Last month, the Israeli Knesset passed a new version of Israel’s infamous “Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law.” This law denies to Palestinian citizens of Israel a fundamental right that Israel’s Jewish citizens take for granted (and, indeed, citizens around the world hold dear): the right to make a life together with one’s chosen spouse, in the country where one hold’s citizenship. Adopted originally by the Knesset in 2003 as a “temporary” measure ostensibly for “security” reasons, the law has been repeatedly renewed for almost 20 years, most recently in March 2022. The renewed law includes explicit provisions referring to its “demographic” purpose, leading Adalah to call it “one of the most racist and discriminatory laws in the world.” In March, Israel’s Minister of Interior Ayelet Shaked celebrated the law’s passage on Twitter, saying; “Jewish & Democratic State – 1; State for all its citizens – 0”. [Hebrew original here].

This webinar features Dr. Morad El Sana, who was among the first petitioners against this law when his family was directly impacted by it; Dr. Hassan Jabareen, who leads Adalah’s challenges against this law at the Israeli Supreme Court; Member of Knesset Aida Touma-Sliman, who has fought against this law since its first passage – all in conversation with FMEP’s Lara Friedman. We will discuss the concrete implications of this law for Palestinian citizens and residents, as well as what the law’s renewal – and the discourse around it in Israel – discloses about contemporary Israeli political and legal dynamics and the impact of the 2018 Jewish Nation State Law. We will also look at what these dynamics suggest about the future, the evolving discourse on “national security” with respect to Palestinian citizens, and the continued framing of Palestinians as a “demographic threat” to Jewish supremacy in Israel/Palestine.

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts podcast, FMEP’s Lara Friedman speaks with +972 Magazine’s Amjad Iraqi about recent attacks against Israelis and related Israeli fears that are dominating the news cycle, and as well as the ongoing structural Israeli violence against Palestinians – including both day-to-day policies that implement Israeli apartheid and acts of collective punishment (which Amjad wrote about recently for +972 Magazine) – that rarely makes headlines. Amjad also offers insights into how the current situation is both similar and different from the events that led to the outbreak of major violence and protest last summer.

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts podcast (recorded April 19, 2022), FMEP’s Lara Friedman speaks with Aviv Tatarsky about escalating tensions and violence on and around Jerusalem’s Haram Al-Sharif/Temple Mount.

FMEP publishes two resources on (most) Fridays: Lara Friedman’s Legislative Round-Up and Kristin McCarthy’s Settlement & Annexation Report. To subscribe to those reports, click here.

This week’s Settlement & Annexation Report:

1. Israeli Apartheid/Supremacy in Action: Outposts Edition
2. Israeli Apartheid/Supremacy in Action: Elsewhere in the West Bank
3. Oops! Biden Admin Normalizes & Publicizes Settlement Wine
4. Deeper Dives

“Israeli forces besieged dozens of worshippers at the the Al-Aqsa Mosque early Thursday, firing tear gas, stun grenades and rubber coated metal bullets and the Palestinians and injuring at least 21. Israeli police described the methods used to local media as “riot dispersal means,” without elaborating. The Palestinian Red Crescent said at least 20 people were injured, one critically. Thursday’s raid on the holy site is the latest of many this week by Israel. At least 150 Palestinians and three Israeli police officers have been injured so far. The Palestinians have accused Israeli police of using excessive force at the holy site, and Palestinian social media have been filled with videos showing Israeli forces striking what appear to be unarmed Palestinians, including women.” See also ““Al-Aqsa: Israeli forces push out Palestinians as settlers storm mosque for third day running” (Middle East Eye) and “‘Not budging’: Photos of Palestinians unfazed during Israeli raids on al-Aqsa go viral” (Middle East Eye); “Why is East Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate a hotspot for tensions?” (Al Jazeera); “Jordan’s King Accuses Israel of ‘Illegal Provocative Measures’ on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount” (Haaretz); Temple Mount tensions lead to diplomatic crisis between Jordan, Israel (Al Monitor); U.S. officials to make emergency trip to calm tensions in Jerusalem (Axios) 

“Israeli police forces operating on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount in recent days were caught on camera hitting Palestinians journalists with clubs. None of the officers involved have been detained or questioned, and the police have yet to comment…Footage from Friday shows a police officer beating journalist Alaa Sous with a club. She was left with a broken arm…In another widely circulated video clip from Friday, an officer is seen repeatedly hitting photographer Rami Khatib. His right arm was broken.” 

