Palestine

Sept. 17, 2024Updated 9:31 p.m. ET

article will receive updates

At the center of the debate are key changes in the language used to describe Zionism, the movement that called for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in what is now Israel.

The 2023 version of the page framed Zionism as a nationalist movement born in the 19th century that sought to secure Jewish self-determination.

In contrast, the 2024 version of the entry introduces more charged terminology, describing Zionism as an “ethno-cultural nationalist” movement that engaged in “colonization of a land outside of Europe,” with a heightened focus on the resulting conflicts with Palestinian Arabs.

“Zionists wanted to create a Jewish state in Palestine with as much land, as many Jews, and as few Palestinian Arabs as possible,” it reads.

Joseph Massad
16 September 2024 16:24 BST

Joseph Massad is professor of modern Arab politics and intellectual history at Columbia University, New York.

The rapporteurs, who are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council but who do not speak on behalf of the UN, also slammed Western countries’ “double standards” in the devastating war and said Israel needed to face consequences for its actions.

“I think it is unavoidable for Israel to become a pariah in the face of its continuous, relentless, vilifying assault of the United Nations, on top of millions of Palestinians,” said Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, citing verbal and military attacks on UN facilities in Gaza.

“Should there be a consideration of its membership as part of this organisation, which Israel seems to have zero respect for?”.

Sept. 16, 2024

Opinion - Guest Essay By Hagai El-Ad

Mr. El-Ad was the executive director of the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem from 2014 to 2023. He wrote from Jerusalem.

"But there is only one regime in Israel-Palestine. The Palestinian Authority controls limited aspects of life in fragmented areas of the West Bank; Israel rules over all the major aspects of life in the territory.

Annexation is not a future prospect; it is a fact of life. Israelis and Palestinians live in a one-state reality."

Emma Graham-Harrison

Sat 14 Sep 2024 12.30 EDT

from Deutsche Welle

Elizabeth Grenier

September 12, 2024

Gershon Baskin, known for his role in facilitating past negotiations between Israel and Hamas, including the release of Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit in 2011, put forward a proposal to his contacts within the Palestinian group earlier this month.

In an interview with Anadolu, he said Hamas agreed to the terms, which included an end to Israeli presence in Gaza, along with the release of all Israeli hostages and “an agreed upon” number of Palestinians in Israeli prisons – all within the span of just three weeks.

The persistent deadlock in talks for a ceasefire is because “the positions of Israel and Hamas are diametrically opposed,” according to Baskin. “Hamas says that they will not make any agreement with Israel that does not end the war, and Prime Minister Netanyahu’s position is that he will not make an agreement with Hamas that ends the war,” he explained.

By MEE staff

Published date: 16 September 2024 13:39 BST

By Ayah El-Khaldi

Published date: 13 September 2024 16:05 BST

By Katherine Hearst

Published date: 9 September 2024 15:41 BST

By Ahmed Alsammak

Published date: 15 September 2024 11:17 BST

Nikhil Singh

Fri 17 May 2024 07.00 EDT

“Mystery Strikes” and Deaths

There’s a perverse insistence in Western news that the deaths of innocent children, women, disabled, and the elderly in Israel’s indiscriminate bombing of Gazan residential areas are casualties of ‘war’. Again and again, they acquit Israel of any wrongdoing by claiming that these killings are due to ‘war’ rather than a genocide, despite UN claims. The civilian death toll in Gaza is higher than any other conflict in the 21st century.

As I demonstrated with a 1937 newspaper headline in Part 1, the use of pro-Zionist Media to create a pro-Israel narrative is nothing new. Here’s an example from 2018, where BBC changed its headline to make sure that Israel is once again the victim.

Let’s get back to the present Israeli genocide now:

NYT protects Israel's role in enforcing illegal famine in Gaza. A NYT piece blames Gazans for not displaying orderly queue at an aid convoy. Absolves Israel of creating famine conditions by not mentioning Israel’s role, and how IDF soldiers shot Gazans looking for food. Credit: NYT

A mysterious strike has killed people in Gaza. Makes you think who attacked, could it have been Israel? Credit: Sky News

Takeaway

Headlines are viewed in a vacuum. They have the responsibility to convey the entire story. With the rise of pay-walls and subscriptions, most readers aren’t allowed to look at anything except the headlines, especially in Western news websites. These headlines thus serve to reinforce a view that Israel is fighting a ‘defensive’ war in Gaza, and not all ‘strikes’ are committed by Israel.

Prem Thakker

Sep 13, 2024

As Israeli demolitions and settler attacks escalate, Palestinians in the village of Umm al-Khair stare down the possibility of expulsion.

Maya Rosen

July 11, 2024

By Dania Akkad

Published date: 13 September 2024 19:12 BST

UCLA students arguing that Zionism is a First Amendment-protected religious belief have joined a powerful right-wing legal project.

Raphael Magarik

September 13, 2024

Patrick Wintour

Diplomatic editor

Fri 13 Sep 2024 11.38 EDT