Welcome to +972’s Sunday Recap! Here’s your wrap-up of the latest articles from our contributors, including our colleagues at Local Call.
On the morning of May 18, Israeli settlers established an illegal outpost inside the Palestinian shepherding community of Maghayer Al-Dir in Area C of the West Bank. After building on their land, Oren Ziv reported, Israeli settlers attacked and then drove out all of the remaining residents of the village — one of the last in the southern Jordan Valley.
Baker Zoubi wrote about the epidemic of gang violence tearing through Palestinian communities inside Israel, with homicides reaching unprecedented levels in recent years. Many Palestinian citizens now believe that crime is a ‘strategic project of the state,’ where Israel’s deliberate inaction is part of a campaign to dismantle Palestinian society from within.
In recent months, multiple new public opinion surveys have illustrated the extent to which Israel has lost Americans’ support — and that Democrats’ intransigence on Gaza greatly reduced turnout in the Nov. 5 election. Yet as Halah Ahmad argued, Democrats are still not reading the room, and this imperviousness to new data may have serious consequences.
Since Israel unilaterally broke the ceasefire in early March, awareness of the army’s war crimes in Gaza has moved beyond the radical left and Palestinian community, and into wider mainstream Israeli discourse. This alone cannot end the war, Meron Rapoport notes, but it’s a profound shift in consciousness.
Like many American Jews, Sam Stein was brought up to see Israel as infallible. But living among Palestinians in the West Bank for six months undid a lifetime of Zionist indoctrination, teaching him vital truths about the harsh reality of the occupation.
And lastly, +972 is hiring! In recent years, our organization has grown significantly, with both websites reaching wider audiences and increasing their impact. In the context of the genocidal war on Gaza, our work has never been more urgent. We’ve decided to create this new role of Deputy Executive Director. Come work with us!
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We are in an extraordinarily dangerous era in Israel-Palestine, as the Gaza war reaches extreme levels of brutality and threatens to engulf the region. It has never been more vital for our journalists, led by Palestinians and Israelis, to report on and analyze what is happening on the ground and beyond, guided by humanism, equality, and justice. +972 Magazine is proof that an alternative is possible — and we need your support to increase our impact. Join us.
