In a message addressed to the leader of the world’s Catholics, Pezeshkian stated that the “destructive approach” of the United States and Israel, along with their “illegitimate attacks,” are not directed solely against Iran.
He argued that they are an assault on the rule of law at the global level, international law, human values, and the teachings of divine religions, adding that the costs of this dangerous approach will inevitably be borne by the entire international community.
Moreover, we have allies in Israel and around the world, who share the same fundamental political goals we strive for – self-determination for the Palestinian people, the end of the occupation, the establishment of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, and the rejection of all discrimination against Palestinians in Israel. Some of these allies consider themselves Zionist, because they subscribe to a minimalist understanding of Zionism – self-determination for a Jewish collective in Israel. This right was recognized by the international community in the 1947 partition plan of Palestine and was realized by the state of Israel itself.
We do not reject this right, yet as Friedrich Engels said: “A people which oppresses another cannot emancipate itself.” Israel is still preventing the right of self-determination for Palestinians – the right for an independent Palestinian state with real borders and an end to the suffering. We need to work together with those who believe in the rights of both peoples – and some of them are Zionists.
We also know that when a political solution is achieved, it will not be after Jewish Israelis reject Zionism, but when they decide that their collective and individual interests lie on the side of peace. We are materialists – we assert that Zionism, the ideology, will only be overcome after we begin to dismantle its material basis – that of apartheid and colonization.
Therefore, our focus must remain on practical actions against this reality – and not symbolic politics of denunciation. In the German case, this means advocating for concrete actions such as a ban on settlement products import, the suspension of the EU-Israel association agreement, and a complete ban on arms supply to Israel. These actions could challenge Zionism much more than the adoption of the antizionist label.
To Muslims, Jews, Christians, Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists, and all others of faith,
And to those who follow no formal religion but hold deeply to the universal values of peace, justice, and human dignity:
The U.S. – Israel launched this war of aggression on 28 February 2026, for a second time in less than a year, while Iran-U.S. were engaged in diplomatic negotiations.
This is not merely a war over land, resources, or geopolitics. This is a war that will determine the very meaning of ‚good‘ and ‚evil‘ in our time and for future.
What has been unleashed upon our peace-loving nation is not just another conflict. On one side stand those who delight in violating every law of war and basic human decency—those who murder for sport, who slaughter children to torment their families, who fire newest missiles at women’s sports halls simply to test their destructive power.
This is a war between those who boast of torpedoing unarmed vessels “for more fun,” and those who go to extraordinary lengths to protect innocent lives.
This is a war between professional liars who fabricate justifications for atrocity, and a proud people who defend their homeland and human dignity relying solely on their own strength and resolve.
This is a war between those whose decisions are shadowed by moral compromise, and those who act with a clear conscience.
This is a defining struggle for the future of humankind. It will decide whether civilization’s hard-won achievements—human rights, the rule of law, and basic morality—will survive or be swept away.
We must choose:
Do we accept a world ruled by modern slave masters—arrogant, domineering, and unaccountable—who govern through coercion, lies, and extortion?
Or do we stand for a world grounded in respect, justice, peace, and human dignity?
Humanity’s conscience is not yet dead. But in times like these, silence is complicity with evil.
If you reject the path of barbarism and domination, then find the moral courage to speak, to act, and to stand on the right side of history—before the world descends into an abyss of lawlessness and subjugation.
The choice is yours.
And history will remember.
Who We Are
“It’s Time” is a coalition of over 80 peacebuilding and shared society organizations, working together with determination and courage to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through a political agreement that will ensure both peoples‘ right to self-determination and secure lives.
Because it’s time. Now, amidst our anger, grief and pain, after long years of fear and violence, of struggle, of occupation and of terrorism. The war that broke out on October 7th must be the last war, and it can be: the war after which will come peace.
(May 1, 2026)
More than 4,000 people participated yesterday, Thursday, April 30, in the People’s Peace Conference held at the Expo Tel Aviv, initiated by the “It’s Time” coalition. Over 80 organizations, movements, and non-profits took part in the event, which was dedicated to building public support for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, ending the occupation, and achieving Israeli-Palestinian peace. This is the third annual conference organized by the coalition, following large-scale events held at the Tel Aviv Arena and the International Convention Center in Jerusalem in 2024 and 2025.
