Haredi Jews seem an oddity amongst the diverse congregation of Jews. Many Haredim think Israel should not exist and they should not perform state duties, especially military service. It’s a growing problem -Haredim have by far the fastest birth rate amongst Jews at just below 12%. The national average is 2%.

The Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism (GRM) was brokered between the UN, PNA and Israel. In a bitter irony it has allowed Israel to declare more materials as having ‘dual use’ and so prevents its transport into Gaza. Palestine Monitor on a report from Oxfam.

Rampages by ISIL targetting tourists badly damaged tourism in Arab North Africa. But as the only ‘white’ country/ democracy in the Middle East Israelis are upset that their country too is a violent destination because of its treatment of Palestinians. Asa Winstanley on Israel’s drop in tourism and reputation.

AIPAC’s motto could be that of the passively complicit through history – we don’t want to know.But it’s impossible they know nothing of the land-expropriation, the rough-handling by soldiers, and that great big wall cutting through Palestinian land with such destructive effect. A withering critique by Chemi Shalev.

Ramzy Baroud describes the frantic activity of various bodies to crush BDS. All they do is big up the movement. And why are so many august bodies so desperate to protect Israel?

Richard Falk, former UN rapporteur on Israeli Violations in Palestine and professor of international law knows more about Palestine/Israel than most. His is a legal, not emotional, approach. But his co-authoring of a report on Israeli apartheid led to the cancellation of his talks at 2 British universities and a meeting disrupted by Zionist hecklers at LSE. The trend here of censoring discussion of Israel is now an established denial of free speech.

AIPAC has no role in relation to Jews or Judaism. It exists solely to press politicians and government in the USA to favour the state of Israel. For this reason it has generous donors and supporters. And very vocal critics. IfNotNow and Peter Beinart.

Pro-Israel lobbying in the US, often by Christian groups, has produced a slew of laws declaring the support of boycott or of limiting free commerce to be illegal. Such groups are following Israel’s lead in flouting international laws. The Progressive tracks them.

AIPAC’s modus operandi is cultivating direct lines to Congressmen and the White House. The MO of both Trump and Netanyahu, says Bradley Burston, is to work under cover, never letting the daylight in.

When PM May decided to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism as hers she kept private why she chose this one, or why she chose any one at all. Retired judge Stephen Sedley says why the definition fails on all counts.

The definition of antisemitism chosen by PM May, written by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, has no legal weight and is too confused to be a clear guide says QC Hugh Tomlinson, commissioned by 4 organisations including JfJfP. Here is his fine forensic Opinion in full.

The former head of Mossad says “Israeli occupation and the conflict with the Palestinians are the only existential threat facing Israel”. It’s not going to be solved by divine intervention. Neither he, nor IDF Generals believe Iran is a major threat.

Here is our summary of this week’s postings. You can read them in full via this page or via the jfjfp.com home page.

This is the transcript of an interview with Ann Jungman, a founder signatory of JfJfP. Why did she join? What made her critical of Israel? and how did she find her time on a kibbutz?

It had seemed that US Jewish Groups had failed to condemn the Israeli Occupation out of blind loyalty to Israel. It now seems they are blinded by hatred of all things Muslim – and that means Palestinians.

Rumours of changing Hamas’s charter have been circulating since last year. Many doubted it was possible – did Hamas have the diplomatic skills to engage all factions in change? It seems so. The changes are dramatic. But children absorb anti-Israel violence from very early. Can that be changed to fit the new Charter?

Israeli loyalists are liable to cry – ‘you are denying our right to exist’ – at any critic. Philosopher Joseph Levine takes apart this phrase – all its elements are questionable – and says any notion of citizenship that is based on ethnicity must be excluding and a form of domination.

This story from AFP was published last year but is more timely than ever. Israel’s leading edge is not in conventional warfare; it is in controlling domestic populations. European states want to buy their weapons and techniques.

That is, he avoids paying all the income tax he is liable for. Richard Silverstein notes the glee this brings Barghouti’s enemies and that ‘every wealthy Israeli, and I mean virtually every one, has a tax avoidance strategy’.

Blocking BDS: Swiss parliament passes a law banning any government funding to any NGO involved in ‘racist, antisemitic or hate incitement actions, or in BDS’. And an ill-informed article by an Italian-Israeli on the admin of Turin university banning a BDS conference. The student council had approved by wide majority a motion supporting the academic boycott of Israel.