NEW FROM FMEP
FMEP Legislative Round-Up February 21, 2025 (Lara Friedman)
1. Bills, Resolutions; 2. Letters; 3. Hearings; 4. Selected Members on the Record; 5. Selected Media & Press releases/Statements; See also FMEP Legislative Round-Up February 14, 2025 (Lara Friedman)
FMEP’s Weekly Settlement Report: February 21, 2025 (Kristin McCarthy)
Israel Advances Plans for 1,000 New Settlement Units; Israel Moves to Seize Armenian Patriarchate Land in Old City of Jerusalem; Settlers to Convene Conference Demanding Establishment of Gaza Settlements; Israel’s “Gazafication” of the West Bank Continues: News & Analysis; Settler Terrorism Continues; Knesset’s Multi-Pronged Attack on Civil Society; See also Settlement & Annexation Report: February 14, 2025 (Kristin McCarthy)
The Boomerang Effect: Power and Resistance in the U.S. and Palestine (Occupied Thoughts episode)
FMEP Fellow Ahmed Moor speaks with human rights attorney Professor Noura Erakat about her relationship to Palestine, the movement for Palestinian freedom, and the how she sees the ties among different and overlapping movements for justice and liberation. Drawing upon Noura’s recent article in the Boston Review, “The Boomerang Comes Back,” the two look at the ways in which state violence in the U.S. and Palestine reflect each other, the efforts to desensitize Americans to violence against Palestinians in both the U.S. and Palestine, and the political movement and mass mobilization that will guide us forward.
Criminalize, Censor, Surveil: Escalating Repression Against Advocates for Palestinian Rights (Occupied Thoughts episode)
FMEP Fellow Peter Beinart speaks with Dima Khalidi, the founder and director of Palestine Legal, the leading organization defending the civil and constitutional rights of people in the U.S. speaking out for Palestinian freedom. They discuss the different mechanisms that the Trump administration uses criminalize, censor, and repress people who speak out for Palestinian rights, including surveilling social media and applying racketeering and anti-terror laws to speech activity related to Israel. They also look at the historical context of repression over the last ten years plus, the concrete application and impact of labeling Palestinian advocacy as antisemitism, and how the effort to crush the Palestine movement opens the door to crushing all dissent in the United States.
Dissent & Resigning from Harvard (Occupied Thoughts episode)
FMEP Fellow Ahmed Moor speaks with Jay Ulfelder, a political scientist and former Program Director of the Nonviolent Action Lab at Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. The two discuss Jay’s decision to resign from Harvard Kennedy School after the school adopted the IHRA definition of antisemitism, which would cause Jay to, as he wrote in his resignation letter, “risk running afoul of the university’s anti-discrimination policies and harming the work of the Lab and the Ash Center” if he were to continue to speak publicly about Israel, Gaza, and Zionism. (You can read the full resignation letter below.) Additionally, the two discuss modeling practices for predicting genocide and political violence as well as the relationship between suppression of dissent and growing authoritarianism.
Sumūd: Poetry, Art, Steadfastness, and Joy (Occupied Thoughts episode)
FMEP Fellow Hilary Rantisi speaks with Malu Halasa and Jordan Elgrably, editors of the new book Sumūd: A New Palestinian Reader. They discuss the meaning of sumūd to different people — how it encompasses steadfastness, coping with ongoing oppression, as well as joy and celebration of Palestinian identity — and the variety of voices and media they platform in this new anthology. They recite a few poems published in the book and discuss the the unique ways that poetry and art can enter a person’s heart and consciousness and offer a window into Palestinian culture and experience more broadly.
Where Are Palestinian Children’s Human Rights? (Essay by Lara Friedman)
February 11, 2025 marked the release of a new collection of essays entitled, “For Gaza’s Children: Progressive Black, Brown and Jewish Writers and Poets Speak Out,” published by Third World Press, and edited by Marc Lamont Hill, Haki R. Madhubuti and Keith Gilyard (Editors). FMEP’s Lara Friedman was honored to contribute an essay to this collection.
