental
Health Professionals for Human Rights –
have obtained the signatures of 300 mental
health professionals calling for an end to
sweeping detentions of Palestinian children
and an honoring of the right to dignity from
childhood to old age for everyone between
the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.”
Ha’aretz, May 28, 2023.

Gideon Levy:  "Abdel Nasser Halawa
is deaf from birth, and he also suffers
from intellectual disabilities. (He was
shot by Israeli soldiers because he)
couldn’t hear the calls to stop. They
shoot deaf people, don’t they – and
mentally impaired middle-aged men.” /
Accessible version: https://archive.is/sf3yK
[Haaretz, 8/28/20]

See: "Gaza protest deaths: Israel may have committed
war crimes - UN.” BBC News, February 28, 2019.
Excerpt: "A double amputee in a wheelchair, a
person using crutches... they have been shot at
by snipers, who also have spotters available with
them who have very high-level technology to
see who is out there in the field."

Palestinian wheelchair users take part in a dabke
class at a club in Gaza City. Dabke is a Levantine
folk line dance widely performed at weddings and
other joyous occasions. Gaza City, April 28, 2019.
Photo by Mahmoud Ajjour [photo from Electronic
Intifada]

Ynet News, November 12, 2018.

"Martial arts help people everywhere improve
their physical fitness and self-confidence. But
in Gaza, judo is offering particular benefits to
young people without sight. Here, We Are Not
Numbers reporter Rakan Abed El-Rahman hits
the mats with the Gaza team. Thanks to Yousef
Basman for the masterful camera work and
editing.” — We Are Not Numbers

"'Shoot to maim': How Israel created a generation on
crutches in Gaza: Doctors tell MEE that Palestinian
protesters' crippling injuries, especially to lower limbs,
were inflicted deliberately.” Article by Dania Akkad,
Middle East Eye, March 29, 2018.)

Screen shot from the film “Jenin, Jenin"

"50 Palestinian protesters have been blinded by shots
to the eye at Gaza fence protests. Mohamed al-Naccar
was shot in his right eyes with a tear gas canister fired
by Israeli soldiers during “Great March of Return” protests
on January 11, 2019. He is seen with his mother in Khan
Yunis, Gaza on February 6, 2019. (Photo by Abed
Zagout/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)"

"Video: Israel kills dreams of Gaza boxing
champion,” The Electronic Intifada, January 15, 2019.

"The document had not been known to
exist before this time, and scholars of the
mass immigration from Poland to Israel
that took place from 1956 to 1958 were
unaware of Israel's intent to impose a
selection process on Jews leaving
Poland - survivors of the Holocaust
and its death camps…."This is a very
cynical document," he [Rudnicki] said. “It
is known that Golda was a brutal
politician who defended interests more
than people.” Katz died more than 20
years ago, and no proof has been
found that anything was done
regarding the foreign minister’s
query. ” [Haaretz, December 9, 2009] 

"Gaza artist explores disability through
cartoons,” The Electronic Intifada. February 5, 2019.

Abu Eltarabesh, Hamza. "Israeli bombs crushed
footballer’s “first and last option,” Electronic Intifada,
August 29, 2017.

“Special in Uniform / The Israeli military has a secret
weapon — a highly trained squad of elite soldiers that’s
entirely made up of disabled and autistic teens. Special in
Uniform is a Jewish National Fund-USA program that
integrates young adults with disabilities into the Israel
Defense Forces (IDF) and, in turn, into Israeli society.
Its core belief is that everyone belongs and has the right
to reach his or her full potential….Why the IDF? The IDF
is known as the people’s army. The significance of this
model is that beyond its military duty to ensure Israel’s
security, it also plays an important social role. It is a
melting pot that brings together all sectors of Israeli
society."

"Speaking with Haaretz, Hallaq family members said
“he wasn’t capable of harming anyone” and was autistic
and classified as disabled. Hallaq's body was transferred
to the Institute of Forensic Medicine. Hallaq's family
demanded that a Palestinian representative be present
at the autopsy. The family later said that the Palestinian
pathologist was prevented from entering. Hallaq's father
said that his son would go to the special needs school
every day. “He never had problems with the police. In
the morning we received a call from the special needs
facility, telling us our son had been killed.”

.

‘

.

See Maureen Clare Murphy in Electronic Intifada:
"Police execution of disabled Palestinian is a war
crime,” June 9, 2020. [“The Israeli police killing
of a Palestinian man with disabilities in Jerusalem
last month amounts to an extrajudicial execution,
the group Al-Haq stated in an urgent appeal to
United Nations human rights experts on Tuesday.
/ Iyad Hallaq “posed no threat to the lives of those
around him at the time” of his slaying in Jerusalem’s
Old City on 30 May. His killing is a war crime giving
rise to “individual criminal responsibility,” the
Palestinian human rights group added….Warda
Abu Hadid, Hallaq’s caregiver, saw Hallaq running
and shouted at the police, telling them in Arabic
and Hebrew that Hallaq was disabled. The police,
who claimed to have believed that Hallaq was armed,
ignored Abu Hadid’s calls and shot Hallaq with live
fire as he continued running. / When an officer
asked Abu Hadid, “Where is the pistol?” the
caregiver stated again that Hallaq was disabled.
Shot in the foot, Hallaq pointed at Abu Hadid
and told the officer she was his teacher. /
“Then, after five minutes of apparent
premeditation, the Israeli Border Police
officer shot three live bullets at Iyad, from
a distance not exceeding five meters.” /
Hallaq was holding nothing in his hands
when he was killed, according to Al-Haq’s
investigation. / Israeli occupation forces
failed to provide Hallaq with medical
treatment immediately following his injury.
/ Twenty minutes later, after the director of
the Elwyn Center arrived at the scene and
said that Hallaq was one of her students,
Israeli forces allowed an ambulance to reach
the injured man. / Hallaq’s caregiver, Abu
Hadid, was assaulted by police and taken to
a nearby station, where she was forced to
take off her head covering and clothing.”]

'Shoot to maim': How Israel created a generation
on crutches in Gaza. Doctors tell MEE that Palestinian
protesters' crippling injuries, especially to lower limbs,
were inflicted deliberately” [3/29/19]

Judy Maltz in Haaretz [August 25, 2023]: “Jewish
Students at Princeton Defend Professor Slammed
for Promoting anti-Israel Book. Members of a
progressive Jewish organization on campus have
attracted nearly 400 signatures in an open letter
backing Satyel Larson, after she included the
controversial book ‘The Right to Maim: Debility,
Capacity, Disability’ on her fall syllabus. The
book's author has been accused of promoting
an antisemitic blood libel.” ["It argues that “the
Israeli state relies on liberal frameworks of
disability to obscure and enable the mass
debilitation of Palestinian bodies.”]
[Article archived here; download the
book's introduction here.]

"When I came back from the field, they would ask,
‘Well, how many today?’ You have to understand
that before we showed up, knees were the hardest
thing to rack up. There was a story about one sniper
who had 11 knees all told, and people thought no
on could outdo him. And then I brought in
seven-eight knees in one day. Within a few hours,
I almost broke his record.” [Haaretz, March 5, 2020]

"Palestinians with disabilities are, however, determined
to practice sports despite the lack of resources. “Karate
teaches us many things. It strengthens the body, it
stimulates circulation. But it also enhances self-confidence,”
Muhammad al-Mahani, another team member, tells The
Electronic Intifada. “To be able to speak to anyone, to go
about your life normally, to have inner strength and for people
to see you as someone who practices karate and is active,
just like anyone else,” al-Mahani says.”

"MSF: 1,000 Gazans shot by Israel at risk
of fatal infection” [Middle East Monitor,
November 29, 2018]

From We are Not Numbers

From Defense for Children International - Palestine

Mor, Sagit. "Tell My Sister to Come and
Get Me Out of Here" — A Reading of Ableism
and Orientalism in Israel's Immigration Policy
(The First Decade)," September 2007,
Disability Studies Quarterly,
DOI:10.18061/dsq.v27i4.43

"Riding, despite Gaza: Palestinian cycling champion Alaa al-Dali.
Cycling champ Alaa al-Dali's leg was shot to pieces by an Israeli
sniper. Now he's making a comeback as a para-cyclist."

"Video: Life after losing a limb in Gaza” / Israeli snipers
shot Muhammad Eleiwa while he was protesting along
the Gaza boundary fence east of Gaza City on 9 November
2018. His right leg had to be amputated as a result….Israeli
snipers have killed more than 200 Palestinian civilians,
including more than 40 children, during demonstrations.
Some 8,000 have been injured by live ammunition, with
thousands more suffering other injuries."

"This sweet factory in Gaza is run by workers who are
deaf or hard of hearing. The Hanan Sweet Factory
produces Arab candies and desserts in Gaza City.
“At first I thought it would be difficult, I didn’t know
how I would communicate with him,” Muhammad
al-Ghazali, the owner of the factory, told The
Electronic Intifada about hiring the first worker.
“But when he came to work I found he had high
concentration and very good talent.” “When I first
came here, my job was to put nuts on sweets. But
I learned and developed new skills and started
making them from scratch,” says Mouin al-Siksik,
worker at the factory. Video by Mohammed Asad.
Music: https://www.purple-planet.com
See: https://electronicintifada.net/content/
video-gaza-sweet-factory-integrates-deaf-workers/27181

Dreams in the Crosshairs [14:26; Dir. 
Ahmed Sultan; Produced by We Are Not
Numbers with support and funding from
the Freedom Flotilla Coalition; 2019] / “When
Israeli snipers target people participating
in or even located near Gaza's Great Return
March, it's not just their bodies they kill or
maim, it's their dreams. This is the story
of Alaa al-Dali." 

"Palestinian artist Muhammed Tutah, who
lost his leg during an Israeli attack in 2008,
draws 2022 on the sands of the beach ahead
of the new year in Gaza City, Gaza on 28
December 2021 [Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency]"

Marathon of #Peace in #Gaza for amputees. [2019]

"Palestinian wheelchair users protest against an Israeli
order to stop the building of a sports facility for them
in the West Bank town of Salfit on 28 October. Shadi
Jarar’ah APA images” [h/t Electronic Intifada]

On “Vegan Washing”:

h/t Electronic Intifada

"Big in Israel: Vegan Soldiers” [Debra Kamin in The
Atlantic, December 2015]

"The Israeli soldier who arrested me wore
faux leather army boots" [Ariel Gold in
VegansAgainstTheOccupation.org] [Excerpt:
"I explained that for me veganism is not
simply about the liberation of animals
but part of a principled stance against
all forms of oppression. I told her that
I consider it contradictory to be opposed
to the oppression of animals while
condemning ... working to end sexism,
racism, islamophophia, antisemitism,
occupation, and more. I told her that
for me vegan principles compel me to
recognize and work for the equality
of all beings and all people,
including Palestinians.”] 

"No Veganwashing Israeli Crimes!" ["A panel responds
to the use of veganism to propagandize the occupation.
Organized by Animal Liberation Currents and Vegans
for BDS….What notion of veganism is being
appropriated here and what are the realities of animal
rights in Israel? How prevalent is Zionism in the global
animal advocacy movement? What are the realities of
animal liberation struggle in the Palestinian context?
What are the possibilities of Palestinian solidarity work
in the global animal liberation movement?” Recorded
in Toronto, 8 August 2019.]

Abunimah, Ali. "Israel’s killer vegetarians (and vegans).
A brief history,” Electronic Intifada, November 2, 2012. 

Ahronheim, Anna. "The most vegan army in the world.
10,000 IDF soldiers are vegan, including Deputy Chief
of Staff Maj.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi,” Jerusalem Post,
October 3, 2018.

Addario, Michael. “Palestinian Solidarity AND
Animal Liberation with Michael Addario,” radio
interview on KZFR “People Powered Radio,” June 22,
2018. ["Michael John Addario, founder and editor
of Animal Liberation Currents, discusses the
intersections between the Israeli occupation
of Palestine, animal liberation, and the left.”]

Addario, Michael. "Vegans for BDS Launches
Toronto Organizing,” August 13, 2019. [“Vegans
for BDS is an international network of animal
activists that emerged in the period following
the Palestinian Animal League (PAL)’s first
international solidarity conference held in
Ramallah, West Bank, Palestine, in the
spring of 2018.”]

Alloun, Esther. "Animal Activism in
Palestine/Israel,” Freedom of Species
Team, 3CR 855AM Community Radio on
PlayerFM, October 14, 2018. ["This show
features the talk ‘Veganwashing Israel’s
Dirty Laundry? Animal Politics and
Nationalism in Palestine-Israel’ by
scholar-activist Esther Alloun….
Esther’s talk is from the conference
‘Animal Nationalisms: Multispecies cultural
politics, race, and nation (un)building
narratives’, organised by the Deakin
Critical Animal Studies Network.”]
Also available on iROAR.

Alloun, Esther. "Fur PETA’s Sake! The politics of animals
in the Zionist state,” Animal Liberation Currents,
June 12, 2017. 

Alloun, Esther. "‘That’s the beauty of it, it’s very
simple!’ Animal rights and settler colonialism in
Palestine–Israel,” Settler Colonial Studies, Volume
8, 2018 - Issue 4, December 18, 2017. [Abstract
excerpt: "The article argues that human–animal
relationships constitute a significant dimension
through which settler colonialism is expressed,
engaged with, and resisted. As such, drawing on
ethnographic material, it explores how different
approaches to animal activism can obscure or
reveal the racial and colonial relations they are
bound up with. It considers how Jewish Israelis
frame animal rights in non-intersectional ways,
as a simple, single-issue movement that can be
abstracted from human politics and power
relations, while the Palestinian Animal League
in the occupied West Bank weaves animal activism
with the decolonial struggle for Palestinian
self-determination in an intersectional spirit.”]

Alloun, Esther. "Veganwashing Israel’s Dirty Laundry?
Animal Politics and Nationalism in Palestine-Israel,”
Journal of Intercultural Studies, DOI:
10.1080/07256868.2019.1617254
[Abstract excerpt: “… animal welfare and
veganism have been enrolled as a device to narrate
the Israeli nation within terms of Jewish Israeli sovereignty.
The contemporary cultural politics of veganism in Israel
circulate and reinforce national myths of exceptionalism
tethered to a Zionist exclusionary ideology, including
claims to unique victimhood, pioneering achievements
and moral rectitude, which further entrench Jewish Israeli
belonging and Palestinian unbelonging.”]

Danielle. "A White Vegan Feminist in Palestine
(Danielle),” Collective, March 29, 2018.

Doyel, Sarah. "‘The Most Vegan Army in the World’:
How Israel co-opts veganism to justify Palestinian
oppression,” Mondoweiss, September 9, 2019.
[Excerpt: "Make no mistake: Israel is using veganism
as a calculated facade to justify its military’s program
of terror, gloss over its occupation of Palestine, and
appropriate regional culture and traditions that predate
Israel by hundreds if not thousands of years. Far from
being a politically neutral “lifestyle,” true veganism is
a radical anti-oppression philosophy, and yet one of
the most oppressive governments in the world is
co-opting veganism for its own gains.”]

Doyel, Sarah. "Veganwashing: Israel, Palestine,
and Faux Compassion,” Sarahdoyel.com, August
19, 2019. [Excerpt: "Veganwashing is similar to
greenwashing, but has a particular flavor and
purpose due to veganism’s emphasis on
nonviolence. If greenwashing is a tactic to
appeal to an ethos of environmental
stewardship, then veganwashing appeals
to an ethos of nonviolence. It holds, then,
that veganwashing would be an especially
useful strategy for actors who have a vested
interest in concealing ongoing acts of violence
and appearing peaceful. Which brings me to
the most prominent example of veganwashing
that can be found today: Israel’s modern
colonial project in Palestine.”]

Goldman, Mordechai. "Likud offers vegans
a new political home,” AL-Monitor, September
15, 2019. ["Article summary: Tal Gilboa, one of
the most famous vegan activists in Israel, says
only Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “takes
account” of animals.”]

Gross, Aeyal. "Vegans for (And Against) the Occupation.
Those promoting a vegan diet deserve congratulation for
various reasons. But those enlisting it as a conscience-
cleaning device to help hide their role in perpetuating the
suffering of others do not,”  Ha’aretz, November 14, 2013.

Guimaraes, Sandra. “Vegan-Washing.” [“Article on on
the vegan-washing phenomenon in Israel.”]

Hendricks, Chris. "Veganwashing and the Lie of Vegan
Unity,” Collectively Free, June 7, 2018. [Excerpt: “Probably
the most widely-reported example of Israeli veganwashing
is the 2015 initiative by Anonymous for Animal Rights
(Israel’s largest animal-rights organization) to re-brand
the Israeli Defense Forces….”]

Israeli Vegans Against Apartheid. "Israeli vegans to
Tel Aviv Healthy Vegan Conference speakers: Please
cancel your participation,” Boycott!, October 2019. 

Matar, Haggai. "Can animal rights take precedence over
human rights?” +972, November 12, 2013. [Excerpt: “When
veganism becomes a tool to improve the IDF’s image, or
that of Israel as a whole – which is what Megged suggests
– and when attempts are being made to cover up the fact
that the IDF operates an occupation mechanism that denies
people their basic human rights, veganism is being
appropriated for propaganda purposes.…The conclusion
to be drawn from this observation is not to abstain from
veganism, but rather to appropriate it as yet another
element in the general struggle against oppression –
of any kind.”]

McAlpin, Nick. "How Israel uses animal rights to
'veganwash' the occupation,” The New Arab, July
18, 2019. [Excerpt: "Ahmad Safi is the co-founder
of the Palestinian Animal League (PAL). PAL is a
collective of animal rights activists operating
throughout the West Bank. They are also ardent
advocates of Palestinian self-determination. PAL
previously operated the first vegan café in the
Arab world and, amongst other projects, works
with the City of Tulkarm on a trap, neuter,
vaccinate, and release (TNVR) programme for
stray dogs. For Safi, the successful propagation
of the Israeli pinkwashing narrative has spawned
what he terms "veganwashing.”]

Mondoweiss Editors. "It’s easier to be a
vegan than an anti-Zionist in Israel,” October, 2017.

Palestinian Animal League. "Defending Palestine: Liberating
the People, the Land, and Animals,” August 7, 2017.

Palestinian Animal League. “Don’t say GO VEGAN.
Respond to the local context and challenges of your
people,” November 28, 2018. [Excerpt: "I can’t afford
to be a single-issue vegan / I asked Wotko what he
thought about single-issue veganism – fighting only
for justice for animals. “Systems of oppression in my
life aren’t experienced as separate. They are part of
my daily fight to survive. I don’t think I can afford to
be just a single issue vegan. I always say that I’m
queer, and indigenous, and anti-speciesist. We can’t
just pick veganism to talk about, because we can only
do that because of our privilege. It’s so important to
challenge white men who are very privileged and not
even seeing that.”]

Palestinian Animal League. "Israel, the first world
country with vegan washing?” March 28, 2018. [Excerpt:
“[T]he moral price we pay for disconnecting the struggle
for animal rights from the struggle for human rights
is reproducing, reinforcing and making other
oppressions sustainable.”]

Palestinian Animal League. "Palestine Animal League
Conference: Defending Animal and Human Rights,”
May 30, 2018.

Palestinian Animal League. “Vegans for BDS,”
November 28, 2018. [Excerpt: "Vegans for BDS
is a group calling for animal activists worldwide
to show solidarity with humans and other animals
in Palestine by supporting the BDS movement and
speaking out against Israeli veganwashing.”]

Palestine News Network. "Over 20 vegan and
Palestine solidarity groups oppose PlantX
expansion into Israel,” February 24, 2021.
["More than twenty solidarity, human rights
and animal rights organizations have signed
an open letter demanding that Vancouver-based
e-commerce company PlantX cease plans to
expand to Israel, designated an apartheid
state currently being investigated by the
Hague for war crimes and crimes against
humanity. Vegans for BDS, supported by
Palestine solidarity groups, are protesting
Canadian company PlantX’s expansion into
Israel, citing complicity in the crime of
apartheid. In their letter to PlantX, Vegans
for BDS and their signatories write, “As
vegans, we are cautious about our
consumption choices. We aim to do the
least harm to animals, the environment,
and humans. Neither are we mere
consumers,” the group stated in their
open letter to the company.” We strive
to shape our world in accordance with
these values. This is why we feel obligated
to point out the harm that PlantX will
cause, should you continue with your
plans in Israel.” The letter goes on to
cite Israeli and international human
rights organizations who have identified
Israel’s policies and permanent military
occupation of Palestine as apartheid.”]

Powell, Dylan. "The Myth of Vegan Progress in Israel,”
Dylan Powell blog, February 15, 2015.

Qadi, Renan. "Our Palestinian vegan food has been
also stolen!” Palestinian Animal League, September
21, 2018.

Safi, Ahmad. "On the “IDF’s vegan warriors”: A
vegan Palestinian’s perspective,” Palestinian
Animal League,  May 2, 2016. [Excerpt: "I am
someone who has had family members and
friends killed, abused, arrested and held without
charge or trial by the Israeli armed forces. I am
someone whose own home was destroyed by the
IDF as part of Israel’s ongoing (illegal) policy of
collective punishment and I am someone who,
myself, was beaten so badly by a sergeant in the
Israeli army when I was ten years old that I
coughed up blood from internal injuries. Would
my experience, or that of my friends, family,
fellow countrymen and women be different if
the boot that kicked me was vegan, or the hat
on the sniper’s head who took my uncle’s life
was made from polyester, not wool? No, of
course not.”]

Starostinetskaya, Anna. "Israeli Army Introduces
Vegan Combat Rations. 50,000 IDF soldiers can now
enjoy vegan food packs that include hummus, tahini,
beans, cocoa spread, halva, olives, and fruit,” Veg
News, April 3, 2017.

Tanenbaum, Julia. “Renouncing Vegan Birthright,”
Collectively Free, Sept. 22, 2017. [Excerpt: “We
must reject the vegan washing model and instead
follow the example of anti-Zionist vegans like
the members of the Palestinian Animal League
or Anarchists Against the Wall, which began as
the pro-intersectional human and animal rights
organization ‘One Struggle’. We must follow the
example of vegans like Haggai Matar, who spent
two years in prison for refusing the draft in2002….
Decolonizing Veganism is the only way
for non-human animals to become free, because
history teaches us that solidarity is the strongest
weapon in the face of injustice. Vegans must
choose whether to continue our community’s
endorsement of colonial violence and white
supremacy, or stand for the lives and liberty
of all sentient beings.”]

The Vegan Vanguard. "11. The Vegan-Washing
of Israel Continues (Brand Israel, Palestine, and
Occupation),” Podcast, April 12, 2018. [Excerpt:
"Marine interviews Laura Schleifer– a Jewish
pro-intersectional vegan and free Palestine
solidarity activist who spent time in the
Palestinian West Bank on a theatre tour. Israel
wants to grow its reputation as “The Vegan
Capital of the World” and is using diverse tactics
to spread this message (Vegan Birthright,
vegan army gear, vegan conferences, vegan
food tours). Brand Israel has long used social
justice causes to promote itself as a cool,
progressive, innovate hub, in order to distract
us from looking at its atrocious human rights
track record. After gay rights (Pink Washing),
the environment (Green Washing), we discuss
how veganism is being leveraged to
“Vegan-Wash” the Israeli occupation.”]

Vegans for BDS. "Petition: Boycott Tel Aviv
Healthy Vegan Conference,” Change.org,
October 31, 2019. [Excerpt: "There are
more meaningful ways to support animal
liberation and veganism without either
corporatizing the movement or lending
direct support to the crimes of the Israeli
state. The occupation is not in any way
“vegan”. We are appealing to you, as
speakers scheduled to particiis
convention, to respect the Palestinians’
non-violent boycott and to not lend your
name to vegan-washing Israel’s crimes.”]

Who Profits. "Made in Israel: Agricultural
Export from Occupied Territories,”
April, 2014.

Mondoweiss: "A photo posted by the Israeli Air Force to
Twitter on November 1, 2016 with the tweet:
"#Worldveganday fact: In the IDF, #vegan soldiers
receive vegan boots and berets. Pictured: a #smiley
vegan soldier, with her vegan beret!" 

From Palestinian Animal League’s 2018 Conference Report

"VEGANS FOR BDSPAL is proud to support the independent campaign
group Vegans for BDS.” // Petition: "Boycott Tel Aviv Healthy Vegan
Conference; Veganism is Not “Healthy” When it Violates the Rights
of Palestinians, October 31, 2019” 

PODCAST: The Vegan-Washing of Israel Continues
(Brand Israel, Palestine, and Occupation) [2:03:36]

"In light of the recent Vegan Vibes tour organized in Israel,
Marine interviews Laura Schleifer– a Jewish pro-intersectional
vegan and free Palestine solidarity activist who spent time in
the Palestinian West Bank on a theatre tour. Israel wants to
grow its reputation as “The Vegan Capital of the World” and
is using diverse tactics to spread this message (Vegan
Birthright, vegan army gear, vegan conferences, vegan
food tours). Brand Israel has long used social justice
causes to promote itself as a cool, progressive, innovate
hub, in order to distract us from looking at its atrocious
human rights track record. After gay rights (Pink Washing),
the environment (Green Washing), we discuss how veganism
is being leveraged to “Vegan-Wash” the Israeli occupation.”

"Join Vegans for BDS in asking PlantX to stop their
expansion and investments into Israel.” Write a letter here.  

On “Art Washing”:

The cultural boycott of Israel
is inspired by the South African
anti-apartheid struggle….(During
the 1980s) international artists
refused to play Sun City in response
to the calls of Black South Africans
not to do ‘business as usual’ with
apartheid. Art-washing is the use
of art and culture to cover up
oppression and present “a false
sense of normalcy in a situation
of grave repression”….An artist’s
politics and personal view of the
Israeli government matter little
once they’ve agreed to perform
in Israel….The Israeli government
will endorse their performance
and use it to undermine Palestinians’
non-violent resistance to Israel’s
occupation, colonisation, and
apartheid policies.

~ Stephanie Adam, PACBI

We are seeing culture as a hasbara
tool of the first rank, and I do not
differentiate between hasbara and
culture.

~ Nissim Ben-Sheetrit, Director General
of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel
[former Deputy Director General for
Asian Affairs]

If you're asked to play in Israel then
you have to acknowledge that their
cultural programme is propagandistic.
It has a role in maintaining the status quo.
Culture is part of Israel's public image
and if you're playing there you're part
of that system. 

~ Brian Eno, musician

We will send well-known novelists and
writers overseas, theater companies,
exhibits,” said Arye Mekel, the ministry’s
deputy director general for cultural affairs.
“This way you show Israel’s prettier face,
so we are not thought of purely in the
context of war.”