During the session, political leaders, including the Communist Party of Israel Secretary-General Adel Amer and Hadash Secretary Amjad Shbita, addressed the regional political situation. Discussions centered on the fragile ceasefire, the risk of renewed war on Iran and Lebanon, and the concerning rise of internal fascism and ongoing occupation of Palestinian, Lebanese and Syrian territories.
“The establishment of the Joint List is not merely a tactical maneuver,” Hadash stated in an official communique. “It is a fundamental mission to shift the political balance of power and intensify the struggle against the occupation.” In addition to election preparations, Hadash leadership issued a formal call for public mobilization. Activists and supporters are urged to participate in International Workers’ Day events on Friday, May 1, in Tel Aviv, on Saturday, May 2 in Nazareth and other localities.
In this regard, I would like to express gratitude to all those, particularly the lay and religious women, who care for individuals traumatized by violence. It is an enormous task that goes unseen day by day, and as Sister Carine reminded us, it is also dangerous. The masters of war pretend not to know that it takes only a moment to destroy, yet a lifetime is often not enough to rebuild. They turn a blind eye to the fact that billions of dollars are spent on killing and devastation, yet the resources needed for healing, education and restoration are nowhere to be found. Those who rob your land of its resources generally invest much of the profit in weapons, thus perpetuating an endless cycle of destabilization and death. It is a world turned upside down, an exploitation of God’s creation that must be denounced and rejected by every honest conscience. We must make a decisive change of course — a true conversion — that will lead us in the opposite direction, onto a sustainable path rich in human fraternity. The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants, yet it is held together by a multitude of supportive brothers and sisters! They are the descendants of Abraham, as numerous as the stars in the sky and the grains of sand on the seashore. Let us look into each other’s eyes: we are this immense people! Peace is not something we must invent: it is something we must embrace by accepting our neighbor as our brother and as our sister. We do not choose our brothers and sisters: we simply must accept one another! We are one family, inhabiting the same home: this wonderful planet that ancient cultures have cared for across millennia.
Pope Leo warned that the world is being ravaged by “tyrants,” in forceful comments made after US President Donald Trump attacked the pontiff for his stance on the war with Iran.
Leo has emerged as strong critic of the conflict and his speech again preached a message of peace and rebuked leaders using religious language to justify war.
“The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants, yet it is held together by a multitude of supportive brothers and sisters,” Leo said in a speech during a visit to Cameroon’s largest city, Bamenda, on Thursday.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), petitions the High Court of Justice, demanding an end to what they claim is an effective ban on political demonstrations during wartime, after police forcefully dispersed several protests against the government this past week. ACRI filed the on behalf of Itamar Greenberg, a student and leading Hadash activist arrested twice in the past weeks for partaking in demonstrations against the Iran war and the recently passed death penalty law.
Israeli activist Alon-Lee Green was arrested after police moved in on an anti-war protest in Tel Aviv, detaining multiple demonstrators as officers forcibly dispersed the gathering.
Green, a leading figure in the Jewish-Arab movement Standing Together, had joined protesters opposing Israel’s ongoing war and assault on neighbouring countries and its escalation across the region, as well as the genocide and destruction in Gaza.
The Communist Parties of Iran (Tudeh), Israel (CPI) and the United States (CPUSA) published on Friday, March 6, a joint statement against the war on Iran: “The war of aggression launched by the Netanyahu criminal government and the United States Imperialism in the early hours of Saturday morning against Iran has ignited a full-scale war and dragged the region and its peoples towards more disasters and civilian casualties – all in the service of imperialist interests, against the interests of peoples, their independence and their right to self-determination in an effort to dominate and control the region and the world.
“The Trump Administration’s declaration of its intention to “regime change” in a sovereign country in the region and elsewhere in the Latin American continent is a gross trampling on the sovereignty and dignity of peoples and a dismantling of the meaning of the existence of international law and all previously established norms, even if they are not often for the benefit of the peoples, and it is a danger that grows with every war and aggression of the United States and Israel.
