In this episode of “Occupied Thoughts,” FMEP 2023 non-resident fellow Rabea Eghbariah speaks with Abdullah (last name withheld), a tour guide from Hebron (Al-Khalil). The conversation touches on the history of Hebron, the development of the Israeli settlement project in the city post its 1967 occupation, and the division of the city into H1/H2 zones following the Oslo Accords. We also hear from Abdullah about the dystopian reality of living under hyper-militarization and the pervasive surveillance in the city.

1. Israeli Government Leaders & Settlers Prep Plans to “Intensify” Settlement Construction in Wake of Deadly Shootings
2. Israel Passes 5-Year Plan & $850 Million Budget for East Jerusalem Development
3. Settlement Expansion, Settler Violence
4. News from/about the U.S.
5. Bonus Reads/Listens

1.Bills, Resolutions & Letters
2. House Dems’ Most Excellent Recess Adventure Celebrating Israel & AIPAC – continued
3. Israel & AIPAC in the 2024 Election Cycle (things are heating up)
4. Media & Reports
5. Members on the Record

NOTE: The Congressional Research Service issues two Israel-related reports this month – Israel: Controversy over Judicial System Changes and Proposals (8/4/23) & Israel: Major Issues and U.S. Relations – Updated August 15, 2023

“Dozens of Palestinians were wounded on Saturday evening during Israeli military raids of towns south of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank, as part of a search for an assailant who earlier in the day shot and killed two settlers near the town of Huwwara. Simultaneously, settler groups carried out revenge attacks on Palestinian homes and properties in several towns and villages across the West Bank…Several other nearby villages and towns were also raided and searched, with their main entrances closed, which resulted in traffic jams, with others caused by military barriers that were erected all around the city of Nablus…As the raids were underway, settlers, protected by the Israeli army, launched several attacks on Saturday night and Sunday morning, targeting Palestinian homes and vehicles.” See also Israel settlers attack Palestinians, property in West Bank (New Arab); Two Israelis killed by suspected Palestinian gunman; manhunt under way (Al Jazeera); Israeli settler killed in West Bank shooting (Middle East Eye); Netanyahu says Iran behind attacks as Israeli killed in Hebron shooting (Al Jazeera); Settlement leaders call on Israeli government to ‘turn the table’ on PA (i24news): West Bank settlement leaders organized a press conference protest, outside the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, to demand action in light of the current security situation. “Our friends in the government, we are asking you to turn the table. Because, if you don’t do it, we will…” Shomron regional council head Yossi Dagan declared.”

“Israel’s far-right government pledged on Tuesday to strike at Palestinian assailants, and those sending them to attack, amid what is being described as the bloodiest year in the occupied West Bank since the second Palestinian uprising about two decades ago…So far this year, about 180 Palestinians have been killed, mostly in clashes with the Israeli military or while carrying out attacks against Israelis. Uninvolved bystanders have also been killed. About 33 Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks also this year, more than 20 of them in or near settlements or on roads in the West Bank.” See also At least 70 Palestinians in Jenin killed by Israeli forces in 2023 (New Arab); How Israel targets Palestinian first responders in occupied West Bank (Al Jazeera: The United Nations says 77 healthcare workers were injured and 30 ambulances damaged this year trying to assist Palestinians.) Israel’s ruling right hunts for scapegoats in West Bank attacks (Al Monitor); Palestinian teen killed in Israeli raid in northern occupied West Bank (Al Jazeera); Palestinian dies days after shooting by Israeli forces during West Bank raid (Middle East Eye); See also Israel Pushes to Demolish Home of 13-year-old Palestinian Who Carried Out Stabbing Attack (“The boy’s family says it didn’t know of his intentions to stab a Border Police officer, while the state argues the family holds greater responsibility because of the boy’s young age. ‘The goal is for parents to discourage kids from committing attacks’”); High Court rejects appeal against demolishing 13-year-old Palestinian attacker’s home (ToI)