~ Ayre Mekel, Israeli Foreign
Ministry Deputy Director General
for Cultural Affairs

We have a list of people who have
performed in South Africa because
of ignorance of the situation or the
lure of money or unconcern over racism.
They need to be persuaded to stop
entertaining apartheid, to stop profiting
from apartheid money and to stop
serving the propaganda purposes of
the apartheid regime.

~  Enuga S Reddy, director of the
UN Centre Against Apartheid [1984]

The term [art washing] appears to
have first been used in mainstream
media in 2014 by Feargus O’Sullivan
of The Atlantic, in an article about a
tower in once-destitute East London
that had been redeveloped for
high-paying tenants. They were
being enticed, in part, by suggestions
that they wouldn’t be gentrifiers but,
rather, original members of a new
artistic community. “The artist
community's short-term occupancy
is being used for a classic profit-driven
regeneration maneuver,” O’Sullivan
wrote. He labeled the process “artwashing.”

~  Alexander Nazaryan, senior
writer, Newsweek

Adalah-NY. "‘No Art for ApARTheid’s Sake’:
New York human rights advocates protest Israel
Philharmonic Orchestra,” Mondoweiss, February 5,
2019. [Excerpt: "The IPO, a self-proclaimed
“cultural ambassador” representing the state of
Israel, orchestrates a positive image of Israel to
divert attention from its human rights abuses,
as part of the “Brand Israel” initiative launched
in 2006. An Israeli Foreign Ministry official
explained Israeli government efforts to rebrand
Israel through the arts in 2009, saying, “We will
send well-known novelists and writers overseas,
theater companies, exhibits” to “show Israel’s
prettier face, so we are not thought of purely in
the context of war.” The IPO website proudly
states that the Orchestra “represent[s] the State
of Israel across the world.”]

Al Jazeera. "Gaza artists urge Eurovision singers
to boycott Israel. The Palestinian Artists Association
said Israel is using the event to 'whitewash a brutal
apartheid regime’,” May 8, 2019. [Excerpt: “Earlier
in the year British cultural figures - including
Vivienne Westwood, Peter Gabriel and Mike Leigh
- also signed a letter calling on British broadcaster
BBC to cancel its coverage of Eurovision.”]

Al Yafai, Faisal. "The art of art-washing: how Israel’s
propaganda machine swings into action every time
an artist boycotts the country. Israel is so incensed
every time anyone take a political stand against its
modus operandi that the government has created
an entire department to oppose it, writes Faisal
Al Yafai,” The National, April 24, 2018.

Almasri, Abier. "Israel’s Eurovision: ‘Dare to
Dream’ Unless You’re Caged in Gaza. Just an
Hour’s Drive Away, Palestinians Yearn for
Freedom & Equality,” Human Rights Watch,
May 16, 2019.

Artists for Palestine. "DJs, producers, electronic
musicians join boycott of Israel en masse,” September
12, 2018. [Excerpt: “Today a stream of DJs, producers,
record labels, electronic musicians are speaking up for
Palestine and endorsing the cultural boycott of Israel.
Using the hashtag #DJsForPalestine, these artists and
cultural producers say they are supporting the
Palestinian call for boycott as a peaceful protest
against the occupation, “for as long as the Israeli
government continues its brutal and sustained
oppression of the Palestinian people”. This collective
action follows the pattern of a similar wave of bands,
including  Portishead and Wolf Alice, who came out
in protest using the hashtag #ArtistsForPalestine,
shortly after Israel’s massacre of unarmed
Palestinian protesters in Gaza this May.”]

Artists for Palestine UK. "Thousands of artists
call for an end to complicity with Israeli apartheid,”
AFP website, May 30, 2021. [Excerpt: "Half a century
ago, there was massive support for a cultural boycott
of apartheid South Africa. Now, artists and cultural
workers are mobilising on a similar scale against Israel’s
system of apartheid, calling variously for boycotts,
practical acts of solidarity with Palestinians and, in
particular, an end to co-operation with cultural
organisations that are complicit with apartheid.”]

Ayyub, Rami. "Boycott Israel's 'artwashed’ Eurovision
2019, pro-Palestinian activists say,” Reuters,
January 30, 2019.

Balousha, Hazem, and Oliver Holmes. "'Our memories
have vanished': the Palestinian theatre destroyed in
a bomb strike,” The Guardian [UK], August 22,
2018. [Excerpt: "The Said al-Mishal Centre brought
theatre, dance and music to the beleaguered
residents of Gaza City. Its destruction in an
Israeli air strike has sparked outrage – and
dealt a heavy blow to Palestinian culture.”] Also
see Oliver Holmes, "UK playwrights condemn
bombing of Gaza theatre. Caryl Churchill and
National Theatre director bemoan ‘devastating
loss’ after Israeli strike,” August 16, 2018.

Barghouti, Omar. "Radiohead is art-washing Israeli
apartheid. Cultural boycott of Israel, not dialogue,
is needed. We had dialogue for decades and that
did not bring any justice,” Al Jazeera, July 31, 2017.

Ben Zion, Ilan. "Lorde scraps Israel concert
amid boycott calls,” Associated Press, December
25, 2017. [Excerpt: "Lorde said that after having
“lots of discussions” about the matter, “I’m not
too proud to admit I didn’t make the right call
on this one,” referring to her initial decision
to hold the concert….The Palestinian Campaign
for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
posted a statement on Twitter thanking the artist
for “heeding appeals from your fans against
Israel’s art-washing of its brutal oppression
of Palestinians.”

Deb, Sopan. “Artists Protest Lincoln Center Play
Backed by Israel,” The New York Times, July 5, 2017.
[Excerpt: "More than 60 artists, including four Pulitzer
Prize winners and other prominent writers, actors,
directors and playwrights, have signed an open letter
calling on Lincoln Center to cancel performances of a
play co-produced by two Israeli theater companies and
backed by the Israeli government….“It is deeply
troubling that Lincoln Center, one of the world’s
leading cultural institutions, is helping the Israeli
government to implement its systematic ‘Brand Israel’
strategy of employing arts and culture to divert
attention from the state’s decades of violent
colonization, brutal military occupation and denial
of basic rights to the Palestinian people.”]

Dodd, Vickram and Rory McCarthy. “Elvis Costello
cancels concerts in Israel in protest at treatment
of Palestinians. Singer says he acted on 'conscience’,
as he joins a list of performers who have boycotted
Israel for political reasons,” The Guardian [UK],
May 18, 2010.

Eno, Brian. "Israel must not be allowed to
use Eurovision as a propaganda tool. The
song contest organisers should take a stand
against the oppression of Palestinian artists
and move their event from Tel Aviv,” The
Guardian [UK], February 18, 2019.

Essa, Azad. "How Israel uses Bollywood to
whitewash the occupation. A Bollywood
event in Tel Aviv this week highlights how
both India and Israel are using art to distract
from human rights abuses,” Middle East
Eye, October 16, 2019. [Excerpt: “‘Wooing
Bollywood to artwash its violations of
Palestinian human rights is part of the
Brand Israel strategy'- Apoorva PG,
South Asia BDS coordinator”]

Giovannetti, Megan. "'This is art-washing’:
Israeli activists dog Eurovision with protests.
Determined to expose the realities of Israel’s
occupation and siege of Gaza, a group of
young Israelis are staging daily demonstrations,”
Middle East Eye, May 17, 2019. [“… a group of
Israeli activists has made it their mission to
reveal a quite different side to the Eurovision
Song Contest 2019. "We're here because
Eurovision, and of course the Eurovillage,
is this great, lucrative business that helps
Israel promote its so-called values of [being
a] young, hip, multicultural, LGBTQ-friendly
place, when in fact it's an apartheid state,”
Shahaf Weinstein, 26, told Middle East Eye.
"This is pink-washing, this is art-washing,
and we're against it.”]

Hecht, Ravit. "Itay Tiran, Israel’s No. 1 Theater
Actor-director: BDS Is a Legitimate Form of
Resistance,” Haaretz, September 5, 2018.
[Excerpt: “BDS is a perfectly legitimate form
of resistance. And if we want to preach for a
certain kind of political discussion that isn’t
violent, we must strengthen these voices,
even if it’s difficult,” said Itay…"]

Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “International
Brand Israel seminar to be launched by the Foreign
Ministry,” October 24, 2016. [Excerpt: “(T)he goal
is to improve Israel's image among the different
audiences, in a way that will advance several
objectives, mainly in the area of trade and
commerce: expanding Israel's export, increasing
incoming tourism and publicizing the attractiveness
of foreign investments. Moreover, strengthening
Israel's positive image could improve Israel's political
stand. Minister Livni will open the seminar…”]

Kulwin, Noah. "The Cultural Boycott of Israel Strikes
a Chord,” Jewish Currents, September 12, 2018.
[Excerpt: "Israel may have finally reached its own
“Sun City” moment, in which the price of Israeli
actions in Gaza and the West Bank has become
too high a moral price for artists to pay.”]

Ofir, Jonathan. "Demi Lovato and the case for
the cultural boycott of Israel,” Mondoweiss,
October 8, 2019. [Excerpt: "This is simply
how Israel operates. If you’re a celebrity –
Israel will seek to use you for propaganda
purposes. Demi Lovato says that “no one
told her”. So I’m telling her, and everyone,
right now. If you’re naïve about Israel,
you’re just playing the fool. There is a
BDS call, it comes from Palestinian civil
society, and it is a response to Israeli
violations against Palestinians which
manage to pass with impunity.”] 

Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and
Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI). "No Art-Washing
of Israel’s Massacre in Gaza: Boycott the SERET
Film and TV Festival,” April 25, 2018.

Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and
Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI). "Amnesty Int’l
withdraws from Israel concert fund following
campaign,” Electronic Intifada, August 18, 2009.
[Excerpt: "Omar Barghouti from
the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic
and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI)
commented, “We welcome Amnesty
International’s withdrawal from this
ill-conceived project which is clearly
intended to whitewash Israel’s violations
of international law and human rights.”]

Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and
Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI). “Letter
from Palestinian Film Professionals on
Euromed Funding Initiative,” BDS Movement,
February 9, 2006. [Excerpt: "And we ask
the international community and fellow
artists to consider carefully the
implications of participating in the
"Greenhouse” Project….Cultural
support cannot come in the form of
“charity”or "to make oneself feel better”
without addressing the root causes of
the problems and ignoring the concerns
of the Palestinian community. To us, this
is not only un-desirable, but also
objectionable. We have worked and will
continue to work with those that have
struggled with us to change political
realities, to help us improve our lives
and who have been mutually respectful.”]

The Palestinian Performing Arts Network
(PPAN) and The Palestinian Campaign for
the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
(PACBI). "Boycott the Israel Philharmonic
Orchestra's Conference on Music Education:
Letter sent to participants of the First
International Conference on Music Education
and Community Initiatives organized by the
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra,” May 9, 2017.
[Excerpt: "The IPO is not an apolitical cultural
institution; it plays a public role in the official
Israeli propaganda campaign titled Brand Israel,
which uses music to distract from Israel’s military
occupation and human rights abuses. The IPO
website describes the Orchestra as “Israel’s musical
ambassador throughout the country and the
world.” The American Friends of the IPO calls it
“Israel’s finest cultural emissary” and notes that
“[t]he goodwill created by these tours … is of
enormous value to the State of Israel. As a result,
the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra maintains its
position at the forefront of cultural diplomacy
and the international music scene….From closing
down Palestinian cinemas, to banning cultural
and educational events, and preventing Palestinian
artists from traveling, Israel’s attacks on Palestinian
art and culture are too many to list. The IPO has
not distanced itself from Brand Israel efforts, or
official Israeli policies in any way. It is also
consistently silent on Israel’s attacks on
Palestinians, including cultural workers and
organizations, and continues in its role as an
ambassador for Israel, whitewashing its crimes
and effectively giving a greenlight for these
oppressive policies to continue. The conference
is supported by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, whose officials explained the government’s
efforts to rebrand Israel by saying, “We will send
well-known novelists and writers overseas,
theater companies, exhibits…This way you show
Israel’s prettier face, so we are not thought of
purely in the context of war.”] 

Reuters. "'Artwashing:' BDS Activists Ramp Up
Pressure on Eurovision 2019 in Israel,” January
31, 2019. [Excerpt: "The movement sees Eurovision
'as artwashing - whitewashing through arts' of what
it calls Israel’s decades-old regime of military
occupation and colonialism, its co-founder Omar
Barghouti told Reuters in the West Bank city of
Ramallah”….Israel calls international boycotts,
including of its settlements in the Israeli-occupied
West Bank, discriminatory and anti-Semitic.
Barghouti rejected those labels, saying the
movement "categorically and on principle rejects
all forms of racism.” Many BDS supporters were
Jewish, he said.”]

Rottenberg, Catherine. "Why Hollywood has
abandoned Brand Israel. Oscar nominees’ refusal
to be paid props for Brand Israel could reflect a
desire to avoid a very polarised discussion,” Al
Jazeera English, February 26, 2017. [Excerpt:
"In the days before the 2017 Oscars award
ceremony, a flurry of articles were published
on how the Tourist Ministry attempted to lure
26 nominees to Israel with lavish tour packages
estimated at about $55,000 each. Government
officials justified their actions by insisting on the
importance of regaling celebrities with the “real
Israel”. Clearly what is at stake here is the projection
- and exorbitant chorographical production - of
normality, where the celebrities are used as a vital
prop in the Brand Israel campaign. Leading media
outlets, however, reported that not one of the two
dozen stars had accepted the invitation.”]

Searle, Chris. "Uplifting notes for Palestine.
Chris Searle speaks to Thessaloniki-born
Stelios Chatzikaleas about his new album
Dignity and his support for the cause of
Palestine,” Morning Star, November 1, 2021.

Vartanian, Hrag. “Over 120 Protesters Ask
Artis Nonprofit to Clarify “Organization’s
Position by Signing onto BDS.” Protesters
marched to the offices of Artis, a New
York-based arts nonprofit that organizes
trips for arts professionals to Israel,
demanding the group demonstrate they’re
not part of a larger movement to normalize
the occupation of Palestinian lands,”
Hyperallergic, December 11, 2016.

Weiss, Philip. "‘Every flinch, year by year,
every tremble, every tear’ –Roger Waters’
appeals to musicians not to play Israel.
Roger Waters shares the letters he has
sent to musicians urging them not to play
Israel,” Mondoweiss, March 7, 2022. [“This
is about children, like the young boys blown
to bits while playing soccer in Gaza, boys
murdered by Israel, boys symbolic of the
thousands and thousands of children
sacrificed in Israel’s mowing of the lawn–
Israel’s terminology, not mine. We,
hundreds of thousands of us, supporters
of BDS, and human rights throughout history
all over the world, join together in the
memory of Sharpeville, and Wounded Knee,
and Lidice, and Budapest and Ferguson and
Standing Rock and Gaza, and raise our fists
in protest. We hurl our glasses in the fire of
your arrogant unconcern and smash our
bracelets on the rock of your implacable
indifference.”]

Poster by Ahmed Elkhalidi 

"The National Theatre of Norway´s official apology for the
cooperation with Habima" [September, 2016]. As Ali
Abunimah notes in his article in The Electronic Intifada:
"It is not immediately apparent that this isn’t the real thing.
But in fact, the video and a written “apology” were published
as a work of art on Friday, online and in the national
newspaper Morgenbladet. The ambiguity was deliberate
and those who didn’t pay attention to the small print
might not have noticed that it was a performance. The
woman in the video is Gjertrud Jynge, a nationally
renowned actor in Norway.”]

Jewish Voice for Peace: Boycott Eurovision 2019

Artists United Against [SA] Apartheid:
Sun City Official Video [1985]

"Art Over War” [“Graffiti, tattoo, and street art,
transforming the grim reminders of war and
terrorism into beauty”], co-sponsored by
“StandWithUs” and “Artists 4 Israel.” Artists
4 Israel celebrates its creation of hasbara
such as the “MLK Mural” below ⬇︎

"Dr King had a dream about equality. Where
has his dream been realized?…. Slavery has
never existed in Israel. Racial discrimination
laws have existed in Israel since the
founding of the state.” — hasbara mural
from Artists 4 Israel.

BDS Italia:  Don’t Dance with Israeli Apartheid
[June 10, 2016]. [The letter from BDS Italia to
the Ravenna Festival, "Performance of Batsheva
Dance Company at Ravenna Festival 2016,” is
found here.]

Stop Artwashing Settler Colonialism

Robert Fisk: "State of Denial: Western Journalism and the Middle East” /
"Robert Fisk, award-winning journalist and Middle East Correspondent
for The Independent newspaper, gave the annual faculty-appointed
Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) Distinguished
Lecture on April 20, 2010" 

"Maxine Peake has cancelled a play in London
to highlight the plight of Palestinian playwrights
and other artists targeted by the Israeli authorities
….Kate Allen, Amnesty International UK’s director,
said: “The cultural life of Palestinians is effectively
at the mercy of the occupying Israeli forces, and
this cancelled event is just a very small reminder
of the harsh everyday realities confronting anyone
involved in the arts in the occupied Palestinian
territory. “Amazingly, despite everything,
Palestinian playwrights, writers and poets are
still producing wonderful work, but they
shouldn’t have to endure roadblocks, arrests,
physical threats and the out-and-out destruction
of their arts centres. “We’re calling for the Israeli
authorities to end their persecution of
Palestinian artists.”

Patti Smith performs at Hoping for Palestine event

‘In conjunction with the JNF Arts and Entertainment
Task Force, featuring … [a] jazz pianist…. we can
come together to benefit the Land and People of
Israel. [ML: Art washing apartheid … Never forget
that the JNF clearly and forcefully states: “the JNF,
in relation to being an owner of land, is not a public
body that works for the benefit of all citizens of the
state. The loyalty of the JNF is given to the Jewish
people and only to them is the JNF obligated. The
JNF, as the owner of the JNF land, does not have
a duty to practice equality towards all citizens of
the state.”]

From Jerusalem Post email, 10/2022

From the Don’t Dance With Israeli Apartheid campaign

Also see: Emily Jacir, "Artist’s Statement:
Emily Jacir’s “ENTRY DENIED," Electronic Intifada,
February 1, 2007; Emily Jacir,  “Photostory:
Retracing bus no. 23 on the historic
Jerusalem-Hebron Road,” Electronic
Intifada, December 15, 2006.

Soho, 2016

Brian Eno: "thoughts on Berlin, the Palestinian Boycott,
Divestment & Sanctions (BDS) Movement and Pop-Kultur festival."

"They made us get permits to show our work,
censoring art and invading artists' studios. Several
of us were imprisoned, usually on charges that they
were painting in the colours of the Palestinian flag.
They would say, 'You can paint, but don't use red,
white or black,' and they would imprison you if you
used those colours. You couldn't paint a poppy,
for example, or a watermelon: they were the wrong
colours. Often it was up to the artistic judgment of
the particular officer in charge."

"As Israeli soldiers and settlers carry out massacres
and pogroms against Palestinians, Israel’s
government continues a grotesque PR strategy
using artists to “show Israel’s prettier face.”
@TheJoyceTheater and @BatshevaDanceCo
are complicit, partnering with Israel on NYC shows.”
[March 2, 2023]

"Bollywood has been wooed by Israel, with tax breaks,
film funding and Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Mumbai
in 2018 (IIlustration by Mohamad Elaasar)” / from
"How Israel uses Bollywood to whitewash the occupation" 

From Jerusalem Post email, 1.22.23 / Read more

Harriet Sherwood (2/1/23) in The Guardian [UK]:
"Leading artists criticise Barbican’s collaboration
with Israeli embassy for concert. Jerusalem Orchestra
East & West’s performance ‘cynical attempt to
re-brand apartheid as diversity’, claims letter by
over 50 artists.” [In a letter objecting to the concert,
the signatories acknowledge “the appeal of an event”
that appears to join together Jerusalem’s different
cultures for a broad audience. / But, they say, “this
has to be seen for what it is – a cynical attempt to
re-brand apartheid as diversity and military occupation
as tolerance. Far from exemplifying a convivial
multiculturalism, Jerusalem itself is the site of
long-running oppression and violent military
occupation.” / Citing reports by human rights
organisations, including Amnesty International and
Human Rights Watch, that designate Israel an
apartheid regime, they say they “doubt the Barbican
would have partnered with the South African embassy
during its apartheid era”. / Many of the signatories to
the letter are well-known supporters of Palestinian
rights. They include the actors Miriam Margolyes and
Stephen Rea, film-makers Peter Kosminksy and Ken
Loach, and the writer Ahdaf Soueif.”]

Navajo artist Remy on Indigenous art and Palestinian
resistance [4:20, 2/2020]

On “Sports Washing”:

Sportswashing is “egregious human
rights abusers using sports to scrub
their awful human rights abuses”

~ Minky Worden, Director of Global
Initiatives, Human Rights Watch

Football stars are a source of
inspiration for all American citizens.
I am sure that, after the experiences
that the players will enjoy in Israel
and after they have seen the unique
tourist sites and the special
atmosphere here, they will become
ambassadors of good will for Israel.

~ Yariv Levin, Israeli Tourism Minister

During the struggle against
apartheid, sports was an important
avenue for resistance against the
racially prejudiced regime: SOCOS,
the sporting federation that
represented marginalized groups,
adopted the motto “No normal
sports in an abnormal country” to
successfully lobby for the exclusion
of South Africa from major
international events like the Olympics.

~ Omondi D. Kasidhi, South Africa
Athletics Report, 2005

The ministry which I lead is
spearheading an intensive fight
against the delegitimization and
BDS [Boycott, Divestment and
Sanction] campaigns against
Israel, and part of this struggle
includes hosting influencers and
opinion-formers of international
standing in different fields,
including sport.

~ Gilad Erdan, Israeli Strategic
Affairs and Public Diplomacy Minister

I was not aware that my itinerary
was being constructed by the Israeli
government for the purposes of
making me, in the words of a
government official, an ‘influencer
and opinion-former’ who would
then be ‘an ambassador of goodwill’.
I will not be used in such a manner. 

~ Michael Bennett, Seattle Seahawks
defensive end 

Abraham, Richard. "Giro d'Italia's start in
Israel provokes accusations of
'sport-washing.’ La grande partenza in
Jerusalem will be a historic first but brings
an unprecedented level of political
controversy to cycling’s second biggest
event,” The Guardian [UK], September
24, 2017. ["Israelis are now turning
their attention to a new kind of
construction: image. Despite the
occupation and condemnation from
the international community, Israel
is ready to project its pride at what
it has built and paint over the canvas
of conflict. Holding the brush is Sylvan
Adams, an ebullient 58-year-old
property billionaire who emigrated
from Canada in 2016. “‘Normal Israel’
is the phrase that I’ve coined; it’s the
regular daily life which somehow is
not an interesting enough story to
be told to the rest of the world. All
they want to do is talk about conflict
and terrorism but that’s a very, very
small part of life in Israel,” he says.
Adams’s subject is cosmopolitan
Israel: a charming country of ancient
heritage and modern cities, of warm
seas and warm people.”]

Abuali, Maya. "Catalan TV presenter
condemns 'whitewashing' of Israel crimes
during Olympic Trial event. As Israel’s
swimming team took fourth place at the
Olympic Trial event, a commentator
reminded her audience of Israel’s ‘genocide’
against Palestinians,” Middle East Monitor
[MEMO], June 21, 2021. 

Abunimah, Ali. "Israel threatens Giro d’Italia
protesters,” Electronic Intifada, May 4, 2018.
["Amnesty International slams #Giro101 for
sports-washing Israel's violations of Palestinian
human rights.”]

Abunimah, Ali. "Palestinians score as Argentina
cancels Israel match,” Electronic Intifada, June
6, 2018. [“We welcome news that Argentina’s
‘friendly’ football match with Israel has been
canceled,” PACBI, the Palestinian Campaign
for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel,
stated. “The team responded to creative
campaigning from fans around the world
denouncing Israel’s sportswashing of its crimes
against Palestinians.”]

Arria, Michael. "Portland Trail Blazers sever
ties with company that supplies IDF with rifle
scopes after campaign by activists,”
Mondoweiss, October 1, 2019.

Ballenger, Alex. "From Gaza to the Giro
d’Italia – the many faces of Israel Start-Up
Nation. How Israel’s first WorldTour team
plans to change a nation,” Cycling Weekly,
January 22, 2020. [“Listen, when we have
gay pride parades in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem,
and we draw from the entire world of the gay
community, they call it pinkwashing. When
we do sport, they call it sportwashing, so
anything we do is washing. “There is no
more libertarian society than Israel,
tolerating, accepting and free for everyone.”]

Baroud, Ramzy. “An Affront to History: Giro
d’Italia’s ‘Sport-Washing’ of Israeli Apartheid,”
Foreign Policy Journal, May 18, 2018. [“The RCS
Sport has done the ‘Giro’ race, sport cycling and
the Italian people an unforgivable disservice for
the sake of a few million dollars. By agreeing to
start the race in a country that is guilty of
apartheid practices and a protracted military
occupation, they will stain the race forever.”]

Bloomfield, Aubrey. “Ignoring its Own Rules
and International Law, FIFA Opts to Support
Israeli Settlements,” Palestine Square, November
8, 2017. [“While FIFA said it “must remain neutral
with regard to political matters,” it has in fact
made a political decision not to sanction Israel.”]

Bloomfield, Aubrey. “Sports and the Palestinian
BDS struggle,” Mondoweiss, February 14, 2017.
[“Sports were central to the South African
anti-apartheid movement from its inception.
Participation in international sporting competitions,
and South Africa’s membership in international
sporting bodies, bestowed respectability on the
South African regime and obscured its racist
policies.”]

Brown, Michael F. “NFL players pull out of Israel
propaganda tour,” Electronic Intifada,
February 11, 2017.

Canadian BDS Coalition. "#RaptorsDontGo Say
No to Brand Israel Sports-washing. The Canadian
BDS Coalition calls on each of the Raptors to say
NO to this offer by Tanenbaum. Say no to being
used as an ambassador to sports-wash an
aggressive ongoing colonization complete with
apartheid, genocide and war crimes,” June, 2019.
[Includes Open Letter to Toronto Raptors.]

Davidovich-Weisberg, Gabriela. "Giro d’Italia
Cycling Race Could Change the Face of Israeli
Tourism,” Ha'aretz, April 27, 2018. [“I (Sylvan
Adams) have two goals in bringing the Giro
race to Israel,” he says. “The first is to show
Israel to the rest of the world. Just like the
French found a way to advance their culture
through the Tour de France, the Italians have
done the same with the Giro, and so I hope to
show off our little country in the three days of
the race. It’s really a unique opportunity to
show all parts of the country to the rest of
the world.”

