Rudy Rochman: Healing Palestinian Hate (Coming from Jews)

Feb 7, 2023 | Moments before the first rockets hit Jerusalem in May initiating the summer conflict of 2021, The Home (HaBayit) activists were engaging with different voices on the streets of Jerusalem about the future of the Land and its inhabitants.

A passionate conversation was sparked with young Israeli teenagers as they were challenged on their perspective on the conflict and future. Unfortunately, both the Israeli & Palestinian youth have been brought into a world with an ongoing conflict forcing both peoples to often see the other side as the enemy. Xenophobia usually stems from misinformation, negative experiences, or even a lack of positive experiences with another group. This is why it is so important to begin humanizing both sides, engaging with each other, and learning the other narrative/identity/experience/aspirations in order to have a more inclusive vision of what the future must look like.

Israelis who hate Arabs/Palestinains are a minority, but they very much so do exist. It is the responsibility of both peoples to also look within and to heal the elements of rejection that prevent or delay the unification of the Land and its inhabitants. The conversations had with Israelis who reject Palestinians are usually internal, but in this moment we were able to capture the conversation and upload it for all to understand how deep the trauma runs, and how much we can grow out of this reality if we begin to invest our energies in healing and building, rather than rejecting and attacking.

How Israelis Feel about Palestinian Casualties: Sky News

Oct 26, 2023 | British Sky News Interview asking about Palestinian casualties and how Israelis feel about this war. Let’s be clear Israel did not start this war, but when it ends, we will remain standing strong. Israel does everything to save both Israeli and Palestinians civilians, while Hamas tries its hardest to maximize civilian deaths on both sides. If something is preventing you from seeing that, it’s either false information, the consumption of disinformation, or a desire to use select instances of Palestinian casualties out of context in order to push an anti-Jewish agenda. - Rudy Rochman, activist.

Israeli Soldier's Explosive Tell-All: "Palestinians Are Right to Resist"

March 20, 2017 | In a rare, candid conversation, Abby Martin interviews a former Israeli Army combat soldier who served as an occupier in Palestine’s Hebron City. Eran Efrati spent years as a sergeant and combat soldier in the Israeli military, but has since become an outspoken critic of the occupation of Palestine and Israeli apartheid.

Efrati gives explosive testimony on the reality of his service and explains how war crimes are institutionalized, as well as how systematic the oppression against Palestinians really is in a war of conquest…


I should like you all to know that I strive for balance and fairness on this blog. I try very hard not to take sides. I therefore generally post videos and articles which reflect viewpoints from BOTH sides. This particular video, which pre-dates the recent atrocities committed by Hamas by approximately six years, is particularly enlightening, because it gives us a peek into the everyday life of Palestinians, how they suffer, and how they are treated.

My posting of this video should in no way be construed as an endorsement of its content. Like you, I do not have first-hand knowledge of life in Israel. I can only listen, watch and learn.

However, as human beings, none of us is beyond reproach – we all err in one way or another; so, it is valid to question the behaviour not only of Palestinians, but also of Israelis.

I will end here by using a German proverb which I learnt many years ago. It goes like this: Selbsterkenntnis ist der beste Weg zur Besserung. This can be translated into English in this way: Self-knowledge is the best way to improve oneself. In other words, we cannot correct our faults until we know what they are! – © Mark Alexander

Israel Retaliatory Air Strike Kills At Least 198 Palestinians - BBC News

Oct 7, 2023 | At least 198 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory air strikes in the Gaza Strip, health officials have said. Palestinian officials launched a surprise rocket attack on Israel in the early hours of Saturday, while dozens of gunmen from the militant group Hamas infiltrated the country. At least 40 people in Israel were killed, with hundreds more being treated in hospitals, according to emergency services.

Violence Escalates Between Israelis and Palestinians

More Than 30 Dead in Gaza and Israel as Fighting Quickly Escalates »

Analysis: Trump's Middle East Plan: The Farce, the Fraud and the Fury

The Trump administration has finally lifted the curtains on the final act of its Middle East diplomacy by revealing the long-awaited, ahem, "peace plan" in a surrealistic White House celebration. I will admit from the outset that I cannot write about it with a straight face, considering the absurdity of the last three years of Trump policies towards Israel and Palestine. To call it a "peace plan" is to do injustice to the infamous "peace process" and its many failed "peace plans". It is so much worse, that a better term for it would be an "assault on peace". Everything about the plan is farcical. Al Jazeera's senior political analyst Marwan Bishara discusses the outcome of the deal.

