Top news stories from Israel/Palestine: August 28, 2018

What We’re Reading

BDS and Settlement boycotts

BDS pressure takes a toll on Meteor Festival,

With less than two weeks to the Meteor Festival, the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel has chalked up a series of wins – and losses – with artists slated to perform there.

Censored film names Adam Milstein as Canary Mission funder,

Milstein is named as the financier of Canary Mission by Eric Gallagher, a former employee of The Israel Project, in Al Jazeera’s censored investigative film, The Lobby – USA.

Pro-Israel donor Adam Milstein denies report that he funds Canary Mission,

Real-estate investor Adam Milstein denied a report that he is a funder of Canary Mission, an anonymous website that aims to name and shame anti-Israel activists.

2 Spanish cities reverse BDS motions following legal action,

Two municipalities in Spain rescinded their adhesion to the campaign to boycott Israel following legal action by a Madrid-based organization devoted to defending the Jewish state.

US-Israel/Palestinian relations

As US buries era of evenhandedness, will shift bring Palestinians to the table?,

“For folks who naively believe we’re simplifying the Palestinian issue, they are not taking seriously the power of narrative and grievances,” FMEP’s Lara Friedman said. “How long have Jews held fast to ‘next year in Jerusalem’?”

Occupation/Human rights

In video - Israel punitively demolishes home of killed Palestinian,

he demolition comes under Israel’s collective punishment policy for the actions of the family’s 17-year-old killed son, who carried out a stabbing attack in July in the illegal Israeli Adam settlement, in which one Israeli settler was killed and two others suffered light to moderate injuries.

Israeli politics

Arab-Israeli lawmakers ask UN to condemn nation-state law,

Arab-Israeli lawmakers and the Palestinian Authority want the United Nations to condemn Israel’s nation-state law.

Gaza

Egypt and Qatar are working on 2 very different deals for Gaza; both are stalled,

Another of the factors preventing a long-term Israel-Hamas agreement is the diplomatic war being waged between Qatar and Egypt over the credit: which of them will be considered the “godfather” of a period of calm or a more substantive deal.

Hamas: Between unity with Fatah and a deal with Israel,

Hamas seems to be making more progress on a de-escalation deal with Israel than on reconciliation with Fatah.

Iran

Three years on, the Iran nuclear deal is still Israel's best bet,

Netanyahu has tirelessly tried to spin the Iran nuclear deal as dangerous, but the prime minister’s propaganda campaign has drowned out reasons why the agreement actually benefits Israel and the Middle East.