GAZA
Israel-Hamas swap to go ahead despite claim child hostages were killed with ‘bare hands’ (Guardian 2/21/25)
“Israelis and Palestinians are bracing for another tense hostage, prisoner and detainee exchange on Saturday amid uproar in Israel over allegations that two child hostages were “brutally murdered” by Hamas, and the group’s failure to deliver the body of their mother, instead returning the corpse of an unidentified woman. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Friday afternoon that autopsy results and military intelligence concluded that members of Hamas “used their bare hands” to kill Ariel Bibas, four, and his 10-month-old brother, Kfir, when they were seized in October 2023…In Israel and around the world, the fate of the Bibas family has come to embody the trauma of the Hamas attack that ignited the war in Gaza. Hamas said early in the conflict that the boys and their mother, Shiri, 32, were killed in an Israeli bombing in November 2023. There was no immediate comment from the militant group on the IDF’s allegation. The remains of the Bibas children, 85-year-old Oded Lifshitz, and a fourth unidentified person who was supposed to be Shiri Bibas, were handed over to Israel on Thursday as part of the first stage of a fragile ceasefire agreement. Earlier on Friday, Hamas said Shiri’s body had been “mistakenly mixed” with others who were killed and buried under the rubble in Gaza, after the Israeli military said DNA testing showed the woman’s body released was not Shiri Bibas or any other hostage.” See also Shiri Bibas not among returned bodies, Israel says, accusing Hamas of ‘serious violation’ (Guardian 2/21/25); Red Cross collects body from Hamas, will transfer it to IDF; Hamas claims it is Shiri Bibas (TOI 2/21/25); UN human rights chief: Hamas ‘parading’ of hostages’ bodies is ‘abhorrent and cruel’ (TOI 2/20/25); With Coffins and Taunts, Hamas Hands Dead Hostages to Israel (NYT 2/20/25)
Arab leaders discuss alternative to Trump Gaza plan at Saudi Arabia meet (Al Jazeera 2/21/25)
“The leaders of seven Arab countries have held talks in Saudi Arabia in an attempt to hash out a plan for the future of Gaza. The gathering on Friday in Riyadh was meant to respond to a plan raised by US President Donald Trump for the US to “take over” Gaza, permanently forcibly displace its residents and turn the Palestinian enclave into the “Riviera” of the Middle East. Arab leaders have roundly rejected Trump’s proposal, saying it throws out decades of work towards Palestinian self-determination, treads on the rights of residents of Gaza and will perpetuate a regional cycle of violence. They hope to present an alternative plan with unified support at a March 4 Arab League meeting in Cairo, Egypt. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had called the Riyadh meeting, which was attended by Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Meshal al-Ahmad Al Sabah and Bahrain Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa.” See also Egypt is developing a plan to rebuild Gaza, countering Trump’s call to depopulate the territory (AP 2/17/25); Egypt draws up Gaza reconstruction plan that would exclude Hamas (Guardian 2/16/25); Jordanian King Rebuffs Trump Proposal to Displace Palestinians in Gaza (NYT 2/11/25); Europe working with Arab states on alternative to Trump’s Gaza plan (FT 2/13/25); Saudi Arabia spearheads Arab scramble for alternative to Trump’s Gaza plan (Reuters 2/14/25); Jordan and Egypt Warn Gaza Displacement Will Solidify Hamas Presence Along Israel’s Borders (Haaretz 2/9/25); Jordan, home to millions of Palestinians, fears Trump’s Gaza proposal (WaPo 2/9/25); Despite rejection of Trump’s Gaza plan, Hamas and PA at odds over postwar control (Al Monitor 2/15/25); Trump’s Gaza plan unites jihadist and far-right circles, experts warn (The Guardian 2/14/25); Rubio Meets Saudi Crown Prince for Talks on Gaza and Ukraine (NYT 2/17/25)
Trump: ‘I Am Committed to Buying, Owning Gaza’; When Palestinians Have an Alternative, ‘They Won’t Want to Return’ (Haaretz 2/10/25)
“U.S. President Donald Trump insisted on Sunday that he is “committed to buying and owning Gaza,” adding that letting Palestinians currently living there go back once they are removed from the territory would be a “big mistake.”…”As far as moving back, there’s nothing to move back to,” Trump told reports aboard Air Force One. “The remainder” of Gaza, Trump said, “will be demolished. You can’t live in those buildings right now. We’ll make into a good site for future development by…somebody.”…”It’s a big mistake to allow the Palestinians or the people to be living in Gaza to go back yet another time. We don’t want Hamas going back, think of it as a big real estate site.” According to him, “the only reason they’re talking about returning to Gaza is because they don’t have an alternative. When they have one, they won’t want to return” “The U.S. is going to own it and will very slowly – we’re in no rush – develop it. We’re going to bring stability to a totally war-torn part of the Middle East that has caused tremendous problems. It’s totally demolished right now but will be reclaimed, leveled out, fixed up,” he said.” See also Netanyahu ‘committed’ to Trump’s plan to take over Gaza (The Guardian 2/17/25)’; “High on Trump”: Netanyahu sees Trump’s Gaza gambits as Israel’s big chance (Axios 2/12/25); The Settler Plot to Recolonize Gaza (The Nation 2/11/25)
Hamas offers handover of all hostages to Israel if next phase of ceasefire agreed (Guardian 2/19/25)
“Hamas has said it is ready to release all its remaining hostages in a single exchange if the ceasefire agreement with Israel moves forward to a second phase next month. The offer came as the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, signalled his readiness to talk about a second phase of the Gaza ceasefire after an extended delay, by appointing one of his closest advisers, Ron Dermer, a US-born cabinet minister and former ambassador to Washington, to lead the Israeli delegation to the talks…Completion of the second phase would in effect represent the end of the war, but the far-right wing of Netanyahu’s coalition adamantly opposes such a step if it leaves Hamas as a significant force inside Gaza. The Israeli prime minister, however, has come under pressure to do so from Donald Trump’s special envoy, the US president’s friend and fellow real-estate developer, Steve Witkoff, who said over the weekend: “Phase two is absolutely going to begin.’” See also Trump: ‘I really am’ fine with any decision Israel makes — continue truce or resume war (TOI 2/21/25); Three Israelis and 369 Palestinians released after week of ceasefire tensions (Guardian 2/15/25); Israel and Hamas complete fifth hostage-prisoner swap (Guardian 2/8/25); Hostage families question delay in ceasefire talks as Hamas proposes freeing all captives (WaPo 2/19/25); Who are the Palestinians released by Israel in exchange for hostages? (WaPo 2/16/24); Who are the Israeli hostages released in the ceasefire with Hamas? (WaPo 2/15/25); Hamas Report to Mediators Accuses Israel of Pervasive Gaza Ceasefire Violations (Jeremy Scahill & Sharif Abdel Kouddous//Drop Site 2/11/25)
Living in the Open: Palestinians in Gaza Still Face Israeli Attacks and Impossible Conditions as They Return Home (Drop Site 2/20/25)
“It’s been just over a month since the fragile agreement between Israel and Palestinian resistance groups came into effect and Palestinians who faced mass forcible displacement were able to return to their homes, neighborhoods, and land. Many now face daunting prospects of rebuilding, especially in northern Gaza, where the destruction is near total and families set up tents on top of the rubble where their homes used to be. Hossam Shabat and Rasha Abou Jalal, two reporters working in northern Gaza, both sent us dispatches describing the life-threatening obstacles people now face to restart their lives—and the violence they still face from the Israeli military under the so-called “ceasefire.”’ See also With Fighting Stilled, Gazans Face New Trauma: Searching for Their Dead (NYT 2/14/25)
Explosive Remnants in Gaza Cause Dozens of Casualties (Abubaker Abed//Drop Site 2/13/25)
“Up to 10% of munitions fired by Israel into Gaza have failed to detonate, leaving behind deadly hazards for years to come.”