“Over recent days, Israeli forces have repeatedly and violently cleared occupied East Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa Mosque of Palestinian worshippers, securing the holy site for the visit of ultranationalist Israeli settlers. Hundreds of far-right Jewish worshippers have visited al-Aqsa Mosque’s courtyards over the Passover holiday, which this year coincides with Ramadan. Some have attempted to bring goats into the site to slaughter in sacrifice, efforts that have been thwarted by Israeli authorities but ramped up tensions nonetheless. Middle East Eye takes a look at why Jewish prayer at this holy site is so sensitive:”

“A new & ominous element of coverage of J’lem is respected international outlets covering Jewish Israeli “right to pray” at the Temple Mount (on site of Al Aqsa) in occupied East J’lem as if it is a given. But it’s actually a shift in policy of last few years…This article from @972mag documents the 35 percent rise in Jewish entrance to the compound since the Bennet/Lapid government formed, and that’s after years of consecutive rises. This isn’t about religious freedom-it’s about Israeli deliberate domination & control in overarching framework of apartheid and dispossession. But the media has shamefully gone straight into Israel’s new frame of “balancing” Jewish & Muslim rights, making it the new normal.”

“* Emek Shaveh is concerned over recent events on the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif * Vandalism of stained-glass windows on the al-Aqsa/Qibli mosque is not only an attack on one of the most important  holy sites in the world but also on one of the central structures in a World Heritage site * Israel Antiquities Authority surveyed the Holy Esplanade under pressure from right-wing groups who accused Palestinians of destroying antiquities, but concluded that no antiquities were damaged.”

“Out of the 200 people who marched this afternoon from the Safra Jerusalem Municipality Square, about 20 activists managed to approach the volatile spot, including Ben Gvir…Following recommendations by Public Security Minister Omer Bar-Lev, the Shin Bet and Jerusalem Police, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett decided yesterday to prevent Ben Gvir from marching near the Damascus Gate. “I have no intention to allow petty politics to endanger human lives. I won’t allow Ben-Gvir’s political provocation to endanger IDF soldiers and Israel Police officers. The annual flag march will take place on its regular date, Jerusalem Day,” said Bennett…Yesterday, thousands of rightwing activists marched to the West Bank settlement Homesh, abandoned by Israel in the framework of the 2005 unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. At the time, Israel withdrew not just from Gaza but also from four small settlements in the north of the Samaria region. Over the years, settlers have tried reclaiming Homesh and establishing a makeshift yeshiva, despite legal interdiction…Head of the rightwing Religious Zionist party Bezalel Smotrich said yesterday at the march, “We came to commit to settling all areas of the Land of Israel.” Dozens of Palestinians were injured in clashes with IDF near the roads leading to Homesh.” See also “Palestinians injured after Israeli settlers march to outpost” (Al Jazeera)

“JENIN, West Bank — Ramadan nights in this Palestinian city are normally spent staying up late watching drama and comedy series during what is peak TV season, praying or drinking coffee and smoking hookah pipes at all-night cafes.But this year in Jenin, amid a widespread Israeli military operation throughout the occupied West Bank, residents are staying up late waiting for the next military raid in their city…For the past week, Israeli forces have carried out a widespread campaign of raids into towns and cities across the West Bank, in a response to a wave of recent Palestinian attacks inside Israel that have killed 14 people. The Israeli authorities have imposed temporary economic sanctions and arrested dozens of people…At least 14 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since the beginning of Ramadan on April 2…” See also The scars of May still haven’t healed (+972//Amjad Iraqi)

“A 19-year-old Palestinian teenage girl died on Monday after succumbing to gunshot wounds she received during an Israeli raid in Jenin earlier this month. Hanan Mahmoud Khaddour was on her way home when she was shot in the abdomen by Israeli forces, the Wafa news agency reported.” See also 17 Palestinians Killed in Two Weeks: Their Names, Photos and Birthplaces (Palestine Chronicle) 

“Israeli jets struck Gaza early Thursday morning, witnesses and security sources said, hours after militants in the besieged enclave fired a rocket into the Jewish state. The strikes, the second in 48 hours after a previous rocket strike, were concentrated on the centre of the blockaded coastal territory, they said. A rocket was fired from the Palestinian enclave of Gaza into Israel late on Wednesday, the Israeli army said, despite Hamas warning other factions to refrain from firing rockets.” 

