News and Analysis 2/2/22

B’Tselem calls the punishment of those responsible for the Palestinian-American’s death “the faintest of rebukes” and Palestinians complain that the deaths of non-American Palestinians don’t get punished at all:

• Israel Punishes Officers in Death of Elderly Palestinian Man (Aljazeera)

In a fit of road rage the off-duty police officer called the victim a “terrorist,” punched him into unconsciousness, and then lied that the victim first punched him:

• NYPD Officer Facing Hate Crime Charges for Anti-Muslim Attack on Motorist, District Attorney’s Office Says (CNN)

“This news comes after another federal judge said in a May ruling that Georgia’s anti-BDS law violated the First Amendment”:

• US Federal Court Blocks Texas from Enforcing Anti-BDS Law (Palestine Chronicle)

If they really want a deal, the U.S. must drop sanctions and (along with Israel) threats of military action and Iran must neither make weapons grade uranium nor make or test nuclear compression assemblies or delivery systems:

• Iran and the US Both Need a Nuclear Deal, but It Must Be Win–Win (ASPI Strategist)

Amnesty International’s new report details the reality of apartheid in Israel including  fragmentation, dispossession,. segregation, denial of human rights, home demolitions and evictions, government control of personal lives” …

• Israel’s Apartheid Against Palestinians: A Look into Decades of Oppression and Domination (Amnesty International)

… other rights groups also see in Israel “widespread discrimination in areas like the job and housing markets. Palestinians in the West Bank live under Israeli military rule, and those in Hamas-ruled Gaza also face a crippling Israeli and Egyptian blockade”:

• Amnesty Joins Rights Groups in Accusing Israel of Apartheid (Naharnet)

… and Amnesty USA calls on the Biden administration to comply with 22 U.S. Code § 8213 and bring Israel “to account … for crimes against humanity … in an appropriately constituted tribunal”:

• Biden Administration Must Uphold Human Rights for Palestinians in Israel and in the OPT (Amnesty USA)

“The three-hour long, live conversation was organised by five Gazans who left the Palestinian territory after joining the We Want to Live protests which were violently suppressed in March 2019“:

• Palestinians Vent Against Hamas in Rare Online Event (BBC)

“Israeli authorities cited a lack of building permits as the reason, but the Israeli-controlled Jerusalem Municipality denies at least 93 percent of all Palestinian building permit requests in the city”:

• Jerusalem: Israel Forces Palestinians to Self-demolish Own Homes (Aljazeera)

Activist Hanan Houachmi protests that Vogue has reduced the hijab “to just a simple accessory,” for non-Muslim white women who want to look trendy, while French government continues to depict it as the “uniform of terrorists” …

• Vogue France Says ‘Yes to the Headscarf.’ Some Muslim Women Are Not Happy (CNN)

… as demonstrated by a move that would forbid most Muslim women from engaging in competitive sports:

• French Lawmakers Have Proposed a Hijab Ban in Competitive Sports. The Impact on Women Could Be Devastating (CNN)

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