In response to the Bondi attack, it is tempting, as many on the Jewish left have done for years, to promote the idea of safety through solidarity, according to which the strengthening of bonds between different marginalized communities is the key to each other’s protection. But as a colleague said to me recently, the pursuit of safety may be a delusion. Such sentiments feel empty in the face of an attack like Bondi. Indeed, so few of these communities enjoy any sense of safety in the unfolding era of political violence and instability.
Archiv: parents (race / sex / birth place and date / fortune) / racism / sexism / religious view / discrimination
Statement attributable to the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General – on terrorist attack in Sydney, Australia
(December 14, 2025)
The Secretary-General strongly condemns the heinous terrorist attack on a celebration of Hanukkah in Sydney, Australia. He expresses his deepest condolences to the families of the victims and extends his wishes for a swift and full recovery to those injured.
The Secretary-General stands in solidarity with the people and Government of Australia during this difficult time. The Secretary-General expresses his solidarity with the Jewish community in the country and worldwide as they gather to celebrate peace and light.
The Secretary-General unequivocally condemns antisemitism in all its forms and reiterates that attacks on religious communities and peaceful celebrations strike at the core values of tolerance, coexistence and human dignity.
Post-7 October: A New Wave of Anti-Palestinian Israeli Laws
This report builds on Adalah’s position paper of 23 October 2024, which reviewed key bills at advanced stages of the legislative process, many of which were later enacted into law. The information contained in this report and the position paper also join Adalah’s online Discriminatory Laws Database in documenting about 100 Israeli laws that directly or indirectly discriminate against Palestinian citizens of Israel and Palestinians under Israeli occupation.
The laws examined in this report span multiple themes and violate numerous fundamental rights, including freedom of expression (FoE), protest, and thought; the right to citizenship and legal status; the rights to family life, equality, social benefits, and equality in the allocation of state resources; principles of criminal justice; and prisoners’ rights. While these violations are legitimized by the hostile public and political climate fueled by the war, their roots lie deep in Israel’s constitutional and political culture, which is based on the principle of Jewish ethno-national supremacy. These laws reinforce and entrench the ongoing pattern in Israeli law of creating and consolidating separate legal systems for Palestinians and Jews.
Notably, the trends identified in this report do not represent a fundamental shift in the state’s approach toward Palestinians. Even before the war, Adalah noted in its January 2023 position paper, which analyzed the current government’s guiding principles and coalition agreements, that the principles underpinning Israel’s system are based on Jewish ethno-national supremacy throughout all territory under its control. The government explicitly declared in its guiding principles, “The Jewish people have an exclusive and inalienable right over all areas of the Land of Israel.” These statements were not unprecedented but rather a direct continuation of the logic underlying the Jewish Nation-State Law, passed by the Knesset on 19 July 2018, and of the constitutional framework established since the state’s founding, reflected in its explicit ethno-national identity as a “Jewish and democratic” state. However, the crimes committed by Hamas and other armed groups in southern Israel on 7 October 2023 have been—and continue to be—used by Israeli authorities to justify intensifying these trends and further consolidating a regime of ethno-national supremacy on an even larger scale.
Legislating apartheid: How Israel entrenched unequal rule during Gaza war
For over two years, Israeli public life has been shrouded in a heavy, disorienting fog. There has been an unending churn of crises, conflicts, and anxieties at home and abroad: the shock of the Hamas attack of October 7 and Israel’s genocidal campaign of revenge on Gaza, the fight to bring back the hostages and against the state’s vilification of their families, the reckless confrontations with Iran. Together, these have left Israeli society suspended in a collective stupor, obscuring the depth of the abyss into which we are rapidly descending.
But the same cannot be said of our parliamentarians. As a disturbing new report by the Haifa-based legal center Adalah shows, they have used the chaos of the past two years to advance more than 30 new laws entrenching apartheid and Jewish supremacy — joining Adalah’s existing list of now more than 100 Israeli laws that discriminate against Palestinian citizens.
One of the report’s central findings is a sweeping assault on freedom of expression, thought, and protest across a wide array of arenas. It includes laws prohibiting the publication of content that includes “denial of the events of October 7,” as determined by the Knesset, and restricting broadcasts of critical media outlets that “harm state security.”