Hammad, Shatha. "Saudi football team’s
first Palestinian visit met with anger at
Al-Aqsa. Palestinian activists denounce
the use of 'sportswashing' to obscure the
normalisation of relations between Israel
and the kingdom,” Middle East Eye,
October 14, 2019. ["But while Abbas called
the arrival of the Saudi delegation “a
pleasure for the Palestinian people”, many
Palestinians believe the visit is purely
political, marking a new chapter in the
normalisation of relations between
Israel and Arab countries.”]

Human Rights Watch. "Israel/Palestine: FIFA
Sponsoring Games on Seized Land. Israeli
Settlement Football Clubs Contribute to
Human Rights Violations,” September 25,
2016. ["FIFA, the worldwide football
association, is sponsoring matches in
Israeli settlements in the West Bank on
land unlawfully taken from Palestinians.
To fulfill its human rights responsibilities,
FIFA should require its affiliate, the Israel
Football Association, which is conducting
business in unlawful settlements that are
off-limits to Palestinians, to move all
FIFA-sanctioned games and activities
inside Israel.”]  

Jerusalem Post. "Giro d'Italia in Israel: Far more
than a cycling race. For many years Israel advocates
have sought to sell an image of “brand Israel” that
differs from the headlines about conflict and politics,”
May 7, 2018. ["It shows that sports can be a form of
diplomacy, as well as a way to put Israel on the map
as a place removed from news of the conflict that
generally drowns out other coverage….actually
hosting successfully international events and
competitions which lend themselves to reporting
that is not conflict-based. The Giro d’Italia was a
phenomenal success.”]

Kawas, Marion. "Activists declare victory in
#RaptorsDontGo campaign,” Mondoweiss,
October 23, 2019.

Kawas, Marion. "Please #SkipTheTrip to Israel,
Toronto Raptors,” Middle East Monitor, June
17, 2019.

Kawas, Marion. "Sports-washing and the
Toronto Raptors,” Mondoweiss, July 1, 2019.
["From the boycott of Puma over their
sponsorship of the Israel Football Association,
which includes teams from the illegal
settlements, to this #RaptorsDontGo
campaign, people are refusing to allow
sports-washing to become Israel’s next
frontier.”]

Khattab, Aya. "Puma keeps helping Israel
sports-wash its human rights abuses.
Companies like Puma which back Israeli
sport associations purposefully ignore
the oppression of Palestinian athletes,”
Al Jazeera, October 26, 2019. [“Pursuing
a career as an athlete in Palestine is
indeed a constant struggle, as the Israeli
occupation puts barriers before us at
every step. That is why we expect the
rest of the world, and especially sport
institutions and companies, to beaware
of our pain and to support us. That is
why we reject attempts by sport brands
and companies to whitewash Israel’s
occupation….Last year, global sportswear
manufacturer Puma signed a four-year
sponsorship deal with the Israel Football
Association (IFA). The IFA includes teams
from Israel's illegal settlements which are
built on land stolen from Palestinian families
in violation of international law. IFA’s
complicity in Israel's illegal settlement
enterprise has been repeatedly condemned
by UN advisers, dozens of elected officials,
public figures and civil society and human
rights groups.”]

Moon, Deborah. "Israeli NASCAR driver
ambassador for Israel and sport,” Oregon Jewish
Life, October 2, 2018. ["Alon says every time
he races in the United States he is surprised by
how pro-Israel the fans are and how they support
an Israeli driver. He notes the sport is especially
popular in the South, where many of the
churches are pro-Israel. “That’s what I love
about NASCAR – it can bring Israel and
America together.”]

Nassar, Tamara. "Saudi-Israeli ties score
goal with West Bank football match,”
Electronic Intifada, October 17, 2019.
["Israel unsurprisingly used the Saudi
team’s presence to whitewash its image.”]

Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
National Committee (BNC). "Palestinians Salute
Worldwide Mobilizations Against Giro d’Italia
Sports-Washing Israel's Crimes. Inspiring
mobilizations and creative energy put a spotlight
on Israel's crimes during the Giro d'Italia cycling
race,” June 5, 2018.

Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
National Committee (BNC). "#ShameOnGiro: Let’s
Give Giro d’Italia a Reality Check,” May 3, 2018.

Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and
Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI). “Palestinians
Condemn Sports-washing “Friendly” Match
in Israel as Gaza Mourns Dead,” November
16, 2019.

Shaheen, Mansur. "‘Unapologetic Palestinian’
Oday Aboushi leads by example in the NFL,”
Mondoweiss, August 8, 2019.

South African History Online. "Football in
South Africa Timeline 1862-2012.” [Also
see Maureen Clare Murphy’s article in the
Electronic Intifada (September 24, 2019):
"Israel wrecks Palestine Cup final]

Telesur. "Giro d'Italia 'Sports-Washing Israeli
Abuses' with Jerusalem Tour: BDS,” May 6, 2018.

The Guardian. "More than half of NFL players
booked for Israel PR trip withdraw. Six players
scheduled to visit Israel withdraw from
week-long trip. Michael Bennett accused
government of using him for PR purposes,”
February 15, 2017. [“(T)he Israeli tourism
minister claimed the players making the trip
would serve as “ambassadors of goodwill
for Israel”. Michael Bennett, the Seahawks
defensive end, withdrew from the trip on
Friday in protest at being “used” in such
a way.”]

WAFA Palestinian News and Information
Agency. "Israel Bars 103 Gaza Athletes
from Running Bethlehem Marathon,” March
31, 2016. ["Among those denied access into
Bethlehem was the Olympic athlete Nader
Masri, who participated in the 2008 Olympics
in Beijing, and participants from Right to
Movement and Right to Play. Abdul-Ghani
slammed barring Gaza athletes entry into
the West Bank historic city as “a blatant
violation of all international laws and
norms pertaining to athletes’ freedom
of movement.”]

Zirin, David. "On Draymond Green’s
‘Friends of the IDF’ Trip to Israel:
Draymond Green refused to visit Donald
Trump. But he visited the Israeli President
and posed as a sniper for the cameras—that’s
a problem,” The Nation, July 10, 2018.
["Imagine Green visiting the Ferguson police
department while fires were still smoldering
in 2014. He never would have done it, yet this
visit was somehow fine: legitimizing a regime
that just engaged in a massacre. It was exactly
the kind of propaganda trip, embedded in the
Israeli military and shielded from Palestinian
life, that Michael Bennett and other NFL players
refused to participate in last year, because of the
parallels between the plight of Palestinians and
the #blacklivesmatter struggle against police
violence in the United States.”]

Zirin, David. "Open Letter to NFL Players
Traveling to Israel on a Trip Organized by
Netanyahu’s Government. “Palestinians
have for decades been fighting policies
similar to the ones people are protesting
in cities across the United States,” The
Nation, February 9, 2017. "Below is an
open letter signed by luminaries such as
Angela Davis and Alice Walker as well as
athlete-activists such as John Carlos and
Craig Hodges, and organizations including
Jewish Voice for Peace and the US Campaign
for Palestinian Rights. The letter asks NFL
players to consider the political ramifications
of a propaganda trip organized by the Israeli
government that aims to prevent players
from seeing the experience of Palestinians
living under military occupation. It is a trip,
as the letter makes clear, that “aims to use
your fame to advance their own agenda: an
agenda that comes at the expense of the
Palestinian people.”]

Zirin, David. "Why Michael Bennett Walked
Away From the NFL’s Israel Delegation:
Michael Bennett plans to visit Israel soon,
but only if Palestinian people aren’t rendered
invisible,” The Nation, February 13, 2017.
["Perhaps the ultimate comment came from
Bennett’s hero John Carlos, who read his open
letter and said, “I’m flattered this young man
quoted me and I’m overwhelmed that seeds I
may have planted almost 50 years ago have
played even a small part in developing such a
terrific person of principle. It’s true. You are
either in or your out. And Michael Bennett
is in.”]

“Anti-apartheid activists hold signs that read; “Going to see the
South African ‘Whites Only’ cricket team? (It’s not cricket).”
h/t Aubrey Bloomfield

Chilean football club honoring the memory of
Palestinian journalist #ShireenAbuAkleh by
holding a banner with her name and photo
during a match.

#ArgentinaNoVayas

Michael Bennett 

#RaptorsDontGo

Website: Kick Out Apartheid ["Israel has
violated the principles of FIFA in a variety
of ways that would normally warrant
disciplinary actions and even a suspension
of its membership. However, the politics
of FIFA have prevented the organization
in the past from taking such action. Its
internal by-laws have even been amended
to make it more difficult for the Palestine
Football Association (PFA) to demand such
action. Consequently, it is now the
responsibility of civil society to apply the
popular pressure necessary to bring this about.”]

Roger Waters Adds His Voice to #RaptorsDontGo

#RaptorsDontGo Campaign Has Been Successful!!
Statement of Canadian BDS Coalition, October 22, 2019

#RedCardIsrael  Also see the website: Red Card Israeli Racism

#BoycottPuma [For further information see: Sarsak,
Mahmoud. "Tell Puma that if it opposes racism,
then it must oppose the Israeli occupation. Black
Lives Matter is forcing the sports world to confront
racism - yet the prejudice which destroyed my
career is largely ignored,” Mondoweiss, September 10, 2020.]

#PumaDay

#RedCardIsrael

"Catalan TV presenter condemns 'whitewashing' of Israel
crimes during Olympic Trial event. As Israel’s swimming
team took fourth place at the Olympic Trial event, a
commentator reminded her audience of Israel’s ‘genocide’
against Palestinians” [6/21/21] 

#BarcelonaNoEtMullisAmbApartheid

Celtic fans protest with Palestinian flags during the win over
Hapoel Beer-Sheva [2016] / "When someone is representing Israeli
state institutions it is sadly never merely a game; football, UEFA,
and Celtic FC are being used to whitewash Israel's true nature
and give this rogue state an air of normality and acceptance
it should not and cannot enjoy until it's impunity ends and
it is answerable to international law and faces sanctions
for the countless UN resolutions it had breached” — Facebook
group titled "Fly the flag for Palestine, for Celtic, for Justice”

"Palestinian citizens of Israel are 20 percentof the population.
But not a single one was on Israel’s 90-member Olympic team.
“Sports Apartheid” is the correct term for preventing 20 percent
of your fellow citizens from competing internationally. What’s
also amazing is that until now, no one in the U.S. mainstream
press has even bothered to report on this injustice.” [8/8/21]

“The image of Israel as a battleground of conflicting
narratives….The truth is, we shouldn’t be looking for
winning more debates, what we should be looking for
is winners….The Israel Sports Ambassadors project
aims to improve Israel’s image through excellence
in international sports….We invest both in their
atheletic development and performance, as well as
their ability to deliver an effective message….We
are ready to replace battlegrounds with arenas,
and to set the stage for a winning story." 

"Puma keeps helping Israel sports-wash its human
rights abuses” / "Palestinian football player Aya Khattab
is calling on Puma to reconsider its contract with the Israel
Football Association [Courtesy of BDS movement] [Daylife]"

From NIF’s Let’s Kick Racism and Violence Out of Israel Soccer [2023]

"Dave Zirin, the sports editor of The
Nation magazine, delivers opening
remarks at the “Not Backing Down:
Israel, Free Speech & the Battle for
Palestinian Rights” panel at
UMass-Amherst on May 4, 2019.
In his speech, Zirin blasts attempts
by right-wing groups to label
progressives who speak up for
Palestinian rights as either
“anti-Semitic” or as “self-hating
Jews” and makes a powerful case
for solidarity with the Palestinian
people. “Not Backing Down,” which
focused on the increasingly vitriolic
backlash against pro-Palestinian
voices, was held in front of a capacity
crowd despite a fierce effort by
right-wing groups to brand the event
as anti-Semitic and shut it down."

On the hasbara of left Zionism:

Abarbanel, Avigail. "I’d much prefer an
honest Zionist to a ‘liberal’ one,”
Mondoweiss, September 24, 2018.
[Excerpt: "I would like him (and other
‘nice’ American or Western Zionist Jews)
to say clearly and unequivocally that they
believe that the Jewish people have more
right to survive than the Palestinian people.
I would like them to say clearly and
unequivocally that they believe that it
was justified to kick 750,000 Palestinians
out of their homes and property and off
their land, to destroy a whole nation,
steal everything from them, kill, rape,
massacre, displace and disinherit in
order to ‘save’ their people.”]

Abdelnour, Samer. "Unmasking “Aid”
After the Palestine Papers,” Al Shabaka,
March 2, 2011. ["Aid agencies must attempt
to hold Israel politically, fiscally and morally
accountable for past and ongoing
destruction rather than contributing to
the creation and perpetuation of an
illusory Palestinian leadership and
Palestinian de-development. Otherwise,
massive aid subsidies under the masks
of "development," "reconstruction,” and
"institution building" make the aid
industry complicit in the deliberate
devastation of the people it claims
to serve.”]

Abu Artema, Ahmed. "Peter Beinart and
the crisis of liberal Zionism. Some liberal
Zionists are finally becoming aware of the
inherent contradiction in their views on
Israel and Palestine,” Al Jazeera English,
August 8, 2020. [Excerpt: "While Beinart’s
article is an important development as it
signals a shift in attitudes among some
liberal Zionists, there is still a lot of work
to be done to achieve justice for the
Palestinians.”]

Abunimah, Ali. "Boycott and Zionists’ crocodile
tears for Palestinian workers,” Electronic
Intifada, February 6, 2014.

Abunimah, Ali. "Boycotting “the occupation”
is not enough,” Electronic Intifada,
October 21, 2016. [Excerpt: “Liberal
Zionists are attempting to co-opt BDS
to preserve Israeli apartheid.”]

Abunimah, Ali. "Challenging Peter
Beinart’s dishonesty about the
inequality in Zionism,” Electronic
Intifada, May 29, 2015. [Excerpt:
"This has long been Beinart’s refrain
– deflecting blame onto to the Israeli
bogeyman right and obfuscating the
racism inherent in his own liberal-
flavored variety of Zionism.”]

Abunimah, Ali. "How aid hurt
Palestine,” Electronic Intifada,
October 26, 2009. ["One conclusion
we may draw from Le More’s
important study is that by effectively
enabling Israeli colonization,
so-called development aid proved
over the long term no less
destructive to the Palestinians
than the weapons sent to Israel
by the United States.”]

Abunimah, Ali. "J Street brings
together progressives, Israeli war
criminals,” Electronic Intifada,” April
19, 2021. [Excerpt: “Prominent
among J Street’s speakers is Senate
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer,
who has denounced the nonviolent
Palestinian-led boycott, divestment
and sanctions (BDS) movement as
“anti-Semitic,” and believes that God
sent him to the Senate to protect
Israel….When it comes to the
substance of Palestinian rights,
J Street and AIPAC agree much
more than they differ. Both J Street
and AIPAC claim to support the
defunct “two-state solution” with
the goal of perpetuating Israel as a
“Jewish” state. Like other pro-Israel
hardliners, J Street fully supports
Israel’s racist refusal to allow millions
of Palestinian refugees to return to
the homes from which they were
ethnically cleansed solely and
exclusively because they are not
Jews. J Street has even published
vile racist propaganda about “the
demographic threat from a stateless
Palestinian population” – as if the
mere existence of Palestinians is an
act of violence against Israel. And
also just like AIPAC, J Street maintains
its staunch opposition to BDS, a
movement modeled on the international
solidarity campaign that helped end
apartheid in South Africa….Perhaps
the clearest sign of where J Street
really stands is its silence about the
January report by noted Israeli human
rights group B’Tselem declaring – at
long last – that Israel operates an
apartheid regime against Palestinians
in all the territory between the Jordan
River and the Mediterranean Sea.”]

Abunimah, Ali. "Teaching young people to hate:
the ugly face of J Street’s anti-Palestinian bigotry
exposed,” Electronic Intifada, August 19, 2012.
[Excerpt: "For years, J Street has posed as the kinder,
gentler face of the Israel lobby, the alternative to
hardline AIPAC. Anyone who’s paid close attention
knows that has never been the case, and behind
the smiling exterior that J Street boss Jeremy
Ben-Ami projects are similar hardcore
anti-Palestinian views….we should have
zero tolerance for talk of Palestinians as a
“demographic threat” just because (a) they’re
born and (b) they’re not Jews.”]

Ajl, Max. "The return of the colonial: Laor’s
“The Myths of Liberal Zionism” reviewed,”
Electronic Intifada, May 19, 2010. [Excerpt:
"Earlier Zionists were not in the business of
molly-coddling modern Western sensibilities.
They were honest, unaware or indifferent to
the fact that the archival record they left behind
would be trouble….Ideology hasn’t changed
much, but the West has. So Israeli new mandarins
have to try to sell settler-colonialism to Western
states with populations that increasingly regard
Zionism’s spiritual core and physical reality as
somewhere on the spectrum between mildly
embarrassing and overtly revolting. It is those
mandarins that anti-Zionist Israeli poet Yitzhak
Laor meticulously vivisects in The Myths of Liberal
Zionism.”]

Alqasis, Amjad. "Israel’s “democracy”
protests defend an apartheid system,”
Electronic Intifada, September 5, 2023.
["Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have
demonstrated for months against their
government’s proposed judicial reforms.
Yet their protests do not mention the
inhuman treatment of Palestinians, the
expansion of settlements, or that they
live in an apartheid state. Israelis are
protesting for fear they might lose their
own political status and privileges. The
incongruity of the situation is the key
to understanding the nature of the
Israeli state’s Zionist ideology.
Protesters fear losing their democratic
rights, yet they maintain silence on
the state’s continued suppression
of Palestinians.”]

Arackal, Sheena Anne. "Trump administration
reversal on settlements crystalizes a
longstanding call from Israel,” Mondoweiss,
November 22, 2019. [Excerpt: "since 1967
the Israeli government has maintained a
remarkably consistent policy position: the
land between the River and the Sea belongs
to Israel, and only to Israel.”]

Arria, Michael. "Unpacking the liberal
attacks on AIPAC. A recent J Street critique
of AIPAC encapsulates the moral
bankruptcy of liberal Zionism,”
Mondoweiss, August 21, 2022. [“J
Street’s real beef with AIPAC doesn’t
involve Palestinian human rights,
apartheid, or Gaza being bombed…..
They’re concerned about the deterioration
of the United States/Israel relationship
and AIPAC is bad for the brand.”]

Avneri, Uri. "Barak: A Villa in the Jungle,” Gush
Shalom, July 7, 2002. [Excerpt: (Ehud Barak in
an interview published in The New York Review
of Books (June 13, 2002) "They (the Palestinians,
and especially Arafat) are the products of a culture
in which to tell a lie…creates no dissonance. They
don't suffer from the problem of telling lies that
exists in Judeo-Christian culture. Truth is seen as
an irrelevant category…The deputy director of the
US Federal Bureau of Investigation told me that there
are societies in which lie detector tests don't work,
societies in which lies do not create cognitive
dissonance (on which the tests are based).”]

Baroud, Ramzy. "Palestinian history is being
erased — we must reclaim it,” Arab News,
December 20, 2021. [Excerpt: "Shapira, a
voice of reason and ethics in Israel at the
time, was not questioning Israel’s right to
be established on the ruins of colonized
— and eventually destroyed — Palestine.
Nor was he questioning the killing of tens
of thousands of Palestinians or the ethnic
cleansing of hundreds of thousands during
the Nakba. Instead, he was protesting the
excess violence that followed the Nakba,
when the future of Israel and the destruction
of Palestine had been assured. This branch
of “humanistic” Zionism, that of selective and
self-serving morality, still exists today. As
odd as that may seem, the editorial line of
Haaretz itself is the perfect manifestation of
this supposed Zionist dichotomy.”]

Barrows-Friedman, Nora. "Podcast Ep 20:
Joseph Massad on annexation,” Electronic
Intifada, July 7, 2020. ["Massad argues that
Zionists who claim to support a two-state
solution “would be the equivalent of white
South Africans who would call on the South
African apartheid government to withdraw
from occupied Namibia and grant Namibia
independence while maintaining white
supremacy in South Africa.” “Left wing”
Israelis and their supporters around the
world “want Israel to leave the occupied
territories, while maintaining its right to
be a Jewish supremacist racist state in its
1948 territories,” Massad explains. “It
would be laughable if white South Africans”
made such a proposal and claimed to be
on the left.”]

Benattar, Ilan. "The Last Licks of Liberal
Zionism in America,” ReligionDispatches.org,
October 7, 2021. [Excerpt: "American Liberal
Zionism, as it’s been understood at least since
the Oslo-era mid-90s, has fallen into utter
conceptual incoherence. In April of this year,
J Street and Americans for Peace Now essentially
accepted the conclusions of a report by Human
Rights Watch which acknowledged what
Palestinians have long been insisting: that
“apartheid” is the appropriate term to describe
a one-state reality between the Jordan and the
Mediterranean. Still, they make sure to emphasize
both their disagreement with this particular label
and that their primary concern remains “Israel’s
future as a democratic homeland for the Jewish
people.”]

Blumenthal. Max. "Brooklyn College battle reveals
hidden agenda of “liberal Zionism,” Electronic Intifada,
February 12, 2013. [Excerpt: "Is unilaterally deciding
how Palestinians will be controlled and dominated
what liberal Zionists mean by “Jewish self-determination?”
Questions like this are not easy to answer, which may
be why leading liberal Zionists stringently avoid engaging
in forums where their onerous proposals might be
placed under tough scrutiny.”]

Braverman, Mark. "The tormented dance of the
colonizer: Peter Beinart, liberal Zionism and the
battle for Palestine. Peter Beinart's call for equality
seeks to reform Israel as a Jewish project instead
of repudiating its system of racial supremacy,
placing Jewish identity above Palestinian rights,”
Mondoweiss, April 6, 2021. [Excerpt: "For Israel,
when there is a commitment to fundamentally
change the present political order and to
unequivocally repudiate the system of racial
supremacy, privilege, and inequality upon
which it has been built, then, and only then,
can Israel begin the work of creating a decent
future for its citizens. Until then, new forms of
erasure will emerge, new methods of
subjugation and dispossession cloaked
as reform, and more fruitless attempts to
rescue a tragically flawed project.”]

Bryan, Robb. "Munayyer-Beinart debate revealed
toothless sentimentalism of liberal Zionism,”
Mondoweiss, June 12, 2015. [Excerpt: “Beinart
has long played the role of Good Cop – the
level-headed foil to the Rabbi Shmuleys and
Alan Dershowitzes of the world….Yet this quote
from a 2010 interview with Jeffrey Goldberg displays
the limits of his progressivism: “I’m not even asking
[Israel] to allow full, equal citizenship to Arab Israelis,
since that would require Israel no longer being a Jewish
state. I’m actually pretty willing to compromise my
liberalism for Israel’s security and for its status as a
Jewish state.”]

Cohen, Robert A. H. "As Jews, we’ll never address
racism while clinging to Zionism,” Mondoweiss,
June 6, 2020. [Excerpt: "Liberal Zionism can’t hide
its racism / Even the most liberal Zionists end up
hobbled in their ability to show true solidarity with
those who face daily discrimination around the
world based on race, ethnicity or religion.”]

Cook, Jonathan. "Israel's new UK ambassador
will expose delusions of Britain's Jewish leaders.
With Corbyn the bogeyman gone, Tzipi Hotovely
will finally force Britain's liberal Jews to confront
truths about Israel they long ago buried,” Middle
East Eye, July 10, 2020. [Excerpt: "Earlier Israeli
governments were aware of the need to put a
rhetorical gloss on their oppression of Palestinians
to spare the blushes of supporters in western
states. That was one of the tasks of Israel’s
foreign ministry and its diplomatic corps.
It was also the aim of the Israeli hasbara
industry - state propaganda masquerading
as neutral "information”….But the self-deceptions
so beloved by many in overseas Jewish
communities are increasingly unpalatable to
the Israeli right's Jewish supremacist instincts.
Hotovely is simply the latest choice of envoy
who cares little for indulging the cognitive
dissonance of local Jewish allies.”]

Cook, Jonathan. "Israel’s “peace camp” flirts
with oblivion,” Electronic Intifada, February 7, 2020.
[Excerpt: "In 2011, in a sign widely interpreted as
the reinvention of Labor, leading candidate, and
later party head, Shelly Yachimovich observed
that the settlements, which violate international
law, were not a “sin” or a “crime.” In a moment
of frankness, she rightly credited Labor with
creating them: “It was the Labor Party that
founded the settlement enterprise in the
territories. That is a fact. A historical fact.”]

Cohen, Joely. “Liberal Zionism is Dead,” Times of Israel,
May 16, 2018. [Excerpt: "The truth is that the doctrine
of Liberal Zionism has never been logically strong
enough to withstand educated critique. As proponents
of Liberal Zionism unearth the whole truth of how the
State of Israel came to exist, they come to realise that
the violent actions of the State today are not
unfortunate yet avoidable disasters, but calculated
necessities which are absolutely essential to Israel’s
continued existence as a Jewish nation-state.”] 

Cronin, David. "When Haaretz explains Israel’s crimes,”
Electronic Intifada, July 13, 2017. [Excerpt: "Some of its
most senior journalists behave as stooges to an apartheid
state. Amos Harel is promoted by the paper as “one of
Israel’s leading media experts on military and defense
issues.” He is a practitioner of hasbara – the Israeli
brand of propaganda. Hasbara is frequently translated
as “explaining.” And Harel tends to “explain” Israeli
conduct in a sympathetic way.”]

Deane, Raymond. "The Anatomy of a Beautiful Soul,” Electronic
Intifada, November 9, 2006. [Excerpt: "Undoubtedly Lieberman
is a villainous demagogue, but at least he fearlessly spells out
the racist and supremacist implications of Zionist ideology.
With Lieberman you know where you stand, and self-styled
democrats and peaceniks can polish their humanistic
credentials by flinging mud at him. With David Grossman,
however, the same premises lead to a discourse in which
everything has become muddied and inverted, the occupier
has become the victim, the victim has become a twisted
fanatic, and only the humanistic man of letters has retained
any kind of wistful integrity.”]

El-Ad, Haggai. "What's the Real Purpose of Israel’s
Annexation Plan?” Haaretz, May 16, 2020. [Excerpt:
"And really, why settle for less? Annexation of the
Jordan Valley is not an invention of extremists that
was whispered about in private and held in abeyance
until the “extremist” U.S. envoy David Friedman came
along and replaced the “moderate” U.S. envoy Dan
Shapiro. The copyright belongs to Israel’s Labor Party.
In a moment of historic justice, this party has just
joined a government that openly declares its intention
to realize the vision it has had since the early 1970s,
with an updated version of the Allon Plan. The
consensus was there even then, despite the ensuing
years of prattling about an ideological dispute
between right and left – even as Israel effectively
annexed the Jordan Valley long ago and operates
with brutality to expel the Palestinian communities there."]

Elia, Nada. "Jewish allies must understand that solidarity
entails a loss of privilege,” Mondoweiss, July 5, 2018.

