Spyfail, p.63
Spyfail, page 63
30 “[We have] five situation rooms”: Yarden Ben Yosef, “The Digital Battle over the Narrative of the Gaza Protests,” The Arena, May 29, 2018, www.eng.arenajournal.org.il/single-post/yarden-ben-yosef-digital-battleground-eng.
31 “mimic those used by the Israel Defense Forces”: “Student Startup Gives Pro-Israel Advocates a Unified Voice,” Times of Israel, July 27, 2017, www.timesofisrael.com/this-student-startup-gives-pro-israel-advocates-a-unified-voice/.
32 Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston: Nathan-Kazis, “Shadowy Israeli App Turns American Jews into Foot Soldiers in Online War.”
33 They were instructed to push a new Facebook page: Ishmael N. Daro, “How an App Funded by Sheldon Adelson Is Covertly Influencing the Online Conversation About Israel,” BuzzFeed News, September 20, 2018, www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ishmaeldaro/act-il-social-media-astroturfing-israel-palestine.
34 exposed the names and pictures: Behind Israel’s Troll Army, tweet, April 26. 2018, https://twitter.com/AntiBDSApp/status/989529791282982912.
35 “in excess of 500 students”: “Video Activism,” Root Funding, https://rootfunding.com/causes/839141.
36 sat on its board of directors: Milstein LinkedIn page, www.linkedin.com/in/adammilstein/details/experience/.
37 an organ of the Ministry of Strategic Affairs; In 2016, for example: Aiden Pink, “U.S. Pro-Israel Groups Failed to Disclose Grants from Israeli Government,” Forward, August 31, 2020, https://forward.com/israel/453286/us-pro-israel-groups-failed-to-disclose-grants-from-israeli-government/.
38 “Is Linda Sarsour Really a Feminist?”: “Is Linda Sarsour Really a Feminist? Learn About What She Really Believes in This Video Produced by Video Activism Participant Emily Biffinger,” October 10, 2017, https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1265958676846757&id=667743300001634&_rdr.
39 passed to Hasbara through its cover organization: Pink, “U.S. Pro-Israel Groups Failed to Disclose Grants from Israeli Government.”
40 “We are the elite”: Video Activism Facebook page, July 28, 2017, www.facebook.com/videoactivism/posts/check-out-this-awesome-video-emily-biffinger-made-to-sum-up-her-experiences-on-t/1265241746918450/.
41 “slandering and delegitimizing Israel”: Jonathan Greenblatt, tweet, April 6, 2022, https://twitter.com/jgreenblattadl/status/1511889120955535363.
42 “shocked me—and broke my heart”: Michael Arria, “GEICO Cancels Event with Linda Sarsour After Backlash from Pro-Israel Groups,” Mondoweiss, https://mondoweiss.net/2022/04/geico-cancels-event-with-linda-sarsour-after-backlash-from-pro-israel-groups/.
43 “This is disgraceful”: Yousef Munayyer, tweet, April 7, 2022, https://twitter.com/yousefmunayyer/status/1512225992223432704.
44 paying tens of thousands of dollars: Itamar Benzaquen and The Seventh Eye, “Jerusalem Post Took Government Money to Publish Anti-BDS Special,” +972 Magazine, October 4, 2020, www.972mag.com/israeli-propaganda-bds-jerusalem-post/.
45 special supplement: “Unmasking BDS,” Jerusalem Post, June 2019, https://cdn.the7eye.org.il/uploads/2020/09/jerusalem-post-msa-june2019.pdf.
46 “narrative in the world”: Uri Blau, “Inside the Clandestine World of Israel’s ‘BDS-Busting’ Ministry,” Haaretz, March 26, 2017, www.haaretz.com/israel-news/MAGAZINE-inside-the-clandestine-world-of-israels-bds-busting-ministry-1.5453212.
47 In a major report: “A Regime of Jewish Supremacy from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea: This Is Apartheid,” B’Tselem, January 12, 2021, www.btselem.org/publications/fulltext/202101_this_is_apartheid.
48 “What acts like apartheid”: Yossi Sarid, “Yes, It Is Apartheid,” Haaretz, April 25, 2008, www.haaretz.com/1.4973854.
49 human rights groups are labeled terrorist organizations: “Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories Occupied Since 1967,” United Nations Human Rights Council, March 22, 2022, https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/report-special-rapporteur-situation-human-rights-20.
50 “extreme measure”; “It’s simple, we were given evidence”: Hagar Shezaf, “European Diplomats: Israel Failed to Submit Sufficient Evidence Against Outlawed Palestinian NGOs,” Haaretz, June 8, 2022, www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2022-06-08/ty-article/.highlight/israel-failed-to-submit-sufficient-evidence-against-outlawed-palestinian-ngos-sources-say/00000181-4222-df72-a5cb-c2ff61970000.
