By Leah Levane
Protective presence or even solidarity presence in the West Bank is becoming more difficult, more precarious but no less essential. At the JVL Annual General Meeting, a guest speaker from Palestine said clearly that “we want you there”. Palestinians want us there whether as tourists or as activists because it reduces their isolation and means that there are more eye witnesses to the reality of what is happening.
By Leah Levane
Israel is becoming seen more and more as a pariah state and ex Mossad leader, Pardo, said that he was “ashamed to be a Jew”. Prado makes comparisons between Nazi Germany and what is happening to Palestinians today and clearly says that the existential threat to Israel is not Iran but the violent settlers operating with the backing of the State and its apparatus.
By Leah Levane
How are so many Israelis able to ignore the atrocities being carried out in their name and by themselves or their relatives? When the only permissible response from Palestinians is obedience and resistance is taken as threat, justifying any action in the name of “self-defence”; only (Jewish) Israeli resilience is welcomed. There is, with far too few exceptions, a “thunderous silence” from the overwhelming majority of Israelis, which enables genocide in Gaza
By Leah Levane
The Starmer led so called Labour government has no morality. Its foreign policy is totally unethical, most obviously in its refusal to sanction Israel over its genocide in Gaza and its ongoing occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, ruled illegal by the International Court of Justice and ignored by the UK and most other governments.
The Conflicts Forum has done us all a service by compiling “a series of extracts from analysis & commentary by Israeli commentators, usually from the Hebrew press — as reports published in Hebrew often provide a different window on Israeli internal discourse”.
This compilation compelling, the overall picture damning.
A new BBC Panorama film peddles the line that Jews in Britain are victims of an irrational prejudice that is rife among supporters of the Palestinian cause.
By Leah Levane
In this short article Tony Booth reports on the arrest of Trudi Warner and others for upholding jury equity during the trial for the Filton 6 at Woolwich Crown Court. The trial is happening when jury trials will be considerably curtailed as the 2026 Courts and Tribunals Bill passes into law and restrictions on protest will be increased following the enactment of the 2026 Crime and Policing Bill.
By Leah Levane
Amen to his final conclusion about what Zionism is. But I for one challenge his subsuming Judaism into Zionism and the actions of the Israeli state. And I say that as a Jewish atheist. This is a challenge that needs more than words in response. It also needs deeds. Our task of building – or rather strengthening – the forces of Jewish anti-Zionism are perhaps more critical today than ever.
By Leah Levane
The media has been paying attention to the links between Starmer and Mandelson and his claim of “not knowing” until days before the 20th April debate in Parliament are universally derided. However, there is a story that the legacy media is doing its best to ignore and that is the story of Labour Together.
By Leah Levane
Defend Our Juries have called for support for a letter opposing the proscription of Palestine Action: And now the roster of those in legal jeopardy due to their reflex civil libertarian reaction to the proscription of Palestine Action has expanded yet again, with the publication of a letter consisting of just seven words: “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action”. Signed initially by 130 scholars and public figures, the signatory list is now ballooning upwards beyond one thousand.