“The experiences of the peoples in Palestine, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Sudan, Lebanon and in every country in the southern half of the globe facing colonialism and imperialism cannot be overlooked – true liberation and salvation from reactionary and authoritarian regimes and their change can only come with the action of the people and patriotic leadership – not from Washington or Tel Aviv.
Across the river in Minneapolis, Temple Israel synagogue was filled Friday morning with clergy, elected leaders and others for an interfaith service to launch the day of striking, marching and activism. Marcia Zimmerman, senior rabbi, declared that “history is on our side,” before lighting a candle in the synagogue’s sanctuary of remembrance for Good and people who have died in federal detention.
Washington’s Episcopal bishop, Mariann Budde, a former Minneapolis priest and prominent critic of President Donald Trump who traveled to Minnesota for Friday’s march, praised locals’ resistance.
“What I and others can do is connect the dots, between the scale and deliberate cruelty here with what has been taking place across the country,” she said, referring to the actions of the federal government. “Minneapolis has shown the country what it looks like to stand up.”
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.
(October 7, 2025)
The attackers killed more than 1,250 Israelis and foreign nationals. More than 250 others were abducted and taken to Gaza as hostages, including women, children and the elderly.
Survivors and witnesses have described rape, sexualized torture and other forms of cruel and inhumane treatment carried out during the assault.
“The Hamas attack was done not to release any territories or to do any good for the Palestinian people. It was a heinous attack to try to break the morale of the Israeli people,” Mr. Cohen said.
Following the shock of the attack, he, his wife Viki and son Yotam, have joined other hostages and families to urge international leaders to press both Hamas and the Israeli Government to agree a ceasefire and hostage release deal.
(…)
Israelis and Palestinians have the same yearning to live normal lives, which is not in line with the extremist views of some members of the Israeli Government or of Hamas, he said.
“We want to have a normal life together, and the only way is to do a settlement between Israel and the Palestinians. So, in the future, we can say Israel and Palestine; and this is the two-State solution. [There is] No other way,” Mr. Cohen added.
At the end of the meeting, President Abbas renewed his welcome to the visiting delegation and emphasized the importance of meetings in building bridges of trust between the Palestinian and Israeli sides. He expressed hope that this meeting would mark the beginning of a new path, not only in politics, but also in the shared human conscience between the two sides. President Abbas called on the delegation members to form a popular Israeli front for a just peace that would make the voice of reason heard within Israeli society.
Hundreds of people protested in Tel Aviv on Saturday afternoon, calling for an end to the war and to prevent the growing hunger in the Gaza Strip
Hadash said on Friday, August 22, that several thousands of Jews and Arabs from across the country are expected to participate tomorrow in the protest against war and starvation planned to set out from Dizengoff Square at 4:30 p.m., where it will then proceed to Habima Square. Hadash also called for the broadest participation of the Arab public to take part in the upcoming protest in Tel Aviv.
The protest was named “Stop the Starvation, Stop the War – Yes to Life and Peace”, is expected to be an Arab-Jewish demonstration led by the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens in Israel, an umbrella organization of the Arab community and sponsored by Partnership for Peace and dozens of human rights and anti-occupation movements.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum calls on Monday evening, August 18, for another nationwide strike to pressure the far-right government into ending the genocide war and for the release of hostages on next Sunday after a similar action on last Sunday.
(…)
On next Saturday, August 23, at 4:30 pm, will be held another Arab-Jewish rally, “The March for Peace and Life” from Dizengoff Square to Habima Square in Central Tel-Aviv, calling for a deal to end the war and occupation, a deal with Hamas for the return of hostages, as well as a lasting peace agreement with the Palestinians. The demonstration is an initiative of the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel, a leading umbrella organization among Arab-Palestinian national minority in Israel and sponsored by Hadash and several peace groups including Partnership for Peace, Standing Together, Women Wage Peace, Peace Now, and Breaking the Silence, among others.
(July 21, 2025)
Amazon Labor Union leader Chris Smalls is on the ‚Handala‘, the 37th ship to challenge Israel’s illegal siege on Gaza. Amazon has invested billions in intelligence like the Nimbus project, used for the surveillance and targeting of Palestinians.