“A Palestinian is in critical condition after being shot on Monday by Israeli security personnel in the West Bank. According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, the incident occurred in the West Bank village of Beita, near Nablus. In a video recording the shooting, the victim can be seen walking down the street as he is shot in the back, despite being unarmed.” See also the video, posted by B’Tselem: “What you see in this video is 32-years-old ‘Amid Raleb al-Ja’oub, rushing to help another Palestinian who was wounded by Israeli forces in Beita, then being shot himself by them in the back of the neck and collapsing to the ground. Al-Ja’oub, a father of three, works as an electrician. He is now hospitalized in critical condition and doctors are fighting for his life. August 21, 2023”

“Lawyers for a Palestinian man who was arrested by the Israeli police said officers beat him and imprinted his face with a Star of David, and they have demanded an investigation. The police denied the accusation, saying it was misleading. The man, Arwa Sheikh Ali, 22, was arrested on Wednesday as part of an investigation into drug dealing in the Shuafat refugee camp in East Jerusalem, where Mr. Sheikh Ali lives. Rights advocates said Mr. Sheikh Ali’s injuries were indicative of a broader problem of brutality by Israeli forces, especially against Palestinians…A photograph the police issued of Mr. Sheikh Ali’s injuries showed wounds on his upper left cheek, underneath a black eye, that resembled two incomplete triangles and horizontal lines…“When his lawyer visited him, he saw that he was heavily beaten, and he saw a sign that looks like a Star of David,” [Vadim] Shub, [head of the Jerusalem public defenders office, which is representing Mr. Sheikh Ali] said. Mr. Shub said that 16 officers had been present during Mr. Sheikh Ali’s arrest but that there was no body-camera footage. The police did not answer questions about the lack of recordings.”

“The exodus from al-Qabun, a small Bedouin village northeast of the city of Ramallah that numbered 89 people before the evacuation, represents the third case over four months in which a Palestinian community emptied out, according to data from U.N. monitors. Residents blame mounting settler violence. For Palestinians, the recent wave of departures from Area C — the 60% of the West Bank that has remained under Israeli military control since interim peace accords from the 1990s — is emblematic of a new stage in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as Jewish settlers double down on shepherding as a tool to seize land. United Nations officials warn the trend is changing the map of the West Bank, entrenching unauthorized outposts.” See also US alarmed by Israeli demolition of Palestinian school in West Bank (ToI): “Israel demolished the school, which was funded by the European Union, last week on the grounds that it was built without the necessary permits. Palestinians say they are forced to build illegally as Israel almost exclusively reserves permits in Area C of the West Bank for settlers.””

“Speaking in an interview with Israel’s Channel 12, Ben Gvir was asked about the increasing tensions in the West Bank, which in recent weeks has seen Palestinians and Israeli settlers being killed. Ben Gvir said that his rights were “more important” than those of Palestinians and more needed to be done to ensure the security of Jewish settlers…“My right, and my wife’s and my children’s right to get around on the roads in Judea and Samaria, is more important than the right to movement for Arabs,” said Ben Gvir, using Jewish nationalist terms for areas of the West Bank…“Sorry Mohammad,” Ben Gvir went on to tell Channel 12 journalist Mohammad Magadli, “but that’s the reality. That’s the truth. My right to life comes before their right to movement.” Mairav Zonszein, a senior Israeli analyst with the Crisis Group, said that that Ben Gvir spoke the “quiet part out loud” – in reference to disdain many on the Israeli right have for Palestinian life. Ahmad Tibi, an MP and Palestinian citizen of Israel, called Ben Gvir’s comments proof that Israel doesn’t value Palestinian life. “For the first time, an Israeli minister admits on air that Israel enforces an apartheid regime, based on Jewish supremacy,” Tibi said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.” See also Ben-Gvir says Israeli rights trump Palestinian freedom of movement (Al Jazeera); Israel’s Ben-Gvir: ‘My Right to Life Is More Important Than Arabs’ Freedom of Movement’ (Haaretz); For the video with English subtitles, see this link.

