“Press advocacy group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) castigated Israel this week after five Palestinian journalists were wounded while covering clashes in Gaza and the West Bank over a four-day period. Citing Palestinian organization MADA, the Paris-based NGO reported that Safinaz Al-Luh of Hanthala News and Al-Aqsa TV’s Sami Misran were injured when Israeli soldiers allegedly opened fire on them as they filmed a wounded demonstrator in Gaza on July 19. Misran was said to have lost the use of one eye. Both men were wearing vests labeled ‘press.'”

“Owners of sewing and textile factories in the Gaza Strip are hoping to see a steady increase in their exports to the West Bank and Israel. They credit a slight improvement to the truce understandings reached between Hamas and Israel in March and called on the governments in Gaza and Ramallah to offer incentives to the textile sector. The truce provided for economic incentives in the Gaza Strip and an increase in exportation at the border crossings.”

“‘They are misguided with this resolution. Americans have a right to protest,’ said Abed Ayoub, the national policy director for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. BDS itself is working to end the oppression of Palestinians and what Israel does to allow that to happen. It is pushing for Israel to comply with international law. So there is nothing wrong with the BDS movement,’ Ayoub told Al Jazeera. ‘The issue here is the aggressions and the policies put forward by Israel and how we are turning a blind eye on those as a nation. There should be resolutions against the occupation, against the checkpoints and other human rights violations Israel is perpetrating on Palestinians.'”

“Greenblatt also said that while the Palestinians may aspire to a capital in Jerusalem, they do not have a right to one. ‘It is true that the PLO and the Palestinian Authority continue to assert that East Jerusalem must be a capital for the Palestinians,’ Greenblatt said. ‘But let’s remember, an aspiration is not a right.'”

“‘President Trump has not yet decided when we will release the political portion of the plan, and we hope to make that decision soon,’ he said. While Greenblatt did not reveal any details of the ’60-or-so’ page plan, he said the conflict could not be solved using global consensus, international law and references to UN resolutions – sparking strong rebuttals from council members.”

“David Friedman attacked both Rhodes and Omar, calling their accusations fake news. ‘Fake News: Obama Deputy NSA Ben Rhodes tweets that Palestinian homes destroyed this week by Israel solely for racist motivations.’ Friedman wrote on his own Twitter. ‘Faker News: Rhodes’ lie immediately endorsed by Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.'”

“This new anti-anti-Semitism is aimed more against the Left than against real anti-Semitism. ‘Leftists’ and liberals have long been the bane of unapologetic hard right anti-Semites, who see them as Jewish or Jewish-dominated. Now, leftists and liberals are themselves regularly accused of anti-Semitism by the anti-anti-Semitic right, largely for their opposition to the current Israeli government.”

Zehava Golan writes, “The state doesn’t want to expel Shakir and Human Rights Watch from Israel, but rather from the territories, to stop the organization from scrutinizing the human rights situation there. Thus, this expulsion is no different at all from the assaults on Breaking the Silence or on B’Tselem. The occupation is like sausage: You don’t want to see how it’s made. Human Rights Watch distinguishes between the settlements and Israel.”

“’That is not a club that Israel should be eager to join,’ commented Roth, who is in Israel for the Supreme Court hearing on the appeal against Shakir’s deportation. ‘This is a campaign by the Israeli government not only to shut down human rights activity, including by our Israeli partners, but also to deprive Israelis of information about what is happening around them. Whatever happens, we will continue to report objectively on human rights violations here and elsewhere.’”