‘Blood on the sand. Blood on the hands’: UN decries world’s failure as Sudan’s El Fasher falls
“What is unfolding in El Fasher recalls the horrors Darfur was subjected to twenty years ago,” Mr. Fletcher said, referring to the atrocities of the early 2000s that shocked the world and eventually led to International Criminal Court indictments.
“But somehow today we are seeing a very different global reaction – one of resignation,” he continued. “This is also a crisis of apathy.”
“The Sudan crisis is, at its core, a failure of protection, and our responsibility to uphold international law,” Mr. Fletcher said. “Atrocities are committed with unashamed expectation of impunity…the world has failed an entire generation.”
Remarks at a UN Security Council Briefing on Sudan and South Sudan
(October 30, 2025)
The United States condemns in the strongest terms the horrific violence occurring in El Fasher. The situation is both tragic and appalling.
We have said this before, and we will say it again – the Rapid Support Forces and allied militias have committed genocide.
The RSF has and continues to systematically kill men and boys – even infants – and deliberately target women and children for rape and other forms of brutal sexual violence. These crimes are ethnically motivated.
RSF militias are targeting civilians as they flee, killing innocent people escaping conflict, and preventing those who remain from accessing life-saving supplies.
The United States condemns these abhorrent atrocities in no uncertain terms. Those responsible should be held accountable, including through sanctions, as noted by the Sudan Sanctions Panel of Experts in its most recent report.
(…)
Colleagues, ending wars is a priority for President Trump, and the United States remains committed to working with our partners and other stakeholders to resolve the crisis.
Together, we are focused on securing an immediate humanitarian truce, halting external support, and advancing a transition to civilian governance.
The Commissioner asks the German authorities to uphold freedom of expression and peaceful assembly in the context of the conflict in Gaza
(June 19, 2025)
In a letter addressed to the Federal Minister of the Interior of Germany published today, Commissioner O’Flaherty raises concerns about restrictions to freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly of persons protesting in the context of the conflict in Gaza, as well as about reports of excessive use of force by police against protesters, including children.
Commissioner O’Flaherty also observes restrictions on events, symbols, or other forms of expression in this context. He recalls that member states have little scope to impose restrictions on political speech or on debate on matters of public interest, in line with the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights and the Council of Europe standards on freedom of expression, hate speech and hate crime. He urges the German authorities to be vigilant that the working definition of antisemitism of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance is not distorted, instrumentalised or misapplied to stifle freedom of expression and legitimate criticism, including of the state of Israel.
Recalling that member states have legal obligations to refrain from undue interference with human rights and to ensure the effective enjoyment of the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly for all, the Commissioner asks the German authorities to avoid taking measures that discriminate against persons based on their political or other opinions, religion or belief, ethnic origin, nationality or migration status.
Mr. Alexander DOBRINDT Federal Minister of the Interior: Dear Minister ….
(June 6, 2025)
It is my understanding that since February 2025, the Berlin authorities have imposed restrictions on the use of the Arabic language and cultural symbols in the context of the protests. In some cases, such as an assembly in Berlin on 15 May 2025, marches have been restricted to stationary gatherings. Furthermore, protestors were allegedly subject to intrusive surveillance, online or in person, and arbitrary police checks. I am also concerned by reports of excessive use of force by police against protesters, including minors, sometimes leading to injuries.
(…)
I understand that restrictions have been justified on the basis that events, symbols, or other forms of expression “disrupt public order” or “disturb public peace”. The case-law of the European Court of Human Rights’ (the Court) establishes that freedom of expression “applies not only to ‘information’ and ‘ideas’ that are favourably received, regarded as inoffensive, or which leave one indifferent […] – it implies pluralism, tolerance and openness, without which there is no ‘democratic society’”. In assessing the necessity of the interference, member states have little scope to impose restrictions on political speech or on debate on matters of public interest, unless the views expressed comprise incitements to violence, and must always carry out such an assessment case by case.
