A New War on Speech
Campaigns against Rabab Abdulhadi and other activists are calls for state-sponsored political harassment.
Campaigns against Rabab Abdulhadi and other activists are calls for state-sponsored political harassment.

Disingenuous antisemitism charges are keeping left-wing critics of Israel on the back foot. Meanwhile, right-wing antisemitism is rising. Rather than play defense, the Left should advance an analysis of antisemitism that doesn’t conflate Jews with Israel.

Jared Kushner’s plan to bring peace to Palestine reads like a real estate developer’s brochure laden with “white man’s burden” racism. Palestinians are right to view him with contempt.

Labor Zionists tried to build a communal utopia. They created an oppressive form of ethnic nationalism instead.

The war in Gaza has split Kurdish opinion, marked by often strong hostility to Islamism as well as Zionism. But Kurds’ responses also draw on their experience of statelessness — and point toward a democratic order not based on rival nation-states.

Ahead of the recent French elections, pundits widely expected voters to punish France Insoumise for its strong pro-Gaza stance. It didn’t happen. Around Europe, left-wing voters are galvanized by parties who defy the pro-Israel mainstream.

A member of the European Parliament, Rima Hassan was detained by Israel in June after she joined the aid flotilla to Gaza. She told Jacobin about her experience — and why another aid mission is setting off this Sunday.

The Israeli Supreme Court’s verdict on the Sheikh Jarrah evictions, which set off huge protests in Palestine earlier this year, was deferred this week. But the deal offered to Palestinians shows that Israel is still intent on dispossessing them.

Rasmea Odeh was found guilty of lying on immigration documents based on a confession obtained through Israeli torture.

The US is pushing for a peace deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia that could involve the US signing a defense pact with the Gulf monarchy. The US would thus be obligated to militarily defend a state where democratic institutions do not exist, even in name.

In 1974, Emile Habibi published The Pessoptimist, an irreverent novel that interpreted the Nakba as a tragicomic fable. Fifty years later, it still speaks to the dilemma facing Palestinians fighting to pull liberation from the jaws of defeat.

Enthusiasts for Israeli militarism often claim that Gaza needs “freeing from Hamas.” Such a claim is steeped in the logic of collective guilt, refusing Palestinians the right to both armed struggle and the ballot box.

German politicians often boast of having atoned for their ancestors’ crimes — but then claim that antisemitism is an ill imported by migrants. Far from a model, German memory culture has created an exceptionalist myth that Germans understand racism best.

The horrific death of Aaron Bushnell by self-immolation was a stand against the grinding misery in Gaza inflicted by Israel and backed by Bushnell’s own government.

This week, Mo Chara, a member of the Irish language rap group Kneecap, stood trial on charges of terrorism. Rather than making an example of the musician, the fiasco exposed the deeply illiberal nature of Britain’s political class.

A Freedom Flotilla carrying 5,000 tons of aid for Gaza has been held up in a Turkish port for nearly six months. Turkey’s government claims to support the Palestinians — but it’s bowed to Western pressure rather than let vital help reach besieged Gazans.

Of course Israel’s defenders called Emma Watson "antisemitic" — for years, well past the point of absurdity, their strategy has been to call anyone who acknowledges Palestinians’ existence antisemitic.
When an Israel boycott showed up on the red carpet.

This day in 2003, the IDF killed American activist Rachel Corrie as she defended homes in Rafah from destruction. As Israel threatens to invade the city, a volunteer who stood alongside Rachel writes on her legacy — a call for steadfast solidarity with Gazans.

Israel’s illegal settlement construction has devastated Palestinians for years. But Israel is now going a step further: requiring Palestinians to destroy their homes themselves, or face prison time.