Top news stories from Israel/Palestine: January 10, 2019

What We’re Reading

BDS and Settlement boycotts

Marco Rubio and His Colleagues Need a Refresher on the First Amendment,

Marco Rubio and his colleagues may not agree with the BDS movement, and they have a First Amendment right to express that. But public officials cannot use the power of public office to punish views they don’t agree with.

Will backing anti-BDS bills be a liability for 2020 Democratic hopefuls?,

There are at least seven Senate Democrats eyeing a presidential run. Only two support the Israel Anti-Boycott Act, and just one is willing to cosponsor it.

US Muslim group sues to block anti-BDS measure in Maryland,

A Muslim civil rights group is suing to block the US state of Maryland from enforcing an executive order barring state agencies from contracting with businesses that boycott Israel.

3 BCRI board officers resign in wake of Angela Davis controversy,

Less than a week after the board of directors of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute voted to rescind its selection of activist, academic and author Angela Davis as the 2019 Fred L. Shuttlesworth Human Rights Award recipient, its top three officers resigned, the Institute announced Wednesday

Occupation/Human rights

New Jerusalem ‘Apartheid Road’ Opens, Separating Palestinians and Jewish Settlers,

The West Bank has many segregated roads, but none of them is divided along its entire length by a wall.

IDF soldiers arrested for allegedly beating detained Palestinians,

The Military Police Criminal Investigation Division (CID) arrested an IDF platoon commander and four combat soldiers from the IDF’s religious battalion Netzah Yehuda Thursday for allegedly beating two Palestinians who were held in custody.

'A real catastrophe': Gaza fuel crisis threatens thousands of patients,

“What is the guilt of thousands of patients who are suffering from the disease and paying the tax of internal Palestinian political contradictions?” asked one patient.

Israeli Court Blocks State Attempt to Expel Palestinian Attacker's Mother From Jerusalem,

A Jerusalem court blocked last week yet another attempt by Israel’s Interior Ministry to expel the mother of a Palestinian man who stabbed a policeman to death in October 2015 from her home in Jerusalem.

Palestinian farmers caught between Israeli rock and PA hard place,

“The fundamental deficiencies that plague the Palestinian agricultural sector are driven by the decades-long Israeli colonisation of Palestine. But far from challenging or contesting colonial power, the PA has instead often functioned as a conduit for it,” writes Alaa Tartir.

US-Israeli/Palestinian relations

Exclusive: Are U.S. Newspapers Biased Against Palestinians? Analysis of A Hundred Thousand Headlines Says Yes,

A study released last week by 416Labs, a Toronto-based consulting and research firm, supports the view that mainstream U.S. newspapers consistently portray Palestine in a more negative light than Israel, privilege Israeli sources, and omit key facts helpful to understanding the Israeli occupation, including those expressed by Palestinian sources.

Left-wing US student groups increase pressure on Birthright for ‘balanced’ trip,

To pressure Birthright Israel into including the Palestinian narrative on its organized tours, left-leaning Jewish groups are willing to entertain almost any tactic — including staged walk-offs and petitions.