Ellis, Marc H. "Permanently ghettoizing the
Palestinian people is Yitzhak Rabin’s true
legacy,” Mondoweiss, November 4, 2015.
[Excerpt: "The life of Yitzhak Rabin is part of
the downward spiral where Jews come to
accept the denigration and oppression of
another people as “pragmatic.” For in the
end, permanently ghettoizing the
Palestinian people is the true legacy of
Yitzhak Rabin.”]

Falk, Richard. "The Irrelevance of Liberal Zionism,”
RichardFalk.org, January 4, 2015. [Excerpt: “The
fact that liberal Zionism and the diplomacy of the
West largely plays along with the discarded scenario
of two states for two peoples is nothing more than
subservience to a cruel variant of ‘the politics of
delusion.’ The denigration of liberal Zionism is not
meant to belittle the effort of Jews as Jews to find
a just and sustainable solution for both peoples.”]

Fox, Stefanie. "On “Reclaiming the Covenant
of Fate,” Jewish Currents [letters], October
2021. Excerpt: "While I appreciate Beinart’s
insistence that Jewish institutions “grant a
platform” to the large and growing number
of Jews who refuse political Zionism, he
fails to acknowledge the enormous power
disparity in which one side in the conversation
is backed by the US and Israeli governments.
It’s harmful to claim that we merely need those
institutions to let us talk, when in fact we need
those organizations, their millions of dollars,
and their leaders to stop cyberbullying and
doxing our young people, getting us fired
from jobs, cancelling our events, banning
us from accessing communal funding, excising
us from Jewish newspapers, expelling us from
communal spaces, and threatening our funders.
And though we usually only discuss this among
ourselves because of safety concerns, we also
need self-identified Zionists to stop expelling us
from synagogues, sending death threats to our
homes, and physically attacking us.”]

Gill, Joe. "Ilan Pappe warns UK Labour against
supporting Israel's Blue and White ‘charade’
Outspoken Israeli historian says Labour should
not be swayed into supporting an Israeli
government led by Benny Gantz,” Middle East
Eye, September 23, 2019. [Excerpt: “… Pappe
said that Israel’s Blue and White coalition led
by former general Benny Gantz was no
different from Likud in its treatment of
Palestinians. We used to call it liberal
Zionism, or left Zionism; this is gone
anyway – they are calling it something
else, Blue and White - god knows what
it is," Pappe said. "Its main ideological
stance is it doesn’t like Netanyahu. Neither
do I, but that’s not enough as a vision for the future.”]

Gold, Joshua. "The only answer to the
violent contentment of Israeli society is BDS,”
Mondoweiss, February 19, 2021. [Excerpt:
"Dahlia Scheindlin’s comments on the “stability”
of leftwing Jewish Israeli attitudes show the
lengths that liberal Zionists will go to prove
that the apartheid project possesses some
sort of fundamental decency. Because young
people’s hardline attitudes are just the
“romantic spirit of the nation… militarist and
nationalist.”]

Greenstein, Tony. "How Identity Politics
Turned the Victims of Sabra & Chatilla
into the Antisemitic Oppressors of Zionist
Feminists - A Reply to Erica Burman / Looking
back - the Attack on Spare Rib Prefigured
Labour’s ‘Anti-Semitism’ Crisis by nearly 40
years,” Tony Greenstein’s Blog, December 27,
2020. [Excerpt: "Nothing angered the Zionist
feminists of the time more than the statement
by Aliza Khan, the Israeli woman in Women
Speak Out Against Zionism in Spare Rib 121
of August 1982 that ‘if a woman calls herself
feminist she should consciously call herself
anti-Zionist.’[….] Zionist feminism was based
on the idea that women should be equal
participants in the oppression of the
Palestinians.”]

HaCohen, Ran. "Israeli Intellectuals Love the War,”
Electronic Intifada, August 7, 2006.

Hass, Amira. "It’s not surrender to the settlers, it’s
Israeli policy,” Haaretz, May 13, 2019. [Excerpt:
"Some friendly advice to Peace Now and its
spokespeople: Stop presenting land theft in the
West Bank as “part of the government’s ongoing
surrender to the settlers’ demands.” The dog and
its tail are one and the same. The settlers’ demands
and the Israeli government’s plans are intertwined,
and not just now. To say about the outgoing
Netanyahu government – and the new one expected
to be formed – that they have “surrendered” to the
settlers is really nothing but fake news.”]

Hirsch, Yakov. "Hasbara Culture and the
Curse of Bibi-ism. How Prime Minister
Netanyahu turns all political opinions about
his leadership into a referendum on nothing
less than the Manichean struggle between
good and evil,” Tablet,  February 13, 2018.

Honig-Parnass, Tikva. The False
Prophets of Peace: Liberal Zionism and
the Struggle for Palestine, Haymarket
Books, Chicago, 2011. [Excerpt: “This
book concentrates on the discourse of
the elite intellectuals and academic
circles that have nourished the myths
of the Zionist left and conformed them
to the Israeli Labor Party’s political
perspective and rhetoric. It mainly
analyzes their support of an exclusivist
Jewish state that acts as the central
Zionist premise guiding Israel’s official
ideology, and their attempts to
reconcile that with the definition of
Israel as a democracy.”]

Iraqi, Amjad. “'An illegitimate regime': In an
exclusive interview, human rights lawyer
Michael Sfard explains what led Yesh Din
to charge Israel with the crime of apartheid
in the West Bank,” +972, July 9, 2020. [Excerpt:
"We’ve been blinded by the Israeli narrative,
and it took time to realize that the arguments
every Israeli repeats — such as “we don’t want
to control the Palestinians,” or “we want them
to be the masters of their own fate,” or “we will
strike a deal when we have a partner in
negotiations” — are all a lie. The myth was
especially strong during the Oslo years that
Israelis intended to end our “undesired
domination” of the Palestinians. It takes
time to realize that this is not true — that
this is all one enterprise of domination,
and to internalize our supremacy.”]

Iraqi, Amjad. "The myth of Rabin the
peacemaker. The cult of personality around
Yitzhak Rabin conceals the fact that the
Oslo Accords were not derailed by his
death: they achieved exactly what he
wanted,” +972, September 27, 2020.
[Excerpt: "More importantly, the myths
around Rabin have distracted from his
most egregious fault: his belief in Jewish
supremacy in Palestine, and his will to
commit atrocities to pursue it. It is why,
as a commander in the 1948 war, Rabin
signed the order to expel over 50,000
Palestinians in the notorious “Lydd Death
March.” It is why, in his first stint as prime
minister in the 1970s, he did little to curb
the nascent settlement enterprise in spite
of his dislike of the movement. And it is
why, when faced with Palestinian civil
disobedience in the First Intifada,
then-Defense Minister Rabin gave the
army a simple doctrine: “break
their bones.”]

Jinjirrie. “Liberal Zionist Bingo,” Kadaitcha,
March 1, 2012.

Kane, Alex. “Biden’s Legacy Will
Be Apartheid” President Biden has
answered Prime Minister Netanyahu’s
extremist government with only the
mildest of rebukes. Critics say he is
failing to meet the moment,” Jewish
Currents, September 20, 2023. [“In
the absence of a major shift in policy,
Biden’s legacy in Israel/Palestine will
be apartheid,” said Matthew Duss,
executive vice president at the Center
for International Policy and a former
foreign policy adviser to Sen. Sanders.
“That’s something that everyone
involved will have to contend with
for a long time.”]

Kane, Alex. "The Democratic Party is also
devoted to Israel’s apartheid. Both sides of
the aisle are complicit in maintaining U.S.
support for Israel’s separate and unequal
regime,” +972, January 31, 2020.

Khalek, Rania. "The Nation magazine’s
shameful history of aiding ethnic cleansing
in Palestine,” Electronic Intifada, May 19,
2015. ["In all fairness, The Nation was not
alone in propagandizing for Zionism. As John
Judis explains in his book Genesis, most
American liberal publications at the time
supported Zionism, viewing it as a morally
appropriate response to the Nazi genocide
of European Jews. Combined with Western
anti-Muslim and anti-Arab tendencies,
denying the humanity and basic rights of
Palestinians was a no-brainer, especially
with the Jewish Agency — the de facto
representative of the Zionist project in
Palestine — stage-managing the
propaganda. The Nation’s Kirchwey,
in particular, “regularly exchanged
information with Jewish Agency
representatives in New York,” explains
Judis. “These relationships were not
those between journalists and sources,
but between political allies.” These
relationships were reflected in the
propaganda that saturated The
Nation’s coverage.”] 

Konrad, Edo. "The life and death of the Israeli
peace camp. Labor Party leader Isaac Herzog
is channeling the same tropes and spin Ehud
Barak used to destroy the peace process 15
yearsago. Will we have to wait another decade
and a half for him to admit what he’s done?”
+972, February 13, 2016. [Excerpt: "Eldad Yaniv,
Barak’s former campaign adviser and well
known politico who has worked closely with
politicians of all stripes added: “Ten years later,
there are still people who say, ‘We gave them
everything at Camp David and got nothing.
’That is a flagrant lie… I was one of the people
behind this false and miserable spin.”]

Lazare, Sara. "The Forgotten History of
the Jewish, Anti-Zionist Left. A conversation
with scholar Benjamin Balthaser about Jewish,
working-class anti-Zionism in the 1930s and
’40s,” In These Times, July 13, 2020. [Excerpt:
"It’s a bloody matrix of assimilation and
whiteness that emerged out of the Cold War
suburbanization of the 1950s. Israel was part
of that devil’s bargain. Yes, you can become
real Americans: You can go to good U.S.
universities, you can join the suburbs, enter
into the mainstream of American life, as long
as you do this one little thing for us, which
is back the American Empire.”]

Leifer, Joshua. "For J Street, holding
Israel accountable is still a step too far.
J Street's 2019 conference heralded a
new willingness to challenge unconditional
military aid to Israel. But the organization
was quick to reaffirm the status quo,”
+972, November 7, 2019.

Leifer, Joshua. "The Resilient Fiction of
the Two-State Solution,” Jewish Currents,
July 9, 2020. [Excerpt: "The occupation’s
putative temporariness is what has enabled
liberal Zionists to see themselves as genuine
liberals. It’s what allowed them to justify a
policy position to themselves that in practice
treats Palestinians’ human rights—considered
universal and inalienable for everyone else—as
conditional, to be held in perpetual suspension.
Annexation, which would confirm that the
occupation is permanent and inextricable
from “Israel proper,” would in theory force
liberal Zionists to decide between support
for democratizing the one-state reality, or
support for apartheid. But wholesale
ideological reversals are uncommon, and
Zionism has become as central a pillar of
liberal American Judaism as ritual practice,
if not more so.”]

Levine, Alan and Donna Nevel. "NYT editorial
on Trump executive order illustrates
equivocations of liberal Zionism,” Mondoweiss,
December 13, 2019. [Excerpt: "The New York
Times coverage of Israel and Palestine has
long illustrated the equivocations of liberal
Zionism. On the one hand, a mild wipe of
the eye about some particularly shameful
acts of Israeli brutality towards
Palestinians; on the other, repeatedly
mischaracterizing as antisemitic Boycott
Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS), the global
movement to hold Israel accountable for
these and other human rights violations.
This week’s Times editorial, “Trump’s
Executive Order and the Rise of
Anti-Semitism” (12/11/19), is a perfect
example of its on-the-one hand-and-
on-the-other approach to all stories
touching on Palestine and Israel.”]

Levine, Joseph. "Zionism is at the core of Jewish
identity, so anti-Zionism is anti-Semitic’ —
A response,” Mondoweiss, September 2, 2019.
[Excerpt: "...for Pearl and many Zionists the point
isn’t to defend Zionism at all. The point is to
structure the public debate so that criticisms of
Zionism cannot be aired in the first place. Pearl
wants critics of Zionism to be prohibited from
making their arguments on the grounds that
doing so would violate the identity-rights of Jews.
But if he admits, as I imagined he would, that
identity-rights can’t immunize a genuinely-unjust
doctrine from public criticism, how do you prohibit
criticism of Zionism in the public realm until you’ve
shown that it’s not unjust? And how do you do that
if you don’t allow those who claim it is unjust to
make their case publicly?”]

Levine, Mark. "Peter Beinart's liberal Zionist fantasy,”
Al Jazeera, March, 2012. [Excerpt: "Beinart and “liberal”
groups such as J Street … can only get a seat at the table
of power to the extent they refrain from offering the
kind of systematic, historically grounded and ruthlessly
honest critique of policies that would show the flaws in the
system to be fundamental and irreparable - precisely what
those in power work so hard to ensure no-one understands.”]

Levitz, Eric. "Natalie Portman and the Crisis of Liberal
Zionism,” New York Magazine, April 26, 2018. [Excerpt: “To
remain true to both AIPAC and progressivism, a liberal
Zionist must now lament border walls in Texas but defend
them in the West Bank; condemn Republicans who suggest
that nonwhite babies pose a threat to American civilization
as proto-Nazis and endorse Israel’s right to defend itself
against the “demographic threat” that is Palestinian children;
decry Donald Trump’s ban on Syrian refugees and apologize
for Israel’s imprisonment of African ones; abhor the president’s
indifference to civilian casualties and ignore that Israel’s
defense minister believes every man, woman, and child
in the Gaza Strip is an enemy combatant.”]

Levy, Gideon. “In a Jewish state, the Zionist left can offer
the Arabs nothing but empty words,” Haaretz, April 26,
2019. [Excerpt: "Dear Zionist leftists, don’t count on the
Arab vote. You’re not worthy of it. First of all – now you
come to us? After all the years of military administration
and after the riots of October 2000, the discrimination,
exclusion and dispossession (just go to Taibeh or Hura),
suddenly you remember that we exist? Oh well, better
late than never. But what exactly does the center-left
have to offer the Arabs in the state of the Jews? Empty
words. What equality, without which there can be no
genuine partnership, can exist in a Jewish-democratic
state? What brotherhood can prevail in a country whose
Law of Return fundamentally discriminates against
Arabs? What is there waiting for them in a country
whose discourse is all Jewish and only Jewish? Where
nearly all of the land is designated for Jews and many
public workplaces are closed to them? And that’s before
we’ve even said a word about the nation-state law.
There is only one way that Jews and Arabs can really
go together: in a democratic, egalitarian state of all its
citizens. Is this what anyone on the Zionist left who
proposed joining together meant? If so, he cannot be
a Zionist. This built-in contradiction must be exposed:
Zionism and egalitarianism cannot go hand in hand.”]

Levy, Gideon. "The Israeli Left's Hatred for
Netanyahu Has Driven It Mad,” Haaretz,
November 14, 2021. ["People who have been
silent about Israel’s apartheid for years, who
yawn at news of the crimes of the occupation
and turn a blind eye to them; who vote for Yesh
Atid, the Labor Party and Meretz, say they
oppose the occupation, worship the Israel
Defense Forces, patronize the Palestinians
and think themselves enlightened – yet their
conscience is tortured by the impotence and
the conceptual void to which they are subjected.
Deep inside they know that they are no less
proponents of Jewish supremacy than the
right that they despise, and from which they
struggle to differentiate themselves. They
know that Israel’s left-center governments
never did what they had to do in order to
enable the Palestinians to exercise their rights.
They know that at the end of the day, they
themselves are the occupation’s greatest
supporters and perpetrators, in their silence,
their complacency, their disinterest and
their inaction.”]

Levy, Gideon. “Israeli Propaganda Isn't Fooling Anyone – Except
Israelis. 'Hasbara' is the Israeli euphemism for propaganda,
and there are some things, said the late ambassador Yohanan
Meroz, that are not 'hasbarable.' One of them is Israel’s
treatment of the Palestinians,” Ha’aretz, June 4, 2015.

Levy, Gideon. "'Leftist Media' Seeks the Blood of Those
Who Dare Criticize Israel,” Haaretz, December 26,
2019. [Excerpt: "Jeremy Corbyn is an anti-Semite and
Bensouda is counsel to Satan. The government, the
army, the journalists and the readers all want this
blood – Bensouda’s blood, the ICC’s blood,
B’Tselem’s blood, the blood of all those who dare
criticize Israel. Erdan can close his ministry; there
are enough Israeli media outlets that will do the
work for him. This is the “leftist” media. If the
so-called left-wing media hadn’t been derelict
in its duty, the occupation might have ended
long ago. For years it has been concealing the
occupation and its war crimes, not wanting to
upset readers and viewers when they’re trying
to relax. Now, when these crimes are liable to be
revealed by the institution with the greatest
authority to address them, the media is enlisting
in the effort to impugn anyone who might have a
hand in this. The government isn’t pressuring
these media outlets to do this, nor is the army or
the security services. They are doing it of their own
free will, simply to please their audiences – in other
words, to make money. The devil in Gambia? We
have a problem with Rishon Letzion, where Yedioth
Ahronoth has its offices.”]

Levy, Gideon. "What Opposition? Ehud
Barak Toes the Same Line as Netanyahu
and the Settlers. The stalwart of Israel’s
'peace camp' is proud of the number of
settlements he built, an annual construction
rate that Netanyahu could only dream
about,” Haaretz, September 28, 2017.
[Excerpt: “ his is the left-wing marker of
the Labor Party, practically the only
opposition Netanyahu has. Yet it’s
doubtful Netanyahu would have
expressed himself differently. Elad
Peled, wrote Barak, “liberated all of
Samaria.” Do you understand this?
Some two million Palestinian residents
are eternally grateful to Gen. Peled,
and of course to Barak, who ensured
their liberation forever. What would they
have done without him? There isn’t a
day they do not bow their heads to their
liberator, nor any hour. There isn’t a
checkpoint or a nighttime kidnapping
at which they don’t look up to this
Israeli de Klerk.”]

Levy, Gideon. "What a Surprise – Even a Proud
Liberal Zionist Scion Can Be a Racist,” Haaretz,
October 22, 2020. [Excerpt: "There is a subset
of liberal Jews, mainly in the United States and
Canada, intellectuals who see themselves as
enlightened and progressive, who fight injustices
all over the world, until it comes to Israel, which
in their eyes is above all suspicion. This is where
they close their eyes and their consciences fall
silent. They see nothing….Turns out that one
can be an expert on human rights [Michal
Cotler-Wunsh], an enlightened intellectual
raised in an environment of Jewish liberalism,
but at the moment of truth, their face is
revealed, and it is nationalist, racist, cruel
and incredibly ugly.”]

Litvin, Yoav. "Equality as Revolution: Two Israeli
Dissidents on Their Fight for Truth and
Accountability,” Truthout, February 4, 2018.
[Excerpt: "Liberal-Zionism is a far greater threat
to Palestinians than what Netanyahu stands for
… the so-called differences between the left and
right in Israel are not a result of differing values,
but are tactical and cosmetic, i.e. the way that
the members of each group would like to portray
themselves to the world. While the right-wingers
unapologetically claim supremacy and dominance
over the land — and like most supremacists, care
very little about their perception in the world —
the so-called left creates and maintains a false
narrative in order maintain an illusion that Israel
is a humane democracy. This is essential both
for outer appearances and self-perception.”]

Lindsey, Ursula. "Shooting Film and Crying,”
Middle East Reaearch and Information Project [MERIP],
March 15, 2009. [Excerpt: "Waltz with Bashir
holds a redemptive message, celebrating the
necessity and the ability to confront one’s past.
Yet the film and its reception exemplify the strictly
enforced boundaries of any debate on Israel’s
past and present transgressions. That many are
made nervous by the idea of even discussing this
chapter in Israel’s military past is made evident
by the website of the Foundation for Jewish Culture,
which partly funded the film. The Foundation has
made available a detailed “Viewer’s Guide,” with
frequently asked questions, links to articles on
the issue and suggestions for how to lead
discussions of the film after screenings. Among
the advice offered is: “The film is neither for nor
against Israel. It portrays Israelis in neither a
good nor a bad light. The film demands an
acknowledgment that life in modern Israel is
far, far more complicated than ‘good or bad.’”]

Litvin, Yoav. "New Israel Fund’s Daniel Sokatch exposes
the bankruptcy of liberal Zionism,” Mondoweiss, January
11, 2018. [Excerpt: "So why are Sokatch and NIF so afraid
of BDS? It may be because BDS threatens the most
fundamental premise inherent in Zionism – the
supremacy of one group of people over another.”]

Litvin, Yoav. "The case against the Zionist
“left,” Yoavlitvin.com, September 3, 2019.
[Excerpt: "The supposed left, “liberal” wing
of Zionism, comprising Israeli political parties,
non-profit organizations and media organs
in Israel and outside it, serves to promote
Zionist propaganda, which renders occupation,
apartheid and genocide of Indigenous
Palestinian people palatable to audiences
in Israel and worldwide. Liberal Zionism
intrinsically promotes reactionary regimes
and interest groups, which share Zionism’s
ethnocentric, xenophobic, misogynistic and
hyper-capitalist worldviews, including Trump’s
United States, Bolsonaro’s Brazil, Duterte’s
Philippines, Orban’s Hungary and Modi’s
India, among others.”]  

Litvin, Yoav. “To be or not to be a Zionist?”
Yoavlitvin.com, April 10, 2019. [Excerpt: “And
the only relevant dilemma for progressive
American Jews remains – are you a Zionist
or an anti-Zionist? As veteran Israeli journalist
Gideon Levy recently wrote: “If you remain a
Zionist, you can no longer be of the left; if
you’re of the left, you can no longer be a
Zionist.” All those who claim to care about
Palestinians, including progressive Jews and
organizations such as If Not Now who in their
broad umbrella avoid implicating Zionism or
directly supporting BDS cannot continue to
claim left wing universalist values while
simultaneously serving as the “liberal”
wing of the apartheid Zionist regime.”]

Machover, Moshe and Akiva Orr. “The
Class Character of Israeli Society,”
Matzpen, February 10, 1972. Also see
"On the Present Situation in Israel and
the Region,” Matzpen, September 1977.
[Published in Hebrew in issue 83 of
Matzpen, November 1977, and in
Arabic in issue 84, April 1978]

Mack, Eitay. "The Israeli Left’s love
affair with generals. How can you
blame Zionist left political parties
for embracing Israeli generals, despite
their assorted war crimes, when
Israeli human rights organizations
are doing the same?” Mondoweiss,
August 2, 2022. ["To paraphrase
the old maxim attributed to Jewish
sages (Chazal) – “Tell me who your
friends are, and I’ll tell you who
you are” – one can note in our
case: “Tell me who your general is,
and I’ll tell you who you are.”]

Magid, Shaul. "Is Zionism No Longer
Able to Offer Solutions to the Present
Reality?” Religiondispatches.org, December
7, 2021. [Excerpt: "Zionism is a failure on
liberal grounds if it cannot offer those who
live in the state’s borders the very same
rights of self-determination that Zionism
claims for Jews. The Nation State Law stuck
a dagger into the heart of that premise. But
Hartman also knows the political will for
Palestinian self-determination is all but
extinguished, and his Zionism prevents
a liberal democracy because such a state
would no longer be a Jewish state.”]

Massad, Joseph. "Recognizing Palestine,
BDS and the survival of Israel,” Electronic
Intifada, December 16. 2014. ["In short,
the expanded support of BDS in the US and
Europe is not necessarily an expanded support
for the goals of ending Israeli racism, Israel’s
occupation and the Palestinian refugees’ exile,
but rather simply support for the use of BDS
as a means to achieve whatever the party
using it determines as the sought-after goal.”]

Massey, Eli. "Ilan Pappe: Israel Is the Last
Remaining, Active Settler-Colonialist Project.
Ilan Pappe discusses Noam Chomsky, Bernie
Sanders and the post-Zionist movement,” In
These Times, May 5, 2016. ["It’s a typ­i­cal lib­er­al
Zion­ist posi­tion. They hope that if you cry after
you shoot, if you say, ​“yes, I was par­tial­ly wrong.
There are cer­tain things I shouldn’t have done,”
the oth­er side would say, ​“You’re so gen­er­ous.
From now on we’re will­ing to accept your guid­ance
of how best to build a new life,” which is what
the Israelis expect­ed would hap­pen in Oslo. It
didn’t work that way. The fact that you admit­ted
that there were mas­sacres and espe­cial­ly
expul­sions in 1948 for the Pales­tini­ans meant
you have to move to the sec­ond stage which is
account­abil­i­ty. You have to respect the right of
return. That is some­thing Mor­ris was not will­ing
to do.”] 

Munayyer, Yousef. "Liberal Zionism paved the Israeli
right’s path to annexation. The world's frantic
attempts to stop annexation remain stuck in the
liberal Zionist fantasies that kept the occupation
running smoothly for decades,” +972, June 23,
2020. [Excerpt: "Remember the goal of ending
the occupation? Now it is about stopping
annexation. And if anyone thinks that annexation
is the hill that liberal Zionism will die on, they are
wrong; it will simply move to the next hilltop.”]

Munayyer, Yousef. "Why Palestinians Aren’t
Joining Israel’s Protests. A state that considers
equality an existential threat can never be a
democracy,” Foreign Policy, April 7, 2023.

Nassar, Tamara. "Israel passes law entrenching apartheid,”
Electronic Intifada, July 19, 2018. [Excerpt: "J Street itself
staunchly opposes equality for Palestinians by rejecting
the right of return for Palestinian refugees solely on the
grounds that they are not Jews and would therefore
constitute a “demographic threat.” J Street’s website
even panders to the claim that Palestinians would “flood
Israel with refugees and undermine it as a homeland
for the Jewish people.” But unlike the new law, J Street
packages its rejection of Palestinian rights as support
for “peace” and a “two-state solution.”]

Nevel, Donna. "Opposing Settlements While
Supporting Injustice: Progressive Jews and
the World Zionist Congress,” Mondoweiss,
January 21, 2020. [Excerpt: "The ideology
of the WZO and the WZC is that Israel belongs
to the Jews of the world and that, therefore
,Jews outside of Israel deserve the right to
determine policies, sit on boards, and direct
funding and resources that, among other
things, control the day to day lives of
Palestinians. Israel, together with the WZO
and other Zionist institutions, have a long
history of privileging Jews at the extreme
expense of Palestinians. Beginning with the
Nakba, when 750,000 Palestinians were
forced out of their land and homes during
Israel’s creation, Palestinian citizens of
Israel have continued to be treated as
third-class citizens subjected to racism
and anti-democratic policies and actions,
as well as ongoing intimidation and
harassment. Palestinians in the occupied
territories have routinely endured
ongoing land theft, home demolitions,
military checkpoints, arbitrary arrests,
torture, and administrative detentions
without trial or charge, and have no
say in what happens to them….
Participating in the WZC elections under
the banner of progressive values
effectively whitewashes the WZO’s
impact on Palestinians….Participating in
these elections doesn’t begin to tackle
Israel’s unjust, apartheid system and its
underlying Zionist ideology, but, rather,
feeds that system and ideology and gives
them more roots.”]

