Repressing free speech is undemocratic, that was established in the First Amendment a long time ago, and the right to boycott is enshrined within that amendment, including the right to boycott Israeli products. It was also established long ago that all men and women, including Palestinians, are created equal and are deserving of the same rights to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

For many decades now, Jews around the world, including staunch Zionist Jews like the late Dr. Nahum Goldman and Professor Yishayahu Leibovitch had opposed the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and building Jewish settlements there – as have Israeli generals, former Mossad chiefs and countless lesser known Jewish people. But over the last fifty years consecutive Israeli governments of all parties have built Jewish settlements in the West Bank and no amount of talking and negotiating has made the slightest difference.

Israel claims that it…

A man rides his tricycle taxi during a thunderstorm in Havana in this 2010 file photo. REUTERS/Desmond Boylan

“A lot of the damage now comes from extreme precipitation. So that translates into floods, landslides, loss of life, loss of livelihoods”

As if hurricanes were not menacing enough, small Caribbean islands risk losing their entire way of life unless they urgently strengthen defences against a raft of future disasters, according to a climate change official.

“You don’t even need to have a hurricane to get extensive damage .. a tropical storm or depression, it comes and sits over a particular island or territory and it deposits rain,” said Ulric Trotz, deputy director at the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC).

“For us small island nations, basically everything comes to a stop. As a region, we are very exposed to climate risk .. and our projections show that this will be exacerbated,”…

In what can only be described as the world’s largest event on Palestine, ten thousand people converged on the city of London to participate in the Palestine Expo, which was held at the Queen Elizabeth II center across from Westminster in the very heart of London.  Sponsored by the Al-Aqsa Foundation, the event drew criticism from pro-Israeli Zionist groups who tried to pressure the British government to prevent them from using the QEII which is a government run venue. They used the usual excuses claiming that the Al-Aqsa Foundation has connections to terrorism and that some of the speakers expressed support for terrorism and anti-Semitism and that some had even been arrested (yours truly included).

Two weeks prior to the event there was still concern that the British government might interfere and prevent the event from taking place.  A list of the terror supporting speakers was published as a warning.

It is pretty rare to see talent, courage and a friendly disposition converge but that is exactly what you see when you meet Mohammad Sabaaneh. If you don’t know who he is, go to FB and check out his page. He is a brilliant political cartoonist and he just published a book of his work titled, “White and Black, Political Cartoons from Palestine” published by Just World Books.  Why “White and Black?” because that is exactly what the situation in Palestine is like, clear cut evil vs. good, occupation and oppression vs. occupied and oppressed.

I am not an art expert by any means but I know Palestine and I know courage. Sabaaneh’s art expresses the complexity of the Palestinian reality in an honest and unapologetic way.  Sabaaneh’s cartoons cannot fit on a bumper sticker and they do not attempt to make simplistic statements. They are not a “Free Palestine”…

These two pieces were published by electronic Intifada.

“One of the most disturbing aspects about the reality in Palestine is its normalcy.It has become normal to see Palestinians shot and killed, even children. The faces of young Palestinians showing up daily on social media, boys and girls shot by soldiers, accused falsely of attempting to stab a soldier.

https://electronicintifada.net/content/why-israelis-must-disrupt-occupation/20731