http://mondoweiss.net/2015/12/occupation-mentality-palestine
Yet, under Mayor Emanuel, a former civilian volunteer on an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) base, and Garry McCarthy, the now former Chicago Police Superintendent (Emanuel fired him Dec. 1), it seems that parts of Chicago were treated as if they were occupied territory under police or paramilitary rule.

That is, under arbitrary martial law, just like the repressive martial law regime of the Israeli Defense Forces in the occupied territory of Palestine. Martial law or occupation law is arbitrary as it is not law, but is the manifestation of the occupying military commander’s “will.”

How could this be in the civilian government of Chicago? In part, because Police Superintendent McCarthy and the City of Chicago sought out and received training by Israeli occupation forces in “counter-terrorism” policing, that is, “pacifying” a population through aggressive intelligence gathering and the application of military force. Counter-insurgency is the term used for when this doctrine is applied by military forces.

This collaboration between Israel and U.S. police agencies, including Chicago, emerged after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington. Since then, by one count, at least 300 high-ranking sheriffs and police from cities both large and small have received counter-terrorism training in Israel. For instance, in January 2003, 33 senior U.S. law enforcement officials from Chicago and other major American cities flew to Israel for sessions on “Law Enforcement in the Era of Global Terror.”

http://mondoweiss.net/2015/12/christmas-christian-vampires

The Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism wrote a letter to the state prosecutor calling for an investigation over Gopstein’s latest remarks, listing numerous incidents of incitement. But Gopstein is Israel’s teflon man, nothing sticks to him. He was arrested for incitement last December, along with other members of La Familia, after the torching of a bilingual school in Jerusalem. Israeli defense minister Moshe Ya’alon considered declaring Lahava a terrorist organization at that time, but Gopstein suggested outlawing the Islamist Movement instead. Coincidentally (or not), last month the government of Israel did outlaw the Islamic Movement of Northern Israel and shut down 17 affiliated charities.

However, Gopstein remains free. Meanwhile, Haaretz reports indictments have not been served on the torching of the bilingual school and “it seems the case is going to be closed.” The state prosecutor’s office received the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism letter calling for an investigation, but ” “no decision has been made yet” on the Lehava case.”

Gopstein is the leader of a Kahanist network that has wreaked criminal havoc all over Israel and Palestine. From the torching of mosques, churches and schools, to price tag attacks, to murder. Investigations come and go, everything seems to fall off him like water off a duck’s back. No wonder Gopstein and his cohorts keep smiling.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/22986-palestinian-family-found-unconscious-inside-home-after-tear-gas-attack

A Palestinian family were reportedly left unconscious when suspected Israeli settlers attacked their home with tear gas overnight Monday.

Israeli police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld confirmed graffiti and a gas canister were found at the home in a village near Ramallah.

Rosenfeld said they were investigating the case as a "criminal incident with nationalistic motives."
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The graffiti reportedly read "Revenge" and "Greetings, from prisoners of Zion", leading Israeli media to link the incident to a recent controversy surrounding the detention of Israeli settlers suspected of an arson attack that killed three members of the Palestinian Dawabsheh family, including an 18-month-old baby, earlier this year.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4742039,00.html

Greece is set to recognize a Palestinian state in a parliamentary vote to be attended by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday, a government source said.

A solemn ceremony will accompany the vote as Greece joins dozens of other countries that accord recognition to Palestine, the source said.

Abbas arrived in Athens on Sunday ahead of the vote and was set to meet with President Prokopis Pavlopoulos and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Monday.

Last week, the Greek parliament's foreign affairs committee unanimously approved a motion to recognize Palestine.
Tsipras travelled to Israel last month when he met with both Abbas and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4742407,00.html

A bill to shut all business-related locations – from shopping malls to warehouses – on Saturday and holidays was unanimously approved on Sunday by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation. The Weekly Day of Rest Bill is now to go to the Knesset for a first reading within days.
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Zohar rejected the possibility that the move would be damaging to Israel's four million secular Jews and Arabs. "Everyone will be happy for the Sabbath to become a day of rest and not a day of work. After all, that's how we lived until a few years ago. The majority of people don't even go shopping on the Sabbath and there's no reason for a clothing store to be open on the Sabbath. It's over. If they want to, they can go to a movie theater or café."

Other politicians were staunchly opposed to the bill. "The bill is draconian and violates the status quo, so the ministerial committee decided to tie it to the executive committee," said MK Rachel Azaria (Kulanu). "The bill will thus fulfill the needs of the primaries that it was meant for and will not become a law."

"This is a bizarre bill that will finish, divide, and destroy Israel from within, and could lead to a civil war," said MK Yoel Razvozov (Yesh Atid)."The vast majority of Israel's Jews have fun and shop on Saturday without doing anything to hurt those who observe traditions. Israel will transform into Iran."

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/22911-israel-plans-to-build-walls-around-palestinian-towns

Media reports in Israel have reported that the army is planning to build walls around Palestinians towns and villages on the pretext that it will stop stones being thrown at illegal Jewish settlers.

“The army will build 9 metre high walls in the areas of Beit Ummar, Al-Arroub, Gush Etzion, and the areas surrounding Highway 60, south of the West Bank,” claimed Channel 2 TV.

In response, Mustafa Barghouti, the Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative, told Anadolu, “The Israeli army’s decision to build walls around important and vital areas in the southern part of the West Bank aims to control large Palestinian areas for settlers. It also aims to isolate the areas from each other in order to prevent any chance to establish a Palestinian state.”