Israeli soldiers used an 80-year-old Gazan as a human shield. Then they killed him (Illy Pe’eri//+972 2/16/25)
“A senior officer in the Israeli army’s Nahal Brigade tied an explosive cord around the neck of an 80-year-old Palestinian man and forced him to serve as a human shield, ordering him to scout out abandoned houses under threat of having his head blown off. After he had served his purpose, the soldiers ordered the man to flee with his wife, but upon being spotted by another battalion they were both shot dead on the spot. Soldiers present at the scene told the Israeli investigative outlet The Hottest Place in Hell that this incident took place in May in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City… “the commander decided to use them as ‘mosquitoes,” one soldier explained, referring to a recently exposed procedure by which the army forces Palestinian civilians in combat zones to serve as human shields to protect soldiers from being shot or blown up.”
Medical evacuations from Gaza slow amid uncertainty over right of return (WaPo 2/19/25)
“For many Palestinians with critical injuries or chronic illnesses, a medical evacuation out of the Gaza Strip is the only way to access lifesaving care. But now, after President Donald Trump proposed to empty Gaza of its inhabitants, aid workers and doctors say they fear that those leaving the territory could be forfeiting their ability to one day return home.”
U.S.A.I.D. Turmoil Threatens Key Aid Supplies to Gaza, Officials Say (NYT 2/7/25)
“With almost all U.S.A.I.D. staff set to be placed on administrative leave by Friday night, there will be only a handful of officials left to sign off on and audit hundreds of millions of dollars in outstanding payments to the agency’s partners on the ground in Gaza…The team that organizes emergency aid supplies in dozens of crisis zones around the world each year, of which Gaza was just one, is down to just 70 staff members from more than 1,000. This is expected to slow or prevent the delivery of food packages to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, as well as tents, mattresses, blankets, hygiene kits and medical treatment, according to three officials and an aid worker. All four people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the news media. While the aid agency does not operate inside Gaza, it has provided roughly $1 billion in aid to international aid groups on the ground since the war began in October 2023 — about a third of the total aid response, according to the United Nations. Hundreds of millions of dollars have yet to be disbursed and now may never be transferred to United Nations agencies and other major aid organizations, three officials said. “They’re making an already fragile cease-fire more fragile,” said Dave Harden, a former U.S.A.I.D. mission director for Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank. “Lifesaving aid to Gaza is going to be disrupted.”’
Freed Israeli hostages tell families of torture while held by Hamas (WaPo 2/13/25)
“The signs of extreme malnutrition evinced by some of the recently released Israeli hostages were only the most visible evidence of the torture they recall enduring in Hamas captivity. The 16 Israeli hostages freed in recent weeks after being held in Gazan tunnels and homes for more than a year have begun to provide accounts to their families of being beaten, chained, burned and violently interrogated, according to relatives.” See also Back in Israel, Freed Hostages Tell of Abuse, Starvation to Family of Those Still Held by Hamas (Haaretz 2/10/25); ‘Time is running out’: frailty of freed hostages raises pressure on Netanyahu (Guardian 2/14/25)
Detained Gaza doctor Hussam Abu Safia seen shackled in new video (Al Jazeera 2/20/25)
“The detained director of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital has been shown in shackles in a video on Israeli media that has been condemned by his family. It’s the first time Dr Hussam Abu Safia has been seen since his arrest in December.”
Medical evacuations from Gaza slow amid uncertainty over right of return (WaPo 2/19/25)
“For many Palestinians with critical injuries or chronic illnesses, a medical evacuation out of the Gaza Strip is the only way to access lifesaving care. But now, after President Donald Trump proposed to empty Gaza of its inhabitants, aid workers and doctors say they fear that those leaving the territory could be forfeiting their ability to one day return home.”