I observe that other justifications invoked for the restrictions on rights include the prevention of antisemitism. I note with concern reports indicating that the working definition of antisemitism of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) has been interpreted by some German authorities in ways which lead to the blanket classification of criticism of Israel as antisemitic. In that regard, I urge you to be vigilant that the IHRA working definition is not distorted, instrumentalised or misapplied to stifle freedom of expression and legitimate criticism, including of the state of Israel
The Commissioner asks the German authorities to uphold freedom of expression and peaceful assembly in the context of the conflict in Gaza
(June 19, 2025)
In a letter addressed to the Federal Minister of the Interior of Germany published today, Commissioner O’Flaherty raises concerns about restrictions to freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly of persons protesting in the context of the conflict in Gaza, as well as about reports of excessive use of force by police against protesters, including children.
Commissioner O’Flaherty also observes restrictions on events, symbols, or other forms of expression in this context. He recalls that member states have little scope to impose restrictions on political speech or on debate on matters of public interest, in line with the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights and the Council of Europe standards on freedom of expression, hate speech and hate crime. He urges the German authorities to be vigilant that the working definition of antisemitism of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance is not distorted, instrumentalised or misapplied to stifle freedom of expression and legitimate criticism, including of the state of Israel.
Recalling that member states have legal obligations to refrain from undue interference with human rights and to ensure the effective enjoyment of the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly for all, the Commissioner asks the German authorities to avoid taking measures that discriminate against persons based on their political or other opinions, religion or belief, ethnic origin, nationality or migration status.
Thousands of Israeli nationalists chant ‘death to Arabs’ during annual procession through Jerusalem
The march commemorates Jerusalem Day, which marks Israel’s capture of east Jerusalem, including the Old City and its holy sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims, in the 1967 Mideast war.
Imagine If Gaza Was Jewish And The People Bombing It Were Muslims
In the eyes of the western empire, there are some people who may be murdered with mass military violence, and others who may not be. There are some types of children who can be photographed with their ribcages sticking out because of deliberately inflicted starvation without causing much of a stir, and there are other types of children for whom such photographs would shake the earth.
In the eyes of the western empire, Jews are considered fully human, while Muslims and Arabs are not. A massacre of Jews is a terrible, unforgivable atrocity which cries out to the heavens for limitless vengeance, while Israel’s daily massacres of Palestinians merit nothing more than a footnote.
PKK disbands after 40-year-long conflict with Turkey
The Kurdistan Workers‘ Party (PKK) on Monday announced its decision to disband and end its armed struggle, following a call in February by its imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan.
The Kurdish armed group, which has waged a war against Turkey since the 1980s, said that it had completed its „historic mission“ and brought the Kurdish question to a point where it could be resolved through democratic politics.
(…)
The DEM Party also expects the government to release thousands of its members imprisoned on non-violent charges and to end the practice of unseating its popularly elected mayors.
When a Jew shot by another Jew cries ‘Death to Arabs!’
(February 19, 2025)
It sounds like the plot of a particularly absurd black comedy: an American Jew goes out to hunt Palestinians on the streets of Miami, mistakenly identifies a father and son — both Israeli Jews — as Palestinian, and immediately unloads a magazine on them; the two miraculously survive and escape. At the hospital, the son publishes a post saying that he and his father “survived an attempted murder motivated by antisemitism,” signing off the post with the popular Israeli slogan, “Death to Arabs.”
18 States Sue to Stop Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Order
The states view Mr. Trump’s attempt to limit birthright citizenship as “extraordinary and extreme,” said New Jersey’s attorney general, Matthew J. Platkin, who led the legal effort along with the attorneys general from California and Massachusetts. “Presidents are powerful, but he is not a king. He cannot rewrite the Constitution with a stroke of the pen.”
Immigrants’ Rights Advocates Sue Trump Administration Over Birthright Citizenship Executive Order
“Denying citizenship to U.S.-born children is not only unconstitutional — it’s also a reckless and ruthless repudiation of American values. Birthright citizenship is part of what makes the United States the strong and dynamic nation that it is. This order seeks to repeat one of the gravest errors in American history, by creating a permanent subclass of people born in the U.S. who are denied full rights as Americans. We will not let this attack on newborns and future generations of Americans go unchallenged. The Trump administration‘s overreach is so egregious that we are confident we will ultimately prevail,” said Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union.
