This week's postings, Feb 16th-22nd, on JfJfP.com


February 22, 2015
Sarah Benton

This week. February 16th – 22nd, 2015, we have our second Signatories Blog, from Prof. Lynne Segal How Israel tries to instil despair, on the importance, but difficulty, of not succumbing to despair when the power you’re opposing, for example Israel’s over the Palestinians, takes many forms and many routes.

This space is open to any signatory – and can be a report of an event, an opinion or analysis, a question you think should be raised but hasn’t been, or a review of a book, film, piece of theatre. Speaking of books, David Sperlinger has recently revised his list of recommended books at Books on Israel-Palestine. Anything you would like to recommend – or consign to the dustbin of history? Write us a piece and send to postings@jfjfp.org.

The election (March 17) dominates. Poll findings are provided by Americans for Peace Now at Economy or security?
PM Netanyahu’s increasingly hectic efforts to come top in the March 17th election are tainting everything he says and does with cynicism. But nothing has been so damning as the State-Comptroller’s report on the expenses he claims. Take-away meals features highly, despite the fact that his main home has two kitchens, into neither of which the Netanyahus have ventured, leaving them to a large group of very badly-paid and bitter servants.

Netanyahu alienates leaders round the world
Bibi blames plotters for his expenses scandal

However, for many the most interesting feature of the election is the growth in prominence and publicity for the Arab-led Joint List.
There’s a revealing interview with Joint List leader, Ayman Odeh in Joint List aims to break Zionist consensus

The PM has further irritated European leaders by insisting their Jewish populations will only be safe in Israel. Statistically this is absurd. Out of a European population of c. 1,150,000 about seven Jews were killed by Islamists in 2014. In Israel, population about 8 million, 38 Jews were killed in 2014 by Islamists (a number of these were soldiers who invaded Gaza. Military service is compulsory in Israel). Where’s safer for Jews?

Uri Avnery takes issue with the call to Israel in Compare and contrast Christian antisemitism with Islamist attacks today in which he rejects the idea of antisemitism as a cause of attacks on Jews in Europe and looks instead to colonial heritages of European Muslims in which Jews were seen as being on the side of the colonial oppressors.

Although Jews were killed in France and Denmark, they were not the primary targets of Islamist attacks. The chief enemies of jihadists were in fact intellectuals and artists who used / misused their skills to mock the Prophet Muhammed to display their right to freedom of speech. In all the talk about ‘rising antisemitism’ it appears to be forgotten that more non-Jews than Jews have been kiled in the attacks. First they came for the writers…

And much else besides

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