Nevel, Donna. "There is no such thing
as ‘Progressive Except Palestine,’”
Mondoweiss, January 10, 2017. [Excerpt:
“(T)o to say Progressive except Palestine
makes it seem as if crimes against Palestine
and Palestinians are an aside, not central
to what makes someone a progressive,
ethical person—as if you can say you adhere
to principles of justice except for this “one
small” thing.  Let’s consider it for a moment.
Would we say Progressive except Supports
Apartheid? Progressive except Supports
Massacres? Progressive except Supports
Bombing Civilians and Demolishing Homes
and Hospitals? Progressive except Steals
People’s Land? Progressive except for
Arresting and Jailing People Indiscriminately?
Progressive except for Expelling the
Indigenous Community from their Homes
and Land? Progressive except for Support
for Ethnic Cleansing?”]

Norr, Henry. "Pappé on apartheid, ideology, Chomsky,
and the contradictions of “liberal Zionism,” Mondoweiss,
September 1, 2015. [Excerpt: "this idea of segregating the
rights of the people is familiar to us. Now this is an
ideology. This is not a tactical response to a problem.
This is not just a policy. It is not even a strategy. This is a
Zionist vision shared by all the Zionist parties. Now, this
is the main, almost the exclusive, obstacle to peace and
reconciliation in Israel and Palestine. Not addressing it,
but only addressing the Israeli policy here or there,
would be similar to addressing certain policies of South
Africa during the heyday of Apartheid without touching
Apartheid at all.”]

North, James. "New book by Larry Derfner, the
American-turned-Israeli journalist, crushes liberal
Zionism,” Mondoweiss, April 4, 2017. [Excerpt: “Israel’s
problem is not what it may become, but what it already is.”]

Ofir, Jonathan. "Amos Oz was the wizard
of liberal-Zionist zealotry,” Mondoweiss, January
4, 2019. [Excerpt: “[I]n the end, Hasbara
is largely for the self-consumption of Zionists,
to make themselves feel good about themselves.
But when you scratch the make-up, it’s
contradictory, and it ain’t pretty. I, for one,
have chosen to walk off that yellow-brick-road
of Zionism. Oz would have called me an extremist,
he would have put me in the corner. So be it. I
think he was the zealot.”]

Ofir, Jonathan. “Batya Ungar-Sargon and the delusions
of Liberal Zionism,” Mondoweiss, February 27, 2019.

Ofir, Jonathan. "Dershowitz calls Beinart a Nazi,”
Mondoweiss, July 20, 2020. ["Zionists need this
fear mongering – the one that Dershowitz
provides. It doesn’t need to be real, it just
needs to manufacture consent for maintenance
of the status quo, which is Israeli expansionism.
They will talk about two states, but the
Palestinian state will conveniently never arrive,
while they blame the Arabs for it. And if the
fear mongering requires Nazi accusations,
even against Jews, that’s fine, all in service
to the good purpose, that “Nation State of
the Jewish People”. But these pundits are
becoming more desperate, and Peter Beinart’s
move has faced them with a need to prove
that they are still about liberalism, while
what they defend is widely exposed as
incompatible with that liberalism, and
amounts to Apartheid. So they are trying
to further demonise those who promote
this discussion and divert the attention,
as Alan Dershowitz says “look over
there – Nazis!”]

Ofir, Jonathan. "Did Israel just fail to be
singularly racist?” Mondoweiss, July 7, 2021.
["So we need to be very clear about Yair Lapid’s
statement on the importance of the law to
secure a “Jewish majority.” Lapid supposedly
represents the center-left forces in this
government. His ascent has been hailed by
liberal Zionists in the U.S. as a sign of Israel’s
redemption. With liberals like these, who
needs Netanyahu? Further left on the Zionist
spectrum, Meretz voted for the extension,
unanimously. This is surely a mark of shame
for any party that purports to be leftist, but
not for this one – Meretz member and
Environment Minister Tamar Zandberg said
in the wake of the vote that despite the
failure to pass the extension, “we showed
durability and unity, despite our opposition
to this law, and therefore we have reason
to be proud this morning”. Wait, you
opposed the law but you voted for it?”]

Ofir, Jonathan. "‘Iron wall’ and ‘Villa in
the jungle’ – Israel’s colonialism has many
names,” Mondoweiss, September 7, 2020.
["this is the same colonialist, orientalist
jungle– in whatever Zionist jargon it is
expressed– no, the irony is that it is in
fact the Barak view that tends to be more
rejectionist than the Jabotinsky view, since
it continues to view with suspicion any
agreement that is made with the “jungle”.]

Ofir, Jonathan. “Israel just got the most
rightwing Prime Minister ever, and liberal
Zionists celebrate. A racist, religious-
fundamentalist war-criminal land squatter
in the form of Bennett, is now the cause
of celebrations by the Israeli left, because
they think the great change has come,”
Mondoweiss, June 14, 2021. 

Ofir, Jonathan. "Israeli response to Ben
& Jerry’s announcement reveals ironclad
consensus behind the settlements. Meretz
represents the far left of Israeli politics and
even its leader says even he buys settlement
products. This more than anything shows the
overwhelming Israeli political consensus behind
the settlements,” Mondoweiss, July 20,2021. 

Ofir, Jonathan. “Israel’s orientalist rally for
‘democracy,’” Mondoweiss, May 27, 2019. [Excerpt:
"And that’s because this rally was not about democracy.
It was about Zionism, and it was about maintaining a
semblance of democracy, so as to keep a liberal
appearance, while being an Apartheid state.”]

Ofir, Jonathan. “Liberal Zionist hero Barak brags 
hat Israeli left ‘liberated’ the occupied territories
for Jews,” Mondoweiss, September 30, 2017.
["Barak is completely right – the occupation and
the settlement project are not things that just
happened due to some messianic rightist settlers
– it was a premeditated project that both the right
and the left have been involved in all along….In the
end, Barak’s “returning to every part of the land”
is not really that different from the “we have
returned home” official slogan of the event.
His “liberated all of Samaria” is not
really that different to Israel’s top diplomat Tzipi
Hotoveli’s “This land is ours, all of it is ours”.”]

Ofir, Jonathan. "New Israeli President,
darling of liberal Zionists, says violent religious
settlement is in ‘my DNA’. Israeli President Isaac
Herzog toured the Har Bracha settlement outpost,
which regularly terrorizes Palestinians, and
declared the Jewish people's connection to that
land cannot be "denied or diminished,”
Mondoweiss, September 2, 2021. ["So you
get the picture. This is the seat of the most
violent settlers in the West Bank. And Herzog
is a liberal Zionist darling: a regular speaker
at J Street, the liberal Israel lobby, which
welcomed him as president….It’s hardly a
secret that the settlements are a consensus
in Israel, pretty much across the political
spectrum….And now, the prince of liberal
Zionism, Isaac Herzog, has confirmed not
only that the ‘settlement blocs’ with their
economically-motivated settlers are in his
heart, but also that the most religiously
fundamentalist, violent and isolated
settlements are in his “DNA”. That’s
some statement to make. Go and make
a “two-state solution” out of that one.”] 

Ofir, Jonathan. "Oof. Looks like Batya
Ungar-Sargon is using disingenuous antisemitism
charges against Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib.
Again.” Mondoweiss, August 19, 2019. ["As a
self-righteous ‘liberal-Zionist’ who purports to
speak on behalf of “all Jews”, the “Jewish
imagination” and what not, she is just fine
with blowing dog-whistles for the right-wing
attackers of Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib to
pick up on. And indeed, in no-time, Ungar
Sargon was cited by Fox News and a range
of right-wing outlets.”]

Ofir, Jonathan. “Peter Beinart’s defection
is a desperate crisis for liberal Zionists,”
Mondoweiss, July 12, 2020. ["So, to recap
Pfeffer: Zionism is not about morals, but it
is of course moral, and that’s beyond discussion.
And it’s also beyond discussion currently,
because it doesn’t exist anymore, and that’s
why Beinart is wrong and utopian.”]

Ofir, Jonanthan. "When Zionism is the
essence of life, a break has huge
consequences,” Mondoweiss, January 9,
2018. ["It may well be that ‘liberal Zionists’
consider liberal values to be their highest
goal, but when it comes down to the
competition between Zionism and
liberalism, Zionists will go Zionist.
Where the more fundamentalist and
more unabashed fascist Zionists are
concerned, this is less of an affront,
because they have less of an inclination
to respect the ‘liberal’ notion anyway.
But even fascists tend to think that their
values are related to ‘freedom’ and
‘moral superiority’ – they simply judge
the ‘others’ to not be part of the club.”]

Orr, Akiva, and Moshé Machover. “The
Zionist Left and the Palestinian Resistance,”
Matzpen, February 10, 1972. [“Zionism
does not speak of the solution of the
Israeli-Arab problem, because as far as
it is concerned no such problem exists;
it does not even like to speak of solving
the Israeli-Arab conflict. As far as Zionism
is concerned, everything can be summed
up in one word: peace. It is not difficult to
understand why. Zionism is engaged in a
process of creating facts that are favorable
to it and of realizing its goals. In each stage
of partial realization, it wants only one
thing: that the Arabs acquiesce in the facts
that it has created. From the point of view
of Zionism no political or social problem
exists, only the problem of Arab psychology.
Therefore the Zionist demand is “peace” not
“a solution to the problem.”]

Palestinians in the U.S. "Palestinians in the
U.S. speak out on the Upcoming J Street
Conference: The Time Has Come for Us to
Be Heard,” Medium.com, October 25, 2019.
[Excerpt: "J Street’s motivation behind a
two-state “solution” is driven by the fear
that Palestinians outnumber Jews in the land,
not by a commitment to human rights,
equality, and justice. In any other context,
fear of the growth of a particular population
is considered racist. Instead, J Street is
lauded as a progressive, pro-peace
organization.”]

The Palestinian Youth Movement,
Jewish Voice for Peace–San Diego, Unión
del Barrio–San Diego, and Center for
Interdisciplinary Environmental Justice.
"How liberal Zionism hurts us more. A
community’s encounter with a so-called
“progressive,” Mondoweiss, October 7, 2020.

Peled, Miko. "Amos Oz Remembered: The Sharp
Talons of a Zionist “Dove.” It is wrong to speak ill
of the dead. Amos Oz, however, was not a private
man, not just an individual but an icon. He thrived
and benefited greatly from his image as a Zionist, a
patriot, and with that, a peace-loving man, a true
“dove.” Oz was the icon of the culture of the
colonizer,” Mint Press News, January 2, 2019.

Reuters. “Vorster and Rabin Meet in
Jerusalem,” New York Times, April 10,
1976. [Excerpt: "Officials declined to
comment on reports from South Africa
about a possible weapons deal, under
which Israel would supply its Kfir jet fighter
and other arms. Mr. Vorster appeared
moved when he visited the Yad Vashem
memorial to six million Jews killed by the
Nazis and laid a wreath on a mass grave
for concentration camp victims.”]

Rohan, Jess. “All Talk,”  Jewish Currents,
April 12, 2021. [Excerpt regarding
Seeds of Peace: “If these
conversations are held solely for
the purpose of narratives and ideas to be
exchanged, then we are contributing to
the preservation of the status quo.”]

Rose, Liz. "It’s time for Tom Friedman to face
the contradictions of liberal Zionism, and move
on,” Mondoweiss, June 27, 2018. [Excerpt: “It’s
becoming more and more difficult for liberal
Zionists to balance their support for human
rights and global justice in Trump’s America
with their support for Israel. But liberal
Zionists in the U.S. still believe they can.”]

Rose, Liz. "The loving rituals of liberal Zionism
(and the Birthright breakup),” Mondoweiss, September
13, 2018. [Excerpt: "This growing crack within
liberal Zionism is a sign that the mythology is
falling apart, the shared stories are unraveling,
the inherent hypocrisy is becoming more glaring.
Liberal Zionism always sits on top of the occupation,
on top of all of Palestine, with or without the
blasts of the ram’s horn demanding us to pay
attention. We just don’t want to see it.”]

Rosen, Rabbi Brant. "Peter Beinart Crosses
Over: On Game Changers and Historic Injustices,”
Shalom Rav, July 8, 2020. [Excerpt: "he treats
ethnic cleansing as something we must forestall
in the future, not something that has been very
much ongoing since 1948. And therein lies the
problem: such an attitude betrays a mindset
that views this issue as a political conflict to
be solved, not a moral injustice to be
confronted. In the end, however, both of
these things are intrinsically connected.
There can be no political solution without
a restorative/reparative process through
which Israel ends its oppression of the
Palestinian people and formally admits
to the historic wrongs it has committed
against them. For a contemporary model,
we have to look no farther than South
Africa and the creation its Truth and
Reconciliation Committee.”]

Salaita, Steven. "Liberal Zionism and
the ethnonational imperative,” Electronic
Intifada, December 30, 2015. [Excerpt:
"The liberal Zionist must constantly
choose between a self-professed
commitment to democracy and
protecting Israel’s reputation. When
pressed, the liberal Zionist always
chooses to protect Israel’s reputation.
That choice defines liberal Zionism.”]

Samel, David. "Notes from the
Munayyer-Beinart debate,” Mondoweiss,
 June 8, 2015. [Excerpt: "On issue after
issue, Beinart’s sincerely stated positions
were no match for Munayyer’s more
reasoned analysis buttressed by his own
experience and simple refusal to tolerate
injustice and inequality that all of us,
including Beinart, would consider
intolerable.”] [Debate video here.]

Sarnel, David. "Ilhan Omar and the anti-Semitic
‘trope/canard’ smear,” Mondoweiss, February
19, 2019. [Excerpt: "Ungar-Sargon, who views
herself as politically “on the left,” has perversely
become a leading practitioner of the familiar
playbook smearing those who stray from the
narrow boundaries of acceptable criticism of
Israel as anti-Semites who are conjuring some
historical anti-Semitic “trope” or “canard”….
Anti-Semitic “tropes” and “canards” and
“slanders” have become the go-to staple of
Israel support….This trope/canard nonsense
could be used to immunize Israel from
virtually any criticism”]

Scham, Paul (on behalf of Partners). “Why
Partners for Progressive Israel No Longer
Calls for a Settlement Boycott,” Partners for
Progressive Israel, July 30, 2021. [“(T)he call
for a settlement boycott has become
erroneously and maliciously, but effectively,
swept into the definition of BDS used by
many in the United States and Israel….Stepping
away from a settlement boycott effort also
represents an effective use of organizational
resources….Unwilling to have Americans
mistakenly boycott Israel rather than the
settlements alone, we thought it prudent
many years ago to remove ourselves from
this largely symbolic and misconstrued
area of activity.”] [ML: The arguments in
this piece are so illogical that they are
hard to summarize concisely.]

Schmemann, Serge. "General's Words
Shed a New Light on the Golan,” New York
Times, May 11, 1997. [Excerpt: "It is an article
of faith among Israelis that the Golan Heights
were seized in the 1967 Middle East war to stop
Syria from shelling the Israeli settlements
down below….General Dayan died in 1981.
But in conversations with a young reporter
five years earlier, he said he regretted not
having stuck to his initial opposition to
storming the Golan Heights. There really
was no pressing reason to do so, he said,
because many of the firefights with the
Syrians were deliberately provoked by
Israel, and the kibbutz residents who
pressed the Government to take the
Golan Heights did so less for security
than for the farmland….the reporter,
Rami Tal, kept his notes secret for 21
years -- until he was persuaded by a
friend to make them public. They were
authenticated by historians and by
General Dayan's daughter Yael Dayan…”]

Shahak, Israel. "An Israeli Opponent of
the “Peace Camp” Replies to ‘Ali J,”
Matzpen, November 10, 1989. [“An
Israeli satirist said soon after the
formation of Peace Now that its main
object was to allow the Israeli tank crews
to mount their tanks more cheerfully
when the next war would break out. He
knew what he was talking about, and was
proved right at the beginning of the invasion
of Lebanon.”]

Shanes, Joshua. "Liberal Zionists, face
the facts: There's already only one state
from the river to the sea,” Haaretz, August
12, 2019. [Excerpt: "Israel has chosen to
annex the West Bank. This could theoretically
be undone, of course, though a single
democratic state would also be open to
division and reorganization. In any event,
this single state is today and for the
foreseeable future the reality. Liberal
Zionism must accept this and fight for
the immediate extension of equal rights
to all non-Jews living under Israeli law,
civil or military, including refugees, or
the liberal Zionist position is merely
another defense of the status quo with
the rhetorical comfort that “someday”
things will improve.”]

Shavit, Ari. "Lydda, 1948. A city, a
massacre, and the Middle East today,”
New Yorker, October 14, 2013. [Excerpt:
"Do I wash my hands of Zionism? Do I
turn my back on the Jewish national
movement that carried out the
destruction of Lydda? No. Like the
brigade commander, I am faced with
something too immense to deal with.
Like the military governor, I see a reality
I cannot contain. When one opens the
black box, one understands that,
whereas the massacre at the mosque
could have been triggered by a
misunderstanding brought about by
a tragic chain of accidental events,
the conquest of Lydda and the expulsion
of Lydda’s population were no accident.
Those events were a crucial phase of
the Zionist revolution, and they laid the
foundation for the Jewish state. Lydda
is an integral and essential part of the
story. And, when I try to be honest about
it, I see that the choice is stark: either
reject Zionism because of Lydda or accept
Zionism along with Lydda. One thing is
clear to me: Mula Cohen and Shmarya
Gutman were right to be angry with the
critics of later years who condemned
what they did in Lydda but enjoyed the
fruits of their deed. I will not damn the
brigade commander and the military
governor and the 3rd Battalion soldiers.
On the contrary. If need be, I’ll stand by
the damned, because I know that if not
for them the State of Israel would not
have been born. If not for them, I would
not have been born. They did the filthy
work that enables my people, my nation,
my daughter, my sons, and me to live.”]

Silverstein, Richard.  "Avrum Burg Says
“No” to Israeli Judeo-Supremacy,” Tikun
Olam, January 2, 2021. [Excerpt: “the
liberal Zionist Haaretz betrayed its
discomfort with Burg’s radical ideas.
The headline falsely claimed that Burg’s
goal was to obtain state permission to
“quit the Jewish people.” That’s not his
goal at all. He is saying he won’t be
Bibi’s version of a Jew. And that such
a definition of Jewishness is a false god.”]

Silverstein, Richard. "J Street Blackwashes Israeli
Apartheid, Supports West Bank Investment,”
Tikun Olam, March 30, 2017.

Silverstein, Richard. "J Street has taken the
wrong road,” Middle East Eye, November 6, 2019.

Solomon, Abba and Norman Solomon. "The Blind
Alley of J Street and Liberal American Zionism,”
Huffington Post, March 24, 2014.

Solomon, Daniel. "Beyond Liberal Zionism: How I
became a non-Zionist,” +972, December 2, 2018.
[Excerpt: "Liberal Zionism is an anachronism.
But non-Zionism preserves its best elements:
the refusal to privilege ethnic concerns over
universal ones, a commitment to nuance, and
moral imagination in the face of occupation’s
immorality.”]

Sperry, Alice. "Labs of Oppression.
As Israelis Protest Mounting
Authoritarianism, Apartheid Regime
Over Palestinians Goes Unchallenged,”
The Intercept, April 1, 2023.

Tal, Sivan. "Haaretz editor: ‘for the Palestinians
murder is a type of sport, perhaps a substitute
for erotica’, Mondoweiss, September 10, 2019.
[Excerpt: " Haaretz newspaper and magazine –
where Ziffer is the editor of the Culture and
Literature supplement – is considered very
liberal and is mostly identified with the Israeli
political left. Another known and popular Israeli
media personality, Yaron London, as said on
his mainstream TV show: “Arabs are savages
… they don’t only hate Jews, they kill their
own first and foremost.” London is identified
with the political left as well.”]

Taylor, Matthew. "J Street asks: ‘What if Israel
Ceases to be a Democracy?’ (Pssst…it never was),”
Mondoweiss, January 3, 2011.

Thier, Daphna. "The myth of liberal Zionism,”
SocialistWorker.org, June 13, 2011.

Thier, Hadas. "Palestine and liberal
Zionism: Review by Hadas Thier,”
International Socialist Review, Issue
85, 2012. [Excerpt: "The extent to
which Zionism has maintained
legitimacy, despite decades of
atrocities and occupation, stems
from the myth of its so-called liberal
(even socialist) democracy. This image
was constructed by the liberal wing of
Zionism—from politicians of the liberal
parties, Labor and Meretz; to the
academics which provide the ideological
base for their policies; to the Histadrut
national trade union; to peace groups
Gush Shalom and Peace Now….Both
Zionist Left and post-Zionist intellectuals
speak of and within a liberal, humanist,
conceptual and ideological framework.
This has enhanced their credibility among
genuine progressives both in Israel and
abroad. The Zionist Left role in granting
legitimacy to Israel’s version of Apartheid
and ‘close to Fascist’ political culture could
not have been played by right-wing
ntellectuals and politicians.”]

Thrall, Nathan. "The Separate Regimes
Delusion: Nathan Thrall on Israel’s
apartheid,” London Review of Books,
Vol. 43 No. 2,  January 21, 2021 [“The
premise that Israel is a democracy,
maintained by Peace Now, Meretz, the
editorial board of Haaretz and other
critics of occupation, rests on the belief
that one can separate the pre-1967 state
from the rest of the territory under its
control. A conceptual wall must be
maintained between two regimes: (good)
democratic Israel and its (bad) provisional
occupation. This way of thinking is of a
piece with the general liberal Zionist
belief that it’s legitimate to condemn
Israeli settlements – and even, for some,
to boycott their products – but not to
call for reducing support to the government
that planned, established and maintains
them. What seemed most troubling about
annexation for these groups was that it
would undermine their claims that the
occupation is occurring somewhere
outside the state and that it is temporary,
a 53-year-long departure from what
liberal Zionist groups like the New Israel
Fund call Israel’s ‘liberal democratic
founding values’. It is not difficult to make
the case that Israel’s actions in the West
Bank amount to apartheid.”]

Warschawski, Michael. "Michael Warschawski
on Gaza: Blaming the `two sides'; International
intervention now!” Links, December 30, 2008.
[Excerpt: "There is, however, a second category
of criminals who may escape the tribunals. They
do not dirty their hands with the blood of civilians,
but instead provide the intellectual and
pseudo-moral justifications for the murderers.
They are the propaganda unit of the killers’
government and army. Israeli writers Amos
Oz and A.B. Yehoshua are a typical example
of such miserable intellectuals. And not for
the first time! In every war they volunteer for
the Israeli war effort, without even having been
officially drafted. Their first function is to provide
the justifications for the Israeli offensive, then,
later on, they cry about their lost virginity while
accusing the other side of having forced us to
behave brutally.”]

Watzal, Ludwig. "The Myths of Liberal Zionism,” Palestine
Chronicle, February 7, 2010. [Review of Yitzhak Laor,
The Myths of Liberal Zionism (London: Verso, 2010)]

Weiss, Philip. "An appeal to my liberal Zionist
friends (who have No Program for Palestinian
rights),” Mondoweiss, December 30, 2020.
[Excerpt: "That is your moral problem. You are
willing to challenge racism in the United States,
but you support it, or look the other way, in
Israel. Where is the solidarity with Palestinians
who are literally under assault every day in
Palestine? It’s negligible. You refuse to defund
those soldiers, and support legislation that calls
BDS antisemitic!...This is no moral stance at all.
You should be ashamed of it. As the year ends,
I urge you to take stock and make a commitment
to real action in 2021.”]

Weiss, Philip. "J Street’s magical thinking,”
Mondoweiss, April 20, 2021. [Excerpt: “But
when it comes to Palestinian conditions, J
Street doesn’t want to do all that much
besides wring its hands….J Street is an
unrelentingly unrepentantly Zionist
organization and when you get right down
to it, its mission is not all that different
from the organization it wants to replace,
AIPAC. So J Street does a balancing
act — seeking to reconcile the burgeoning
progressive movement in the country
with Zionism….It strives to triangulate
the progressive and the Zionist communities
by describing support for Jewish nationalism
as a progressive “movement”– though the
American left clearly wants no part of ethnic
nationalism in the United States. We don’t
like white nationalists!”]

Weiss, Philip. “Journalists and liberal
Zionists are determined to push ‘apartheid’
charge down the memory hole,” Mondoweiss,
May 22, 2021. [Excerpt: "As the London Review
of Books pointed out, liberal Zionists need to
maintain a delusion that there are two regimes,
the good Jewish democracy in Israel, and the bad
occupation over there that will end some day.
When there is actually just one regime, with
Jews on top everywhere.”]

Weiss,Philip. "Leading rabbi condemns ethnic
cleansing, apartheid and state-sponsored religion
for an hour — everywhere but Israel,” Mondoweiss,
March 19, 2021. ["Reform Jewish leader David
Saperstein gave an annual lecture to the AJC that
embodied the idea of PEP, Progessive Except for
Palestine. The lecture was titled, “Speaking out
for the Voiceless: Protecting the Human Rights
of Religious Minorities Worldwide,” and Saperstein
never mentioned Palestinian persecution during
an hour of discussion.”]

Weiss, Philip. "Liberal Zionists are ‘terrified’ (yet again)
by Israel’s rightward shift,” Mondoweiss,
January 23, 2020.

Weiss, Philip. "Liberal Zionists use arguments
— ‘There is no equality between us and the
Palestinians’ — that echo white nationalists,”
Mondoweiss, July 9, 2020. [Excerpt: "As I listen
to liberal Zionist arguments against annexation,
it is stunning how many of them are
ethno-nationalist, or even Jewish supremacist.
Jews and Palestinians aren’t equal. We Jews
need a strong majority. You’d think that the
liberal Zionist groups might be a little ashamed
of offering space to such arguments, but
no– they charge right in.”]

Weiss, Philip. "‘Imagine an American politician
saying I don’t want to be elected president with
African American votes’ — that’s Israel!,”
Mondoweiss, January 6, 2021. [Excerpt: “(Ravid:)
 “I know that is unheard of for someone in
America. Just think if you can imagine… let’s
say someone who says he doesn’t want to be
elected president with the vote of African
Americans, or Hispanic Americans. A, No
politician would say that because it’s stupid
politics, but b, it’s unacceptable. [Gantz’s party]
Blue and White decided to be both racist and
politically stupid, and joined Netanyahu in his
government. It basically sent the signal to Arab
voters that their vote doesn’t count because it
can’t change anything.” / …. [Weiss:] J Street,
the leading lobby for Israel inside the
Democratic Party, calls Israel a “Jewish
democracy,” even in the face of such
racist traditions.”] 

Weiss, Philip. "‘Jewish ethno-nationalism is a poison’
— Crabapple and Goldman clobber Zionism in
intellectual journals,” Mondoweiss, November 20, 2018.