“The Palestinian Hamas movement has received 150 calls in 48 hours from various parties as unremitting mediation efforts attempt to prevent war in the Gaza Strip following repeated violent Israeli raids across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. A source close to Hamas, which governs Gaza, told Middle East Eye that the United States, a party not traditionally involved in mediation, has indirectly approached the movement with the aim of maintaining calm on the Gaza front.”

“On this episode, Editor-at-Large Peter Beinart speaks with political scientist Dana El Kurd and attorney Daniel Seidemann about why violence is rising now, shifting Palestinian public opinon on violent and nonviolent resistance, and what the coming weeks may bring.”

“One of the most important things we try to do as human rights activists in the South Hebron Hills is to raise awareness about the violence we experience at the hands of soldiers and settlers. Most of the residents of the area, including my family, are busy with hard work all day, and the majority have not been able to practice their right to education. But because I can speak English, I bear the responsibility of conveying our message to the world, and collecting data for campaigns and advocacy within the framework of international agreements that protect human rights and dignity. The latest project in which I’ve been involved is the #SaveMassaferYatta campaign, which aims to raise awareness about Israel’s attempts to expel over 1,000 Palestinians from Masafer Yatta.  Eight whole villages, including Tuba, are at risk of destruction by virtue of being located in what Israel calls “Firing Zone 918,” even though the villages pre-date the firing zone by several decades.”

“When the protests began nearly a year ago, the men of Beita, which is home to about 18,000 residents, decided to maintain a constant presence on the mountain, which also overlooks the Palestinian villages of Yatma and Qabalan. They used social media to stream 24-hour footage from the demonstrations, both to garner more support from across Palestine and to maintain contact with people back in the village — including to request water to drink….[Amaal] Abu Shamsa was one of the first to respond to these requests…Within two weeks, the deliveries had become systematic: twice a day. The women…prepared food and received donations from other families including bread, meat, yogurt, dates, rice, and sometimes cash….Together, they prepared 250 meals per day over a period of 100 days — a time which Abu Shamsa speaks of fondly. When more solidarity groups joined the rallies on Fridays, the women collectively prepared no less than 3,500 meals on those days. “This is how we, as a women’s group, discovered that our unity makes things happen…”

“April 17 marks Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, commemorating the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian political prisoners incarcerated by the Israeli occupation regime. Since Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967, over 800,000 Palestinians have been arrested and detained by Israeli authorities. Currently, Israel continues to detain 4,450 Palestinians, among them 32 women, 160 children, and 530 administrative detainees held without charge or trial. These numbers could well increase today after Israeli forces raided the Al-Aqsa mosque, killing six Palestinians and injuring over 150…For over 100 days, all Palestinian administrative detainees — currently 530 detainees — and their lawyers have refused to participate in the court procedures relating to administrative detention. Despite the boycott, Israeli military courts continue to confirm administrative detention orders in confirmation hearings that only include Israeli military judges, military prosecutors, and (in some cases) intelligence officers, attesting to the role of the military courts as a rubber stamp to the directives of the Israeli occupation authorities…The Israeli military judicial system has become an inseparable part of the larger Israeli settler-colonial and apartheid apparatus, implementing Israeli laws and procedures against Palestinians. The link between Israel’s military judicial system and its laws has been increasingly highlighted by the cascade of reports by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the UN Special Rapporteur, all of which find the Israeli regime guilty of the crime of apartheid.” Also see: Milena Ansari: Palestinian Prisoners’ Rights (Unsettled Podcast)

“Israel’s Defense Ministry recognized last month a Palestinian photographer shot five years ago by a West Bank Jewish settler as a victim of a nationalistic crime, meaning committed out of political motives. The Associated Press photographer, Majdi Shtayyeh, was shot in the hand while photographing a demonstration by Palestinians near Hawara in the Nablus area of the West Bank…Following the incident, the Israeli Police and military began investigating, taking eyewitness accounts, including the settler’s testimony. However, no conviction of wrongdoing nor charges were filed against him. The photographer then sued the Defense Ministry, seeking recognition as a victim of a nationalistically motivated crime. Last month, years later, a committee with representatives from the Defense, the Justice, the interior, and finance ministries issued a decision granting his request.”