“On 22 August 2023, the Israeli Ofer Military Court convicted human rights defender Sami Huraini on two counts, “insulting a member of the border police” and “disturbing the public order”. The human rights defender was acquitted of the third count of “entering a closed military area”. Sami Huraini has been facing judicial harassment by the Israeli military court system since the beginning of 2021.” See also this Instagram post from Sami Huraini on August 22nd about his conviction: “I will be punished for crimes I never committed. This unjust and unfair trial, in a court run by the Israeli occupation and operated by Israeli settlers, began when I and other activists called for justice for Harun Abu Aram by participating in a peaceful protest in 2021. Harun was shot by an Israeli soldier in the neck at point blank while he was trying to stop the army from confiscating a power generator belonging to his family in January 2021. Harun was paralyzed for two years until his death in February 2023 after he succumbed to his wounds. The Israeli murderer of Harun is free and was never, and will never be held accountable by Israel. On the other hand, as a human rights defender, I am being punished for defending my people’s human rights. This is part of Israeli attempts to silence and repress HRDs in their struggle for justice, freedom and human rights. Thank you all for attending today’s verdict hearing and for your solidarity and support. Please raise your voices in support of HRDs in Masafer Yatta and beyond. #DefendTheDefenders, #StopTargetingSami” See also Youth of Sumud: Masafer Yatta on the frontline of Israeli apartheid and erasure (New Arab)

“The small area Palestinian fishers can access under Israel’s at-times violent blockade of the besieged enclave is usually overcrowded with people trying to make a living, resulting in overfishing that has depleted fish stocks…More than 200 fishers stood together on the docks of Gaza’s seaport on Tuesday to voice their anger at the continuing Israeli violations against them and to demand immediate international intervention. The demonstration in the besieged enclave came as a round of escalation in the last 10 days saw the arrest of at least six fisherfolk and the seizure of multiple boats, according to Zakaria Bakr, the head of Gaza’s fishermen union. Fishers who operate off the coast of Gaza are constantly chased, harassed, intimidated and even killed by Israeli forces, he said.”

“One thousand Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails entered a collective hunger strike late on Thursday, 17 August, in protest of the “Israeli prison service’s aggression against prisoners”, according to a statement by the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club…The raids occurred a day after Israel’s far-right security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited the Negev prison, in which he said that Palestinian prisoners enjoy “too much courtyard time”. Ben-Gvir added that the inmates’ daily one-hour courtyard time, their only chance of exposure to sunlight, “needs a way to be cut shorter”, as quoted by Israeli media.” See also Israel minister Ben-Gvir’s Palestinian prisoner proposals risk ‘explosion’, advocacy group warns (New Arab)

“A ministerial panel established to address rampant violent crime in Arab towns has tasked the Shin Bet security service with assisting police operations in combatting some crime in the Arab community, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said after the forum convened on Wednesday…A deadly crime surge in Arab communities continues to shatter records set over the past few years…Netanyahu and far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir have called to involve the Shin Bet in the fight against violent crime, which is not explicitly in the agency’s remit…” See also If Shin Bet Gets Involved in Fight Against Crime in Arab Society, Israel ‘Will Become a Different Country,’ Chief Says (Haaretz): ; ‘A State of Emergency’ | Quadruple Murder in Northern Israeli Arab Town Sparks Unprecedented Shock and Anger (Haaretz); Arab Israelis protest as crime soars, development funds stay frozen (Al Monitor); 4 killed, including mayoral candidate, amid spiraling gun violence in Arab community (Haaretz)

“For decades, unconditional support of Israel represented a rare source of elite consensus in US politics. That era is coming to an end…Regardless of their individual motivations, this cacophony of voices indicates a major elevation of a subject that has long been considered taboo in mainstream national discourse around Israel-Palestine. But rather than simply welcoming Friedman, Kristof, and the rest to the better side of the argument, we should use this opening to push the discourse further. Because even if the US conditioned or outright cut the funding it provides to Israel on account of its treatment of Palestinians, it would likely not be enough to deter Israel’s increasingly extremist leaders. Only by conditioning US aid alongside more assertive punitive measures such as divestment and sanctions can the US effectively pressure Israel to bring an end to occupation and apartheid.”