REGION/GLOBAL
Israel likely to strike Iran in coming months, warns U.S. intelligence (WaPo 2/12/25)
“Israel is likely to attempt a strike on Iran’s nuclear program in the coming months in a preemptive attack that would set back Tehran’s program by weeks or perhaps months but escalate tensions across the Middle East and renew the prospect of a wider regional conflagration, according to U.S. intelligence. The warnings about a potential Israeli strike are included in multiple intelligence reports spanning the end of the Biden administration and the beginning of the Trump administration, none more comprehensive than an early January report produced by the intelligence directorate of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Defense Intelligence Agency. The report warned that Israel is likely to attempt a strike on Iran’s Fordow and Natanz nuclear facilities in the first six months of 2025.” See also Trump, Netanyahu have ‘full understanding’ on Iran as Israel mulls strikes on nuclear sites (Al Monitor 2/14/25); On first Mideast tour, Rubio warns Iran, praises Trump’s Gaza plan (WaPo 2/16/25); White House confirms war crimes prosecutor first target of ICC sanctions (Reuters 2/10/25)
Lebanon to hold funeral of slain Hezbollah leader Nasrallah on Sunday (Al Monitor 2/21/25)
“Lebanon is preparing for the burial of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, nearly five months after he was killed in an Israeli air strike. The country is expected to come to a halt for a few hours on Sunday for the funeral which is scheduled for 1pm (11:00 GMT) at the Camille Chamoun sports stadium on the outskirts of capital Beirut…The Lebanese group has announced strict security measures and urged security forces to help manage crowds that are expected to number in the tens of thousands, with people pouring in from Hezbollah strongholds across the country as well as from abroad…Nasrallah was killed on September 27 in an Israeli air strike as he met commanders in a bunker in Beirut’s southern suburbs.”
Israel says troops will stay in Lebanon past ceasefire deadline (WaPo 2/17/25)
“Israel said Monday that its troops would remain in southern Lebanon past a Tuesday deadline for their full withdrawal as part of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal that halted 14 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. The Israeli military said it would stay in what it called “five strategic points” in southern Lebanon and withdraw the rest of its forces. There was no immediate response from Beirut, but Lebanese officials have previously rejected any further delay in the Israeli withdrawal.” See also IDF strikes Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon, citing ‘direct threat’ to Israel (TOI 2/14/25); The Lebanese Villages Recently Destroyed by Israel (Sharif Abdel Kouddous//Drop Site 2/21/25)
Satellite Images Reveal Israel Built Seven Outposts in Syria (Haaretz 2/18/25)
“The IDF established bases along the demilitarized zone from Syrian Mount Hermon to Tel Kudna, as part of preparations for a prolonged presence in the area.” See also Curfews, Roadblocks, House Raids—Israeli Military Entrenches Inside Syria (Hoda Matar//Drop Site 2/14/25)
RIVER TO THE SEA
Palestinian Displacement in the West Bank Is Highest Since 1967, Experts Say (NYT 2/17/25)
“A weekslong Israeli military operation across several West Bank cities has displaced roughly 40,000 Palestinians from their homes, in what historians and researchers say is the biggest displacement of civilians in the territory since the Arab-Israeli war of 1967…The Israeli military says the operation is solely an attempt to stifle rising militancy in Jenin, Tulkarem and near Tubas, targeting gunmen who they say have carried out or are planning terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians. Palestinians fear it is a veiled attempt to permanently displace Palestinians from their homes and exert greater control over areas administered by the Palestinian Authority, a semiautonomous body that has also battled the militants in recent months. Many of the displaced are the descendants of refugees who were expelled or fled from their homes during the wars surrounding the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, a period known in Arabic as the Nakba. The renewed displacement, even if temporary, raises painful memories of the central trauma in Palestinian history.” See also UN says 40,000 displaced in West Bank as Israel accused of readying annexation (Middle East Eye 2/11/25); Israeli army demolishes homes in Jenin, continues raids across West Bank (Al Jazeera 2/7/25); PHOTOS: Israel ravages West Bank refugee camps (+972 Magazine 2/12/25); Dozens of Israeli Settlers Attack Palestinians in the West Bank; Six Wounded, No Arrests (Hagar Shezaf//Haaretz 2/15/25); Palestinians in West Bank Sue Israeli Army, Police for Failing to Stop Settler Riot Despite Advanced Warning (Haaretz 2/21/25)
Israeli Army Expands Open-fire Orders in West Bank, Leading to Surge in Palestinian Civilian Deaths (Haaretz 2/10/25)
“The IDF Central Command has expanded its open-fire orders in the operation in the West Bank, resulting in a high number of deaths of Palestinian civilians, according to Israeli army sources…Maj.-Gen. Bluth ordered that IDF forces may shoot to kill anyone “messing with the ground” and that there is no need to apply the procedure for arresting a suspect in these cases. The order’s objective is to prevent terrorists in the West Bank from planting explosive devices on roads where IDF forces operate, but combat sources say that the expanded order has made soldiers on the ground “trigger-happy.”Another change in the open-fire orders taking place on the ground was made by Brig.-Gen. Dolf. Since the start of the current operation in the northern West Bank on January 21, the IDF allows residents in areas where it is operating to evacuate by car from the combat zones. The army sources told Haaretz that Brig.-Gen. Dolf ordered that forces may fire live rounds at any vehicle coming toward a checkpoint from a combat zone to force the driver to stop before reaching it…In one incident on Sunday, soldiers shot to death a man and woman in her eighth month of pregnancy, when they drove in their car toward an IDF checkpoint near Tul Karm. The IDF’s preliminary investigation found that the man was shot and killed inside the car without trying to breach the checkpoint or threaten the soldiers. His pregnant wife, Sundus Shalabi, 23, was able to get out of the car and was shot three times in the chest…According to the investigation, the pregnant woman “looked suspiciously at the ground.” She was unarmed, and no weapons were found near her that might have served as evidence she was trying to place an explosive device.” See also Two Palestinian Teens Killed by IDF Fire in Separate West Bank Incidents, Health Ministry Says (Haaretz 2/21/25)
3 buses explode near Tel Aviv in suspected ‘terror attack’: What to know (Al Monitor 2/20/25)
“A branch of Hamas in the occupied West Bank purportedly claimed credit for a series of bus bombings near Tel Aviv on Thursday, marking an escalation in the conflict weeks after Israel launched a significant military operation across the northern West Bank. A Telegram channel claiming to represent Hamas’ armed brigade in the West Bank city of Tulkarm posted a message Thursday evening that stated, “The revenge of the martyrs will not be forgotten as long as the occupier is present on our land. This is a jihad of victory or martyrdom.” Israeli media reported at around 9:00 p.m. local time (2:00 p.m. ET) that three empty buses had exploded in the Tel Aviv suburb of Bat Yam, and two other bombs were found in the central city of Holon before they went off. Israeli police ordered public transport operators to search for more bombs and began a manhunt for the suspects. There were no injuries, per the reports. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the military to intensify operations in the West Bank in response to the incident.” See also In visit to Tulkarem, Netanyahu calls to expand West Bank counterterror operation (TOI 2/21/25)
Trump administration freezes funds to Palestinian security forces (WaPo 2/19/25)
“The Trump administration has stopped all funding to the Palestinian Authority security forces as part of the global freeze on foreign assistance, according to U.S. and Palestinian officials. The freeze comes at a critical time for the embattled authority as it struggles to maintain its rule in pockets of the Israeli-occupied West Bank and jockeys to govern a postwar Gaza Strip. The security forces, which are chronically underfunded and widely unpopular, are nonetheless considered a linchpin to the Palestinian Authority’s ability to maintain law and order in both territories. Washington last stopped direct aid to the authority during Trump’s first term but continued to fund training and reform for the security forces.”
