J Street works to promote an open, honest and rigorous conversation about Israel. The opinions reflected in articles posted in the News Roundup do not necessarily reflect J Street’s positions, and their posting does not constitute an endorsement from J Street.
Bedouin Protest in Jerusalem Demands End of ‘Neglect’ in Israel’s South, Haaretz
Around 200 Bedouin and other activists demonstrated outside the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem Sunday morning to protest the Jewish National Fund’s forestation work in the Negev. The demonstrators demanded that the government end its “policy of discrimination and neglect.”
Former IDF Chief Calls US Withdrawal From Iran Nuclear Deal ‘a Strategic Mistake’, Times of Israel
Former army chief Gadi Eisenkot criticized the US decision in 2018 to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, calling it a “strategic mistake” in an interview published Thursday.
Israel Supports UAE Security Needs, President Says on First Visit, Reuters
Israel’s president, making his first visit on Sunday to the United Arab Emirates, said his country supports the Gulf state’s security needs and wants more countries in the region to join its new detente with the Arab world.
Thousands of Gazans Working in Israel Lack Social Benefits, Haaretz
Thousands of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip with permits to work in Israel are not eligible for social benefits, the result of a tiered permit system that has heightened differences between day laborers from Gaza and those from the West Bank.
Court Orders Further Detention for 15 Palestinians Arrested in East Jerusalem Riots, Times of Israel
A court on Sunday ordered 15 Palestinians remanded in custody after they were arrested over recent rioting in East Jerusalem. Police said 10 of the suspects, all from the Issawiya and A-Tur neighborhoods, were arrested early Sunday on suspicion of throwing rocks and other objects at patrol cars last week.
Palestinians Vent Against Hamas in Rare Online Event, BBC
Hundreds of Palestinian activists have been taking part in a rare online event strongly criticising Hamas governance of the Gaza Strip.
Federal Court Blocks Texas From Enforcing Anti-Israel Boycott Law, Axios
A federal court on Friday blocked Texas from enforcing its anti-boycott, divestment and sanctions law against a Palestinian-American contractor.
The Purpose of Settler Terrorism, +972 Mag
Edo Konrad interviews Daniel Roth, a co-founder of Solidarity of Nations, on being attacked by settlers on the morning of Friday, Jan. 21, in the village of Burin in the northern West Bank where he accompanied farmers as they planted olive trees. Roth says of the function of settler violence as part of Israeli rule over the occupied territories, “[I]t’s not only settlers who are acting violently. The overall aim is to force Palestinians out of their homes, particularly in Area C, and out of the country completely, or at the very least into the Bantustans of Area A [under Palestinian Authority rule] to further limit where they can go or their access to resources. This is all part of the larger, ongoing policy of taking over maximum land for Israel and limiting as much as possible the number of Palestinians on that land. That’s the overarching policy, and it’s the platform upon which settler violence exists.”
NSO Is an Arm of Israel’s Government, Haaretz
Haaretz’s Editorial Board agues, “The strategic considerations of Israel’s defense and foreign affairs establishment, and moreover its leaders, have a duty to take into account that it is forbidden to undermine human rights, either directly or through an intermediary, even in distant countries. We must rid ourselves of the Israeli way of thinking, according to which “We don’t ask our arms customers about human rights,” presumably because it’s none of our business. Without internalizing that lesson Israel will become a full partner of shady regimes and will imprint itself and its citizens with the mark of Cain.”