“Visiting New York City Mayor Eric Adams sits down with a senior settler leader in a meeting facilitated by Foreign Minister Eli Cohen. Adams and Binyamin Regional Council chair Yisrael Gantz discussed cooperation in the fields of tourism and education, Gantz’s office says. Adams agreed to tour the settlements with Gantz the next time they meet, the Binyamin Regional Council’s office says. “Binyamin and Israel have an important friend in the mayor of New York City,” Gantz says in a statement.” See also Inside Mayor Eric Adams’ atypical trip to Israel (Politico)

“Earlier this spring, Jonathan Greenblatt, who took over as director of the Anti-Defamation League in 2015 after nearly 30 years of Abe Foxman’s leadership, used his keynote address at the ADL’s annual leadership summit to chart what sounded to many like a clear break from its past of denouncing hate speech from both sides of the political spectrum. Greenblatt had virtually nothing to say about the rise of white Christian nationalism, together with its undeniably antisemitic “replacement theory” that has mesmerized so many MAGA supporters and inspired murderous violence against Jews, people of color, immigrants, Muslims, LGBTQ, and other vulnerable members of the population. Instead, he focused his ire on what the ADL calls “hostile anti-Zionist activists groups” like Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace, which loudly criticize and protest against Israel on America’s college campuses, calling them “the photo inverse of the extreme right.”… The ADL counts certain sorts of criticism of Israel, including straightforward statements of Palestinian solidarity, in its statistics on antisemitism—even if no mention is made of Jews, and even if those doing the criticizing are themselves Jews. What’s more, the group is not exactly subtle about any distinctions to be made when it comes to this most complicated of issues. In 2022, Greenblatt made the organization’s position crystal clear when he announced: “Anti-Zionism is antisemitism, full stop.” Speaking to an audience at the Aspen Ideas Festival more recently, he instructed the crowd that the words “free Palestine,” when said to a Jewish person, were “antisemitic, plain and simple.””

“Over the past 12 years, the president, also known as Abu Mazen, has ousted and exiled potential rivals, detained opposition figures, and quashed dissent, both within his Fatah movement that dominates the PA and across the West Bank. With the Palestinian parliament dissolved, judiciary sidelined, and his party hollowed out, Mr. Abbas and a handful of allies now rule the West Bank alone. The result, observers and Palestinians say, is a self-inflicted leadership crisis: The PA commands little popular support, its control over territory is diminishing rapidly, and the one man holding together the PA – a legacy of the 1993 Oslo Accords with Israel – may soon be responsible for unraveling it. For Palestinians, uncertainty over the succession process comes amid a whirl of public apathy, rising settler violence under a far-right Israeli government, spiraling crime, and the emergence of militias targeting Israelis and clashing with PA security services.”

“Israel’s terrorists of the ’80s faced no real consequences. Now, their children can be found in gov’t and media — and committing their own acts of terror…Settler terrorism has always received support from the settler public. But contrary to the days of the Jewish Underground, today that support comes directly from the government, which includes ministers who have been convicted of supporting terror, like Itamar Ben Gvir, or suspected of planning acts of terror, like Smotrich.” See also Israel’s TikTok Extremists (Sophia Goodfriend//Jewish Currents): “Far-right content has taken Israeli TikTok by storm, rallying the country’s youth in support of Jewish supremacy.”

“In a conversation with his pilots about a week ago, IAF commander Tomer Bar admitted that the preparedness of his force had been diminished. In an interview with Haaretz published last week, Amikam Norkin, until a year ago the commander of the IAF, said that the force has “until the end of the year” before it sees a significant decline in fitness. But precisely when the damage to the IAF’s competence becomes real, precisely when the ability to bomb Iran, Syria, or Lebanon grows ever more distant, Netanyahu is giving the impression that he has no intention of folding. On the contrary, he has announced that he intends to press ahead with the next stage of the judicial overhaul…Rather than stopping, Netanyahu seems to be racing toward a constitutional crisis the likes of which Israel has never known…Today, Israel uses its military power not to defend against an Iranian or Syrian threat, but to control the Palestinians in the occupied territories; this makes it possible to understand why Netanyahu is not so moved by the IAF’s “loss of fitness.” In fact, the main goal of the army today is to act as the policing army of occupation, and for that there really is no need for sophisticated aircraft. It is no coincidence that the army has been turning more and more to drone warfare over the last decades.”