Palestinian Authority ends ‘martyr’ payments in possible gesture to Trump (Al Monitor 2/10/25)
“Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he would abolish the system of payments to Palestinian militants and their families for attacks against Israelis, a move widely seen as a goodwill gesture toward the Trump administration. Abbas issued a decree Monday revoking laws “related to the system of paying financial allowances to the families of prisoners, martyrs and the wounded,” the Palestinian Authority’s WAFA news agency reported.”
Released From Detention, Owners of East Jerusalem Bookstore Still Don’t Know Why They Were Arrested (Nir Hasson//Haaretz 2/13/25)
“Even amid a surfeit of news from the Middle East, the Israel Police’s raid on the Educational Bookshop in East Jerusalem succeeded in finding a prominent place in the global headlines. That is no surprise: It would be hard to find a journalist stationed in Jerusalem who doesn’t know of the shop and its owners, the Muna family. On Wednesday, a day after they were released from jail, Ahmed and Mahmoud Muna recounted the Kafkaesque affair of their arrest on the charge of selling books. On Sunday, six police officers arrived at the store’s two outlets on Salah al-Din Street and for two hours inspected the bookshelves, leafed through books, and used their phones to scan and translate titles appearing on spines in a hunt for suspicious books. In the end, they collected between 100 and 150 titles and wrapped them in big garbage bags…The store is used by foreign diplomats, researchers and journalists. Not surprisingly, diplomatic representatives from eight countries, as well as a representative of the European Union, appeared at the court hearing.” See also Palestinian booksellers decry detention by Israeli police over ‘public disorder’ (Guardian 2/14/25); Palestinian booksellers released to house arrest after police raid sparks outcry (TOI 2/11/25); In Israel, Selling Books About Palestinians Is Now ‘Incitement to Terrorism’ (Haaretz 2/10/25); After raid, Israel puts Jerusalem bookshop owners under house arrest: What to know (Al Monitor 2/11/25)
Our film is going to the Oscars. But here in Masafer Yatta, we’re still being erased (Basel Adra 2/10/25)
“As the world watches ‘No Other Land,’ Israeli settlers are raiding and burning our villages while soldiers arrest us, abuse us, and demolish our homes…Despite the exciting success of the film in festivals and among journalists and audiences around the world, however, the situation here on the ground is deteriorating rapidly and the future looks bleak. Over the past 16 months, Israeli settlers and the military have taken advantage of the atmosphere of the war to reshape reality in Masafer Yatta in favor of settlers and their outposts, intensifying their efforts to displace us from our land. Even as I write this, the Israeli army is conducting a major demolition operation in the community of Khalet A-Daba, razing homes, toilets, solar panels, and trees.” See also ‘Even if We Win an Oscar, I Will Go Back to My Cruel Reality in the West Bank’ (Interview with Basel Adra in Haaretz 2/13/25); The Settler Strategy Accelerating Palestinian Dispossession (Dalia Hatuqa//Jewish Currents 2/3/25); The Palestinian Father Begged the Israeli Troops to Postpone the Demolition Due to the Cold, to No Avail (Haaretz 2/14/25); Israel Demolishes 11 Buildings in West Bank’s Masafer Yatta, Raising Fears of Expulsion for Residents (Haaretz 2/11/25); For Over a Year, Israeli Authorities Ignored Settlers’ Attacks. Then This Happened (Haaretz 2/20/25); Palestinians in the West Bank Describe How Israeli Settlers Are Seizing Land (Dalia Hatuqa//Rolling Stone 2/9/25); ‘Last nail in the coffin’: Israeli settlers push on with fresh West Bank land grab (Guardian 2/13/25)
Inside the Oscar-Nominated Film That No Studio Will Touch (NYT 2/19/25)
“No documentary this season has been more talked about or acclaimed than “No Other Land,” which chronicles the besieged community of Masafer Yatta in the occupied West Bank as Israeli forces demolish residents’ homes and expel families from the land they have lived in for generations, claiming the area is needed for a military training ground. Directed by the Palestinian filmmakers Basel Adra and Hamdan Ballal alongside the Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, “No Other Land” has received critical acclaim and collected many honors on the festival circuit. After winning the best documentary award at its Berlin International Film Festival premiere last February, the film also earned the same prize at the Gotham Awards and from major critics’ groups in New York and Los Angeles. Just weeks ago, it received an Oscar nomination. Still, no American studio has been willing to pick up this hot-button film, even though distributors typically spend this time of year eagerly boasting about their Oscar-nomination tallies.”