51 “People here were told”: Shany Littman, “Labeled a Traitor, She Fled Israel. Now She Wants to Deconstruct Zionism,” Haaretz, January 28, 2022, www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.HIGHLIGHT.MAGAZINE-labeled-a-traitor-she-fled-israel-now-she-wants-to-deconstruct-zionism-1.10572707.
52 “It’s heart-rending”: Craig Timberg, “Pegasus Hack Reported on iPhones of Human Rights Watch Official,” Washington Post, January 26, 2022, www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/01/26/pegasus-hack-reported-iphones-human-rights-watch-official/.
53 its own lengthy report: “A Threshold Crossed: Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution,” Human Rights Watch, April 27, 2021, www.hrw.org/report/2021/04/27/threshold-crossed/israeli-authorities-and-crimes-apartheid-and-persecution.
54 “We think that in the coming year”: Lazar Berman, “Lapid: 2022 Will See Intense Effort to Paint Israel as Apartheid State,” Times of Israel, January 3, 2022, www.timesofisrael.com/lapid-2022-will-see-intense-effort-to-paint-israel-as-apartheid-state/.
Chapter 26: The Reckoning
1 in February 2022, the esteemed human rights organization: “Israel’s Apartheid Against Palestinians: A Look into Decades of Oppression and Domination,” Amnesty International, February 2022, www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2022/02/israels-system-of-apartheid/.
2 “the denial of nationality and citizenship to Palestinians”: In March 2022, Israel’s Knesset passed the so-called Citizenship Law, which bars the naturalization of Palestinians from the occupied territories who are married to Israeli citizens, thereby forcing thousands of Palestinian families to either emigrate or live apart. Such a law has existed for decades but was now made permanent. It was heavily criticized in the Human Rights Watch report on apartheid. See Henriette Chacar, “Israel’s Knesset Passes Law Barring Palestinian Spouses,” Reuters, March 10, 2022, www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israels-knesset-passes-law-barring-palestinian-spouses-2022-03-10/.
3 “COMMENT on this tweet”: Behind Israel’s Troll Army, “Israel’s app isn’t happy about @amnesty’s report on Israeli apartheid. Below are some of the many ‘missions’ the app has launched on social media seeking to discredit and slander Amnesty, with the hashtag #AmnestyLies,” tweet, February 1, 2022, https://twitter.com/AntiBDSApp/status/1488568955782549513. In 2022, Israel finally threw in the towel on its troll army and deactivated Act.il. Michael Bueckert saw it coming. The vice president of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, he followed the app since it began five years earlier. “It was destined to fail,” he said, “because the problem facing Israel today is not the result of misinformation or lies, but of a growing awareness of the realities of Israeli apartheid itself—and this is something that an app is incapable of solving.”
4 2021 survey by the Jewish Electoral Institute: “National Jewish Survey,” Jewish Electoral Institute, June 28–July 1, 2021, www.jewishelectorateinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/JEI-National-Jewish-Survey-Topline-Results-July-2021.pdf.
5 “The results were shocking to many”: Arno Rosenfeld, “What If a Quarter of Jews Really Do Think Israel Is a Genocidal, Apartheid State?,” Forward, July 15, 2021, https://forward.com/news/473044/what-if-a-quarter-of-jews-really-do-think-israel-is-a-genocidal-apartheid/. In February 2022, Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic released a formal study which found that Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank amounted to the crime of apartheid. Entitled “Apartheid in the Occupied West Bank: A Legal Analysis of Israel’s Actions,” it did not escape the wrath of Ambassador Gilad Erdan, who branded its authors “anti-Semites.” “Those who wrote the report on behalf of Harvard,” he said, “decided to delegitimize the Jewish state because of their antisemitic views.” See “Apartheid in the Occupied West Bank: A Legal Analysis of Israel’s Actions,” Harvard International Human Rights Clinic, February 28, 2002, http://hrp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/IHRC-Addameer-Submission-to-HRC-COI-Apartheid-in-WB.pdf. Re: Erdan, see Steve France, “Harvard Law School ‘Apartheid’ Report Leaves Israel’s Defenders Speechless,” Mondoweiss, April 5, 2022, https://mondoweiss.net/2022/04/harvard-law-school-apartheid-report-leaves-israels-defenders-speechless/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-email-hgs-mailpoet.
6 Pew poll was released in 2022: “Modest Warming in U.S. Views on Israel and Palestinians; Young Americans’ Attitudes Are as Favorable Toward the Palestinian People and Government as Toward Israel,” Pew Research Center, May 26, 2022, www.pewresearch.org/religion/2022/05/26/modest-warming-in-u-s-views-on-israel-and-palestinians/.
