Top news stories from Israel/Palestine: November 19, 2018

What We’re Reading

Occupation/Human rights

West Bank Regional Council Built Illegal Racetrack With Public Israeli Funds,

Authorities do not intend to enforce the building laws by demolishing the track, since it may still be legalized in the future.

Israeli Supreme Court’s Ruling on East Jerusalem House Is Expected to Lead to Eviction of Dozens of Palestinian Families,

The Supreme Court on Thursday denied a Jerusalem Arab family’s appeal against their eviction and refused to hear a case on the ownership of the building, citing the statute of limitations.

Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel visits Temple Mount,

Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel (Bayit Yehudi) visited the Temple Mount on Sunday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted a police recommendation to allow Jewish MKs to visit the holy site once a month.

Netanyahu: Khan al-Ahmar 'to be demolished very soon',

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Khan al-Ahmar, a Bedouin village in the West Bank, will be demolished soon, on Monday during a press conference.

BDS

Kentucky Bans State Contractors From Involvement in anti-Israel Boycott,

Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin signed an executive order banning the award of state contracts to companies that participate in campaigns to boycott Israel.

Israeli politics

Netanyahu avoids snap polls for now as Bennett says not quitting government,

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netnayhu’s right-wing government narrowly avoided collapse Monday morning, after hawkish education minister Naftali Bennett backtracked on an ultimatum to quit the ruling coalition if he were not appointed defense minister.

The right keeps winning in Israel because Israelis are right wing,

The political map in Israel hasn’t fundamentally changed for the past decade, when left-wing voters migrated to the center and centrist voters moved right.

Attorney-General to Netanyahu: Stop collecting info on left-wing NGOs,

“This monitoring and surveillance activity lacks any authority, since the Israeli government doesn’t have and never had the authority to monitor the sources of funding of associations.”

'We hope the regime lasts': When Israel enjoyed cozy ties with Brazil's military dictatorship,

Archival documents show how Israel helped prop up the Brazilian junta, supplied it with weapons and military expertise, and even signed a number of nuclear agreements.

US-Israeli/Palestinian relations

US mulling ‘consequences’ after Palestinians join international bodies,

Palestinian efforts to join international bodies are “premature” and “counterproductive,” a US State Department official said over the weekend, after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas moved to join a UN agency and several international conventions.