Chris shares that “…an injury to one is injury to all,” calling on labor unions worldwide to fulfill their responsibility: to be the shield for the working class, which includes protecting Palestinian people, and urges unions to stop their shipments of arms to Israel, fuelling their genocide in Gaza.
“We come with baby food, toys, medicine, and hope — not just for Gaza, but for the future of our children in America back at home. The world is watching.”
(16 hours ago)
“We strongly condemn the effort to expel MK Ayman Odeh from the Israeli Knesset,” the US senators said. “If Israel is going to call itself a democracy, it must tolerate peaceful dissent.” The senators linked the expulsion effort to Odeh’s calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, an end to Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, and a political solution between Israelis and Palestinians.
“For over a decade, MK Odeh has been a leading advocate for peace, justice, and Jewish-Arab partnership,” they said. “The current expulsion effort is a direct response to MK Odeh’s outspoken and brave calls.” The lawmakers described the move as sending “a chilling message to millions of Palestinian citizens of Israel: that their representation is conditional and their rights revocable.” “We stand in solidarity with MK Odeh and with the right of all lawmakers, Arab and Jewish, to speak freely and without fear of political retribution,” they said.
“It’s not a matter of parliamentary ethics, but of political censorship and persecution as well as terrorization (“chilling effect”) of the entire leftist camp, Arabs and Jews alike,” Cassif wrote in a response posted to X. “The real end behind this suspension is to thwart our faction from any parliamentary activity altogether, and, in the longer run, to eliminate any representation of the Arab and the democratic Jewish citizens. My repeated suspensions are merely the appetizer, as they were.”
Cassif was instead suspended by the Ethics Committee in November 2024 for six months due to critics against ethnic cleansing in Gaza and attempt to oust Cassif from his sea failed in the Knesset plenum in February 2024 due to insufficient support from the opposition, with only 85 MKs voting in favor, short of the required 90. That effort to remove Cassif from the parliament came in response to his public support for South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
(January 14, 2015)
Palästina kann seine Situation in Frieden und Unabhängigkeit nur verbessern, solange es zusammenhält und nicht den Fehler Indiens nach der Befreiung von der Gewaltherrschaft des Britischen Empire begeht. Heute stehen sich zwei Atommächte mehr oder weniger feindlich gegenüber, Indien und Pakistan, sowie das letztlich von Pakistan abgefallene Bangladesch.
Nicht ein multikulturelles, ein multiethnisches, ein multireligiöses Palästina, sondern ein interkulturelles, ein interethnisches, ein interreligiöses Palästina wird Bestand haben, welches Unterschiede nicht versucht wegzuassimilieren, zu ignorieren oder zu unterdrücken, sondern die eigenen Unterschiede stehen lässt, die eigene Vielfalt akzeptiert und einen Weg findet seine inneren Differenzen ohne Blutvergießen und nach allgemein akzeptierten Rechten und Regeln auszufechten, ohne das Recht des Stärkeren einreißen zu lassen.
Die Sympathie der Welt wird Palästina dabei sicher sein.
EDM (Early Day Motion) 695: tabled on 24 January 2025
Tabled in the 2024-25 session.
This motion has been signed by 10 Members. It has not yet had any amendments submitted.
Motion text
That this House expresses deep concern regarding the efforts of Israeli coalition and opposition politicians to oust MK Ayman Odeh from the Knesset; joins Odeh in welcoming the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal which enabled the exchange of Israeli and Palestinian hostages and abductees; supports the sentiment of Palestinians and Israelis being freed from the burden of occupation and building a shared future; notes that, of the 90 Palestinians hostages most recently released by Israel, 69 were women, 21 were children, and most had been held without charge or trial; acknowledges the existence of myriad political mechanisms that enable the targeting, exclusion, and marginalisation of Palestinian-Israeli members of the Knesset, including the conflation of one’s support for Palestinian rights with support for terrorism or incitement to violence; further notes the similar employment of the impeachment process against MK Ofer Cassif, as a result of his signing a petition in support of the South Africa’s case forwarded in the International Court of Justice, accusing Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza; believes in the value of maintaining a representative democracy that encompasses a broad array of political, social, and ethnic creeds; and calls on the Government to vehemently oppose any efforts by Israeli parliamentarians to further solidify an ethnocratic, apartheid state, and deny the Palestinian population’s right to self-determination through the rooting out of democratically elected officials that represent their cause.