Two years ago, Kontorovich emigrated to Israel from the US, and moved to Alon Shvut, an Israeli colony south of Bethlehem. According to his listing at the Jerusalem Centre for Public Affairs, Kontorovich now lives in Neve Daniel, another settlement within the Bethlehem governorate.

But Kontorovich is not just a settlement resident; a video that has come to light shows him expressing support for a notorious right-wing settler group that sees all of the West Bank as “the exclusive possession” of Jews.

In December 2013, Kontorovich gave a talk as a guest of Women in Green (WiG) “on how to apply Israeli sovereignty overc Judea and Samaria [the West Bank] without jeopardizing the existence of Israel as a Jewish state.”

The event took place in Ush Ghurab, on the outskirts of Beit Sahour, where settler activists waged a long campaign to ensure the land remained out of bounds for local Palestinians.

http://972mag.com/maybe-theres-no-room-for-human-rights-in-israel/114828/


Those trying to delegitimize rights groups because their funds come from overseas are sending a very clear message: human and civil rights are not values that exist naturally in Israel.
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The attacks are also coming from more and more directions. In particular, Breaking the Silence, an organization of former Israeli soldiers who oppose the occupation, has been targeted in recent weeks by the country’s national police department, the defense minister, the education minister, and even the president himself. Critics of the organization rarely engage with Breaking the Silence’s messaging and activities, however. Instead the attacks tend to be ad hominem, focusing on where they fundraise and to whom they speak.

The persecution in Israel of human and civil rights NGOs — and the values they represent — is most certainly worrying, but it is not surprising. Similar trends have been documented around the world, often with much more ferocity. And it should not surprise anybody that a country that for five decades has justified the systemic violation of civil and human rights of one population would shy away from defending those very values against waves of populism, especially in the face of looming international isolation.

This story is not new, and yet it is only beginning. It used to be that Jewish privilege offered Israeli human rights activists some level of immunity from political persecution, the likes of which Palestinians have suffered for decades. With the current right-wing government’s strong hold on power, no discernible opposition in sight, and nobody even discussing ending the occupation, it is safe to say that the worst is yet to come.

http://mondoweiss.net/2015/12/netanyahu-politicians-community

Let me start by saying something personal. For almost 40 years I was a member of the Israeli foreign service and not only my job but my passion was to build support for the state of Israel in every single shape or form, whether by convincing journalists, politicians… trying to influence people how to vote at the United Nations. That was what I did.

Today I am coming here to say that without foreign intervention, without pressure on Israel, nothing will move. It certainly is not easy for me to have made that change. And that change is necessary, it has been necessary to me. I love the country, I am Zionist, but I do not approve of the policies. So there is a difference between supporting Israel as a country and objecting to its policies. And it’s in the spirit that I would like to say what I think should be done.

And what I think should be done is to try to get through the bubble in which the Israelis live. It is not only Netanyahu or [Naftali] Bennett or [Uri] Ariel who are the drivers. For that you need the public. And I would say the public has swayed very much to the right. It is living in a kind of bubble where everything is possible. The prime minister is doing anything he can conceive or think because he thinks that this is being done with impunity. He has managed to convince the Israelis, not only that we do not have a partner but that the Arabs have always hated us, they always hate us… There’s no way in normal civility to ever have any kind of agreement with the Palestinians.

So what I think has to be done is a combination of things to reach the Israeli public. I do not think we can change the mind of Netanyahu. He is immune to criticism, he has brought relations with the United States to the point that we know, the lowest point. He objects from time to time to what the foreign minister of Sweden says, but he is really doing what he wishes because he thinks that nobody is going to punish him, because he thinks for instance that in America at the end of the day any politician will need the support of the Jewish community, so there is no real pressure of America on Israel.

http://972mag.com/right-wing-campaign-portrays-human-rights-leaders-as-foreign-agents/114805/

One minute and nine seconds. That’s the length of the inciting video published this morning by right-wing activist Ronen Shoval. In less than a minute-and-a-half, Shoval manages to sum up all the reasons why an Israeli court deemed it okay to call “Im Tirzu” — an organization he founded — a “fascist” group.

The video is part of a campaign by the group against foreign governments “planting” activists and groups belonging to Israeli civil society. It begins with a clip of a Palestinian man moving his knife toward the camera, as if he is trying to stab the viewer himself, while horror film music plays in the background. The video then goes on to accuse four Israelis who work for human rights organizations — Breaking the Silence’s Avner Gvaryahu, Hamoked’s Sigi Ben Ari, Ishai Menuchin of the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, and B’Tselem’s Hagai El-Ad — of being “planted.”
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Things I learned from the Weimar Republic

The enemy is no longer comprised of various anti-Israel groups. The enemy now has a name, his face is out in the open; these are the people fighting against us from within. These four are now connected to the knife-wielding Palestinian. They are the knife stabbing us in the back.

After watching Shoval’s video I immediately looked up the Hebrew Wikipedia entry for what was known as the “stab-in-the-back myth.” According to the myth, Germany’s loss in World War I came as a result of treasonous activities by Jews, Marxists, freemasons, and others who stabbed the nation in the back.” I also learned that “most of the German people accepted the myth as fact, and that placing the blame on Jews and Marxists for the German defeat became commonplace. Moreover, the myth was convenient in that it served certain psychological aspects of German society, at a time when powerful forces left over from the era of German Emperor Wilhelm II still strived for territorial expansion and had militaristic ambitions. Far-right völkisch parties made use of the myth, and after the Nazis came to power in 1933, the myth won official government support and became part of Germany’s history curriculum.”