Knesset of Fools
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Hussein Ibish - July 12, 2011 - 12:00am

In the latest of a series of extraordinarily self-defeating moves, Israel's legislature, the Knesset, has just adopted the so-called "Boycott Bill," penalizing any call within Israel to boycott Israel or its settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. The new law allows for civil suits against boycott supporters, denies them state benefits, and prevents the Israeli government from doing business with them.

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An extremist minority is paralyzing Israel's leadership
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amir Oren - (Opinion) July 12, 2011 - 12:00am

Of all the countries in the world, only two have not yet reconciled themselves to Israel's existence in the 1967 borders, with minor, mutually agreed adjustments: Iran and Israel.

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Israel's boycott ban is down to siege mentality
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Carlo Strenger - (Opinion) July 12, 2011 - 12:00am

The flood of anti-democratic laws that were proposed, and partially implemented, by the current Knesset, elected in February 2009, constitute one of the darkest chapters in Israeli history. The opening salvo was provided by foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beitenu party with its Nakba law, that forbids the public commemoration of the expulsion of approximately 750000 Palestinians during the 1948 war.

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From left to right, American Jews are criticizing Israeli anti-boycott law
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Ron Kampeas - July 12, 2011 - 12:00am

Backers of a new Israeli law penalizing anyone who targets Israel or West Bank settlements for boycotts tout it as a tool to fight back against anti-Israel campaigns, but American Jewish organizations seem remarkably united in deeming the measure an affront to freedom of expression. “We're disappointed that they passed the law,” said Rabbi Steve Gutow, the director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the umbrella body for the Jewish public policy groups.

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Israeli groups to challenge boycott law in court
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Amy Teibel - July 12, 2011 - 12:00am

A new law that seeks to impede boycotts against Jewish settlements in the West Bank sparked a ferocious debate Tuesday between supporters who praised it as a bulwark against efforts to isolate Israel and critics who warned it threatens the nation's democracy. Human rights groups said they would ask the Supreme Court within days to overturn the law, which allows settlers or settlement-based businesses to sue Israelis who promote settlement boycotts. Courts would determine whether a boycott caused financial harm and, if so, assess damages.

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Israel's boycott law: The quiet sound of going fascist
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Bradley Burston - (Opinion) July 12, 2011 - 12:00am

This is the one. Don't let what we like to call the relative calm here, fool you. When the Knesset passed the boycott law Monday night, it changed the history of the state of Israel. In real time, a tipping point of great magnitude can sound a lot like nothing at all. But if the Boycott Law makes it past challenges filed by human rights and pro-peace organizations in Israel's High Court of Justice, then anything goes, beginning with democracy itself. Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak and 10 other cabinet ministers already know this. That's why they failed to show up for the vote.

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Solid diplomatic foundations
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Danny Ayalon - (Opinion) July 11, 2011 - 12:00am

Last week could have proven very difficult for Israel. Our enemies and their provocateur partners were trying once again to damage our image and goad Israel into a confrontation. Thankfully, diligent behind-the-scenes work with our partners in Europe and beyond saw to it that a collision was averted. This is no simple task; individuals and small organizations are far more nimble than vast government infrastructures, and are extremely difficult to outmaneuver.

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No Arab renters: Right-wing Judaism and minority inclusion in Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Masry Al-Youm
by Roger Hercz - (Opinion) July 11, 2011 - 12:00am

JAFFA - As a student at a college in Safed, a small city of 30,000 residents, Yusuf checked apartment after apartment, hoping to find a home close to his academic institution. Never did the 19-year old anticipate the reaction from Rabbi Schmuel Eliyahu, the local town rabbi.

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Netanyahu, the purveyor of hatred
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) July 11, 2011 - 12:00am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is nobody's fool. He certainly knows that photos of policemen dragging away civilians who have come to protest the occupation and the siege do not enhance Israel's standing as "the only democracy in the Middle East." He undoubtedly understands that horse-trading over terrorists' dry bones does not help rebuild the shattered remnants of trust between Israel and the Palestinians.

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Israel is out to thwart foreign Gaza activists
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
(Editorial) July 11, 2011 - 12:00am

There is no end to the arrogance of Israel. Authorities in the Jewish state have arrested more than 100 citizens of foreign countries at its airport simply because those foreigners hold beliefs which are contrary to those prevailing in Israel. Some 124 foreign citizens holding passports from France, the United States, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Netherlands and Spain were arrested as they tried to land at Tel Aviv airport off different flights. All are ready to participate, the Israelis believe, in pro-Palestinian campaigns coinciding with the second international flotilla to Gaza.

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