Is the US an Honest Broker between the Israelis-Palestinians?

Trump in Israel: "We Have a Rare Opportunity to Bring Security, Stability and Peace to This Region"

Fear of Deadly ‘Religious War’ between Jews and Muslims Raised after Synagogue Attack

THE WASHINGTON POST: JERUSALEM — Israelis and Palestinians expressed fear Wednesday that their decades-old conflict was moving beyond the traditional nationalist struggle between two peoples fighting for their homelands and spiraling into a raw and far-reaching religious confrontation between Jews and Muslims.

The threat — perhaps more accurately the dread — of an incipient but deadly “religious war” was expressed by Muslim clerics, Christian leaders and Jewish Israelis one day after a pair of Palestinian assailants, wielding meat cleavers and a gun, killed five Israelis, including a prominent American Israeli rabbi, in a Jerusalem synagogue.

“All of us are scared that there will be a religious war, that extremists from both sides will start fighting each other,” said Oded Wiener, an Israeli Jew from the Council of Religious Institutions of the Holy Land. » | William Booth and Ruth Eglash | Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Blair Discusses Middle East Peace Hopes

UK's former PM urges action on Syria and tells Al Jazeera of relaunching peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians.

Saudi Airlines Discriminating against Israeli Citizens - Refuses to Sell Tickets to Fliers with Israel Passports, de Blasio Probe Reveals

NEW YORK POST: Airline refuses tix

Something’s not kosher with this airline.

Saudi Arabian Airlines is discriminating against Israeli citizens by refusing to fly them from US airports — even when passengers are simply looking to transfer in Saudi Arabia to another country, The Post has learned.

The airline’s Web site asks for citizenship to book a ticket but has no option on a drop-down menu for anyone holding an Israeli passport. The oversight doesn’t appear accidental — the drop-down menu is so thorough it even has an option for Antarctica.

“No city in the world has closer ties to Israel than we do, and yet Israeli citizens are being discriminated against right here at JFK. It’s not only illegal; it’s an affront to who we are,” said Public Advocate, and mayoral candidate, Bill de Blasio, who conducted a recent telephone sting on the Mideast nation’s airline.

“We won’t stop with just exposing these practices. We’ll pursue this with authorities in Albany and in Washington until Israeli nationals’ rights are respected,” added de Blasio, who is demanding an end to the practice in a letter to the airline that was obtained by The Post. » | Beth Defalco | Monday, July 15, 2013

THE ALGEMEINER: NYC’s De Blasio Threatens to Pull JFK Airport Slot From Saudi Arabian Airlines for Blocking Israelis From Flights: Saudi Arabian Airlines discriminates against Israeli nationals attempting to fly the airline out of New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport, the City’s Public Advocate Bill de Blasio said Monday, citing a probe his office conducted of the airline. ¶ At a press conference in Times Square Monday, De Blasio said that he sent a letter today urging Khalid Abdullah Almolhem, Director General of Saudi Arabian Airlines, to change the policy or else face consequences. ¶ “Saudi Arabian Airlines uses U.S. airports and yet bans Israeli citizens from being able to fly on their airline,” he said. If the airline does not change their policy, “we will act to make sure they’re excluded from United States airports, starting with JFK,” De Blasio said. » | Zach Pontz | | Monday, July 15, 2013

'Post' Poll Finds Obama Loses Support Among Israelis
THE JERUSALEM POST: Jewish citizens of Israel see US president as more pro-Palestinian than pro-Israel by a margin of 28 to 18 percent.

The gap between the percentage of Jewish Israelis who consider US President Barack Obama’s administration more pro-Palestinian and those who deem it more pro-Israel rose by 10 percentage points over the past six months, according to a Smith Research poll sponsored by The Jerusalem Post. » | Gil Hoffman | Sunday, October 14, 2012

Tony Blair's Job in Jeopardy as Palestinians Accuse Him of Bias

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Tony Blair's future as Middle East peace envoy was in jeopardy after the Palestinian Authority said it was set to sever all contact with him because of his "bias" towards Israel.

The senior echelons of the Palestine Liberation Organisation are expected to meet in the coming days to discuss a proposal to declare Mr Blair persona non grata, officials said.

Predicting unanimous support for the motion from the entire Palestinian leadership, they said the intention was to isolate the former prime minister to such an extent that his position would become untenable.

Mr Blair has been viewed with an element of distrust by some Palestinians ever since his appointment as the envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East – the mediating body comprising the United States, the EU, the UN and Russia – on the day he left Downing Street in June 2007.