Weiss, Philip. "Liberal Zionist groups oppose
occupation but can’t bring themselves to
endorse ICC probe,” Mondoweiss,
March 5, 2021. [Excerpt: "Torn between
supporting Israel inthe U.S. and trying to
stop Israeli human rights violations, the
liberal Zionists have chosen Support for Israel.
These same organization oppose reduction
of U.S.military aid to the country, and have
blasted the nonviolent BDS campaign as
antisemitic...J Street and Americans for Peace
Now don’t want to be out of step with the
Israel lobby broadly, because they would
then lose some political access. Peace Now
is a member org of the rightwing Conference
of Presidents! Meantime, the progressive base
of the Democratic Party likes the ICC decision
and so do young Jews.”]

Weiss, Philip. “Nathan Thrall calls out J St
and other liberal Zionists for enabling apartheid,”
Mondoeiss, January 19, 2021. [Excerpt: “The
importance of this piece is underlined by Ken
Roth, the head of Human Rights Watch, who
tweeted: “Supporters of Israel shouldn’t pretend
that the government within its 1967 borders is
somehow different from the government
presiding over the occupied territories. It’s
one government with responsibility for its
conduct between the river and the sea.”]

Weiss, Philip. "NPR and J Street refuse
to call Neve Yaakov a settlement in
occupied East Jerusalem. Steve Inskeep
of NPR today described the settlement
of Neve Yaakov, scene of an attack, as
being in Israel. While Jeremy Ben-Ami
of J Street called it a Jerusalem
“neighborhood,” Mondoweiss, January
31, 2033.

Weiss, Philip. "Praying for the two-state
solution,” Mondoweiss, June 29, 2021.
[Excerpt: “Conflict management — doing
nothing substantive in the way of Palestinian
rights but trying to ease the situation a bit
and hoping the Palestinians accept that as
progress — is the preferred answer for even
liberal American Zionists....Rabbi Jill Jacobs,
says Jews need to pray for the two-state
solution– or anyway, continue to believe in
a two-state solution as a “moral and
spiritual imperative” and in biblical terms.”]

Weiss, Philip. "Reform Jews embrace Israeli
‘pluralism’ — sans Palestinians — to energize 
the young,” Mondoweiss, December 19, 2013.
[Excerpt: "So, cheering on Women of the Wall
is a way to feel progressive, even when you’re
supporting an ethnocracy…. I’m all for Women
of the Wall, but the failure to notice that our
Palestinian brothers and sisters are living
under apartheid or second class citizenship
is grotesque and, well, racist. Imagine the
Freedom Riders ridin those buses south
and not talking about black people! The
white citizens councils would have thrown
barbecues for them!”]

Weiss, Philip. "‘Segregation’ — liberal
Zionists wield ugly ideas to combat Beinart,"
Mondoweiss, August 10.,2020. [Excerpt: “…When
push comes to shove, liberal Zionists and
conservative Zionists make similar arguments.
They all talk about the need for “separation”
of Palestinians and Jews.”]

Weiss, Philip. "Trump’s embrace of apartheid
was brought to you by the organized Jewish
community,” January 29, 2020. [Excerpt:
"Palestinians are living as second-class
citizens and worse under one government
that controls all of Israel and Palestine,
and their battle is for equal rights inside
that state. Whose side are you on? Only a
few American politicians even say this
aloud. The organized Jewish community
opposes that discourse, and helps pass
laws to marginalize it, because it means
the end of the official paradigm of a Jewish
democracy. Liberal Zionists are now in crisis
over that paradigm and doing all they can
to save it. Their crisis is the death of their
own dream. It is very selfish. They still
refuse to organize as equals with the
people directly affected by Israel’s policies,
Palestinians. They don’t ultimately care
about Palestinian human rights.”]

Weiss, Philip. "The ‘tsunami’ and Israeli
fragility — the takeaway on Ben & Jerry’s
decision,” Mondoweiss, July 23, 2021.
["The liberal Zionists are also deluded:
They like Ben & Jerry’s decision because
it makes a distinction between “sovereign
and non-sovereign Israel.” That’s a fiction
to preserve their faith that Israel is
something different from a military occupier.
No Israeli leader shares that view. As
IfNotNow says: “The Israeli government’s
response to the Ben and Jerry’s settlement
boycott doesn’t make a distinction
between the West Bank and Israel because
for decades the Israeli government’s
policy hasn’t made a distinction between
the West Bank and Israel. It’s de-facto
annexed.”]

Weiss, Philip. "Two words that strike terror
into a liberal’s heart: ‘Jewish democracy,’”
Mondoweiss, March 3, 2020. [Excerpt:
"Let’s be clear about what we see in Israel.
This is a “Jewish democracy,” the
advancement Israel’s supporters in the
U.S. are constantly crowing about. It is a
country where the worst fears of Arabs
are stoked by politicians, even as the
government ethnically cleanses
Palestinians. It is a country where any
Jewish politician who says he is going
to work with Palestinians is quickly
marginalized.”]

Weiss, Philip. "Writers in Israel’s
leading paper decry ‘apartheid’ —
as liberal Zionist leader calls it a
distracting ‘label’ / Liberal Zionists
in the U.S. have helped enforce a red
line in the mainstream discourse
against using the term “apartheid
to describe Israel,” Mondoweiss,
June 14, 2022. [Excerpt: "The same
survey finds that only 45 percent
of Jews think it’s OK for Palestinians
and Jews to live in the same building.
Today Haaretz says that 62 percent
of Israeli Jews don’t want an Arab
party in any future government.
The miracle of Israel is that politicians
and pundits and influencers walk
around talking about Israel as a
robust democracy when it is
anything but. That’s a Myth but
a Myth that is never challenged.
In fact, the Democratic Party
depends on the lie, and so do
our billions of aid to the apartheid
state. Which Joe Biden will visit
next month without a peep
from the establishment.”]

Weiss, Philip. "Yakov Rabkin’s devastating
critique of Zionism: it is opposed to Jewish
tradition and liberalism,” Mondoweiss, June
27, 2017. [Excerpt: "The denigration of Jewish
life outside of Israel has long been a feature
of Zionist thought and practice. The
mobilization of the diaspora to justify
whatever political or military action Israel
might undertake constitutes its critical
element.”]

White, Ben. "Shoot and cry: Liberal
Zionism’s dilemma,” September 19,
2007. [Excerpt: "Soft-pedaling Israeli
colonialism is nothing new — as Israeli
historian Ilan Pappe has noted, in 1948
a number of Zionist politicians
condemned some isolated incidents
among the widespread atrocities being
perpetrated against the Palestinians.
This, according to Pappe, was an attempt
“by ‘sensitive’ Jewish politicians and
soldiers to absolve their consciences,”
an “Israeli ethos that can best be
described as ‘shoot and cry.’”]

Winstanley, Asa. "Marriage law vote
proves that even 'left' Zionism is racism,”
Middle East Monitor, July 10, 2021.
[Excerpt: "In a crude reminder of how all
Zionism is racism – and not only the
right-wing Zionism promoted by
demagogues like Netanyahu and
Bennett – even the supposedly
"left-wing" Meretz party voted to
extend the racist marriage law. Meretz
is part of the new coalition government
led by hard-right racist Bennett, so
there was an element of political
opportunism to Meretz's vote in
favour of the racist law. But mostly,
it was ideological: Meretz is a Zionist
party, so it voted for a Zionist law
….And it wasn't only Meretz. Arise
Israel, an activist group that had
been one of the leaders of the
long-running anti-Netanyahu
protests, also lashed out against
the opposition in racist terms. This
is the consequence of Zionism: the
institutionalisation of racism across
an entire society on every level.”]

Winstanley, Asa. "New documentary
inadvertently demonstrates failures
of Zionist left,” Electronic Intifada, July
18, 2012. [Excerpt: "Beyond the fact
that Palestinians are being kicked out,
we learn little of their story. There is
very little in the way of context or
history. The viewer learns almost
nothing about Palestinian struggle
in East Jerusalem. The film is really
about something else: what
American-Israeli journalist Joseph
Dana once called the “fight to save
the Zionist soul”….This film is a good
example of what law student and
activist Budour Hassan once described
as “the sham solidarity of Israel’s
Zionist left.” Maybe the Palestinians
in East Jerusalem love being swamped
by hordes of young liberal Israelis
banging drums in their front yard.
But we simply can’t know because the
Israelis in the film are too are busy
explaining their feelings….one settler
described his takeover of the al-Kurd
home as “the continuation of the
Jewish-Zionist project.” Some
right-wing Zionists still maintain
a sense of perspective that liberal
Zionists lack, it seems.”]

Winstanley, Asa. "Why Israeli fascists
are more honest than liberal Zionists,”
Middle East Monitor, October 15, 2021.
[Excerpt: "Much like other sectarian
apologists for war crimes, ethnic
cleansing and genocide, Zionist fanatics
alternate between denial that the crime
took place, and justification of the crime.
The traditional Israeli line after 1948 was
mostly denialism: either the Nakba never
happened, it was an unfortunate accident
of war or it was merely an “evacuation”
ordered, not by the Zionist militias but by
"Arab leaders”. Eventually, these lies
totally collapsed.”]

Wright, Jeff. “Zionist” isn’t hate speech,”
Electronic Intifada, April 20, 2021. [Excerpt:
"Critics of the definition’s codification in law
and policies make two related arguments:
one, that the wording of the examples is
confusing; another, that they can be misused
to censor advocacy for Palestinian rights. In their
academic reviews of the IHRA definition, Peter
Ullrich and Rebecca Ruth Gould decry the increase
in anti-Semitic incidents. But each cautioned
against its use and both offer a
negative assessment.”]

Zellner, Dorothy M. "What We Did: How
the Jewish Communist Left Failed the
Palestinian Cause. A reckoning with the
events of 1948, when the American Jewish
Communist left—and the magazine that later
became Jewish Currents—abandoned the
idea of a single state in Palestine with equal
rights for all,” Jewish Currents, May 12, 2021.
[Excerpt: "With the likelihood of a Jewish state
looming, Jewish Life described partition, which
it had previously decried as “undemocratic,” as
a “great and historic event.” …. When the armies
of seven Arab nations invaded within days of
Israel’s declaration of statehood, the US
Communist publications cheered on the Zionist
militias. Jewish Life cried, “The blood of patriots
must be replaced,” and urged everyone to donate
blood to replenish that shed by the Zionist forces.”]

Zonszein, Mairav. "Israel's travel ban strikes Liberal
Zionism at its core. Israel’s new anti-BDS law is
antagonizing some of the state’s most loyal
supporters, rewriting a decades-old relationship,”
+972, March 14, 2017. [Excerpt: With this law, Israel
is pushing them into a corner where they must
choose once and for all which side they are on: the
side of universal values and human rights, or the
side of Jewish nationalism, perennial military
occupation, and inequality.”]

Liberal Zionist Peter Beinart on equality [interviewed in
The Atlantic by Jeffry Goldberg, "former Israeli military
policeman in Ketziot (Ansar Three), an Israeli prison for
Palestinian detainees,” 5/18/2010]. // Beinart’s views
are changing.  A recent statement [9/22/22]: “… I support
replacing Israel’s political system—which the Israeli
human rights group B’Tselem characterizes as “Jewish
supremacy”—with one based on equality under the law
irrespective of religion and ethnicity. Under such a
system, all the people under Israel’s control would
vote in its elections. In taking that view, I’m not
singling out Israel. I’m applying the same
principles—free elections and equality under
the law—that I support in every country,
including my own.” 

Benny Gantz, “head of Israel’s main *opposition* alliance” …

"This is an open letter from Palestinians in the United
States who are driven by the values of equality,
freedom, and justice for all and who root policy
demands for Palestinian freedom in these values.
J Street’s positions are not in line with these values
and do not represent the progressive, just and
hopeful vision of the future that we know is possible."

Excerpt from Nathan Thrall in The London Review of
Books ["The Separate Regimes Delusion: Nathan Thrall
on Israel’s apartheid”]

David Samel in Mondoweiss: "Liberal Zionist icon Yitzhak
Rabin was a mass-murderer until the very end / Yitzhak
Rabin never evolved into a peacemaker, he retained his
“warrior” attitude of openly resorting to the mass killing
of civilians to serve his political aims throughout his
entire career” [October 13, 2020]

"Except for Palestine: The Limits of Progressive
Politics” / Marc Lamont Hill, Mitchell Plitnick, &
Noura Erakat [3/3/2021]

Ronnie Barkan: “From Occupation to Apartheid,”
BDS Blog, June 5, 2019. / Yesh Din, "The Occupation
of the West Bank and the Crime of Apartheid: Legal
Opinion,”  July 9, 2020. [Excerpt: "The conclusion
of this legal opinion is that the crime against
humanity of apartheid is being committed in the
West Bank. The perpetrators are Israelis, and the
victims are Palestinians.”]

Supporting and enforcing apartheid
is “good for everyone."

U.S. President Barack Obama (L) and greets AIPAC
president Lee Rosenberg greet the audience at
AIPAC Policy Conference at the Washington
Convention Center in Washington on May 22, 2011.
UPI/Yuri Gripas.

"If we must talk about Rabin – let us talk about the right of return.
Although remembered as a peacemaker, Yitzhak Rabin was one of
the key perpetrators of Israel's ethnic cleansing policy." [By Dr. Yaara
Benger Alaluf (historian and head of the Community and Education
department at Zochrot) in Mondoweiss, November 1, 2021.]

Ilan Pappe - "Decolonizing Israel" / On the “ two national
movements" framework, the "settler colonial”
framework, and human rights. Pappe is the
author of The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine (2006),
The Modern Middle East (2005), A History of
Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples (2003),
and Britain and the Arab-Israeli Conflict (1988).
[47:52; March 24, 2017]

"Settler Colonialism and Palestine: A
Conversation” / "Join us for a conversation
between two leading scholars about the
far-reaching impacts of settler colonialism,
specifically on the Palestinian people. How
does the US's involvement inform Americans’
understanding of Israel's role in this crisis?
Do we all live in what the Lorenzo Veracini
calls “a settler colonial global present”? /
Rashid Khalidi is the author of The Hundred
Years' War on Palestine, Palestinian Identity,
Brokers of Deceit, and The Iron Cage, among
others. His writing has appeared in the New
York Times, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times,
Chicago Tribune, and many other journals. He
is the Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab
Studies at Columbia University in New York and
co-editor of the Journal of Palestine Studies. /
Lorenzo Veracini is Associate Professor of History
at Swinburne University of Technology,
Melbourne. His research focuses on the
comparative history of colonial systems and
settler colonialism as a mode of domination.
He has authored Israel and Settler Society (2006),
Settler Colonialism: A Theoretical Overview (2010),
The Settler Colonial Present (2015), and The World
Turned Inside Out (2021). Lorenzo co-edited The
Routledge Handbook of the History of Settler
Colonialism (2016) and manages the settler
colonial studies blog.” [1:30:30; October 28, 2021]

And from the Labor party hopeful ...

"For decades we have spoken of the 'Israel-Palestine
conflict', but what if our understanding of the issue
has been wrong all along? This book explores how
the concept of settler colonialism provides a clearer
understanding of the Zionist movement's project to
establish a Jewish state in Palestine, displacing the
Palestinian Arab population and marginalizing its
cultural presence. Jeff Halper argues that the only
way out of a colonial situation is decolonization:
the dismantling of Zionist structures of domination
and control and their replacement by a single
democratic state, in which Palestinians and Israeli
Jews forge a new civil society and a shared
political community.”

Settler Colonialism and Palestine: A
Conversation / "How is settler colonialism
defined? In part, it is a mode of domination.
Settlers occupy a region, permanently
eliminating or displacing indigenous
populations. North Americans are familiar
with this phenomenon from our own
continent's history, as well as the histories
of Australia, South Africa and other nations.
A growing number of scholars and activists
propose that the creation of Israel and its
expansion into occupied territories of
Palestine also fits squarely within the
settler colonialist frame. Does the settler
colonialist frame help us understand what
is at stake now for Palestinians, Israelis,
their freedom and their chances for peace?
Join us for a conversation between two
leading scholars [Rashid Khalidi and
Lorenzo Veracini] about the far-reaching
impacts of settler colonialism, specifically
on the Palestinian people. How does the
US's involvement inform Americans’
understanding of Israel's role in this
crisis? Do we all live in what the Lorenzo
Veracini calls “a settler colonial global
present”?” [October 21, 2021]

Ehud Barak served as Israeli prime minister from
1999-2001. He led the Israeli Labor Party from
1997-2001, and from 2007-20011. 

Also see:

Abdelmageed, Abdel. “‘Hummus! The Movie’
and the art of whitewashing an occupation,”
Mondoweiss, October 31, 2018. [Excerpt:
"My issue is not appropriation of hummus,
my issue is that the movie continues with
a narrative that is untrue and, unfortunately,
widely accepted in western societies. A
narrative that portrays Israel as a beacon
of democracy in the Middle East. Meanwhile
Israeli bulldozers are razing Palestinian
homes to make room for settlements and
Israeli forces, supported with a $3.9 Billion
annual aid from the US, are shooting peaceful
protesters for simply demanding freedom.
Such hasbara….is not limited to the world
of food. Israel lately has been riding the
coattails of interfaith activities and initiatives
to further promote its fictitious image of
tolerance and coexistence.”]

Abu Artema, Ahmed. "Peter Beinart and
the crisis of liberal Zionism. Some liberal
Zionists are finally becoming aware of the
inherent contradiction in their views on
Israel and Palestine,” Al Jazeera, August
8, 2020. 

Abunimah, Ali. “Israel as a spurned
Facebook friend: the worst propaganda
video ever?” Electronic Intifada, December
4, 2011. [Excerpt: "The propaganda video
released on YouTube depicts Israel sending
Facebook “friend requests” and “gifts” of
“milk and honey” to Egypt, Jordan and the
Palestinians and getting nothing but bombs
in return….The video was released by the
Hasbara Fellowships, a program of Aish
HaTorah International, an extremist Zionist
group that works to colonize eastern occupied
Jerusalem and likens Jews to an “endangered
species” of animal.”]

Abunimah, Ali. “Israel’s troll army rides to
Jake Tapper’s rescue,” Electronic Intifada,
September 2, 2019. [Excerpt: "Act.IL is a
smartphone app created by Israel lobby groups
and Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs in order
to generate fake grassroots campaigns in
support of Israel.”]

Abunimah, Ali. "New York Times’ Jodi
Rudoren whitewashes Israeli minister’s
call for genocide,” Electronic Intifada,
May 15, 2015. [Excerpt: "My thought was
inspired by Rudoren’s December 2013
makeover for Israel’s then foreign minister
Avigdor Lieberman in which she claimed
that the settler from Moldova had lost his
“abrasive” style and turned over a new leaf
as a “conciliatory diplomat.” As recently as
this March, Lieberman called for the beheading
of Palestinians. But Rudoren surprised me.
Instead of going for Bennett, she has produced
a puff piece on Israel’s new justice minister
Ayelet Shaked, Bennett’s colleague in the
Jewish Home (Habayit Hayehudi) party. Last
July, The Electronic Intifada made Shaked
world famous by translating her Facebook
post calling for genocide of Palestinians….
Apart from a few quoted words, Rudoren did
not actually assess what Shaked wrote – or her
response, in which the minister suggests falsely
that her words were mistranslated by The
Electronic Intifada, “a website dedicated to
daily and hourly vilification of my country.”
Shaked’s June post, in which she reproduced
and endorsed the words of late Israeli settler
activist Uri Elitzur, is horrific. Almost any
sentence stands out for its bloodlust….This
is nothing short of a rationale for exterminating
Palestinian civilians by defining them, from
cradle to grave, as “enemy combatants.” Can
we imagine Rudoren allowing someone who
incited the murder of Israeli Jewish civilians
in similar terms to shrug it off as just a human
foible, a “mistake”? This is just another of the
ways The New York Times helps whitewash
Israel’s state-sponsored violence and racism.”]

Aderat, Ofer. "Why Are Countless Palestinian
Photos and Films Buried in Israeli Archives?
Palestinian photos and films seized by Israeli
troops have been gathering dust in the army
and Defense Ministry archives until Dr. Rona
Sela, a curator and art historian, exposed them.
The material presents an alternative to the Zionist
history that denied the Palestinians’ existence
here, she says,” Ha’aretz, July 1, 2017.

Ahmed, Nasim. "Israel throws millions
into new clandestine hasbara initiative,”
Middle East Monitor, January 28, 2022.
[“Foreign Minister, Yair Lapid, who recently
said that Israel will face intense campaigns
to label it an apartheid state in the coming
months and urged to launch a campaign to
discredit the UN ahead of any potential
criticism, wants to renew the [2017] project
and enable it to continue operating, at least
until the end of 2025. A document distributed
to the ministers ahead of the vote stated that
"the continuation of the project will allow the
Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Israeli
government to plan and implement in a
strategic and structured manner a policy
of action for fighting the phenomenon of
delegitimisation against the State of Israel
and for building civil legitimacy in the world.”]

Edward Said lecture / “The Myth of
the Clash of Civilzations” [52:03]

Edward Said lecture: “Orientalism”
[36:00 / April 16, 2003] "He was
Columbia University Professor of
English and Comparative Literature,
literary theorist, cultural critic,
advocate for Palestinian rights,
and a founding figure in
postcolonialism. His book,
Orientalism, explores the “subtle
and persistent Eurocentric
prejudice against Arabo-Islamic
peoples and their culture."

Allan, Rani. “‘Why I, A Palestinian, Want
Young Jews to Boycott Birthright’,” HuffPost,
September 29, 2017.

Alsaafin, Linah. “Barefaced Hasbara: Tufts
“Friends of Israel” exploit name of Palestinian
writer to brownwash the Nakba,” Electronic
Intifada, April 10, 2012.

American Muslims for Palestine [AMP].
"AMP's Report on Working with Zionist
Organizations,” December 21, 2021.
[Excerpt: “[I]nterfaith and inter-community
initiatives [frequently] are used as a “trojan
horse.” Rather than building understanding
between various faith-based communities,
Zionist organizations use these partnerships
as a vehicle to further their agenda with
regards to Israel and its occupation of the
Palestinian people.”]

Associated Press. “Israel to pay students to
defend it online,” USA Today, August 14,
2013. [Excerpt: " Israel is looking to hire
university students to post pro-Israel
messages on social media networks —
without needing to identify themselves as
government-linked, officials said Wednesday.
The Israeli prime minister's office said…..
students' messages would parallel statements
by government officials….The Israeli daily
newspaper Haaretz identified the official
heading the project as Danny Seaman, a
public diplomacy official who has written
posts on his personal Facebook page which
Haaretz described as being incendiary
and anti-Muslim.”]

Barrows-Friedman, Nora. “Podcast Ep 7:
Behind Israel’s troll army,” Electronic Intifada,
July 5, 2019. ["On episode 7, Nora
Barrows-Friedman and Asa Winstanley host
a discussion about Act.IL, an online influence
campaign funded by the Israeli government.
They are joined by Michael Bueckert, who’s
been behind some of the most vital research
on the group, publishing much of it to his
@AntiBDSApp Twitter account.”]

Beinart, Peter. "Debunking The Myth That
Anti-Zionism Is Anti-Semitic,” The Forward,
February 27, 2019. [Excerpt: "Anti-Zionism
is not inherently anti-Semitic — and claiming
it is uses Jewish suffering to erase the
Palestinian experience.”]

Benzaquen, Itamar. "The Israeli government
is paying for anti-BDS journalism. The Israeli
ministry tasked with fighting the BDS Movement
is spending millions of shekels to place
propaganda that looks like news in Israel’s
most prominent media outlets,” +972, December
20, 2017.

Benzaquen, Itamar and The Seventh Eye.
"The new hasbara campaign Israel doesn’t
want you to know about. Losing the war for
public opinion abroad, Israel is relaunching
a heavily-funded plan to disguise its own
propaganda behind the façade of ‘foreign
agents, +972, January 25, 2022. [Excerpt:
"The Israeli cabinet approved on Sunday a
project that could inject up to NIS 100
million [$30 million] toward covertly funding
government propaganda in the United
States and other Western countries….The
Foreign Ministry’s document failed to
mention or even hint at the undeniable
failure of Solomon’s Sling, as well as the
fact that the use of government money to
fund covert propaganda has drawn harsh
criticism in Israel and abroad.”]

Blackburn, Nicky. “Israel gets a boost from
ISRAEL21c’s digital ambassadors. Wellness,
celebrities and vegan food are just some of
the projects ISRAEL21c’s new cohort of
ambassadors plan to explore this year as
part of the Digital Ambassador Program,”
ISRAEL21c, October 23, 2019. [Excerpt: “The
projects devised by the students include:….
Celebs in Israel, which will engage with the fan
bases of celebrities who have been to Israel in
an effort to showcase the relevance of Israel as
a popular and noteworthy travel destination….
Israel in the World, which aims to change the
negative perceptions that college students have
about the way Israel treats others./…VeLove
Israel, which will target vegans with newly
curated content on vegan food in Israel./
Israel in the World, which aims to change
the negative perceptions that college students
have about the way Israel treats others….
Creating Coexistence, which will create and
distribute short videos on coexistence stories
in Israel.”]

Bloch, Emily. “I Was Kicked Off Birthright
For Asking Questions About The Occupation,”
The Forward, December 24, 2018.

Blumenthal, Max. “Israel Cranks Up the PR
Machine: It’s deploying all its resources to
fight the growing world movement against
the occupation,” The Nation, October 16, 2013.

Brown, John. "Supreme Court rules against
exposing Israel’s role in Bosnian genocide,”
+972, December 5, 2016. ["Citing potential
damage to Israel’s foreign relations, the
Supreme Court rejects a petition calling to
reveal details of the government’s arms
exports to the Serbian army during the
Bosnian genocide.”] [Similarly, see Eitay
Mack, "How Israel helped prop up
Rwanda’s Hutu regime before the
genocide,” +972, April 29, 2019. (“Israel
refuses to come clean about its links
with the murderous Hutu regime that
carried out the genocide in Rwanda 25
years ago. But Foreign Ministry
documents show that Israel was aware
of the massacres against the Tutsi
minority way back in the 1960s — and
turned a blind eye.”)]

Also see: "'Sickening hypocrisy': Critics slam
Israeli army Twitter post. Israeli army,
which celebrated soldiers helping cancer
patients, regularly denies Gazans right to
travel for treatment,” November 9, 2019.
[Al Jazeera]

Brownfeld, Allan C. “Examining ‘Ten Myths
about Israel’, by Ilan Pappe,” Mondoweiss,
January 24, 2018. [Ilan Pappe’s book is
available for purchase here. An online
excerpt ("No, Israel Is Not a Democracy”) can
be read here.