ACLU files lawsuit against Trump order that seeks to end birthright citizenship
A collection of advocacy groups led by the American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit late Monday challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order to halt the automatic granting of citizenship to children born in the United States.
Trump’s executive orders already face pushback, legal challenges
The executive orders include some things that scholars and legal experts say may be out of the reach of the president’s pen and could be tied up in courts or legislatures for years, including ending birthright citizenship, a right embedded in the Constitution and bolstered by a Supreme Court ruling that grants citizenship to anyone born in the United States.
‘Discredit, disrupt, and destroy’: FBI records acquired by the Library reveal violent surveillance of Black leaders, civil rights organizations
(January 18, 2021)
One of the biggest lessons contained in the documents is abundantly clear: Whatever you do, don’t let them think you’re a communist.
For Hoover, an Ahab-type character in pursuit of his cursed whale, the mere whiff of such leanings could trigger the dirtiest of tricks in the FBI’s arsenal.
“No holds were barred,” said assistant FBI director William C. Sullivan in his testimony for the U.S. Senate’s Church Committee, as recorded in documents held by the Library and freely available on the digital repository HathiTrust. “We have used (these techniques) against Soviet agents. They have used (them) against us.”
“We did not differentiate,” Sullivan said. “This is a rough, tough business.”
Biden commutes most federal death row sentences to life in prison before Trump takes office
“President Biden has an opportunity to make history by addressing the racist and unjust federal death penalty system and keep an early campaign promise he made to the American people,” Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said this month after the ACLU and more than 130 other civil and human rights organizations sent Biden a letter urging him to commute the sentences of those on death row.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Arab Leadership in Israel Appeals to Supreme Court Against Law Allowing Education Ministry to Dismiss Teachers and Cut Funding to Palestinian Schools Over Alleged “Support of Terrorism”
(December 17, 2024)
In the petition, Adalah Attorney Salam Irsheid argued that the law is clearly racist in intent, especially given the widespread persecution and criminalization of hundreds of Palestinian citizens by Israeli authorities and other entities since the outbreak of the war 7 October 2023, for merely expressing entirely lawful opinions. The law’s deliberate vagueness, and the fact that it only addresses “incitement to terrorism”—which is used almost exclusively to target Palestinians—while excluding incitement to violence or racism, highlights its discriminatory purpose. By granting broad, unchecked powers to political and administrative authorities, the law enables punitive actions to be taken against Palestinian educators for expressing views that fall outside the mainstream consensus, thereby severely undermining their basic right to freedom of expression. Adalah further argued that the law breaches the principle of the separation of powers, as it grants the Education Ministry the authority to infringe on teachers’ rights to freedom of expression and occupation, effectively requiring a determination of whether they have committed a criminal offense, even if no charges have been filed against them.
Petition to Supreme Court; Far-Right Govt Consider Bill Banning Left and Arab Campus Groups
Hadash MKs opposed the proposed legislation, calling it “dime-store fascist populism and McCarthyism.” According to Hadash MK Aida Touma-Sliman, “The Knesset is advancing two bills targeting critical students and professors, aimed primarily at Palestinian and leftist voices in academia. These bills seek to silence any remaining voices resisting the government’s policies of occupation and war. This marks another step in the fascist agenda to suppress any real opposition to the extreme right. Heads of universities, professors, and students recognize the danger of such legislation and are voicing their opposition.
On past week, the Knesset plenum, in a preliminary reading, passed a proposed law that would amend the Students Rights Law, allowing most Israeli higher education institutions to implement gender separation. MK Son Har-Melech proposed the law, which 55 members of the Knesset (MKs) supported and 45 MKs opposed.
I was suspended from Israel’s Knesset for highlighting the tyranny of Netanyahu. Help us to oppose him
(November 29, 2024)
I am not alone in opposing his tyranny. The consistent political opposition inside Israel itself, made up of democratic Jews and Arab citizens, finds the notion of democracy in Israel under Netanyahu absurd too. Democracy in Israel never really existed, owing to the state of Israel’s definition as an ethnic concept, antithetical to political egalitarianism.
