Martin Luther King Jr

Palestinians cross the Bethlehem checkpoint, as they head to Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound in Jerusalem's Old City during Ramadan, May 18, 2018. (Wisam Hashlamoun/Flash90)

When we celebrate Israeli democracy, we celebrate the violence of occupation

In democratic countries, elections are conventionally described as ‘a celebration.’ But in an undemocratic reality of endless military occupation, they become an overt celebration of the violence of the powerful. By Hagai El-Ad “So long as I do not firmly and irrevocably possess the right to vote I do not possess myself. I cannot make up…

By +972 Magazine February 25, 2019

Michelle Alexander speaks at the Miller Center Forum, December 3, 2010. (Miller Center/CC BY 2.0)

For Michelle Alexander’s critics, Palestinians don’t deserve civil rights

The uproar by Jewish establishment figures over Alexander’s New York Times essay in support of Palestinian rights echoes the reactions of white Americans to the Civil Rights Movement decades ago. Michelle Alexander’s powerful New York Times essay on Saturday (“Time to Break the Silence on Palestine”), ahead of the commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, was…

By Amjad Iraqi January 23, 2019

Rabbi Abraham Heschel presents the Judaism and World Peace award to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (New York World-Telegram/LoC)

Some Israelis think human rights are incompatible with Judaism. They’re wrong

We must reject the false choice between giving up on our traditions and accepting narrow, tribal, and racist interpretations of Judaism. By Yariv Mohar Judaism and humanism are increasingly seen as diametrically opposed in Israel today. Labor Party chairman Avi Gabbay’s recent remarks, in which he echoed Netanyahu’s infamous comment that “the Left has forgotten what…

By +972 Magazine November 16, 2017

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Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and then Israeli President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem, June 10, 2013. (Mark Neyman/GPO)

Colombia’s Israel connection: Peacemaking and the Peace Prize

If the Nobel committee sought to move the needle on Colombian peace by honoring one of its auteurs, they might do well to remember a similar experiment that is all-too-familiar to observers in the Middle East. This year’s Nobel Peace Prize, which went to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos “for his resolute efforts to bring…

By Samer Badawi October 8, 2016

Former settler council leader Dany Dayan at the Herzliya Conference, March 12, 2013 (Photo: Herzliya Conference PR)

From the West Bank to NYC: Challenge Dani Dayan wherever he goes

Now that settler leader Dani Dayan has been appointed as Israel’s consul general in New York, will Jewish leaders wake up and realize that the Israeli government supports indefinite occupation over freedom for all? By Yonah Lieberman In 1963, Bull Connor became an international symbol of racism and white supremacy. A year earlier, as commissioner…

By +972 Magazine March 31, 2016

A Palestinian bus drives along Israel’s separation wall between Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Jerusalem, February 23, 2016. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Ethnic cleansing poll a dangerous sign for Israel

The vast majority of Jewish Israelis don’t want to give up their privilege. But nobody has the right to ‘democratically’ deny rights to another. The most shocking piece of information to come out of a Pew Research Center survey of Israeli society published Tuesday is that nearly half of Jews in the country say they support…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man March 9, 2016

Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his 'I Have a Dream Speech,' Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

What is Martin Luther King’s name doing in the ruins of a Palestinian village?

The civil rights leader’s name mysteriously appears on a plaque dedicated to donors who contributed money to building a Jewish National Fund national park — on top of three destroyed Palestinian villages. By Umar Al-Ghubari (translated by Richard Flantz) Martin Luther King’s name appears on the donors wall of Ayalon Canada Park in the Latrun…

By Haokets March 6, 2016

‘A consciousness free of occupation’: Bil’in marks 10 years of popular struggle

The village that managed to unite the world behind the spirit of nonviolent Palestinian protest marks not only a decade of tear gas, night raids and tragedy, but also of co-resistance and victories in its struggle against settlements, the separation barrier and the occupation. Anyone who has visited the West Bank village of Bil’in on…

By Haggai Matar February 26, 2015

President Shimon Peres toasts to newly-elected Ashkenazi Rabbi David Lau and newly-elected Sephardi Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef. (photo: Kobi Gideon/GPO)

Israel’s rabbinate reflects country’s racist streak

The people of Israel have received what they deserve: a rabbinate that is a true reflection of the current racist streak enlarging itself across the entire spectrum of Israeli society, from the streets of south Tel Aviv to the chambers of the Knesset. By Ahmadiel Ben Yehuda Israel’s new Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau wasted no…

By +972 Magazine August 15, 2013

Palestinians wait to get through at checkpoint at the separation wall in Bethlehem [file photo], (Photo: Activestills.org)

An open letter to Barack Obama: You are welcome in Bethlehem

Mr. President, you are welcome in Bethlehem in occupied Palestine, with open arms, in the hope that you are devoted to justice and a positive peace. By Antwan I. Saca BETHLEHEM – Just like the many other visitors that we receive here in this land, we would do our best to overwhelm you with our…

By +972 Magazine March 21, 2013

Ethiopian Jews find inspiration in MLK, Malcolm X

Thousands of members of the small Ethiopian-Israeli community demonstrated yesterday in Jerusalem against racism and discrimination. This was the last rally in a wave of protest that erupted after religious homeowners in Kiryat Malakhi, a town south of Tel Aviv, announced in a public letter that they will refuse to rent their apartment to Ethiopians.…

By Noam Sheizaf January 19, 2012

Bust of Martin Luther King, Jr at US National MLK Memorial, Washington DC, January 2012 (photo: Roee Ruttenberg)

A reminder to Israel from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

As Americans remember civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., his messages ring true for many Israelis looking for this sort of inspiration that their own leaders are simply not providing. There are few times in which journalists get to say “the politicians done good.” This is one of them. First, in the past year,…

By Roee Ruttenberg January 15, 2012

Palestinian activist taking part in Freedom Ride action taken off an Israeli bus in the entrance to Jerusalem, November 15 2011 (photo: activestills.org)

Palestinian Freedom Rides and the US Civil Rights movement

In last week’s Freedom Rides, West Bank Palestinians demanded equal access to settler roads and buses. Like African-Americans in the American Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, they seek to call attention to an inherently oppressive system and demand that it be dismantled. By Ben Lorber The “Freedom Rides” held last week in the West…

By +972 Magazine November 20, 2011