Leaders of the Arab minority in Israel warned this week that they were facing an unprecedented campaign of persecution, backed by the right-wing government of Benjamin Netanyahu, designed to stop their political activities. The warning came after Said Nafaa, a Druze...
‘Lost Tribe’ on Fast Track to Israel
The Israeli government is reported to have quietly approved the fast-track immigration of 7,000 members of a supposedly “lost Jewish” tribe, known as the Bnei Menashe, currently living in a remote area of India. Under the plan, the “lost Jews” would be brought to...
Israel Creates First ‘Army-Owned’ University
Ehud Barak, Israel's defense minister, approved last week the upgrading to university status of a college in a settlement located deep inside the West Bank, a move certain to further undermine Palestinian confidence in the peace process. The decision, authorizing the...
Israel’s Rocket Defense System Tightens Screws on Gaza
Israel unveiled “Iron Dome” last week, a missile-defense system that is designed to strike a knock-out blow against short-range rockets of the variety fired into Israel by Hamas and Hezbollah. In the short term, Iron Dome is supposed to herald the demise of the rocket...
The Hannibal Procedure: Israel Encourages Its Own Suicide Bombers
Israel’s Bedouin Denied Right to Elections
Some 35,000 Bedouin residents of Israel's southern Negev have been denied the right to hold their first local council election after the Israeli parliament passed a law at the last minute to cancel this month's ballot. The new law gives the government the power to...
South Africa Deports Israeli Airline Official After Investigation
South Africa deported an Israeli airline official last week following allegations that Israel's secret police, the Shin Bet, had infiltrated Johannesburg international airport in an effort to gather information on South African citizens, particularly black and Muslim...
Judge Warns of Israel’s Two-Tier Legal System
An Israeli judge made a historic ruling last week when he decided that an Arab teenager needed "protection" from the justice system and ordered that he not be convicted despite being found guilty of throwing stones at a police car during a protest against...
Campus Watch Copycats Close in on Israeli Professors
Right-wing groups in Israel want to create a climate of fear among left-wing scholars at Israeli universities by emulating the "witch-hunt" tactics of the U.S. academic monitoring group Campus Watch, Israeli professors warn. The watchdog groups IsraCampus...
Tensions Mount Again at al-Aqsa
Tension over control of the Haram al Sharif compound of mosques in Jerusalem’s Old City has reached a pitch unseen since clashes at the site sparked the second intifada nine years ago. Ten days of intermittently bloody clashes between Palestinians and Israeli...