Bueckert, Michael. “Release the Trolls: Israel is
weaponizing social media in order to wage a
propaganda war against BDS," Jacobin, July 18, 2017.

Cobban, Helena. “Understanding Gaza and Hamas,”
Fact Sheet from Just World Educational, 2019.
["Fact-sheet by JWE President Helena Cobban,
a long-time columnist forThe Christian Science
Monitor who has studied and written about Gaza
and Hamas for more than 30 years.”] Downloadble
here.

Buttu, Diana. "Israel's Propaganda Can’t
Cover Up Its Responsibility for Shireen
Abu Akleh's Killing,” Democracy for the
Arab World Now [DAWN], June 10, 2022.
["The gaslighting that immediately went
into high gear was typical Israeli hasbara.
This propaganda unfolds in three stages.
Stage one is to deflect. Israel routinely
blames Palestinians for their own deaths,
or casts doubt about its own culpability.
Shireen’s killing was no different….When
Israel's attempts to deflect fail, Israel moves
to stage two of its hasbara campaign:
conduct a whitewashed investigation. As
part of this effort, Israeli Defense Minister
Benny Gantz demanded that Palestinians
turn over the bullet that killed Shireen—
akin to asking the criminal to investigate
his own crime….Israel has a long track
record of claiming to investigate itself.
In 2021, B'Tselem published a report
concluding that such investigations are
part of "Israel's whitewashing mechanism,
and their main purpose remains to silence
external criticism, so that Israel can
continue to implement its policy
unchanged.” Stage three of Israeli hasbara
is to proffer a meek apology, if pressed to
the point where Israel sees a propaganda
advantagein such a move.In Shireen's case,
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid,himself a former
journalist, tweeted about her“tragic death”….
Palestinians have long understood these
three stages of Israeli hasbara,"

Cohen, Hillel. "Via Facebook, Israel Is
Trying to Change Palestinian Perception
of the Occupation. Shin Bet officers, who
control the fate of the Palestinians in the
territories, are waging psychological warfare
on social media,” Haaretz, August 8, 2020.
["The overriding aim seems to be to
legitimize Israeli military rule and to
normalize the settlements in the
territories. The modus operandi is to
create an imaginary world on Facebook
in which there is no occupation, where
Palestinians and Israelis live in tranquility
and equality in the West Bank, and the
Shin Bet works on behalf of Jews and
Arabs alike. In this virtual reality,
resistance to Israel’s military government
is described as opposition to the peace
and progress that Israel has to offer,
and as harmful to those who take part
in those benefits.”]

Cohen, Mari. "The Fight for the Future
of Israel Studies. Donors view Israel studies
as a vehicle for countering Palestine
activism on campus. But many of the
scholars they fund don’t toe the line,”
Jewish Currents, Summer 2022.
[“Donors think of buying an academic
like you buy a used car: someone who
will do your bidding and protect Israel
from any criticism….“It’s a really chilling
precedent,” Halperin said. “I didn’t
express the political views the donors
wanted, and then a bunch of money
went away.”]

Cook, Jonathan. “Five myths that sanction
Israel’s war crimes,” Electronic Intifada, July
25, 2006.

Cook, Jonathan. “How Israel wages war
on Palestinian history,” Mondoweiss, August
21, 2020. ["We can understand what is
happening to Palestinians right now – simply
by refusing to conspire in their silencing.
It is time to listen.”]

Cortellessa, Eric. "Anti-BDS group backed
by Adelson heads to 6 countries outside
US: From the start of the new academic
year, Maccabee Task Force will expand
its footprint from American campuses
to ‘Europe and beyond,’” The Times of
Israel, October 7, 2019. ["He explained 
the model of MTF as providing the
financial resources to allow campus
pro-Israel groups to counter BDS in
whatever ways they deem most effective
for their particular campus. “The deal
with our partners was, if these are things
you want to do, here’s the deal: you do
them, we pay for them, and you don’t
have to put our name or logo on it,”
he said. “You’re doing it. You own it.”]

Dadoo, Suraya. "The hijacking of
Nelson Mandela's legacy by the Zionist
lobby,” News24 [SA], July 18, 2020. [“The
Israel lobby’s manipulation of Mandela’s
story from a revolutionary struggle for
freedom to a sanitised tale of peacemaking
is not innocuous. It is a deliberate distortion
of Mandela’s legacy to serve the hasbara
(propaganda) project of the Israeli government
whose policies are centred on the belief that
Palestinians simply do not deserve the same
rights as Israelis. This is an injustice and
insult to the memory of Nelson Rolihlahla
Mandela.”]

Daro, Ishmael N. "How An App Funded
By Sheldon Adelson Is Covertly Influencing
The Online Conversation About Israel. The
Act.IL app paints itself as a grassroots
initiative, but one expert calls it “advanced
digital political astroturfing,” BuzzFeed
News, September 20, 2018.

Doherty, Benjamin. “War sporno: How the Israeli
army uses sex and Instagram to sell its racism
and violence,” Electronic Intifada, December 26, 2012.

Ebileeni, Maurice. "Latest hasbara target:
Israel as a settler-colonial state. A recent
debate over the term “settler colonialism”
in Haaretz seeks to raise doubts over the
appropriateness of using it to describe
Israel. This is exactly how good solid
hasbara works,” +972, July 21, 2021.
["As a critic and a scholar though, my
assessment is that the main purpose
of this debate has been to manufacture
discontent with Palestinians’ public
relations tactics while simultaneously
constituting general consent for Israel’s
policies. This is exactly how good solid
hasbara works.”]             

Electronic Intifada. “Interview: Challenging Camp
David mythology, four years on,” November 10, 2004.

El-Sadany, Ali and Aidan Place. “Coming
face to face with Zionist fragility. The Israel
Fellow for Carnegie Mellon Hillel flew into
a rage when two Muslim student leaders
refused to endorse a propaganda-filled
"fact finding" trip to Israel. They say the
fellow's response serves as a microcosm
of Zionist behavior and attitudes,”
Mondoweiss,  June 17, 2021. [“Zionist
propaganda (euphemistically known in
Israel as “hasbara”) exists in several forms,
including associating the existence of
Palestine with antisemitism, connecting
Muslim resistance efforts to terrorism and
jihad, and, more recently, promoting a
positive image of Israel through tourism.
In the last few years, several college
campuses have fallen victim to predatory
tours like the one that was presented to
us….The trip provides an elaborate portal
into a fantasy world while glorifying Israeli
war crimes and silencing Palestinian voices,
deceiving hordes of well-intentioned students
with a jam-packed itinerary of distracting
activities like camel-rides, all while
Palestinians are unable to return to their
homeland and ruthlessly separated from
their families.”]

Erakat, Noura. “Five Israeli Talking Points on
Gaza—Debunked; Israel claims that it is merely
exercising its right to self-defense and that Gaza
is no longer occupied. Here’s what you need to
know about these talking points and more.,”
The Nation, July 25, 2014.

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting [FAIR].
“Action Alert: For NPR, Violence Against Palestinians
Is ‘Calm,’ January 10, 2002. ["The unequal treatment
of Israeli and Palestinian deaths is a long-standing
pattern at NPR; a FAIR study of six months of the
network’s coverage (Extra!, 11-12/01) found that
81 percent of Israeli conflict-related deaths were
reported, but only 34 percent of Palestinian deaths.
Strikingly, NPR was even less likely to report the
deaths of Palestinian minors killed; only 20 percent
of these deaths were reported, as compared to 89
percent of Israeli minors’ deaths. While NPR was
more likely to cover Israeli civilian deaths than
those of Israeli security personnel (84 percent vs.
69 percent), the reverse was true with Palestinians
(20 percent vs. 72 percent).”]

Esensten, Andrew. "Israel Brings International
Food Bloggers for a Taste of the Holy Land.
This summer, two groups of international food
bloggers visited Israel for the first time on separate
all-expense-paid trips, one of which was partially
funded by the Tourism Ministry, Haaretz, September
14, 2012. [Excerpt: “On the last night of the tour,
the bloggers participated in a cooking workshop with
Yair Feinberg, an Israeli chef …. Feinberg demonstrated
how to make “real" hummus using a state-of-the-art
food processor…. (Paco "Pakus" Becerro, who writes
for a leading food blog in Spain) added: "What you really
do is take things from different cultures and make
them yours, and make them better than they
were before.”]

"The Alpha Gun Angels, who bill themselves as
Israel’s premier gun-modeling and social
media–marketing agency, are a team of nine
active and veteran IDF combat soldiers turned
Instagram celebrities. On social media, the
Angels market their combat experience as
a sexy lifestyle brand, turning Israeli militarism
into a generic but alluring image to be sold to
gun companies, militaries, police forces, and
gun rights advocacy groups around the world
….As opposition to Israel’s occupation echoes across
social media platforms, the Angels’ sexy selfies
frame Israeli militarism as something to be desired
rather than condemned. Alongside the tangible
mechanisms of control sold in Tel Aviv’s exposition
hall—sniper rifles and surveillance cameras,
cyberespionage software and AI augmented
drones—AGA exports Israel’s ability to deny
violence and normalize occupation by
aestheticizing warfare. Dressed up in high heels
and detachable angel wings, the eroticism of
Israeli obfuscation is now a transnational
commodity.” From Sophia Goodfriend, “Naked
Gun,” Jewish Currents, December 5, 2019.

Etkes, Dror. “Undoing the myth of Israel's flagship
settlements. The settler movement likes to pretend
its flagship settlement bloc, Gush Etzion, was built
entirely on land purchased by Jews decades before
Israel’s founding. History says otherwise,” +972,
December 31, 2016.

Freeman, Jr, Ambassador Charles W. “Hasbara and the
Control of Narrative as an Element of Strategy, Middle
East Policy Council, n.d. ["During the Gaza fighting,
Israel sought as always to portray itself as the innocent
victim of irrationally hate-filled Arab attacks.  At least
in the United States, it was quite successful in this effort.
Despite the fact that Israel initiated the escalation that
produced the war, dropped one thousand times as many
tons of munitions on Gaza as Gazans fired at Israel,
faced a foe with no air defenses with one of the world’s
most advanced air forces while demonstrating a
sophisticated defense against homemade missiles
fired at it from Gaza, and killed 32 times as many
Gazans as Gazans killed Israelis, most Americans
continued to cast the issue in terms of Israel’s
right to defend itself against rocket attack.
Almost no one mentioned the fact that Gaza
had been under siege by Israel for eight years
before this latest outbreak of fighting.”]

Friedman, Lara. “Exploiting Jews from Arab Countries. 
Lara Friedman makes the point that the U.S. Congress
and Israel's Foreign Ministry should not exploit Jews
who moved to Israel from the Arab World by comparing
them to Palestinian refugees,” Daily Beast, August 2, 2012.
[Also see: Shenhav, Yehouda. “Hitching a Ride on the
Magic Carpet. Any analogy between Palestinian refugees
and Jewish immigrants from Arab lands is folly in
historical and political terms,” Haaretz, August 15, 2003.]

Fyler, Boaz. "IDF says enlisting hackers, tells
panel on internet 'as strategic
weapon' army wants 120 'new media fighters,’”
Ynet News,  August 2, 2011.

Gelman, Emmaia. “The Anti-Defamation League
Is Not What It Seems. Under the guise of fighting
hate speech, the ADL has a long history of wielding
its moral authority to attack Arabs, blacks, and
queers,” Boston Review, May 23, 2019.

Gelman, Emmaia. "The Anti-Democratic
Origins of the Jewish Establishment,”Jewish
Currents, March 12, 2021. [“When the FBI
raided Anti-Defamation League offices in
1993, the civil rights establishment was
shocked. The ADL, a prominent anti-hate
organization, was known for surveilling
white supremacist groups and sharing
intelligence with the FBI. But the raid
revealed that it was also spying on
organizations like the ACLU, the anti-Klan
Center for Democratic Renewal, and local
Jewish peace groups, which worked
against racism and for human rights.
The revelation that the ADL viewed
these groups as threats “caused
confusion for some liberals,” as The
New York Times put it; the organization
had gone so far as to infiltrate small
South African anti-Apartheid committees
and Arab American community groups. /
Thirty years after these revelations, the
ADL, along with its fellow Jewish advocacy
organization, the American Jewish
Committee (AJC), continue to “cause
confusion” among progressives. Even
as they advocate for right-wing causes,
the groups present themselves as pillars
of the US civil rights movement and
exemplars of the Jewish moral tradition,
often pointing to their historic allyship
with Martin Luther King Jr. and other
civil rights leaders in the 1960s.”]

Gordon, Neve. "The ‘New Anti-Semitism’,”
Canadian Dimension, January 15, 2018.
(Originally in The London Review of Books.)
["The question today is how to preserve a
notion of anti-anti-Semitism that rejects
the hatred of Jews, but does not promote
injustice and dispossession in Palestinian
territories or anywhere else. There is a way
out of the quandary. We can oppose two
injustices at once. We can condemn hate
speech and crimes against Jews, like the
ones witnessed recently in the US, or the
anti-Semitism of far-right European political
parties, at the same time as we denounce
Israel’s colonial project and support
Palestinians in their struggle for
self-determination. But in order to carry
out these tasks concurrently, the equation
between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism
must first be rejected.”]

Gurvitz, Yossi. "Israeli universities
becoming Hasbara mills. Two universities,
Tel Aviv and Haifa, now offer programs in
Hasbara. Both feature Neal Lazarus, the
man behind the fake “gay flotilla” video,”
+972, March 21, 2012. 

Gurvitz, Yossi. "The inevitable cruelty of
Hasbara,” June 7, 2020. ["Because, after
all, if most Israelis understand that what
they see is truly what happened, they may
experience what Europeans did after 1945:
A horrified stumbling away from the mirror
unmercifully placed before them. And then
what would Nave Dromi do? Where would she
draw her feelings of national greatness, if she
would be forced to endure being equal
to non-Jews?”]

Hammond, Jeremy R. “10 Zionist Arguments
You’ve Encountered, But Didn’t Have Answers
To,” Foreign Policy Journal, November
28, 2016.

Hart, Peter. “Settlements or Neighborhoods? NPR
Takes Netanyahu’s Side. By law, they're Israeli colonies,
but NPR's guest calls them ‘neighborhoods,’ Fairness
and Accuracy in Reporting [FAIR], October 10, 2014.

The Hasbara Buster. Blog, 2008-2013.

Helm, Sarah. "'We are living by the sword': The regrets
of an Israel founder's son. In a wide-ranging interview,
Yaakov Sharett, the son of one of Israel's founding fathers,
says he regrets settling the Negev in the 1940s - and
the entire Zionist project,” Middle East Eye, January 13,
2020. ["To be honest, I am amazed how in 2019 the
world outside accepts Israeli propaganda. I really don’t
know why they do" - 92 year old Yaakov Sharett]

Hirsch, Yakov. "Bari Weiss brands AOC an antisemite,”
Mondoweiss, October 2, 2020. [Excerpt: "For Bari
Weiss’s main concern is not actually anti-Semitism.
Instead she is a guardian of the approved story of the
Jews. Hasbara culture is about a story. It is not about
people; it is not concerned with the actual experience
of human beings. It is not even concerned with Jews
or even with the state of Israel. Hasbara culture is a
social construction of reality whose greatest concern
is to propagate a self-serving ethnocentric narrative
….and political statements that create cognitive
dissonance for that reality are treated
as anti-Semitism.”]

Hirsch, Yakov. “Hasbara Culture and the Curse of Bibi-ism;
How Prime Minister Netanyahu turns all political opinions
about his leadership into a referendum on nothing less
than the Manichean struggle between good and evil,”
Tablet, February 13, 2018. ["It is also thanks to the
influence of hasbara culture that Sheldon Adelson
can voice his opinion about Israeli democracy
without it causing a political or moral ripple. “I
don’t think the Bible says anything about
democracy,” Adelson said. “[God] didn’t talk
about Israel remaining as a democratic state.
… Israel isn’t going to be a democratic state—so
what?” And so what about Israel being the only
Western country selling arms to Myanmar, which
is ethnic cleansing its Muslims? “What Zionist
justification can there be for different rules
applying to the Jewish state?” [Also see
Yakov Hirsch’s “Benjamin Netanyahu’s
Israel was brought to you by Jeffrey
Goldberg,” in Mondoweiss, September
15, 2018.]

Hirsch, Yakov. “The power of hasbara culture,”
Mondoweiss, November 5, 2016. [Excerpt: “Hasbara
culture is a belief system about the world.”]

Horowitz, Adam. “Israeli gov’t study declares
West Bank not occupied, Earth flat,” Mondoweiss,
September 9. 2012.

"Debunking Israel’s ‘Human Shield’ Defense
in Gaza Massacre: Abby Martin gives 5 points
that evaporate Israel's assertion that the civilians
it kills in Gaza were "human shields."

Prof. Shibley Telhami on How Invoking
a Two-State Solution in Israel/Palestine
Serves as Smokescreen ["Hiding behind
an improbable future two-state solution
has become a smokescreen covering up
an intolerable reality in Israel/Palestine
and the daily violence that's inherent in
more than a half century of military rule
over Palestinians” / [5:41] Wednesday,
February 1, 2023.

 ISRAEL21c Staff. "JEWISH WEEK: Marketing a
new image,” January 20, 2005. [Excerpt: “ [I]n an
effort to improve the Jewish state’s image in
America, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in
Jerusalem and Israeli officials in New York are
working with a team of local business experts
to de-emphasize the focus on Israel at war
and promote the concept of a country whose
medical, scientific and technological
achievements bring value to Americans./
The campaign, called Brand Israel, is a strategic
marketing effort formed more than a year ago
but not made public until now, with seven
business and research experts volunteering
their expertise on behalf of the foreign
ministry. It comes at a time when the foreign
ministry, the perennial punching bag for
critics of Israel’s hasbara, or public relations,
is under renewed scrutiny as the result of a
highly rated reality series on Israeli TV,’The
Ambassadors.’ …. Sable said a group that
understands and addresses this new reality
is ISRAEL21c (www.israel21c.org), a
4-year-old advocacy group based in the
Silicon Valley of California that focuses on
Israeli scientific and technological advances
that are saving or improving American lives.”]

ISRAEL21c Staff. "Lending a hand to Brand
Israel,” September 1, 2008. [Excerpt: "A new
Israeli foreign ministry promotion to rebrand
Israel now launched in Toronto, could be the
start of a larger worldwide campaign. Creating
buzz is vital. After 60 years of Diaspora Jews
complaining that Israel’s hasbara efforts fall
flat, there is finally reason for Jews worldwide
to believe that the Foreign Ministry is beginning
to get it. September marks the beginning of an
ambitious new pilot program, being run by the
consul-general in Toronto, Amir Gissin, to
“rebrand” Israel….“Explaining why we are right
is not enough,” says Gissin. “Our goal is to make
Israel relevant and attractive to Canadians and
to refocus attention away from the conflict.”
...With campuses around the world hosting
“Israel Apartheid Week” on an annual basis
and ex-presidents of the United States using
the word in a book title, the need to have an
ongoing campaign that will implant positive
emotional associations to Israel has
become crucial.”]

Jinjirrie. “The Desperate Racist Game of Hasbara Bingo,”
Kadaitcha, November 7, 2011.

Shamir on Terrorisn [1943] / From an article
by Yitzhak Shamir, prime minister of Israel
from 1983-1984 and 1986-1992.

Kakutani, Michiko. "Hannah Arendt Explains How
Propaganda Uses Lies to Erode All Truth & Morality:
Insights from The Origins of Totalitarianism,”
OpenCulture.com, January 24, 2017.

Kattenburg, David. "Palestine deleted. CBC
Radio host Duncan McCue issued an on-air
apology for using the word “Palestine” in an
interview on the Public Broadcaster’s flagship
current affairs show,” Mondoweiss, August
24, 2020.

Konrad, Edo. “Dismantling the occupation — brick by brick, 
book by book: +972 catches up with American Jewish authors
Ayelet Waldman and Michael Chabon in Susya, a tiny Palestinian
village in the southern West Bank, as they promote their newbook
about 50 years of occupation,” +972, July 2, 2017. [Excerpt:
"We have to remember that hasbara is not just about the way
Israel wants to portray itself to the outside world. It also has
an internal logic: They don’t want you to look at what
happens in Susya or in Hebron. Hasbara is a tumor and it
is the obligation of every Israeli to excise it from their body
and their mind.”]

Kumar, Deepa. “The more the dead, the better”: Israel’s
crumbling media war; As the world watches in horror at
the massacre of Palestinians, Israel’s propaganda war
is being challenged,” Salon, July 23, 2014.

Levy, Gideon and Alex Levac, “What I've Seen
in 30 Years of Reporting on the Israeli
Occupation,” in the Israeli daily Haaretz, June 3,
2017. ["To cover up its crimes, the occupation
has needed a propaganda-driven media that
betrays its honest mission, an education
system that has been recruited for its purposes,
a duplicitous security establishment, politicians
lacking a conscience and a civil society that
doesn’t have a clue. A new, occupation-adjusted
system of values had to be developed in which
the cult of security allows, justifies and whitewashes
everything, in which messianism becomes valued
by the secular population, too, a sense of 
victimization functions as a cover-up, and a
feeling of “Thou hast chosen us” doesn’t hurt,
either. It was also necessary to come up with a
language of newspeak, the language of the
occupier. According to this newspeak, for example,
arrest without trial is called “administrative
detention” and the military government is known
as the “Civil Administration.” In the occupier’s
language, every child with a pair of scissors is a
“terrorist,” every individual detained by the
security forces is a “murderer,” and every
desperate person who tries to provide for
his family at any price is “illegally present”
in Israel. Hence the creation of a language
and a way of life in which every Palestinian
is a suspicious object.”]

Lowstedt, Anthony and Husam Madhoun. “The Intifada,
Hasbara, and the Media,” Palestine-Israel Journal, Vol10
No.2, 2003. [“(I)f they should persist with trying to show
the world some of the ugly truths about Israeli apartheid
- even if unintended - writers, reporters and camera
men are obstructed, intimidated, beaten, shot at, often
wounded and sometimes killed by Israeli armed forces,
with almost total impunity. Cameras, film, videotapes
and other kinds of records of human rights violations
are also confiscated and/or destroyed by the Israeli
powers that be. Articles and books are rejected due
to their contents by pro-Israeli editors and publishers.
Journalists are harassed, intimidated and/or fired.”]

Mandela, Nkosi Zwelivelile. "How Israel's lobbyists
occupied Mandela's legacy. Attempts by Israel’s
advocates to portray my grandfather as a liberal
pacifist is a distortion of his legacy,” Al Jazeera,
July 18, 2020. [“South Africa's allies in the global
anti-apartheid movement also never asked us to
make peace with our oppressors before our
liberation was achieved. Asking South Africans
to engage in dialogue with the apartheid
government within the context of a brutal
police state characterised by relentless
dispossession, restrictions on freedom of
movement, violent crackdowns on protest,
and detention without trial, was asking us
to collaborate with our oppressors. The world
never asked - or expected - this of South
Africans, yet it is demanded of Palestinians
who live under the same - if not worse -
conditions.”]

Marton, Ruchama. "How Israeli doctors enable the
Shin Bet’s torture industry. From approving brutal
interrogation techniques to writing false medical
reports, doctors in Israel have taken an active role
in the torture of Palestinian prisoners,” +972,
October 7, 2019.

Massad, Joseph. "Pro-Zionism and
antisemitism are inseparable, and always
have been. Pro-Zionism is the only respectable
form of antisemitism today - one that is
welcomed by the Israeli government and
pro-Zionist white nationalists everywhere,”
Middle East Eye, May 15, 2019. 

Massey, Eli. “Snappy Responses to Israeli
Hasbara,” Current Affairs, February 14, 2019.
[Excerpt:"There is an effective debating trick
called the Gish gallop, in which you bury your
opponent in an avalanche of arguments. The
point is to overwhelm them with sheer quantity
of claims—disregarding the veracity or strength
of the arguments advanced—so that they are
unable to respond to everything, and the
audience is left thinking that something in
that onslaught must be accurate. In last
week’s New York Times Sunday Review,
Bret Stephens runs through a litany of
Israeli talking points and propaganda.
None of them are particularly original,
convincing, or true.”]

Matar, Haggai. “Why HBO's 'Our Boys’ is
a victory for Israeli hasbara. By calling to
boycott HBO’s ‘Our Boys,’ Prime Minister
Netanyahu misses the fact that the series
ends up erasing the occupation’s greatest
iniquities while supporting the dominant
Israeli narrative,” +972, September 2, 2019.

IDF Spokesperson: We Need Proactive
"Hasbara", not Reactive / Israel National
News - Arutz Sheva, January 7, 2012

Mitchell, Sarit. "If it quacks like a duck:
NGO Monitor’s ties to the Israeli government.
NGO Monitor is not a right-wing organization
in the classic sense of the word. It has
supported every Israeli government. Yet in
all its years, the group has not seen fit to
research right-wing organizations working
to bolster the occupation,” +972, July 26,
2017. Also see Charity and Security Network,
"The Alarming Rise of Lawfare to Suppress
Civil Society: The Case of Palestine and
Israel,”  September 28, 2021. 

Mlyn, Noah Back. “Why I Refuse To Go On Birthright
— And You Should, Too,” The Forward, October 2, 2017.

Moussa, Emad. "‘Fauda’ season 3:
Clumsy hasbara in the imagined Gaza
dystopia,” Mondoweiss, October 14, 2020.

Munayyer, Yousef. “‘Does Israel Have
A Right To Exist’ Is A Trick Question,”
The Forward, January 22, 2019. [Excerpt:
"The question should not be “Does Israel
have a right to exist” but rather, “Is the way
in which Israel exists right?” And for us
Palestinians at least, the answer is clearly no.”]

Nassar, Tamara. “Activists disrupt Israeli
ambassador in Chicago,” Electronic Intifada,
 June 6, 2018.

Nassar, Tamara. "How Facebook
helps Israel hide its crimes,” Electronic
Intifada, October 20, 2021. [Excerpt: “Last
week, Facebook announced it was hiring
an outside consultancy to investigate
accusations that it was censoring
content favorable to Palestinians.
There is plenty of evidence of
suppression for the investigators
to look into.”]

Nassar, Tamara. “Teens forced to take
Israel propaganda course before overseas
trips,” Electronic Intifada, July 19, 2019.

Nathan-Kazis, Josh. “Canary Mission’s Threat
Grows, From U.S. Campuses To The Israeli
Border,” The Forward, August 3, 2018.

North, James. "‘NY Times’ uses old tricks to distort
Israel’s latest attacks on Gaza,” Mondoweiss, July 15, 2018.

Norton, Ben. “They don’t value life”: How empire
dehumanizes its victims, from Indigenous genocide to
Vietnam to Palestine,” BenNorton.com, July 6, 2017.

