Tag: Israel

Palestine

Egypt: Copts protest Trump’s Jerusalem move

Pope Tawadros II, leader Egypt's Coptic Church, has cancelled a meeting with US Vice President Mike Pence during his visit to Cairo later this month, in protest of the Trump administration's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Trump's decision "did not take into account the feelings of millions of Arab people," the church said in a statement, adding that it "declines to receive" Pence.

Planet Watch

Oil prices surge: vindication is tedious

We've been told for the past several years now that the depressed oil prices were permanent, thanks to fracking and the surge in US domestic production. Now prices are rising again, due to a convergence of crises in major producers: escalating tensions among the Gulf states, labor unrest in Nigeria, deepening instability in Venezuela. The US was able to contain the price spike after the ISIS irruption in 2014 by boosting its own production. This trick isn't going to work forever.

Palestine

Trump, Jerusalem, escalation and eschatology

If Trump is seeking to appease the Christian fundamentalist element of his base with his pledge to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, this should hardly be comforting to Jews. The evangelical fundis see Jewish control of Jerusalem only as fulfillment of Bible prophecies portending the End Times. What makes this wackiness dangerous is that with nuclear weapons, the human race now has the capacity to bring about the foreseen rain of fire and brimstone.

Syria

Further internationalization of Syrian war

Turkey sends more troops into Syria to fight jihadist factions in Idlib province, while Russia delivers more missiles to its military base at Tartus, and the US steps up bombardment of Raqqa in support of Kurdish forces in their drive to take the city from ISIS. Can these multiple foreign forces avoid attacking each other, even if accidentally, and sparking a wider war beyond Syria’s borders?

Palestine

Israel stripping Negev Bedouin of citizenship

Israeli authorities have revoked the citizenship of hundreds of Bedouin Palestinians in the Negev desert in recent years, leaving many stateless and without recourse to appeal the decision. Since the establishment of Israel in 1948 the Bedouin community has faced systematic dispossession and displacement, but the new policy—in place since 2010—essentially revokes their civil rights altogether.

Palestine

Jerusalem: sweeps in wake of attack

Israeli authorities revoked permits for Palestinians to enter Jerusalem and Israel in response to a deadly attack in East Jerusalem's Old City, rounding up hundreds in mass arrests.

Palestine

Israeli forces demolish Bedouin village —again

Israeli forces demolished the "unrecognized" Bedouin village of al-Araqib in the Negev for the 113th time since 2010 and for the fifth time this year—as residents persist in rebuilding.

Palestine

‘Jewish state’ bill approved for Knesset vote

Israel's cabinet approved the controversial "Jewish State" bill, which would revoke Arabic's status as an official language, clearing the way for a vote on the measure in the Knesset.

Palestine

No, Guterres. Anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism

UN chief Antonio Guterres' assertion that "denial of the right of the State of Israel to exist" is "the modern form of anti-Semitism" is an insult to anti-Zionist Jews worldwide.