Left-wing Israeli NGOs Fear Knesset Bill Will Spell a Death Sentence for Their Work (Haaretz 2/19/25)
“Human rights groups are concerned about a bill, approved in a preliminary Knesset vote on Wednesday, that would no longer require Israeli courts to hear petitions filed by nonprofits that raise most of their money from foreign governments. The legislation also calls for organizations receiving donations from foreign political entities to be taxed at an 80 percent rate unless the finance minister, with the approval of the Knesset Finance Committee, decides otherwise. Today, all nonprofits in Israel are tax-exempt. An examination conducted by Haaretz found that most of the non-governmental organizations whose access to the courts would be blocked are human rights groups critical of government policy. Most of them are opposed to the occupation, defend the rights of West Bank Palestinians and Israeli Arabs and promote the rights of Israeli Arab women. Those groups include the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Peace Now, Breaking the Silence, Physicians for Human Rights–Israel, Ir Amim, Bimkom, Combatants for Peace, HaMoked, B’Tselem, Yesh Din, IsraAID, the Committee Against Torture and Gisha.”
Knesset passes law prohibiting entry into Israel for October 7, Holocaust deniers (TOI 2/20/25)
“The legislation, sponsored by New Hope MK Mishel Buskila, extends an existing entry ban on those advocating boycotts against Israel, applying it to those denying the Holocaust and the October 7 massacre, as well as those advocating for the prosecution of Israelis for actions taken during their service in the IDF or other security services. The law also applies to people working for organizations that make such statements.”
U.S. SCENE
Jewish man mistakes two Israeli tourists for Palestinians and opens fire on them in Miami (Guardian 2/17/25)
“A Jewish man in Miami Beach is facing charges of attempted murder following accusations that he opened fire on two men he believed were Palestinians but reportedly turned out to be Israeli visitors…While in custody, Brafman spontaneously told detectives that while he was driving his truck, “he saw two Palestinians and shot and killed both”, arrest documents said…Further complicating the incident, one of the injured men reportedly posted “death to the Arabs” in a message on social media after the shooting. “My father and I went through a murder attempt against anti-Semitic background,” he wrote.” See also Man charged in Florida shooting thought victims were Palestinians, police say (WaPo 2/21/25)
‘The pump is primed to suppress Palestine advocacy. Trump just has to let it flow’ (Jonathan Adler interviews Zaha Hassan//+972 2/17/25)
“Zaha Hassan, a Palestinian human rights lawyer and fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, as well as one of the leading experts in Washington on Israel-Palestine and U.S. foreign policy, is a co-editor of “Suppressing Dissent: Shrinking Civic Space, Transnational Repression and Palestine-Israel”. Published just two days after the November elections, the volume brings together scholars, lawyers, and analysts to show that, even with a long history of repression, the space for civic discourse on Palestinian rights is rapidly diminishing. The collection of 14 chapters traces this trend across Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories as well as in the United States and, increasingly, the Arab world. It also details the deeply worrying phenomenon of transnational repression: the Israeli government’s documented efforts, for at least the last decade, to export its suppression of Palestinian civil society and shut down Palestine advocacy in the United States, with troubling implications for the free speech rights of all Americans. Since October 7, the backlash against pro-Palestinian activists and students across the United States, and universities’ submission to government pressure, has seemed stunningly swift and severe. Here, “Suppressing Dissent” makes an important contribution by outlining the key legal and regulatory mechanisms that have enabled this crackdown — from the ban on material support to terrorist organizations, to the elevation of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism to delegitimize criticism of Israel. These are mechanisms with deep roots in Congress and executive action, and now they will be at Trump’s disposal.” See also The Columbia Network Pushing Behind the Scenes to Deport and Arrest Student Protesters (Natasha Lennard & Akela Lacy//The Intercept 2/15/25); Harvard’s new antisemitism policy hurts Jews, helps Trump (Jonathan Feingold//The Hill 2/13/25); Revelations of Israeli spyware abuse raise fears over possible use by Trump (Guardian 2/10/25)
The Perils of Universities’ Unscholarly Antisemitism Reports (Peter Beinart//Jewish Currents 2/14/25)
“In theory, these investigations are a good idea. In an era in which antisemitism appears to be rising alongside other forms of bigotry, it’s worth asking how Jewish students feel and what can be done to keep them safe. The reports chronicle genuine incidents of harassment, and even violence: slurs, swastikas, physical assaults. Columbia’s antisemitism report details Jewish students “having necklaces ripped off their necks and being pinned against walls” and being “followed, stalked, and subjected to ethnic slurs and hateful statements.” Universities should examine their culture and procedures to try to prevent such abuse. But the reports also classify as antisemitic many statements that aren’t directed at Jews per se, but simply challenge the legitimacy of Israel and Zionism. And that conflation reveals a basic methodological flaw. Understanding the relationship between antisemitism and pro-Palestinian activism requires understanding the experience not only of Jewish students who feel threatened by that activism, but of Palestinians—an experience that shapes the way pro-Palestinian activists of all backgrounds, including Jewish ones, talk about the Jewish state. The reports make no such effort. They are profoundly unscholarly documents. Reading them, one might think that America’s leading experts on the relationship between Zionism, Palestinian nationalism, and Jew-hatred reside not at universities like Columbia, Penn, UCLA, and the University of Washington, but at pro-Israel advocacy groups like the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). And by preferring those organizations’ analysis of antisemitism to the analysis of actual scholars, the task forces help enable the repression that the American Jewish establishment desires.” See also For Colleges, Defining Antisemitism Hasn’t Gotten Any Easier (Chronicle of Higher Education 1/28/25); New civil rights chief at Education Department has antisemitism experience from first Trump term (JI 2/13/25); JD Vance is Merely the Latest Conservative Christian to Use Nazi Camps to Cleanse His Antisemitism Sins (Joel Swanson//Religion Dispatches 2/13/25)
