Top news stories from Israel/Palestine: January 31, 2019

What We’re Reading

How Did Israeli Elections Get So Racist?,

“A disturbing new trend has emerged in the political ads of the Israeli elections. Campaign ads seem to be competing over which candidate has killed the most Palestinians,” writes Elizabeth Tsurkov.

JVP just declared itself anti-Zionist and it's already shifting the conversation,

‘We often play the role of being able to say things that the rest of the movement cannot,’ Jewish Voice for Peace director Rebecca Vilkomerson says in a wide-ranging interview about the group’s decision to come out as opposed to Zionism, how to fight the conflation of anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism, and recent attacks on Black-Palestine solidarity.

Unreasonable processing times for permit applications submitted by Gaza residents,

The timeframes the state has granted itself to respond to permit applications are grossly unreasonable, and showed that the directive infringes systematically on residents’ ability to fulfill basic needs, let alone to exercise their fundamental human rights.

Top Rabbis Call for Donations to Israeli Charged With Killing Palestinian Woman,

In a letter, leading rabbis call on Israelis to give to the legal fund of the minor accused of throwing the rock that killed Aisha Rabi in October.

World Zionist Organization Uses Israeli Taxpayer Money to Fund Illegal Settlement Home,

The organization’s Settlement Division provided a mortgage loan for Gilad Ach, who heads a group deploying undercover agents among left-wing NGOs.

Palestinian Bedouin in the Jordan Valley caught between Israeli army and settlers,

On a concrete slab placed at the entrance to Khirbet Faw, home to a small Bedouin community, the Israeli army has written: “Firing zone… entry is forbidden”.