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Hundreds of people march through Jerusalem several hours after a stabbing attack at the city’s Pride Parade, July 30, 2015. One teenager was killed. (Keren Manor/Activestills.org)

No more waiting: LGBTQ Israelis must take the rights they deserve

The Israeli government doesn’t believe LGBTQ Israelis should be able to adopt children, yet continues to tell the world what a wonderful place Israel for the queer community. The past few days have been a stark reminder of just how the Israeli government views the LGBTQ community. The Welfare Ministry’s statement calling LGBTQ families “irregulars,” who…

By Yali (Yael) Marom July 18, 2017

President Donald Trump stands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he arrives at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, May 22, 2017, for his first official visit to Israel as president. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

The lie of Netanyahu’s economic ‘gestures’

Netanyahu’s goodwill ‘gestures’ to the Palestinians are nothing more than a way to appease President Trump on his visit. So why is the media playing along? In the run-up to President Trump’s visit to the region, the Israeli government adopted a number of modest goodwill gestures vis-a-vis Palestinians in the West Bank, which the Israeli media immediately dubbed “trust-building” measures.…

By Noam Sheizaf May 22, 2017

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking in the Knesset, April 5, 2017. (Hadas Parush/FLASH90)

Netanyahu looks like a bully, but he doesn’t care

Any blowback Netanyahu receives after snubbing the German foreign minister will be short-lived: his base is behind him, he has the patronage of the U.S., and the status quo will remain exactly as it is. This week Netanyahu gave the world another lesson in how authoritarianism disguised as democracy works. Upon learning that the visiting German…

By Lisa Goldman April 25, 2017

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A minaret of a mosque in Jaffa port overlooking Tel Aviv, January 5, 2008. (Jorge Novominsky/Flash90)

Silencing our mosques is the next stage in our dispossession

Moti Yogev’s ‘muezzin law’ is yet another step toward creating a public atmosphere that could lead to expelling Arabs from Israel. By Abed Abu Shehadeh As it does every year, the sounds of the muezzin reached the Knesset this past week. Last time it was Yisrael Beiteinu’s Anastasia Michaeli who brought the “muezzin law” before the Knesset;…

By Haokets November 18, 2016

A Palestinian youth kicks a tear gas canister during clashes with the Israeli army in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, November 20, 2015. (photo: Activestills.org)

The Year in Photos: Palestine and Israel in 2015

Activestills selects the most powerful, important and moving images of 2015 — in chronological order. Photos by: Oren Ziv, Ahmad al-Bazz, Yotam Ronen, Faiz Abu-Rmeleh, Keren Manor, Hosam Salem, Ezz Zanoun, Anne Paq, Shiraz Grinbaum Editing: Anka Mirkin, Merieke Lauken / Activestills.org …

By Activestills December 31, 2015

Israeli settlers attempt to establish a new outpost in response to the killing of two settlers the night before, near the settlement of Itamar, West Bank, October 2, 2015. (photo: Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)

Knesset passes dangerous settlement funding law — without a hitch

A new law formalizes the outsourcing of rural settlement activity in the West Bank. A boon to the settlements, a blow to democracy — and the taxpayer. While Israeli society has been busy with incitement against human rights workers, a baby-killing celebration, and legislation attacking civil society, the Knesset quietly approved a new law last…

By Dahlia Scheindlin December 29, 2015

A Palestinian B'Tselem volunteer documenting a protest in the south Hebron Hills, June 14, 2008. (Oren Ziv/Activestills)

Israeli gov’t votes to support bill targeting left-wing NGOs

Proposed law would force human rights NGOs to sport special labels and badges indicating that they receive foreign funding. The bill still needs to go through committee, pass a full Knesset vote. The Israeli government on Sunday voted to support a law targeting human rights and left-wing organizations, which European countries and human rights activists…

By Edo Konrad December 27, 2015

Still from Im Tirzu's 'The Foreign Agents - Revealed!' video.

Right-wing campaign portrays human rights leaders as foreign agents

Israeli human rights leaders are now being portrayed as back-stabbing foreign implants. 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…

By Orly Noy December 15, 2015

File photo of masked Israeli settlers threatening Palestinians while soldiers look on. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

‘Jews can’t be terrorists,’ Jewish Home MK says

‘When you push an entire population up against the wall, when you demonize them and trample their rights, [the situation] will explode in the end,’ the Israeli parliamentarian writes with no sense of irony. Jewish Home MK Bezalel Smotrich, a member of Israel’s ruling coalition, penned an oped on Wednesday arguing that Jews cannot be…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man December 10, 2015

A Jewish settler attaches an Israeli flag to a tree in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, January 29, 2010 (Anne Paq/Activestills.org)

‘We don’t need a constitution—we have the Bible’

Chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee says every piece of legislation should be ‘compatible with Jewish law.’ From the moment Israel’s founding fathers declared the independence of their state, Israeli politicians have been unable to agree on a formal constitution. Although the Declaration of Independence stipulated that a constitution be written by…

By Edo Konrad July 2, 2015

Deputy Speaker of the Knesset Oren Hazan. (photo: Activestills.org)

Knesset deputy speaker accused of pimping, meth abuse

Junior MK Oren Hazan, who rose in the ranks at breathtaking speed to become the country’s deputy speaker of the Knesset, is now being accused of running a gambling operation, procuring call girls and using crystal meth. Deputy Speaker of the Knesset Oren Hazan (Likud) was suspended from chairing parliamentary sessions Tuesday morning after a…

By Dimi Reider June 9, 2015

Freedom riders November 15, 2011 (Photo: ActiveStills)

Suspending bus segregation won’t solve a thing

The bus segregation plan is but one policy in a massive system of occupation, which is growing not only geographically but also institutionally, politically and conceptually. On Tuesday night the plan to segregate Palestinians and Israelis on buses in the West Bank was put into effect, reported Haaretz. On Wednesday morning the Prime Minister decided to suspend…

By Dahlia Scheindlin May 20, 2015

Jewish Home chairman Naftali Bennett campaigning. (Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)

Bennett as education minister: Less science, more Judaism

Bennett’s party website lists promoting ‘love for land and [Jewish] people’ as a top priority; the Education Ministry already announced that fewer classroom hours will be devoted to core subjects like math, language and history. Along with the announcement that Netanyahu finally formed a governing coalition Wednesday night came the anticipated news that Israel’s next…

By Natasha Roth-Rowland May 7, 2015