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Two-thirds of Israelis support settlement building: poll

Thirty nine percent ... said they favour construction resuming in all the settlements from September 26, when a partial 10-month moratorium imposed by the Israeli government under US pressure expires. Another quarter said they thought construction should only restart in the larger settlement blocks and not in smaller, isolated settlements....

‘Facebook Arabs’ speak out

And what about the sexual assault?
"I caressed his leg? He's a liar. I would never touch him. On the contrary, I took the picture from a distance so as not to be close to them, because they stink. It's a simple as that..."
So, you didn't kiss him, you didn't touch his leg?
"They are ingrates and of course they wouldn't say that I gave them food. Of course they would slander me." ...

Haneen Zoabi: IDF boarded Gaza flotilla ships with intent to kill

Israeli Arab MK Hanin Zuabi testified before a UN panel probing Israel's deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in May, telling the panel that commandos who boarded the ships intended to kill, [Israeli] Army Radio reported....

Netanyahu criticizes theater figures’ West Bank boycott

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized on Sunday the theater figures' boycott of a new theater in the West Bank settlement of Ariel, saying that the government doesn’t need to fund a group promoting a boycott of Israel from within....

53 Israeli theater figures vow not to perform in settlements

Fifty-three Israeli theater professionals, including performers, playwrights and directors, have signed a petition stating they would not appear in the West Bank settlement Ariel... Culture and Sport Minister Limor Livnat said Saturday that the actors' protest was a serious matter, and was causing a rift in Israeli society....

EU rebukes Israel over conviction of West Bank separation barrier protester

Lady Ashton:"The EU considers Abdallah Abu Rahmah to be a human rights defender committed to non-violent protest against the route of the Israeli separation barrier ... The EU considers the route of the barrier where it is built on Palestinian land to be illegal. The high representative is deeply concerned that the possible imprisonment of Mr Abu Rahmah is intended to prevent him and other Palestinians from exercising their legitimate right to protest against the existence of the separation barriers in a non-violent manner."...

A quest to coax Israel out of the nuclear closet

Avner Cohen: "International support for Israel and its opaque bomb is being eroded by its continued occupation of Palestinian territory and the policies that support it, such as settlement construction, house demolitions, and restrictions on the movement of Palestinians." Cohen fears Israel's insistence on ambiguity will leave Israel increasingly vulnerable to the charge that it is a nuclear-armed pariah state.

IOA Editor: It already is....

Vacationing Netanyahu can’t find time to meet IAEA chief

Netanyahu's decision to cancel his meeting with Amano raised eyebrows on Monday, particularly given the premier's fixation on Iran's nuclear program. The prime minister and his aides have also been working feverishly to minimize the effects of last May's Nuclear Non-Proliferation Review Conference, which adopted a resolution calling for a Middle East free of nuclear weapons....

Israel tells schools not to teach Nakba

Government officials warned Israeli teachers last week not to cooperate with Zochrot, a civic group that seeks to educate Israelis about how the Palestinians view the loss of their homeland and the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948....

Israeli army’s female recruits denounce treatment of Palestinians

It was a single word scrawled on a wall at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem that unlocked something deep inside ... two years after she had completed compulsory military service in the IDF. The word was "occupation". "I really felt like someone was speaking the unspoken... It was really shocking to me. There was graffiti saying, 'end the occupation'. And I felt like, OK, now I can talk about what I saw."...

UN receives over 100 complaints of police, IDF abuse of West Bank teenagers this year

Since September 2009, Defence for Children International has given the UN details of more than 100 cases in which the military authorities allegedly abused minors who were held in detention....

Jerusalem train company asks passengers: ‘Do you mind traveling with Arabs?’

Among those surveyed ... was Ofra Ben-Artzi, a left-wing activist and the sister-in-law of Sara Netanyahu, wife of the prime minister. "I told the pollster, 'Imagine this kind of question being asked in London or New York.' It testifies to the level of racism we've reached," she said....

Descendants appeal to UN over latest Mamilla Cemetery demolitions

Yesterday, parties defending a 12th century Muslim burial ground in Jerusalem from disinterment and desecration provided new information on the latest demolitions by Israel’s Jerusalem Municipality to the United Nations and other international officials whom they initially petitioned on the matter in February 2010. The letter was sent by US academic Rashid I. Khalidi on behalf of the Campaign to Preserve Mamilla Jerusalem Cemetery....

Harvard insists Israeli shares sale not driven by boycott

Harvard University has insisted that the sale of shares in Israeli companies is not driven by pro-Palestinian boycott and divestment campaign.

ALSO
Globes (Updated): Harvard denies divestment from Israel
Foreign Policy: Harvard not divesting from Israel

IOA Editor: Harvard's sale of all its Israeli holdings will remain a bit of a mystery, at least for a while. The manner in which it was done - an entire country-portfolio, sold at once - during the second quarter of 2010 which, coincidentally or not, was also when the Berkeley BDS struggle culminated, suggests it may be more than just a matter of investment management.

If the Harvard Corporation wanted to avoid becoming embroiled in a BDS struggle connected to the Israeli Occupation - say, the next time Israel commits war crimes on sea or land - its best strategy would be to make a 'business decision' to pull out of Israel, quietly and without fanfare: not to make a principled, morally-based and publicly explained University policy decision, one that would be controversial and may cause some of Harvard's donors to put their money elsewhere. And this is exactly what it did. Only time will tell....

‘Facebook photos of soldiers posing with bound Palestinians are the norm’

Breaking the Silence: Facebook photos depicting Israel Defense Forces soldiers pictured alongside handcuffed and blindfolded Palestinian detainees represent the norm, not the exception, in IDF conduct ... refuting an official army statement claiming the opposite....

Harvard University fund sells all Israel holdings

In another blow to Israeli shares, the Harvard Management Company notified the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday that it had sold all its holdings in Israeli companies during the second quarter of 2010. No reason for the sale was mentioned. The Harvard Management Company manages Harvard University's endowment.

IOA Editor:The Harvard Management Company -- a subsidiary of Harvard University charged with managing the university's endowment, pension assets, working capital, and non-cash gifts -- is best known for managing the university's $26 billion endowment, the largest endowment in US higher education. Historically, the HMC has been the leading university investment management company, receiving a great deal of attention from all other university funds.

This is probably the first reported university endowment divestment from all Israeli holdings. Coming from Harvard, it sets a very important precedent: it is likely to be reviewed, scrutinized, and possibly followed, by other universities. Because Harvard, or HMC, has yet to make a public statement on the decision, one can only assume that it took place as a preventive measure, to avoid becoming the "next Berkeley." ...