‘No to ethnic cleansing’: over 350 rabbis sign US ad assailing Trump’s Gaza plan (The Guardian 2/13/25)
“More than 350 rabbis, alongside additional signatories including Jewish creatives and activists, have signed an ad in the New York Times in which they condemn Donald Trump’s proposal for the effective ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza. The ad, which was signed by rabbis including Sharon Brous, Roly Matalon and Alissa Wise, as well as Jewish creatives and activists including Tony Kushner, Ilana Glazer, Naomi Klein and Joaquin Phoenix, says: “Trump has called for the removal of all Palestinians from Gaza. Jewish people say no to ethnic cleansing!”’ See also Hundreds of U.S. Rabbis, Jewish Celebrities Condemn Trump Gaza Plan in NYT Ad (Haaretz 2/13/25)
‘Some things I say will be incorrect’: Musk walks back administration’s Gaza condoms claim (Times of Israel 2/12/25)
“US Department of Government Efficiency chief Elon Musk appears to walk back the Trump administration’s claim that the previous administration allocated $50 million in condoms for Gaza…“Some of the things I say will be incorrect and should be corrected,” Musk replies.” See also Accused of Nazi salute at CPAC, Steve Bannon says it was just a wave (TOI 2/21/25); ‘We’ll Never Surrender’: Steve Bannon Appears to Perform Nazi Salute at CPAC (Haaretz 2/21/25)
A century-old Zionist group is being rebooted — and wants Jews to ‘fight back’ on the street (JTA 2/11/25)
““Ronn” was Ronn Torossian, an infamously hard-charging public relations executive who had recently devoted considerable resources to relaunching a century-old Jewish group called Betar. Like the Anti-Defamation League and many other Jewish organizations after Oct. 7, 2023, Betar wanted to fight antisemitism — but not with statements or lawsuits. Instead Torossian, a devotee of the early-20th century Revisionist Zionist thinker Ze’ev Jabotinsky who preached the power of Jewish self-defense and founded the original Betar movement in a pre-state Israel, wanted to fight fire with fire…Over the last several months, Betar has steadily built an army of pro-Israel agitators who respond to pro-Palestinian protesters with a mix of online trolling, counter-demonstrations and direct physical threats.” See also NYC real estate expo promoting sale of ‘stolen land’ in Palestine descends into violence (MEE 2/19/2025)
Georgia’s First Jewish Senator Is Losing Jewish Support (NYT 2/15/25)
“Democratic donors and Jewish leaders are so unhappy with Jon Ossoff over his position on Israel that some have quietly urged Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, to run against him.”
Former Biden Administration Advisor Slams Netanyahu for Obstructing U.S. Efforts at Gaza Hostage Deal (Haaretz 2/19/25)
“Ilan Goldenberg, a top advisor to former U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, provided the most in-depth accounting of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts at obstructing U.S. diplomacy over the course of the Gaza war…Goldenberg’s piece further represents the first real accounting from a senior Biden administration official on what the previous administration could have done differently in hopes of securing a cease-fire…”I believe that getting a deal in May was not possible. Hamas was taking a hard line and holding out for a regional war,” acknowledged Goldenberg, who was tapped by the Harris campaign as Jewish outreach director, explicitly because of his ability to articulate both Biden and Harris’ Middle East policy. “But also, Netanyahu’s behavior was deeply problematic, as evidenced by accounts from other members of the war cabinet; leaks from the Israeli negotiators; his refusal to engage seriously on a day after plan; and his bad faith engagement with President Biden,” he continued…He stressed, however, that “it says a lot about Netanyahu that he cared more about preserving his government than getting the hostages out, since he could have had support for a deal from much of the Israeli opposition at any time.”’
PERSPECTIVES//LONG READS
Gaza Must Be Rebuilt by Palestinians, for Palestinians (Mosab Abu Toha//New Yorker 2/12/25)
“But whom would the United States take Gaza from? Israeli forces levelled entire neighborhoods and then withdrew. My friend Ahmad, from Beit Hanoun, in northern Gaza, told me that people have returned to their neighborhoods not to resume their old lives but “to live over the rubble of their houses.” But even the rubble in Gaza has meaning to us. It is where our loved ones lived and died. When the time comes, we are the only people who will be removing what must be removed, only to reuse it to rebuild…I won’t bother correcting Trump’s numbers. Instead, I have a question. Who said Gazans are worried about dying? There are many people around the world who worry about dying, including some Americans who don’t have health insurance or who live in areas that are at risk of wildfires. But our worry is not about dying. Palestinians are worried about being killed by Israeli soldiers, settlers, bombs, and bullets. How do you stop people from being killed? Not by removing the people who have been shot and bombed—but by stopping the people who are doing the shooting and bombing.”