See also No democracy, no academia (Science): “At this point, over 150 proposed bills that will alter the democratic nature of the country are in different stages of legislation. At least eight will directly limit academic freedom, freedom of speech in academic institutions, and minority rights, enforced through sanctions to limit funding. These proposed laws, if passed, threaten the reputation and status of Israeli scholarship on the global stage. This would degrade the capacity of Israeli institutions to participate in the global community and to recruit leading scientists, and may trigger an exodus of the best and brightest scientists…Israel now finds itself at the vanguard of countries descending rapidly into a “hollow democracy” with weakened academia. To oppose this demise, the global academic community must unite and work together vigorously to resist attempts in Israel to undermine academic freedom.”

“The demand for closure continues to fester 70 years later concerning the disappearance of hundreds, perhaps more than 1,000 Jewish children whose families immigrated to Israel between 1948 and 1954. In the latest chapter in this painful saga, two groups recently filed a Freedom of Information request demanding that the Health Ministry publish a 2021 investigation into the case of the missing babies and toddlers whose families immigrated from Yemen to Israel in the early years of the state. That report concluded that medical teams influenced by racist ideas about the newly arrived families from underdeveloped countries separated parents from their children and put children up for adoption without authorization. However, the report was never made public, leaving family members and activists clamoring for the truth and demanding that the state take responsibility for the institutionalized racism of that time.”

“Germany and Israel have just signed the largest arms deal in Israel’s history. German critics are linking it to Chancellor Olaf Scholz allegedly blocking a statement on the legality of Israeli occupation recently, and pointing to possible ramifications for the Palestinians”

“A 43-page legal opinion, seen by the Guardian, was submitted by the UK last month as part of the ICJ’s fact-finding stage before an expected advisory opinion from the court on the legal consequences of the “occupation, settlement and annexation” of Palestinian land. The UK’s “amicus brief” opposes the hearing of the case in the ICJ altogether – a position shared by only a handful of the 57 opinions sent to the court by member states and non-governmental organisations. The UK statement has been met with dismay by Palestinian diplomats, as well as international humanitarian law experts, who say it ignores not just the fact that Israel’s occupation is entrenched, but that the situation is rapidly deteriorating.” See also Israeli embassy officials attempted to influence UK court cases, documents suggest (Guardian): “Israeli embassy officials in London attempted to get the attorney general’s office to intervene in UK court cases relating to the prosecution of protesters, documents seen by the Guardian suggest. The papers, obtained through a freedom of information (FoI) request by Palestine Action, indicate that embassy officials pressed for the director general of the attorney general’s office (AGO), Douglas Wilson, to interfere into cases related to protests on UK soil.”

“On July 17, the Israeli government voiced its official support for Morocco’s claim to sovereignty over the occupied territory of Western Sahara. On the same day as the announcement — which will likely pave the way for an exchange of ambassadors, following months of diplomatic stalling — Israel named its first military attaché to Rabat and proposed opening a permanent consulate in Dakhla, a Moroccan-controlled city in the Western Sahara. According to Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, the recognition of Morocco’s claims promises to “strengthen relations between the countries” and provide a basis for “peace and stability” across the region. In reality, however, the move signals a dangerous new direction in Israel’s foreign policy in the region. Since 2016, successive governments have attempted to focus their energies on publicly courting political and popular opinion across Africa. In 2021, Israel became an observer member of the African Union (AU) and committed to economic, social, and military projects in a number of countries. As Israel’s increasingly authoritarian policies continue to attract criticism at the AU, however, the Netanyahu government may be abandoning its attempts to build soft power and multilateral relationships, and instead placing a greater focus on security and intelligence ties to controversial African partners.”

“Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia and Argentina have all been invited to join the BRICS group of major developing countries, as the bloc seen as an alternative to the Western world order grows its influence.  BRICS currently comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, which is hosting the group’s summit in Johannesburg this week. The group already accounts for around 40% of the global population and a quarter of the world’s gross domestic product.”

“Israel will start exporting more natural gas to Egypt, its top energy official said on Wednesday, a move that will further cooperation between the two countries and may help alleviate Egypt’s electricity issues.”