“As is standard, the [separation] barrier was built well beyond the settled part of the settlement, creating a buffer zone between Shaarei Tikvah’s original perimeter fence and the barrier, much of it consisting of land seized – supposedly temporarily – from Palestinians…For years, some of [Shaarei Tikvah’s residents] have been passing through the settlement’s original fence to operate horse farms in the buffer zone. The farms sit on land next to the barrier, which in this area consists not of a wall but a high chain-link fence. North of that fence, the Palestinian owners of the land have a clear view of Israelis riding horses among their olive trees. According to a 2018 report by the Israeli human rights organization Kerem Navot, settlers operate many such stables on private Palestinian land in the West Bank. Israel’s four state-mandated health maintenance organizations reimburse Israelis who take therapeutic riding lessons at some of them: one of the many ways the state subsidizes the illegal settlement enterprise. If it is therapeutic for Israelis to take riding lessons on Palestinian land less than 100 meters from the separation barrier, what is the security imperative for denying regular access to its owners?”

“Commercial spyware has grown into an industry estimated to be worth twelve billion dollars. It is largely unregulated and increasingly controversial. In recent years, investigations by the Citizen Lab and Amnesty International have revealed the presence of Pegasus on the phones of politicians, activists, and dissidents under repressive regimes. An analysis by Forensic Architecture, a research group at the University of London, has linked Pegasus to three hundred acts of physical violence. It has been used to target members of Rwanda’s opposition party and journalists exposing corruption in El Salvador. In Mexico, it appeared on the phones of several people close to the reporter Javier Valdez Cárdenas, who was murdered after investigating drug cartels. Around the time that Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia approved the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a longtime critic, Pegasus was allegedly used to monitor phones belonging to Khashoggi’s associates, possibly facilitating the killing, in 2018. (Bin Salman has denied involvement, and NSO said, in a statement, “Our technology was not associated in any way with the heinous murder.”) Further reporting through a collaboration of news outlets known as the Pegasus Project has reinforced the links between NSO Group and anti-democratic states. But there is evidence that Pegasus is being used in at least forty-five countries, and it and similar tools have been purchased by law-enforcement agencies in the United States and across Europe. Cristin Flynn Goodwin, a Microsoft executive who has led the company’s efforts to fight spyware, told me, “The big, dirty secret is that governments are buying this stuff—not just authoritarian governments but all types of governments.”” Also see “Would you click?” (Citizen Lab)

“Metastasizing anti-BDS laws, in action! Texas comptroller puts 100 asset managers on notice over fossil fuel divestments…Did you see news that ALEC is backing bills modeled on anti-BDS laws targeting challenges to fossil fuel industry?” See Lara’s entire thread for details of the spread of the model of anti-BDS laws.

“The vote has become a lightning rod for Israel-advocacy groups and ideologically aligned media outlets, who have used smear campaigns and misinformation to shape campus politics from without…The school’s paper of record, The Daily Princetonian, reported that the advocacy groups Israel War Room (IWR) and Alums for Campus Fairness (ACF) spent at least $1,100 on Facebook advertisements challenging the referendum in the weeks before voting began on April 11th…ACF also circulated a petition on Facebook condemning “a nefarious resolution that would foment antisemitism and threaten Jewish students.” The petition called on Princeton to codify the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism, which deems some criticism of Israel antisemitic. According to tax filings, ACF is a project of StandWithUs, a prominent right-wing advocacy group focused primarily on campus BDS efforts.”

“In response to AIPAC’s political action committee announcement that it now endorses 109 anti-democratic Members of Congress who voted against certifying Joe Biden’s election as president following the attempted insurrection on January 6, 2021, J Street’s National Political Director Laura Birnbaum issued the following statement: “Since announcing earlier this year that they had endorsed over three dozen Members of Congress who voted to overturn the presidential election results on January 6, AIPAC has faced strong condemnation and criticism from prominent Jewish communal leaders and commentators, including several of their own former senior staff. Yet instead of reversing course, they have now tripled down – endorsing 109 anti-democratic Members of Congress. They have sent a clear message that they do not care about the future of American democracy, and that they are ready to raise millions of dollars for those who empower and excuse insurrection.” … The full list of AIPAC-endorsed candidates who voted to overturn the election results on January 6 can be found here. In total, AIPAC now endorses over two-thirds of all those who sided with the insurrectionists.” See also this tweet from Hadar Susskind of Americans for Peace Now: “The AIPAC PAC is now the largest insurrectionist PAC in the country—and it is quickly emerging as a leading force in degrading American politics. Since Dec., AIPAC has delivered more than $6 million in contributions to pro-Israel candidates, even if they support a coup.“

“US Vice President Kamala Harris served wine that was produced in an illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank during a Passover seder she hosted over the weekend, sparking outrage from Palestine advocates and Jewish groups…Herbie Ziskend, a senior communications adviser to the vice presidency, took to Twitter to say that the wine served during the seder was “in no way intended to be an expression of policy”.”

