Judaization

Settlers of the Nachala Settlement Movement set up tents near Kiryat Arba, with the intention to establish illegal outposts in the West Bank, July 20, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Smotrich wants one million West Bank settlers. That’s not so far-fetched

Seeking to double the settler population, Israel's far-right government is expediting infrastructural plans that were — often literally — laid decades ago.

By Ben Reiff July 12, 2023

Religious Israeli Jews visit the Old City of Akka, July 7, 2021. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)

Religious Zionists want to Judaize Akka. Palestinians are pushing back

Like other ‘mixed cities,’ Akka has long been a target of right-wing Jewish groups wanting to break up Palestinian communities across the country.

By Baker Zoubi June 12, 2023

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shakes hands with Otzma Yehudit party head Itamar Ben Gvir during a Knesset session to vote on forming the government, December 29, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Land grabs. Homophobia. Radicalized police: What to expect from Israel’s far-right government

The new coalition is set to deepen colonization on both sides of the Green Line, while expanding its tools to oppress Palestinians, leftists, and LGBTQ people.

By Natasha Roth-Rowland December 29, 2022

Latest

Israeli police officers deny Palestinians access to olive trees in Wadi Rababa, East Jerusalem, October 7, 2022. (Oren Ziv)

Why are Israeli soldiers harvesting Palestinians’ olive groves?

Soldiers were seen picking the trees after receiving permission from a settler group. When Palestinians went to harvest the next day, police prevented them.

By Oren Ziv and Meron Rapoport October 19, 2022

Members of Kibbutz Amir working in the Papyrus thicket of the Hula Swamps, June 30, 1940. (Kluger Zoltan/GPO)

Why does the JNF still exist?

The forefathers of Zionism never hid their desire to use the Jewish National Fund to dispossess Palestinians. On its 120th anniversary, now is the time to abolish it.

By Yaara Benger Alaluf July 8, 2021

Israelis holding signs of the Jewish National Fund (Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael) take part in a Tu Bishvat tradition of planting trees, in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Michmash, in the Binyamin District, Jan. 15, 2014. (Yossi Zamir/Flash90)

The JNF is no innocent charity

The Jewish National Fund presents itself in Germany as a 'green' organization serving all of Israel's residents. That's not what its leaders say in Israel.

By Michael Sappir March 4, 2021

U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman (left) with White House Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt (center) and Senator Lindsey Graham seen during the opening ceremony of an the Pilgrimage Road at the City of David archaeological site in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, June 30, 2019. (Flash90)

Using archeology in the service of nationalism

The inauguration of a supposed ancient Jewish ‘Pilgrimage Road’ by Ambassador David Friedman and White House envoy Jason Greenblatt is a reminder that archeology is never as neutral as some would like to believe. By Chemi Shiff and Yonathan Mizrachi We tend to think of archeology as a neutral discipline. Archeologists dig up artifacts, date them, and try to build…

By +972 Magazine July 5, 2019

Israeli soldiers hold down an Israeli activist during a demonstration in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh. (photo: Activestills)

The untold story of Jewish anti-Zionists in Israel

For nearly as long as Palestinians have resisted their displacement, small groups of Jews have joined them. Ran Greenstein’s ‘Zionism and Its Discontents’ brings to life the complex, often contradictory story of those Israelis who saw Palestinian and Jewish liberation as one and the same. Zionism and Its Discontents: A Century of Radical Dissent in Israel/Palestine (Pluto…

By Joshua Leifer April 8, 2018

Members of Kibbutz Amir, June 30, 1940. (Zoltan Kluger/GPO)

Even inside Israel, colonialism is far from over

The attempt to bar Arabs from buying land in one of the wealthiest, more liberal towns in Israel is a disturbing reminder of Israel’s colonial past — and present. It keeps happening over and over again. A Jewish town somewhere in Israel finds a way to prevent Arab citizens from buying homes, using its swimming…

By Edo Konrad March 18, 2018

Protesters block the entrance to the JNF headquarters in Jerusalem. January 31, 2018. (Joshua Leifer)

Activists barricade JNF headquarters to protest eviction of Palestinian family

The JNF has been trying to evict the Sumarin familiy from their home in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan for decades. An international campaigned stopped the eviction in 2011. Now, the family is threatened again. Several dozen Israeli and international activists demonstrated outside the Jewish National Fund’s (JNF) Jerusalem offices Wednesday, protesting its role in the…

By Joshua Leifer February 1, 2018

Israeli police officers evict the Shamasneh family from thier home following a court order in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, September 5, 2017. (Afif Amireh/Flash90)

Israel evicts Palestinian family from E. J’lem home, allows settlers to take over

After an eight-year lull in evictions, Israeli authorities kick out the Shamanseh family from their home in Sheikh Jarrah. They had been living in the neighborhood for over 50 years. Israeli security forces evicted a Palestinian family from their home in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah Tuesday morning, the first such eviction in eight years, allowing Israeli…

By Yali (Yael) Marom September 5, 2017

Residents collect their belongings from the ruins of their demolished homes in the Bedouin village of Umm al-Hiran, January 18, 2017. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

For Arab citizens, ‘Jewish and democratic’ means demographic war

While much of the world justly focuses on land theft in the occupied territories, we must not forget that Israel uses the pretense of ‘Jewish and democratic’ to actively dispossess its own Arab citizens. Israeli citizens who may be feeling doubtful about the efficiency of their country’s institutions should take a hard look at the…

By Orly Noy August 22, 2017

Women weep outside a demolished home in Umm el-Hiran, January 18, 2017. (Keren Manor/Activestills)

The civic duty to oppose home demolitions on both sides of the Green Line

The demolitions in Qalansuwa, Umm el-Hiran, and Israel’s new ‘land grab law’ are one and the same. So is the obligation to oppose them. By +972 Magazine Contributor The Netanyahu government’s high profile demolitions in Qalansuwa and Umm el-Hiran in recent weeks are clear instances of systemic discrimination against the Palestinian minority in Israel, which…

By +972 Magazine February 13, 2017