Josh Ruebner Power Suits 19 June 2019 Jason Greenblatt, the Trump administration’s “peace process” envoy, met last week with Gilad Erdan, Israel’s minister of strategic affairs and public security who oversees Israel’s global operation to combat BDS – the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement for Palestinian rights. Greenblatt took to Twitter to laud his “great meeting” […]
Josh Ruebner June 7, 2019 On Wednesday, six members of Congress introduced a bipartisan, bicameral bill to create a $50 million annual fund to “facilitate and finance joint economic ventures and people-to-people exchanges between Palestinians, Israelis, and Americans,” according to a press release. The bill, known as the Partnership Fund for Peace Act of 2019 (S.1727 and H.R.3104), […]
Josh Ruebner Lobby Watch 6 June 2019 Five members of the US House of Representatives announced earlier this week the formation of a bipartisan Congressional Black-Jewish Caucus at the annual global forum of the American Jewish Committee. The initial members of the caucus are Republicans Lee Zeldin of New York and Will Hurd of Texas, and Democrats Brenda Lawrence […]
Josh Ruebner June 5, 2019 BLIND SPOT America and the Palestinians from Balfour to Trump by Khaled Elgindy 345 pp. Brookings Institution Press $25.99 The Trump administration’s often delayed and much hyped “deal of the century” to broker Israeli-Palestinian peace may never see the light of day thanks to the chaos into which Israeli politics has been […]
By Josh Ruebner In 2018, prosecutors in Brooklyn subpoenaed information from the family-run real estate development business Kushner Companies to investigate how it “routinely filed false paperwork that resulted in the company netting millions during a three-year period” when presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner was its CEO. At one of its properties, current and former residents […]
Josh Ruebner May 17, 2019 On Wednesday, Republicans in the House initiated a rarely-used legislative procedure to try to force a vote on a controversial bill that encourages states and localities to penalize individuals, nonprofit organizations, and companies that boycott for Palestinian rights. The legislative procedure, known as a “discharge petition”, was filed by Rep. Brian Mast […]
By Josh Ruebner The nearly century-old tradition of the White House Correspondents’ Association annual dinner, a usually uproarious occasion which is much anticipated and beloved by the DC glitterati for its roasting of the administration and the president’s skewering of political opponents, was a more staid affair this year. Gone at this year’s event was […]
Josh Ruebner May 1, 2019 Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) reintroduced yesterday her historic bill to promote the human rights of Palestinian children who face detention, interrogation, abuse and violence, including torture, and imprisonment by Israel through its separate-and-unequal military court system in the occupied West Bank. The bill, H.R.2407, is entitled the Promoting Human Rights for […]
By Josh Ruebner Omar Barghouti, a leading figure of the Palestinian civil society-led campaign to boycott, divest, and sanction (BDS) Israel, is unflappably calm and measured when articulating his vision for how people of conscience around the globe can support the Palestinian people in their quest for freedom, justice, and equality through these time-honoured tactics […]
By Josh Ruebner In an historic vote yesterday, the US House of Representatives approved a joint resolution invoking congressional authority under the War Powers Resolution to direct the president to end US participation in the devastating Saudi Arabia-led war against Yemen, which has led to the “world’s worst humanitarian crisis,” according to UN Secretary-General Antonio […]
