Portside

For the time being, the MLA has taken an extreme and ethically untenable position by endorsing the idea, promoted by a group of members who were openly "assisted" by outside groups, that it is illegitimate for professional groups to protest Israel's policies towards its Palestinian subjects.

Since World War II Israel and its pre-state paramilitary organizations have assassinated more people than any other country in the Western world - some 2,300 "targeted killing operations," most of them against Palestinians, but also aimed at Egyptians, Syrians, Iranians and others. In the name of state security, Israeli officials didn't just walk the line of legality, they trampled it.

This review of the book “Ten Myths About Israel’ by Ilan Pappe will appear in the Winter 2018 ISSUES, the quarterly journal of the American Council for Judaism. The book is published by Verso.

Reader Comments: Constitutional Crisis - Trump vs. Truth; Tax Cuts Don't Spur Growth; Need to Drop All New Charges Against Lac-Mégantic Workers; Immigration - and Norwegians; Hugh Masekela; 'Two-state Solution'; Young Workers - Largest Union Gain; Football; Announcements: Jews in American Labor ; Bill Fletcher in Bay Area; Angela Davis, Patrisse Cullors in New York; Students' Right to Vote; Today in history - start of the sit-ins; and more....

When the Jewish 'hard' left leads the battle for one state, pushing the only political horizon that isn't apartheid, U.S. Jews attack us - for fighting for the same democratic values they prize so highly back home. The Netanyahu government has already deliberately, systematically and effectively eliminated the two-state solution.

On Dec. 18, New Zealand pop music sensation Lorde announced plans to play concerts in Israel and Russia. On Dec. 24, she announced the cancellation of her Israeli concert, which was scheduled for June 5 at the Tel Aviv Convention Centre. “I’m not too proud to admit I didn’t make the right call on this one,” she said in a statement.

The fact that Israel possesses nuclear weapons is not in dispute, but how did it procure them and with whose help? Val Reynoso investigates.

Leaders and members from twenty organizations will be barred entry into Israel. This also further isolates Palestine, since entry to Palestine is via Israel. One group, AFSC said: Our response to the Palestinian BDS call is in line with our similar support for divestment from apartheid South Africa and boycotts during the civil rights era." Here are statements from the banned groups: Joyce Ajlouny, Rebecca Vilkomerson and Ariel Gold.

Reader Comments: Puerto Rican Foreclosures; Israeli Teens Refuse Army; Israel Bans BDS Supporters; Worker Safety; Pension; Free Market; Settler Colonialism and the Second Amendment; Nuclear Testing; Pollution from U.S. Military Bases - in our country; U.S. history - Jim Crow South; Record Numbers Visit Cuba last year (from the U.S.); Women's March 2018 - January 20; Resources, Announcements; and more.....

"But the formality of this step — banning outright leaders and key members of a Jewish organization — is yet further concrete evidence of what has been apparent for some time: that even as the Israeli government makes crystal-clear its commitment to having as few non-Jews as possible within its borders, it is also becoming increasingly blatant about possessing criteria for the types of Jews it considers kosher."