Top news stories from Israel/Palestine: February 28, 2019

What We’re Reading

Criticism of Israel ≠ Anti-Semitism

Debunking The Myth That Anti-Zionism Is Anti-Semitic,

“It’s a bewildering and alarming time to be a Jew, both because anti-Semitism is rising and because so many politicians are responding to it not by protecting Jews but by victimizing Palestinians,” writes Peter Beinart.

Ilhan Omar Speaks out on Her Twitter Scandal, Anti-Semitism, and a Progressive Foreign Policy,

Omar joins Mehdi Hasan on this week’s episode of Deconstructed and opens up about the Islamophobic and racist attacks she’s endured since entering Congress, discusses her work with the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and clarifies her position on the Venezuela crisis.

BDS

How a Private Israeli Intelligence Firm Spied on Pro-Palestinian Activists in the U.S.,

Psy-Group’s operations against B.D.S. activists on U.S. college campuses began in February, 2016, according to internal documents describing the campaign.

Occupation/Human rights

UN says Israel's killings at Gaza protests may amount to war crimes,

UN investigators have accused Israeli soldiers of intentionally firing on civilians and said they may have committed war crimes in their lethal response to Palestinian demonstrations in Gaza.

Israel’s Termination of the Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH),

How did TIPH come about, what did it accomplish, and why did Netanyahu target it now?

Israel trying to deport stateless Palestinian journalist from Jerusalem,

Mustafa al-Haruf has spent the last 20 years living in East Jerusalem, where he has a wife, daughter, and works as a photographer. Now Israel wants to deport him to Jordan, where he has no family or legal status.

Israeli politics

Behind Netanyahu’s Deal with the Racist Right—and How the Opposition United Against Him,

Netanyahu is obviously panicked by the possibility that his Greater Israel bloc of right-wing parties will fall short of a sixty-one seat Knesset majority.

Netanyahu Downplays Imminent Bribery Charge: 'A House of Cards About to Collapse',

Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit is expected to announce Thursday his decision on whether to charge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, subject to a hearing, in the three criminal investigations pending against him.

Will Netanyahu Be Indicted? In Israel, the Pressure’s on This Man to Decide,

When Avichai Mandelblit was being considered for the post of Israeli attorney general, the selection committee had a question: If there was enough evidence, would he prosecute the man who was then his boss, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu?

Trump peace plan

Opinion: Trump's Middle East strategy is bound to fail,

“Making Palestinians pay for an Arab-Israeli alliance against Iran spells disaster for the US and its Arab allies,” writes Joe Macaron.