“The United States and Great Britain have blocked the importing of diamonds from Russia, and the EU is considering the matter. In Israel, which in normal days takes up about 10 percent of the rough diamonds Russia exports, there isn’t even any public discussion of the possibility. In practice, a small number of Israeli diamond dealers, licensed importers of Russian merchandise, continued to import rough diamonds from Alrosa, which is owned by the Russian government, at least until mid-March. Since that time they have been encountering obstacles, mainly banks that are balking at transferring payments to Russia. There is no impediment in law that would stop them from continuing to trade with the Russians, incidentally (indirectly) injecting money into Russia’s war. The diamond industry is not an outlier. In effect, Israel has not imposed any sanctions on President Vladimir Putin, the businesses supporting his government, or oligarchs close to him. But when it comes to diamonds, Israel’s neutrality is likely to be of unique significance, potentially affecting the efficacy of the U.S. sanctions. A loophole in the U.S. law could turn Israel, or the Israeli traders, into a channel for bypassing the sanctions, and for bringing diamonds originating in Russia to the United States, legally.”

“Almost 24,000 Ukrainian refugees — approximately a third of whom are Jewish — have arrived in Israel since the Russian invasion of their country on Feb. 24. Israeli officials say the influx may end up being the largest wave of immigration to the country since the collapse of the Soviet Union — an event that helped propel Israeli politics to the right and laid bare the challenges of successfully integrating new arrivals. This time, too, the government is struggling with its response as it balances competing demands and pleas. There have been entreaties for compassion, including from Ukraine’s Jewish president and those who argue that Israel, a nation established in the aftermath of the Holocaust, has a moral imperative to help those in need. There have been warnings as well, from right-wing politicians and segments of the public arguing that Israel should not admit non-Jewish refugees in any significant numbers, to preserve the country’s Jewish majority…For now, Israel has capped the number of non-Jewish refugees who can be admitted at 5,000, but it has allowed an unlimited number of Ukrainians with relatives in Israel to stay until the hostilities subside. Those who cannot claim Israeli citizenship are given tourist visas and barred from working or from accessing many social benefits. The government has not announced long-term plans for their care in case the war drags on.”

“Revenge isn’t a strategy, but neither is complaining about injustice or passing toothless resolutions. Israel will not change by itself, nor will the US or the UN. Therefore, Palestinians must identify what they can change and lay out a path to produce that change. That’s the definition of a strategy.”

“Azmi Bishara’s new book Palestine: Matters of Truth and Justice is one of the few works that pumps fresh blood into the history-political literature on Palestine…Bishara makes the case that collective identity, on one hand, and the history of the land and national history, on the other, are not the same. He sees that Palestinian indigeneity to the land trumps all other considerations as far as Palestinian rights are concerned. “Native indigenous people with national consciousness,” is how he frames the dynamics of Palestinian nationalism.”

“As we approached the group, we saw six young Palestinian boys bent down on their knees, shivering in the cold, as three IDF soldiers stood over them, their M16s at the ready…The older children – the oldest of whom was 18 – tried to keep calm in front of the soldiers while comforting their younger friends, while the youngest, aged only eight, cried and begged us for help. They told me they were from a neighborhood nearby and were walking down the street when the soldiers stopped them, accused them of throwing stones, forcing them at gunpoint to kneel by the side of the highway and wait in the cold until a higher-ranking officer arrived…On the day of the arrests, a few activists on the ground pitched the story to several Israeli news outlets and were rejected by all of them. The laconic response given by the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit described the children as “suspects,” accusing them of throwing rocks; for the Israeli media, that was enough to make this story not newsworthy. Just like that, these were no longer children but terror suspects. The lack of any evidence whatsoever for the IDF’s claim made no difference. The children were yet to face the worst of their ordeal – enduring the detention center to which they would be taken, and the interrogation of Israeli military and security officials. But from the point of view of Israel’s mainstream media, there was no need for due diligence. The word ‘suspects’ was enough to keep this story out of the Israeli public’s sight and attention.”