Top news stories from Israel/Palestine: March 20, 2019

What We’re Reading

US-Israeli/Palestinian relations

Under investigation and up for reelection, Netanyahu’s kinship with Trump has never been clearer,

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was using Trump-style messaging and Trump-style tactics long before there was a President Trump. But as the longtime Israeli leader seeks a fifth term in elections next month, the similarities between the two polarizing figures — both under investigation for possible wrongdoing in what each has labeled a “witch hunt” — are being thrown into ever starker relief.

Bernie Sanders posts video of supporter praising his condemnation of ‘apartheid-like’ conditions for Palestinians,

“He spoke out against apartheid in South Africa when crazily that was an unpopular thing to do and even today he speaks out against apartheid-like conditions in Palestine even though it’s not popular,” Shaun King said in the video posted Monday on the presidential campaign’s Facebook page.

Occupation/Human rights

'Endless Trip to Hell': Israel Jails Hundreds of Palestinian Boys a Year. These Are Their Testimonies,

They’re seized in the dead of night, blindfolded and cuffed, abused and manipulated to confess to crimes they didn’t commit. Every year Israel arrests almost 1,000 Palestinian youngsters, some of them not yet 13.

Education Ministry Gave Millions to NGO That Funds Illegal Outpost,

The Midreshet Ma’amakim organization, which is funded by the Education Ministry, is crowdfunding Homesh Yeshiva, an illegal outpost that has been repeatedly rebuilt and dismantled.

Palestinian town targeted in apparent hate crime days after terror attack,

Vandals slashed tires of vehicles and sprayed graffiti on walls in an apparent hate crime attack overnight in the central West Bank village of Batir, locals reported Wednesday morning.

Gaza: generation blockade,

Oliver Holmes describes his recent visit to Gaza, where a generation of Palestinians have spent their entire lives fenced in.

Israeli politics

Israeli elections are a choice between resignation and despair,

Four years ago, the prospect of another Netanyahu government meant perpetuating the status quo. This time, the opposition is offering the status quo — and Netanyahu something far worse.

Will Israel’s Palestinian Arab citizens turn out to vote?,

When asked directly whether they think it’s better to participate in the election than not, even given the Nation-State Basic Law, a significant majority (77.5 percent) said it’s better to participate, with only 17.5 percent saying the opposite.