(June 27, 2025)
In a display of open hostility, Committee Chair Ofir Katz declared to MK Odeh: “You won’t be in the Knesset—we will remain, and you won’t. Not in the Knesset, not in Israel.” Other MKs shouted that he should “keep shouting from jail,” while another told him: “You all should go to Gaza”. Right-wing MKs accused him of promoting a “violent Palestinian ideology,” said an indictment should already have been filed, and called him an “enemy from within.”
Chair Katz escalated the incitement further, stating: “While the soldiers are fighting on seven fronts, the eighth front needs to be cleared, and Ayman Odeh is our eighth front… He is continuously working to weaken the State of Israel, to discredit it, to undermine it and to strengthen its enemies.” When MK Odeh repeated that the Israeli military is committing war crimes—a statement for which he was already sanctioned by the Knesset Ethics Committee—the chair threatened: “If you continue to defame IDF soldiers, you will not be allowed to speak here.”
The committee blatantly ignored the Knesset legal advisor’s determination that only one statement—MK Odeh’s January tweet concerning the Israel-Hamas deal—could be legally considered. Instead, MKs used the hearing to dredge up unrelated political positions and to launch personal attacks, in open defiance of the law and the legal advisor’s position.
MK Odeh’s January statement was a tweet that read: “Happy about the release of the hostages and prisoners. From here, we must free both peoples from the burden of occupation. We were all born free.” During the hearing, he reaffirmed his support for this statement and others, including his position that Israel is committing crimes against humanity against Palestinians in Gaza.
On last Tuesday, June 24, during wars in Gaza and Iran, the Knesset House Committee began the process of expelling MK Ayman Odeh (Hadash). Why? He protected free speech and called for the end of war and occupation. But in a so called “Israel democracy” a political speech by a Hadash MK is grounds for dismissal. Dr Hassan Jabareen of Adalah—The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights, who is serving as Odeh’s legal counsel and is arguing as such.
Att. Jabareen, condemned the process as fundamentally flawed and unlawful, noting that the MKs’ refusal to follow the legal advisor’s ruling violated Odeh’s rights and rendered the entire procedure illegitimate. He emphasized that Odeh’s speech is fully legal and protected. The proceedings confirmed what has been clear from the outset of this process: the expulsion attempt is a dangerous, inciteful escalation in the ongoing political assault against Hadash and Arab Palestinian lawmakers in Israel.
As former Executive Director of Breaking the Silence Avner Gvaryahu wrote, Ayman “proves that it is possible to be a proud Palestinian Arab and still work for a better Israeli society for everyone.”
He continued:
Jewish-Arab partnership is not just a matter of social justice or a historical correction. It is the basis of any genuine vision of change in the Middle East. As long as we continue to live in the reality of separation, suspicion and dominance of one group over another, we will continue to walk in the same circles of violence and oppression. Partnership offers another way—a way through, in which the national conflict does not have to define every relationship between Jews and Arabs.
Therefore repelling Ayman from the public sphere is not only an expulsion of an Arab citizen [from the Knesset], but also a continued expulsion of the ideas of the left. This is a clear message [from the government] that the politics of partnership is undesirable, that the public space is only for those willing to remain silent about the occupation and settle for crumbs. It’s part of a broader process of narrowing democratic space and revoking the legitimacy of critical votes.
The Pope highlighted Eastern Christians’ “sense of the sacred, their deep faith confirmed by suffering, and their spirituality, redolent of the divine mysteries”.
Pope Leo went on to recall the violence ravaging the Christian East with “diabolical intensity previously unknown,” noting that some ROACO members were unable to come to Rome for the annual meeting due to the conflict in the Middle East.
“Our hearts bleed when we think of Ukraine, the tragic and inhumane situation in Gaza, and the Middle East, ravaged by the spread of war,” he said.
Every individual, added the Pope, must examine the causes of these conflicts and seek to resolve them, while rejecting explanations that are manipulative or false.
“It is truly distressing to see the principle of ‘might makes right’ prevailing in so many situations today, all for the sake of legitimizing the pursuit of self-interest,” he said.