7 “We are anti-Zionist”; “a HUGE step toward Judaism”: Allison Kaplan Sommer, “‘Anti-Zionist’ Congregation Stirs Emotion in Chicago’s Jewish Community,” Haaretz, April 6, 2022, www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium.HIGHLIGHT-anti-zionist-congregation-stirs-emotion-in-chicago-s-jewish-community-1.10723970?utm_source=mailchimp&utm_medium=content&utm_campaign=daily-brief&utm_content=d2efca2a5d.
8 one of at least half a dozen congregations: Arno Rosenfeld, “Chicago Synagogue Officially Designates Itself ‘Anti-Zionist,’” Forward, March 31, 2022, https://forward.com/news/484838/in-likely-first-chicago-synagogue-officially-designates-itself-anti/.
9 “The American Jewish rabbinate is turning pro-Palestinian”: “The American Left and Israel” [Professor Eric Alterman, in conversation with Dr. Yael Sternhell, Tel Aviv University, May 24, 2022], YouTube, https://youtu.be/yRGhaQ4ybqg.
10 “The vast majority of ammunition used”: Daniel Boguslaw, “Israel Used U.S. Weapons to Destroy U.S. Assets and Aid Projects in Gaza,” The Intercept, May 19, 2022, https://theintercept.com/2022/05/19/israel-gaza-us-weapons-aid-projects/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=The%20Intercept%20Newsletter.
11 forty-two civilians were killed: “Israeli Air Strike Survivor at HRC: Hold Perpetrators Accountable for ‘Wiping Out My Family,’” Euromedmonitor, March 25, 2022, https://euromedmonitor.org/en/article/5000/Israeli-air-strike-survivor-at-HRC:-Hold-perpetrators-accountable-for-%27wiping-out-my-family%27.
12 “I remember that my mom”: Daniel Estrin, “22 Members of One Family Killed in Gaza,” NPR, May 23, 2021, www.npr.org/2021/05/23/999563043/gaza-residents-access-damage-amid-ceasefire.
13 “unprecedented”: “UN Moves Forward with Unprecedented Open-Ended Probe Against Israel,” Times of Israel, December 25, 2021, www.timesofisrael.com/un-moves-forward-with-unprecedented-open-ended-probe-against-israel/#:~:text=The%20resolution%20called%20for%20the,with%20an%20%E2%80%9Congoing%E2%80%9D%20mandate.
14 established a special permanent “Commission of Inquiry”: “Human Rights Council Establishes International Commission of Inquiry to Investigate Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Including East Jerusalem, and in Israel,” United Nations Human Rights Council, Office of the High Commissioner, May 27, 2021, www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2021/05/human-rights-council-establishes-international-commission-inquiry?LangID=E&NewsID=27119.
15 The commission was approved overwhelmingly: Times of Israel, “UN Moves Forward with Unprecedented Open-Ended Probe Against Israel.”
16 similar commission of inquiry: “Report of the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” United Nations Human Rights Council, February 17, 2014, www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/hrc/co-idprk/reportofthe-commissionof-inquiry-dprk.
17 “I conclude that the Israeli settlements”: “Israeli Settlements Amount to War Crime, UN Rights Official Says,” Haaretz, July 9, 2021, www.haaretz.com/israel-news/israeli-settlements-amount-to-war-crime-un-rights-official-says-1.9985923.
18 “I know my loss is too great”: Euromedmonitor, “Israeli Air Strike Survivor at HRC.”
19 Israel announced it would not cooperate: Erin Brady, “Israel Again Rejects an International Call for Possible War Crimes Inquiry,” Newsweek, February 17, 2022, www.newsweek.com/israel-again-rejects-international-call-possible-war-crimes-inquiry-1680371. See also Jonathan Lis, “Israel Won’t Cooperate with UN War Crimes Probe, Accuses Chair of ‘Anti-Israel Agenda,’” Haaretz, February 17, 2022, www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israel-won-t-cooperate-with-un-inquiry-into-alleged-war-crimes-in-may-gaza-war-1.10619238?utm_source=mailchimp&utm_medium=content&utm_campaign=daily-brief&utm_content=ba2948eeb3.
20 “I am so sorry”: “Israel Rejects Palestinian Accusations of ‘Apartheid’ at UN Meeting,” Haaretz, February 24, 2022, www.haaretz.com/israel-news/israel-rejects-palestinian-accusations-of-apartheid-at-un-meeting-1.10631744?utm_source=mailchimp&utm_medium=content%E2%80%A6.
21 In August 2022 he ordered the Israeli military: Hagar Shezaf, Jack Khoury, “Israel Raids Outlawed Palestinian Rights Groups’ Offices in West Bank,” Associated Press, August 18, 2022, https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2022-08-18/ty-article/.highlight/israel-raids-outlawed-palestinian-rights-groups-offices-in-west-bank/00000182-af5a-d1f9-a59e-ff7a07050000.
