Israel rights group attacks government for curbing freedon of speech
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Vita Bekker - December 5, 2011 - 1:00am

TEL AVIV // Israel's biggest civil rights group yesterday blasted the country for curbing the freedom of speech and freedom of assembly for Jews and Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. A report by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) said the country was stepping up action to stifle dissent. It claimed the government has warned political activists not to participate in protests and allowed local authorities to repress demonstrations.

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Secrets of Ben-Gurion's Leadership
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Gal Beckerman - (Opinion) December 5, 2011 - 1:00am

The most revealing conversation that Shimon Peres ever had with his mentor, David Ben-Gurion, was perhaps his first. Peres was a young activist in Ha’Noar Ha’Oved, the Labor Zionist youth movement, when he asked the powerful and charismatic chairman of the Jewish Agency for a lift up the coast to Haifa from Tel Aviv. They spent most of the ride in silence, but then, just as they were approaching their destination, Ben-Gurion decided, out of nowhere, to tell the young man why he preferred Lenin to Trotsky. This was, for sure, a surprising admission.

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Netanyahu should end the anti-democratic witch hunt
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) December 2, 2011 - 1:00am

Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to a conference of jurists earlier this week raised hopes that perhaps the prime minister had decided to repel the recent wave of bills proposed by his right-wing coalition colleagues. Netanyahu used the occasion to make clear what should have been self-evident: “Democracy is not just majority votes and majority rule. There is no way to run a democracy without checks and balances among the different branches of government.”

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Does Israel "Pinkwash?"
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Andrew Sullivan - (Blog) November 30, 2011 - 1:00am

Sarah Schulman claims [NYT] that Israel uses its record on gay rights to obscure the violence of the occupation. Jamie Kirchick is apoplectic:

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Netanyahu Government Suggests Israelis Avoid Marrying American Jews
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Atlantic
by Jeffrey Goldberg - (Opinion) November 30, 2011 - 1:00am

The Netanyahu government's Ministry of Immigrant Absorption is sponsoring advertisements in at least five American communities that warn Israeli expatriates that they will lose their identities if they don't return home.

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Goodbye, Israeli democracy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Asaf Gefen - (Opinion) November 29, 2011 - 1:00am

Everyone talks about the "Arab Spring," yet nobody mentions the "Israeli Spring" – an exciting period where democracy’s horrific regime is finally drawing to an end around here, following a popular uprising at the Knesset cafeteria. If a few months ago it appeared that the Arab world is moving closer to Israel’s democratic model, now it turns out that Israel is the one quickly approaching the Saudi model. Finally, we joined the "Spring of Nations" - and so what if we are referring to the Belorussian, Afghani and North Korean peoples.

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The rules of the game are being changed
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Haneen Zoubi - (Interview) November 28, 2011 - 1:00am

bitterlemons: What is driving the push for right-wing legislation in Israel? Zoubi: Israel is engaging in a struggle between the Jewishness of the state and democracy. She perceives that she is in a position to choose between "Jewish values" and "democratic values". She is making a very clear statement that she intends to defend the Jewishness of this country and to place obstacles in the path of the true struggle for democracy.

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Both sides are to blame
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Yossi Alpher - (Opinion) November 28, 2011 - 1:00am

Israeli politics are becoming increasingly right-wing and nationalist. Israel's Arab citizens, along with its human rights community and democratic society in general, are the victims of the resultant legislation.

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Israel shares the Palestinian plan
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Chicago Sun Times
by Neil Steinberg - (Opinion) November 28, 2011 - 1:00am

One of the odder aspects of the endless Israeli-Palestinian conflict is that the side you would expect to be the more active and effective of the two participants — the Israeli government — seems frequently sunk into passivity. The Palestinians cook up creative public relations ploys like running the Israeli naval blockade or appealing to the United Nations to declare it a state, while Israeli leaders sit around, waiting to see what the Palestinians do next.

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When the Judge Is Your Enemy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Dan Ephron - (Opinion) November 28, 2011 - 1:00am

War has a way of testing a country’s commitment to civil liberties like nothing else. It’s easy to be high-minded when you’re Switzerland. But when terrorists are flying planes into your buildings, as the U.S. discovered after 9/11, the impulse to deny some suspects even the right to be brought before a judge, a core tenet of any fair legal system, can be powerful.

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