A state that under its basic laws declares one group politically superior to the other cannot be regarded as a democracy, but as an ethnocracy. Since its formation, Israel has been pursuing discriminatory policies towards its own Palestinian citizens in all spheres of life – housing, employment, welfare and education. Even the supposed Israeli bill of rights, the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, doesn’t dare to mention the right to equality.
LIVE: Press conference to announce filing of lawsuit on behalf of Malcolm X’s family
Streamed live on Nov 15, 2024 #Reuters #News #Live
Civil-rights attorney Ben Crump holds press conference to announce the filing of a lawsuit on behalf of Malcolm X’s family.
The daughters of Malcolm X sue the CIA, FBI and NYPD over the civil rights leader’s assassination
(November 15, 2024)
According to the lawsuit, the NYPD, coordinating with federal law enforcement agencies, arrested the activist’s security detail days before the assassination and intentionally removed their officers from inside the ballroom where Malcolm X was killed. Meanwhile, it adds, federal agencies had personnel, including undercover agents, in the ballroom but failed to protect him.
The lawsuit was not brought sooner because the defendants withheld information from the family, including the identities of undercover “informants, agents and provocateurs” and what they knew about the planning that preceded the attack.
Youths on scooters targeted Maccabi supporters in “hit and runs”
“I understand that it brings back memories of pogroms,” she said. “It is deeply damaging to the city”.
The mayor said that Maccabi supporters were not known to be violent and in football terms, the match was not considered high risk.
The counter-terrorism unit NCTV was unaware of any concrete threats, she said but said action would be needed to ensure there was no trouble, in particular given the combination of football and commemorations for Kristallnacht.
Nach Angriffen in Amsterdam: „Ich verstehe, dass das Erinnerungen an Pogrome weckt“
Die Erschütterung ist der Amsterdamer Bürgermeisterin Femke Halsema anzusehen. Bei der Pressekonferenz ringt sie nach Worten. Die politischen Reaktionen weltweit – vor allem die aus Israel – haben Erschütterung ausgelöst.
„Ich verstehe vollkommen, dass das alles Erinnerungen an Pogrome weckt“, erklärt die Amsterdamer Stadtchefin: „Letzte Nacht wurden nicht nur Menschen verletzt. Die Geschichte unserer Stadt ist zutiefst beschädigt worden.“ Auch die jüdische Kultur der Stadt sei dadurch bedroht.
Israeli hooligans’ racist chants and provocation in Amsterdam spark international outrage
Over 200 Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters, many reportedly linked to the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), took to the streets of Amsterdam on Wednesday and Thursday. Demonstrators were filmed tearing down Palestinian flags and chanting aggressive anti-Arab slogans, including, „Let IDF win to F*#k Arabs” and „There are no schools in Gaza because there are no children left.“
Videos of these chants and confrontations quickly spread across social media, amplifying tensions between pro-Palestinian groups and the visiting fans.
Violence erupts in Amsterdam as Israeli fans provoke, clash with locals
The clashes, which occurred both before and after the match, have sparked widespread condemnation. Eyewitness reports and videos shared on social media show Maccabi fans vandalising property, attacking bystanders, and even setting a Palestinian flag on fire. Disturbingly, the footage also captures fans assaulting a local taxi driver and confronting law enforcement officers.
Israeli fans ‚attacked houses with Palestine flags‘ in Amsterdam
The broadcaster’s correspondent Step Vaessen said: “Hundreds of supporters of Maccabi Tel Aviv came to Amsterdam, held a very vocal rally in the main square before the incident, waving Israeli flags, and also took down a Palestinian flag.”
Police had said they were being particularly vigilant ahead of the match.
City councilman Jazie Veldhuyzen said: “They [Israeli fans] began attacking houses of people in Amsterdam with Palestinian flags, so that’s actually where the violence started.
MUST WATCH: Maccabi Israeli Fans Run Amok in Amsterdam Before Clash | Dawn News English
Violent clashes broke out between supporters of Israel‘s Maccabi Tel Aviv and pro-Palestinian protesters outside Amsterdam‘s Johan Cruyff Arena, despite a ban on demonstrations. The altercation left ten Israelis injured, two missing, and led to 20 arrests by Dutch police