22 “All the questions were about my journalism”; imprisoned at least twenty-six Palestinian journalists: Yuval Abraham, “Israel Charges Palestinian Journalists with Incitement—For Doing Their Jobs,” The Intercept, April 5, 2022, https://theintercept.com/2022/04/05/israel-palestine-journalists-incitement/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=The%20Intercept%20Newsletter.
23 “most likely”: Ellen Francis, “Al Jazeera to Refer Killing of American Journalist to War Crimes Court,” Washington Post, May 27, 2022, www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/05/27/aljazeera-journalist-killing-israel-shireen-abu-akleh-icc/.
24 “They were shooting directly at the journalists”: Zeena Saifi et al., “‘They Were Shooting Directly at the Journalists’: New Evidence Suggests Shireen Abu Akieh was Killed in Targeted Attack by Israeli Forces,” CNN, May 24, 2022, www.cnn.com/2022/05/24/middleeast/shireen-abu-akleh-jenin-killing-investigation-cmd-intl/index.html.
25 “examined more than five dozen videos”: Sarah Cahlan, Meg Kelly, and Steve Hendrix, “How Shireen Abu Aleh was Killed,” Washington Post, June 12, 2022, www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/2022/shireen-abu-akleh-death/.
26 signed a letter: Congress of the United States to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Director of the FBI Christopher Wray, May 19, 2022, https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5faecb8fb23a85370058aed8/t/6287a9e9065a8f5aecd18b8e/1653058025476/FINAL+LETTER+Shireen+Abu+Abkleh.pdf.
27 “gunfire from IDF positions was likely responsible”: Press release, “On the Killing of Shireen Abu Akleh,” U.S. Department of State, July 4, 2022, www.state.gov/on-the-killing-of-shireen-abu-akleh/.
28 “I’ve raised more money”: “In the Heart of Motor City, Vice President Biden Addresses Yeshiva Beth Yehuda, November 13th, 2011,” The White House, November 18, 2011, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2011/11/18/heart-motor-city-vice-president-biden-addresses-yeshiva-beth-yehuda.
29 “As recently as last year”: “Remarks by the Vice President to the AIPAC Policy Conference,” The White House, March 4, 2013, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2013/03/04/remarks-vice-president-aipac-policy-conference.
30 described Biden to the Israeli press as a “Zionist”: “‘Joe Biden Loves Israel’: Listen to U.S. Ambassador Thomas Nides,” Haaretz, July 4, 2022, www.haaretz.com/israel-news/podcasts/2022-07-04/ty-article-podcast/joe-biden-loves-israel-listen-to-u-s-ambassador-thomas-nides/00000181-c998-d11e-a1e9-df9bfb810000.
31 Israel’s biggest eviction of Palestinians in decades: Steve Hendrix and Shira Rubin, “Ahead of Biden visit, Israel Launches Biggest Eviction of Palestinians in Decades,” Washington Post, May 22, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/05/22/israel-palestinian-masafer-yatta-biden/.
32 And in August 2022: “Israel Approves Construction of 1,400 Settlement Units in East Jerusalem,” Middle East Monitor, August 5, 2022, https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20220805-israel-approves-construction-of-1400-settlement-units-in-east-jerusalem/.
33 “No one is ever held responsible”: Gideon Levy, “Ripping Up the Evidence: How Israel Maintains Global Impunity,” Middle East Eye, June 20, 2022, www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/israel-global-impunity-maintained-how.
34 “The political system of entrenched rule”: “Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories Occupied Since 1967,” United Nations Human Rights Council, 28 February–1 April 2022, https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/EN_78.pdf.
35 “In recent months Israel has intensified”: “Israel/OPT: Israel Is Committing Apartheid, Says UN Special Rapporteur,” Amnesty International, March 23, 2022, www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/03/israel-opt-israel-is-committing-apartheid-says-un-special-rapporteur/. In the spring of 2022, Italian human rights lawyer Francesca Albanese was elected to a six-year term to replace Michael Lynk, whose term expired. Albanese is an expert on the Palestinian refugee crisis, the longest and most protracted refugee situation since World War II, and has published several books on the topic. She also spent ten years with the UN, including the UN’s Relief Works Agency in Palestine. “I was horrified by what I saw,” she said. “It was much more than my body could handle. At that time, I clearly saw and felt the apartheid policy. But at that time, I didn’t have the tools to deal with [it]… The Israeli government and its supporters’ repeated claim of exceptionalism have been overused, and it has led to abuses and double standard. It is about time for the international community to question and act upon it.” See Daoud Kuttab, “Israel’s Occupation Has Crossed the ‘Red Line of Legality,’ Says New UN Rapporteur,” Al-Monitor, April 7, 2022, www.al-monitor.com/originals/2022/04/israels-occupation-has-crossed-red-line-legality-says-new-un-rapporteur.