Noy, Orly. "For the Jewish state, the Holocaust
is a tool to be manipulated. If Zionism previously
justified its crimes against the Palestinians in the
name of the Holocaust, today it uses it as a tool
to justify antisemitism itself,” +972, November
20, 2020. [Excerpt: "Yad Vashem’s fondness for
fascists and war criminals is no secret either.
Since Apartheid South Africa’s Prime Minister
John Worster, a member of a pro-Nazi
organization during World War II, visited Yad
Vashem in 1976, the museum has hosted a
delegation of Myanmar’s military junta
responsible for war crimes and crimes
against humanity. It has opened its doors to
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, the man
who has praised Hitler and openly supports
the physical extermination of LGBTQ people,
Brazil’s indigenous population and a host of
other atrocities, including rape, torture and
military dictatorship. It has even hosted
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who
has expressed support for Miklós Horthy,
Hungary’s antisemitic leader during World
War II; and South Sudan’s Anthony Lino
Makana, a senior official in a government
responsible for war crimes and crimes
against humanity.”]

Ofir, Jonathan. "‘Ethnic cleansing’ becomes ‘No ethnic
cleansing’ in Israeli history by Benny Morris,” Mondoweiss,
October 10, 2016. [Excerpt: “Something like a cage has
to be built for them. I know that sounds terrible. It is really
cruel. But there is no choice. There is a wild animal there
that has to be locked up in one way or another.”]

Ofir, Jonathan. “In Israel, I’m washed in the brainwash,”
Mondoweiss, May 1, 2019. [Excerpt: "Haaretz journalist
Amira Hass made this comparison two years ago: The
onslaughts on Gaza have introduced to our world three
terms that have no right to exist: proportionate killing,
collateral damage and target bank. These terms have
become axiomatic beyond question or reflection. How
would these axioms work if we sketched out the target
bank in the opposite direction? Every home where
there’s an Israeli soldier or reservist would be a legitimate
target for bombing; the civilians harmed would be
collateral damage. Every bank in Israel would be a target
because Israeli ministers and generals have accounts
there. The neighbors of the police station on Tel Aviv’s
Dizengoff Street ought to move because Shin Bet
security service officers operate there regularly and
the missile might miss and hit a nearby school.
Military bases and Shin Bet centers in the heart of
civilian neighborhoods – at the Kirya in Tel Aviv,
in the Jerusalem neighborhoods of Gilo and Neveh
Yaakov, or at the Binyamin Division headquarters
near the settlement of Beit El – condemn the
neighbors to a proportionate death.”]

Ofir, Jonathan. “Racism is at center of Israeli
settler-colonialist venture — Ronit Lentin,”
Mondoweiss, July 22, 2019. [Excerpt: "So this
is clearly an important discussion, one that
Israel apologists want to avoid – so as to maintain
that “veil” that Falk and Tilley refer to. The success
of the racialized system is dependent upon its
veiling through PR means, generally known
as Hasbara.”]

Ofir, Jonathan. “Roseanne Barr, queen of Israel,”
Mondoweiss, January 17, 2019.

Ofir, Jonathan. “When an Israeli settler is killed,
everyone notices,” Mondoweiss, September 21,
2018. [Mondoweiss’ summary: "Israeli Hasbarists
are exploiting the death of settler Ari Fuld for
propaganda value as they admonish people for
being insensitive, or even complicit, if they do
not mourn. At the same time, it is forbidden to
note that Palestinians are systematically being
dehumanized to death by the very ideology that
Ari Fuld was championing and is being openly
remembered for.”]

From The New York
Times, Feb 11, 2016. [“Abir
Kopty, a Palestinian
activist and blogger,
wryly agreed with
Ms.Berko’s linguistic
analysis on Twitter:
'Indeed, we are
Balestinians, not
Palestinians.’…Xavier
Abu Eid, an adviser to the Palestine Liberation Organization’s
negotiations department in the West Bank, posted on Twitter,
sarcastically: 'That’s the sweetest argument I’ve heard from
a member of Netanyahu’s coalition in order to justify
apartheid.’…Some noted, existentially, that the Jews
themselves were potentially in trouble since there is no
J in Hebrew. 'If Palestine and Palestinians don’t exist 
because there is no letter P in arabic, then I guess Jews
don’t exist because there’s no letter J in hebrew?’ Omar
Al Ghazzawi, said in a Twitter post.”] Also see Middle
East Eye, “Yair Netanyahu says Palestine does not exist
because there is no 'P' in Arabic. Prime minister's son faces
ridicule online as dubious academic theory gets
torn to shreds on Twitter,” April 23, 2019.

Palumbo-Liu, David. “Marc Lamont Hill and the
Israeli lobby on US campuses. Calls for Marc Lamont
Hill's 'dismissal' from Temple University shows Israel
is losing the battle at US universities, Al Jazeera,
December 10, 2018.

Parry, William. “De-colonising the mind - a former
Zionist fighter's journey. Tikva Honig-Parnass
joined the Palmach militia as it ethnically cleansed
Palestinians and now works to expose the crime,”
Al Jazeera, May 8, 2018.

Patel, Yumna. “Archaeologists on Twitter tear
down Netanyahu’s claims that Palestinians have
‘no connection’ to homeland,” Mondoweiss, July
10, 2019. [Excerpt: “Ali Abunimah, journalist and
co-founder of the Electronic Intifada news website
called Netanyahu’s comments a “warning sign of
genocide.” “This racial eugenics should be seen as
laying the ground for justifying the expulsion of the
Palestinian people. It’s a warning sign of genocide.
But remember these are the #SharedValues of
@EUinIsrael. https://t.co/Oe6m54BDWg — Ali
Abunimah (@AliAbunimah) July 7, 2019”]

Peled, Miko. “Go Forth and Lie” Israel Rolls
Out Mandatory Course for Students Travelling
Abroad. Israel new course to prepare high school
students traveling overseas to be good
“ambassadors” includes training on how to
combat BDS, claims of apartheid and more,”
MintPress News, July 9, 2019. [Excerpt: “While
Israel tries to portray a friendly face to the
outside world, internally it is promoting
racism and violence at levels that are more
alarming than ever before. A course to
prepare young high school students traveling
overseas to be good “ambassadors” stands in
contrast to racist policies and the advancement
of a military that is encouraged to exercise
unprecedented violence against civilians.”]

Pilger, John. “Why my film is under fire. The
pro-Israel lobby intimidates journalists to ensure
that most coverage remains biased in its favour,”
The Guardian [UK], September 23, 2002.

Plitnick, Mitchell. "Do you condemn
Hamas’ firing of rockets at Jerusalem
and other parts of Israel?” Cutting
Through [blog], May 10, 2021. ["So, do
you condemn Israel’s theft of land; its
denial of Palestinian rights; its deliberate
provocations and escalations in Jerusalem
and Sheikh Jarrah; and its willful inviting
of violence that devastates Palestinians
and even harms its own citizens, whom
it has a responsibility, as you so often
point out, to protect? I’ll wait.”]

Quigley, J. “The International Diplomacy of Israel’s
Founders. (2016) Cambridge (England):
Cambridge University Press. ["'Quigley shows
that throughout the history of Israel, its leaders
have given the international community false
assurances and falsified facts, and that many of
Israel's diplomatic achievements are the result
of this deception.' John Dugard, Former UN
Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the
Occupied Palestinian Territory.]

Ravid, Barak. "Foreign Ministry to Use Front
Groups for PR Efforts in Europe,” Haaretz,
May 30, 2010. [Excerpt: "The Foreign
Ministry is planning to use front groups
to transmit hasbara (public relations )
messages in order to influence senior
politicians, opinion shapers and journalists
in Europe, ministry sources said. The goal
is to create a public diplomacy track parallel
to the one used by the Foreign Ministry,
whose message does not bear the
"fingerprints" of the Israeli government,
the source said.”]

Rose, Liz. “A teacher’s look at Birthright’s study
abroad course description,” Mondoweiss, January 8, 2019.
[Excerpt: “[E]vasions and distortions in the Birthright
syllabus are dangerous because the “Arab” history
students are getting could sound legitimate to some
who don’t know much about the conflict....a closer
look reveals a sophisticated insidiousness that not only
exploits the very Palestinians who are ignored, but also
exploits the students who have come on the trip to
learn something. The Israeli multiculturalism syllabus
is manipulative; students are presented with a course
that claims to represent Israel’s diversity but ultimately
does nothing more than subtly perpetuate the erasure
of Palestinian life while lauding Israel.....[and] the ways
Israel ignores and fetshizes Palestinian culture isn’t
confined only to Birthright classes.”]

Sa'di, Yara. “Hasbara” courses at Israeli universities
exposed in new report,” Electronic Intifada, July 15, 2013.

Said, Edward. “Propaganda and war,” Media Monitors
Network, August 31, 2001. ["Never have the media
been so influential in determining the course of war
as during the Al-Aqsa Intifada, which, as far as the
Western media are concerned, has essentially become
a battle over images and ideas. Israel has already poured
hundreds of millions of dollars into what in Hebrew is
called hasbara, or information for the outside world
(hence, propaganda). This has included an entire range
of efforts: lunches and free trips for influential
journalists; seminars for Jewish university students
who over a week in a secluded country estate can be
primed to “defend” Israel on the campus; bombarding
congressmen and -women with invitations and visits;
pamphlets and, most important, money for election
campaigns; directing (or, as the case requires, harassing)
photographers and writers of the current Intifada into
producing certain images and not others; lecture and
concert tours by prominent Israelis; training
commentators to make frequent references to the
Holocaust and Israel’s predicament today; many
advertisements in the newspapers attacking Arabs
and praising Israel; and on and on. Because so many
powerful people in the media and publishing business
are strong supporters of Israel, the task is made
vastly easier.”]

"Professor Noam Chomsky, delivering the 2013
Edward W Said Lecture: Violence and Dignity
-- Reflections on the Middle East at Friends
House in London on 18th March 2013. This
video shows the full lecture, with introductions
by Omar Al-Qattan and Mariam C Said.”

Samel, David. "Bari Weiss clumsily regurgitates old
hasbara talking points,” Mondoweiss, February 23, 2019.

Samel, David. "The manufactured campus
antisemitism hysteria intensifies,” Mondoweiss,
February 14, 2020. [Excerpt: "Campuses are
portrayed as hotbeds of antisemitism where
Jewish students are physically unsafe, targeted
solely because of their religion and heritage.
This is part of a broader effort to prompt school
administrators and government officials to
impose restrictions on Palestinian rights
advocacy by inventing a crisis requiring
intervention to protect Jewish students.
Analysis of several recent incidents shows
how factually-questionable or even provably-
false reports are widely proliferated by a
gullible media to manufacture a fictional
campus antisemitism crisis.”]

Samih, Hussein. "The beautiful game: a history of
whitewashing international crimes,” Mondoweiss,
June 8, 2018.

Sela, Rona. "How Israel erases
Palestinian cultural memory,”
The Electronic Intifada, August 17,
2022. ["Israel’s looting of Palestinian
cultural and historical archives since
the first half of the 20th century has
been exposed and discussed for only
around the past two decades….Israel’s
purpose, however, is not to
preserve Palestinian historical
memory but to erase it from the
public sphere. Therefore, Palestinian
materials are not catalogued and
treated according to archival
standards and conventions but
are instead subjected to colonial
ones.”]

Shalom, Stephen. "‘NYT’ perpetuates myth Israel was
‘fighting for its very survival’ during 1967 war,”
Mondoweiss, January 29, 2015. [Also see James North,
"Israel provoked the Six-Day War in 1967, and it was
not fighting for survival,” Mondoweiss, June 2, 2017; 
James North, "‘To live or to perish’ — Norman Finkelstein
on the Six-Day-War and its mythology,” Mondoweiss,
 June 3, 2017.]

Sheizaf, Noam. "Hasbara: Why does the world fail to
understand us? A short discussion of the Israeli term
used to describe the ongoing, ever-growing, national
propaganda effort,” +972, November 13, 2011.
[Excerpt: "Hasbara represents only one side of
propaganda, as it is mostly aimed at foreign
audience. The use of the Hebrew term Hasbara
in a critical context, rather than “propaganda”
or “public diplomacy” (the title of the Wikipedia
entry on the issue), is necessary, because
Hasbara efforts are wider and their goals
much more ambitious than any similar
activities taken by all democracies and
most non-democracies. Hasbara targets
political elites, opinion makers and the
public simultaneously; it includes traditional
advocacy efforts as well as more general
appeals made through mass media, and it
is carried out by government agencies,
non-governmental organizations, lobbying
groups, private citizens, students, journalists
and bloggers.”]

Shezaf, Hagar. "Burying the Nakba: How Israel
Systematically Hides Evidence of 1948 Expulsion of
Arabs. Since early last decade, Defense Ministry
teams have scoured local archives and removed
troves of historic documents to conceal proof of
the Nakba,” Ha’aretz, July 4, 2019. [Excerpt: “Since
the start of the last decade, Defense Ministry teams
have been scouring Israel’s archives and removing
historic documents. But it’s not just papers relating
to Israel’s nuclear project or to the country’s
foreignrelations that are being transferred to
vaults: Hundreds of documents have been
concealed as part of a systematic effort to hide
evidence of the Nakba.”] [Behind paywall; see
coverage here.]

Silverstein, Richard. "Drafting Israeli Tourists
for World Hasbara,” Tikun Olam, February 10,
2010. [Excerpt: “I (Edelstein) intend to draft the
millions of Israeli citizens travelling abroad to take
an active part in the Israeli hasbara apparatus,”
Edelstein said. He figured that over 4.2 million
Israelis travel overseas annually. Soon, he said,
his ministry will launch a campaign to instruct
Israeli travelers how they can do the job. He’s
even planning to dedicate a special website t
that purpose.”] 

Silverstein, Richard. "IDF Exploits Gaza Child Cancer
Victims to Score Hasbara Points,” Tikun Olam, April
29, 2016.

Silverstein, Richard. "IDF Needs a Few Good
Hasbara Hackers,” Tikun Olam, February 10, 2011.

Silverstein, Richard. "Israeli Settler Minister:
We Published Pictures of Corpses for Hasbara,”
Tikun Olam, March 14, 2011. [Excerpt: “What
astonishes is an Israeli minister publicly
admitting that he’s exploiting the dead for
the propaganda value of their images. This
is one of the worst sins Judaism can imagine:
exploitation of the dead. It’s a hillul ha-Shem,
a desecration of the divine name. Edelstein,
who is a settler himself and Orthodox Jew,
has allowed Israel to become his religion,
while abandoning his actual religion.”]

Silverstein, Richard. "Israel’s Newest Form of
Hasbara: Mommy-washing,” Tikun Olam,
May 11, 2015.

Silverstein, Richard. "Join IDF’s Virtual Hasbara
Army,” Tikun Olam, July 4, 2012.

Silverstein, Richard. "Mr. Hasbara’s Dog and Pony
Show Hits Seattle,” Tikun Olam, September 24, 2016.

Silverstein, Richard. "New Pro-Israel Hasbara
Meme: Blackwashing,” Tikun Olam,
January19, 2012. [Excerpt: “Israel lobby
groups like Aipac have worked closely cultivating
relationships on college campuses with African-American
students. They send these young leaders to Aipac
conferences where they can be trotted out to the
media as witnesses for the defense to combat the
BDS campaign to label Israel as an apartheid state.”] 

Silverstein, Richard. "StandWithUs’ New Faux “Muslim
Zionist,” Tikun Olam, September 13, 2018.

Silverstein, Richard. "The Israel Project’s Secret
Hasbara Handbook Exposed,” Tikun Olam, July 10, 2009.

Silverstein, Richard. "The Weird, Wacky Wonderful
World of Israeli Hasbara,” Tikun Olam. December 31, 2015.

Silverstein, Richard. "Wide-Ranging Social Media
Crackdown on Content Criticizing Israel,” Tikun Olam,
October 12, 2018.

Solomon, Norman. "Media Spin Remains In Sync
With Israeli Occupation,” Fairness and Accuracy in
Reporting [FAIR], October 12, 2000. ["As for the
rock-throwing Palestinians, I have never seen or
heard a single American news account describing
them as "pro-democracy demonstrators." Yet that
would be an appropriate way to refer to people who
— after more than three decades of living under
occupation — are in the streets to demand self-
determination. While Israeli soldiers and police,
with their vastly superior firepower, do most of
the killing, Israel’s public-relations engines keep
whirling like well-oiled tops. Early this month,
tilted by the usual spin, American news stories
highlighted the specious ultimatums issued by
Prime Minister Ehud Barak as he demanded that
Palestinians end the violence — while uniformed
Israelis under his authority continued to
kill them.”]

Sternfeld, Lior and Menashe Anzi, “Israel
Is Rewriting the History of Middle Eastern
Jews for Propaganda. After decades of being
virtually absent from historical discourse in
Israel, its communities of Jews from Middle
Eastern and North African lands are finally
getting their due, albeit in a partial and
revisionist way, Haaretz, December 2, 2019

#TheOnlyDemocracyintheMiddleEast ®™

Suarez, Tom. "Challenging smears by the ‘Jewish
Chronicle,’ Mondoweiss, April 22, 2019.

Suarez, Tom. "Palestine: Five pivotal media
fudges that empower Israel’s crimes,”
Mondoweiss, May 15, 2021. ["The western
mass media’s coverage of the so-called “conflict”
in Israel-Palestine is so flawed as to turn
upside-down the public’s understanding of
what is happening. Following are five specific
points that are particularly relevant to the
current violence.”]

Surasky, Cecily. "Hasbara Handbook: How to pretend
to debate while smashing your opponent,” MuzzleWatch,
March 19, 2009.

Weiss, Philip. "Blind to apartheid, Tom
Friedman offers Israel as model for U.S.
democracy. Offering the new Israeli government
as a model for fixing American democracy,
Tom Friedman leaves out that numerous human
rights organizations say it practices apartheid,”
Mondoweiss, January 12, 2022. ["There is no
awareness that this government is just as
rightwing in policy as Netanyahu, that Yair
Lapid whom Friedman casts as a leftist is a
telegenic expansionist in a long line of Jewish
supremacists, and that “super-liberals” in the
new government are apologists for Jewish
colonization. No mention of the fact that
one human rights organization after another
has issued reports saying Israel is an
apartheid state. No awareness that the
rightwing pro-Zionist Arab party in the
Israeli government is not representative
of the overwhelming majority of Palestinians
who resent what is at best second class
citizenship. No awareness that the Israeli
government exalts the Jewish Nation State
law that grants exclusive language and
land rights to Jews.”]

Weiss, Philip. “Hasbara is Dead,” Mondoweiss, July
10, 2018.

White, Ben. "Abba Eban’s comments on the idiocy
of hasbara just as true three decades later,”
Electronic Intifada, February 18, 2019.  

White, Ben. “Answering five common objections to Israeli
Apartheid Week,” Medium.com, February 28, 2017.

Winstanley, Asa. “Inside Israel’s Million Dollar
Troll Army,” June 12, 2019. ["A global influence
campaign funded by the Israeli government had
a $1.1 million budget last year, a document
obtained by The Electronic Intifada shows. Act.IL
says it has offices in three countries and an online
army of more than 15,000….The report obtained
by The Electronic Intifada makes it clear that Act.IL
employees and volunteers are told not to disclose
their links to the organization while disseminating
Israeli disinformation.”]

Winstanley, Asa. "Israel lobby’s “commando force”
taken out,” Electronic Intifada, August 15, 2019.
["One of America’s most influential pro-Israel lobby
groups has fired all its staff and closed down its offices.
The Israel Project, known as TIP, closed its Jerusalem
office last month, after reports of a funding crisis.”]

Winstanley, Asa. “Israel’s covert terror campaign against
human rights groups says a lot about the regime,”
Middle East Monitor, July 23, 2017. ["Israel now has an
entire government department dedicated to combating
Palestine solidarity efforts, which are slandered as
“delegitimisation” of the state. This Ministry of Strategic
Affairs, it was revealed in the Israeli media last year, is
engaged in “black-ops” against Palestine solidarity
groups and human rights defenders. These include
stalking, harassment and death threats against civilians.”]

[Humor from The Hard Times]

 

Winstanley, Asa. “Meet the spies injecting Israeli
propaganda into your news feed,” Electronic Intifada,
January 24, 2018. ["When Sima Vaknin-Gil took over
as director-general of Israel’s Ministry of Strategic
Affairs at the start of 2016, a crucial fact went largely
unnoticed. For years, she had been a high-ranking
officer with an Israeli spy agency. This means that for
the last two years a former intelligence officer has been
running Israel’s global war against BDS, the boycott,
divestment and sanctions movement. Her ministerial
boss is Gilad Erdan, a key ally of Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu. They were last month revealed
to have spent huge sums creating anti-BDS
propaganda targeting social media and news
media. It should be a big wake up call to all
defenders of free speech and human rights when
a peaceful civil society campaign is targeted by spy
agencies responsible for hacking, torture,
kidnapping and murder in Palestine and around
the world.”]

Zonszein, Mairav. “Israeli settlements are a regular
destination on Birthright trips. For years, Birthright
has been taking participants into the occupied
territories, usually without their knowledge or consent.
‘At the end of the day, we Israelis always have been
less than truthful about where those lines and
boundaries are for tourists,’ one former tour
operator says,” +972, July 16, 2019.

Zonszein, Mairav. “Jewish, Israeli scholars back
African intellectual smeared for Israel criticism.
Germany’s antisemitism czar sparked backlash
after trying to cancel an event with Achille
Mbembe for comparing Israel to apartheid
South Africa,” +972, May 10, 2020. [“A
group of prominent Israeli and Jewish
scholars, many of whom specialize in the
study of the Holocaust, antisemitism, and
Israel, have called on Germany’s interior
minister to fire Felix Klein, the federal
commissioner for Jewish life and the fight
against antisemitism, following what they
described as his “shameful attack” on
renowned African professor Achille Mbembe.”]

“Watch the film the Israel lobby didn’t want you to see":

Episode 1: The Covert War

Episode 2: Managing Elites

Episode 3: The Witch Hunt

Episode 4: Marketing Occupation

What does "The Israel Lobby - US" documentary reveal about the lobby in America? - Ali Abunimah

Watch “The Occupation of the American Mind” HERE
[https://www.occupationmovie.org/]

Full documentary: “The Occupation of the American Mind;
Israel’s Public Relations War in the United States” [1:24; 2016]
"Narrated by Roger Waters and featuring leading observers of
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and U.S. media culture, the film
explores how the Israeli government, the U.S. government, and
the pro-Israel lobby have joined forces, often with very different
motives, to shape American media coverage of the conflict in
Israel's favor. From the U.S.-based public relations campaigns
that emerged in the 1980s to today, the film provides a sweeping
analysis of Israel's decades-long battle for the hearts, minds,
and tax dollars of the American people in the face of widening
international condemnation of its increasingly right-wing
policies. Narrated by Roger Waters / Featuring Amira Hass,
M.J. Rosenberg, Stephen M. Walt, Noam Chomsky, Rula
Jebreal, Henry Siegman, Rashid Khalidi, Rami Khouri, Yousef
Munayyer, Norman Finkelstein, Max Blumenthal, Phyllis
Bennis, Norman Solomon, Mark Crispin Miller, Peter Hart,
and Sut Jhally.”/ “The Occupation of the American Mind is
one of the most brilliant and important documentaries I
have ever seen.” — Robert W. McChesney, Professor of
Communication, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign/
“The Occupation of the American Mind is a must see for
anyone who is against colonization.” — Neve Gordon,
Professor of Politics, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev,
Israel / “A stunning exposé on how propaganda drives
public opinion and, in turn, our understanding of reality.”
— Douglas Rushkoff, Professor, Media Theory, CUNY

Noura Erakat [in CBSN interview] responding to Israeli talking points
about Gaza and the US Embassy move [May 15, 2018]

Short video: “Making Israel Sound Not So Bad” [2:20, 2013]

“Between The Lines" - a documentary on Israel Education
[hasbara in American Jewish day schools] [28:23. 2015] / If
there is an indication ABOVE that that the “video does not
exist,” that is incorrect, and the video can easily be viewed on
VIMEO by following this link: https://vimeo.com/135997352

“Jews are walking off their Birthright tours of
Israel in favor of learning firsthand about
Palestine” [3:48, 2018] / IF THE VIDEO ABOVE
BECOMES UNAVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE,
view it HERE.

"Watch the Q&A discussion with panelists:
Grant F. Smith: Author; Director, Institute
for Research: Middle Eastern Policy; Edward
Ahmed Mitchell: National Deputy Director,
Council on American-Islamic Relations; Rebecca
Vilkomerson (moderator): Author; former
Executive Director, Jewish Voice for Peace”
[1:26:00, April 24, 2023]

“Noura Erakat Destroys False Rhetoric On Palestine …"

"Letter published in a newspaper in Wales in the summer of 2014"

Matt Lieb: “Why Criticism Of Israel Isn't Antisemitism"

“These young Palestinians have a message for their stars from Hindi movies.”
#LoveBollywoodHateApartheid [1:59, 2018]

"Solidarity: Five Largely Unknown Truths about Israel,
Palestine and the Occupied Territories" / A film by
Bill Peck featuring Noor Al-Naji, Marc H. Ellis,
Haithem El-Zabri, Tura Campanella Cook,
Ahmad Zamer, Mark McKim. See: "Unpacking the
lies and stating the case for Palestine solidarity,”
by Nora Barrows Friedman, Electronic Intifada,
February 6, 2020.

“Alternate Focus interviews Nurit Peled-Elhanan, author of the
forthcoming book Palestine in Israeli School Books: Ideology
and Propaganda in Education.  Nurit Peled-Elhanan argues that
the textbooks used in the school system are laced with a
pro-Israel ideology, and that they play a part in priming
Israeli children for military service. She analyzes the
presentation of images, maps, layouts and use of language
in History, Geography and Civic Studies textbooks, and
reveals how the books might be seen to marginalize
Palestinians, legitimize Israeli military action and
reinforce Jewish-Israeli territorial identity.” [11/23/11]

On Dec. 10, 1948, the United Nations adopted the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Shulamit Aloni [Israeli Minister without portfolio (1974), Minister
of Education and Culture (1992-1993), Minister of Science and
the Arts (1993-1996), Minister of Communications
(1993-1996); recipient (2000) of the Israel Prize, for her
lifetime achievements and special contribution to society
and the State of Israel]: “From Europe somebody is criticising Israel
then we bring up the Holocaust. When in this country people
are criticising Israel then they are anti-Semitic …. [I]t is very
easy to blame people who criticize certain acts of the Israeli
government as anti-Semitic, and to bring up the Holocaust
and the suffering of the Jewish people, and that justifies
everything we do to the Palestinians.” [2002]

Noam Chomsky - The 5 Filters of the Mass Media Machine

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