1. Bills, Resolutions (Things to Watch as Congress Returns) 2. Letters 3. Hearings 4. Israel/Palestine in 2024 Elex/Politics 5. Selected Media & Press releases/Statements New…

Welcome to FMEP’s Weekly Settlement Report, covering everything you need to know about Israeli settlement activity this week. To subscribe to this report, please click here.…

“Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, told The Intercept that such muted responses from the U.S government after the killings of American citizens in the occupied West Bank has become de facto policy. ‘The policy of the U.S. government, both the executive and legislative branches, has effectively been that not all Americans are equal when it comes to dying in the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians,’ Friedman said. ‘Israeli Americans are worth fighting for accountability and Palestinian Americans and Americans who stand with them are not. It almost feels farcical to have to say that out loud, because the record is so clear.’

“Friedman, a former U.S. diplomat in Jerusalem, recalled the death of fellow American peace activist Rachel Corrie, who was crushed by an armored Israeli bulldozer in 2003 while she protested against the demolition of Palestinian homes in the West Bank. Eygi, like Corrie, was a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement, an organization dedicated to nonviolent support of Palestinian popular resistance to the Israeli occupation. Corrie’s death was ultimately ruled by Israeli officials as an accident, a conclusion rejected by human rights organizations, who pointed to patterned killings. Friedman, who at the time was an activist with Americans for Peace Now, which opposes settlement expansion in the West Bank, said Corrie’s ‘crime was being in line with Palestinian rights.’

“She also recalled the 2021 killing of prominent Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. An Israeli sniper shot and killed her while she was wearing a press vest covering an Israel Defense Forces raid in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank. Forensic evidence showed her killing to be intentional, though an FBI probe into her death remains pending with U.S. officials, having gone silent. ‘We have a president who says if you hurt Americans, you will pay,’ Friedman said, referring to President Joe Biden’s comments made after three American soldiers were killed by a drone strike in Jordan. ‘That is clearly not the case if the Americans are Palestinian American or if they are sympathetic and standing with Palestinians.’

“…Friedman said she hoped the U.S. would respond to Eygi’s killing with equality and that her activism and support for Palestinians wouldn’t prohibit accountability. ‘There is not an ideological litmus test of whose lives count and which ones don’t,” Friedman said, ‘And by imposing this litmus test — and it is bipartisan — we have sent a clear message to Israel and to others in the world: If Americans are politically on the wrong side of the conflict, they’re not really Americans and we don’t really care about them.’”

“The accusation of anti-Israel bias raises the specter of legal trouble for the airlines, because several laws impose financial penalties for boycotting Israel. Even though most of these laws protect companies’ ability to make ‘normal business decisions,’ Torres’ ‘threat itself is a power move,’ says Lara Friedman, president of the nonprofit Foundation for Middle East Peace. ‘No private company wants to be dragged into these disputes over whether they’re being antisemitic by boycotting ‘the Jewish State,” Friedman says…”

“… getting investors to overlook reputational risks or international legal concerns is one thing. Getting airline pilots, crews, and passengers to fly into physical danger might be a much taller order. ‘Unless the U.S. government says so, you can’t make a decision in the best interests of your shareholders and the safety of your crew,’ Friedman says Torres’ letter implies. ‘If that’s what he believes, that’s almost nationalizing the decisions of the private sector when it comes to Israel.'”

New from FMEP Gaza Region//Global River to the Sea U.S. Scene Lawfare Perspectives//Long Reads NEW FROM FMEP FMEP Legislative Round-Up August 30, 2024 (Lara Friedman)…

1. Bills, Resolutions 2. Letters 3. Hearings 4. Israel/Palestine in 2024 Elex/Politics 5. Selected Media & Press releases/Statements New from FMEP: 8/27/24 – New episode…

FMEP Non-resident Fellow Rania Batrice talks with Matt Duss (Center for International Policy) about the current state of politics on Israel and Palestine in the…

Welcome to FMEP’s Weekly Settlement Report, covering everything you need to know about Israeli settlement activity this week. To subscribe to this report, please click here.…

1. Bills, Resolutions 2. Letters 3. Hearings 4. Israel/Palestine in 2024 Elex/Politics 5. Selected Media & Press releases/Statements Of note: New episode of FMEP’s Occupied…

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP Non-Resident Fellow Nour Joudah speaks with Philip Proudfoot and Mahdi Zaidan from the Accountability Archive (@archivegenocide), which describes…