The Drama, Delusion, and Dangers of Trump’s Gaza Plan (Rami G. Khouri//Arab Center DC 2/6/25)
“The most significant and troubling aspect of the Trump proposal is that it clarifies how the United States and Israel now work as a formal team that uses immense military power to run amok across the Middle East and perhaps further afield. The Trump proposal, apparently whimsical, spontaneous, and unstudied, offers no serious details about what will happen to Gaza and its indigenous Palestinian population, so we should not waste time analyzing mythical ideas or eventualities. The big development is how the American-Israeli alliance now formalizes with a bang the heretofore sporadic destruction of the body of international humanitarian and human rights laws and protections that were created after WWII to prevent a recurrence of crimes like the Nazi Holocaust against European Jews. Israel has long ignored these legal and moral safeguards in its actions in Palestine and the Middle East, attacking, occupying, and annexing Arab territories at will and disrupting and destroying the lives of millions of people.”
Starving Palestine: Israeli colonialism and the struggle for food sovereignty in Masafer Yatta. (Words by Manal Shqair, Photographs by Ali Awad // Vittles 2/10/25)
“Since Israel began its genocide of Gaza in October 2023, the accelerated erosion of traditional food systems has made Palestinians increasingly vulnerable to Israel’s mechanisms of violence; the starvation campaign Israel has waged on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip for the past sixteen months demonstrates this. But these systems of dispossession have been at play for much longer. For the past few decades, for instance, Israel has regularly sprayed herbicides on the eastern farmlands of the Strip to undermine agrarian life. In Masafer Yatta and across the West Bank, Israel’s colonial legislations have disrupted the relationships with, and strong sense of responsibility for, the land, animals and plants that Palestinian communities have maintained for centuries. Food plays a major part in how this is done.”
What Did the War in Gaza Reveal About American Judaism? (Isaac Chotiner interviews Peter Beinart//New Yorker 2/13/25)
“Both of them [one democratic state or the so-called two state solution] at this point are completely unrealistic. What is realistic is that Israel maintains permanent control over millions of Palestinians who lack basic rights and, indeed, moves toward the destruction of the Palestinian people through active expulsion and death. If you had to put a gun to my head and ask me what I think is the most realistic likelihood that we will see over the coming decades and generations, it would be what I would call an American-style solution to the Palestinian question. By which I mean the nineteenth-century American solution to Native Americans. You just continue this process and it grinds away without restraint until basically the population is destroyed as a functioning political entity.” See also Peter Beinart’s ‘Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza’ Expertly Dismantles Pro-Israel Propaganda — But Does it Adequately Reckon with the Genocide? (Brant Rosen//Religion Dispatches 2/19/25)
The Demon of Ethnic Cleansing Has Been Let Out of the Bottle in Israel (Aluf Benn//Haaretz 2/9/25)
“Trump has normalized the discourse around ethnic cleansing in Gaza, revealing the aspirations of many Jews in Israel. The prime minister and defense minister have turned population transfer into government policy, advancing Kahane’s legacy.”
Why does Trump’s Gaza plan sound so familiar? Because the Nazis tried it first (Eric Kurlander//The Forward 2/12/25)
“Imagine the leader of a global superpower announcing a plan for removing an entire ethnic group from a territory they’ve long inhabited. Neighboring states would have to make land available to that superpower to resettle the displaced peoples. The refugees would “have their own administration in this territory” but they would “not acquire … citizenship” since any “sense of responsibility towards the world” would forbid making “the gift of a sovereign state” to a people “which has had no independent state for thousands of years.” No, the plan described in brief here is not President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan, proposing a United States takeover of Gaza and mass relocation of its Palestinian population. It is the so-called “Madagascar Plan,” devised by Nazi Germany in 1940 to “resettle” European Jews. That plan was the Third Reich’s final major proposal for removing the Jews from the Greater Germanic Reich Adolf Hitler envisioned in Mein Kampf prior to the “Final Solution” — the indiscriminate shootings of Jewish men, women, and children on the Eastern Front, leading to mass killings in death camps and gas chambers in late 1941. In that history lies a warning: Plans for the mass relocation of a population seen as troublesome or dangerous can rapidly devolve into the loss of sovereignty, of human and civil rights, and, eventually, ethnic cleansing.”
The Madness of Donald Trump (David Remnick//New Yorker 2/5/25)
“To Benjamin Netanyahu’s delight, Trump proposes the wholesale ethnic cleansing of Gaza and the creation of a new “Riviera.”’
When a Jew shot by another Jew cries ‘Death to Arabs!’ (Orly Noy//+972 2/19/25)
“It sounds like the plot of a particularly absurd black comedy: an American Jew goes out to hunt Palestinians on the streets of Miami, mistakenly identifies a father and son — both Israeli Jews — as Palestinian, and immediately unloads a magazine on them; the two miraculously survive and escape. At the hospital, the son publishes a post saying that he and his father “survived an attempted murder motivated by antisemitism,” signing off the post with the popular Israeli slogan, “Death to Arabs.”…In fact, one could say he didn’t make any mistake: he did end up shooting Arabs, just the “wrong” kind. In that sense, he was no different from his victim, who rushed to write “Death to Arabs,” right before realizing that his attacker was a racist Jew. Mizrahim may continue to deny their Arab identity, to scorn it, to distance themselves from it — but in the end, a bullet will remind them: after all, you are Arab too.”