But antagonism has mounted over allegations that he lobbied European powers to vote against a Palestinian bid for statehood submitted to the United Nations in New York last week. "We have been extremely unhappy and dissatisfied with Mr Blair's performance since he became envoy, but particularly in the past few weeks," a senior Palestinian official said.

No formal request for Mr Blair's dismissal has been made to the Quartet, and it is likely the Palestinians will come under intense US and European pressure to change course and desist from making a public pronouncement on his ostracism. » | Adrian Blomfield, Jerusalem | Wednesday, September 28, 2011

The Price of Arab Lies
YNET NEWS: Culture of lies good for Israel, leaves Arabs mired in cesspool of misery

Dishonesty and deceit have become part and parcel of current-day politics worldwide. Yet even within this reality, the culture of lies prevalent throughout the Arab world goes far beyond the “norm.” The utterance of lies by Arab leaders and politicians has become so deeply rooted, blatant, and irrational that it cannot be compared to the usual manipulation of information we see elsewhere.

While the sight of club-wielding “activists” claiming to be “peace lovers” or Knesset Member Zoabi insisting that IDF troops were not met with violence on board the Marmara – in the face of unequivocal video footage – may be infuriating at first, these and similar examples are in fact good news for Israel.

Indeed, the culture of lies and web of deceit that has taken root in Arab political life is a source of great weakness; Arabs are paying the price for it every day and will continue to do so as long as this mentality persists.

In the words of Abraham Lincoln, “You can't fool all of the people all the time." While global public opinion has been largely receptive to Arab lies, their sheer scope and ludicrousness have left many shaking their heads. When one lies so much and so blatantly, one is bound to get caught. In this respect, it would be worthwhile to pay less attention to online talkbacks and more to actual political developments. >>> Yigal Walt | Wednesday, June 02, 2010

Palestinians and Israeli Police Clash in East Jerusalem
THE TELEGRAPH: Hundreds of Palestinians clashed with Israeli police in East Jerusalem on Tuesday on a "day of rage" declared by Hamas Islamists in protest against Israel's consecration of an ancient synagogue in the city.



The violence was another challenge to US efforts to revive Middle East peace talks after Israel angered Palestinians and touched off a dispute with Washington by announcing a Jewish settlement project near East Jerusalem, an area captured along with the West Bank in a 1967 war.

In a deepening US-Israeli crisis, US Middle East envoy George Mitchell cancelled plans to return to the region on Tuesday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would not curb such construction, opposed by the United States.

Clashes erupted in several areas of East Jerusalem. Palestinians hurled stones at police and burned tyres and trash bins. Police responded with tear gas and fired rubber bullets.

Some 40 Palestinians were treated at East Jerusalem hospitals for minor injuries and two policemen were hurt, medical officials said.

A police spokesman said some 3,000 officers were put on high alert after Hamas, an Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip and wields influence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, urged Palestinians to mount anti-Israeli protests.

"We call on the Palestinian people to regard Tuesday as a day of rage against the occupation's (Israel's) procedures in Jerusalem against al-Aqsa mosque," Hamas said in a statement. >>> | Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Israeli Police Clash with Palestinians in Jerusalem's Old City
THE TELEGRAPH: Violence erupted at Jerusalem's holiest site on Sunday when Israeli riot police clashed with stone-throwing Palestinian protestors.

The most serious unrest in Jerusalem's sacred Old City in five months came after days of disturbances in the West Bank triggered by a declaration that two Jewish shrines on Palestinian territory would be declared Israeli heritage sites.

At least 14 protestors and four policemen were hurt during the clashes as battles raged both in the winding alleyways of Jerusalem's walled Old City and at the hilltop compound of the al-Aqsa mosque where the trouble first started.

According to Israeli police, Palestinian protesters inside the al-Aqsa mosque, held by Muslims to mark the spot that the Prophet Mohammed ascended into Heaven, threw stones at a group of tourists visiting the compound.

The youths believed the tourists to be Jewish radicals intent on reclaiming the compound, which also houses the Dome of the Rock, for Israel.

Marking the spot where the two Hebrew temples of antiquity once stood, the compound is venerated by both the Jews, who call it the Temple Mount, and by Muslims, for whom it is the Haram al-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary.

The clashes erupted on the Jewish holiday of Purim, which commemorates the deliverance of the Israelites from the Persian vizier Haman. >>> Adrian Blomfield in Jerusalem | Sunday, February 28, 2010

When Palestinians Keep Israelis Safe
HAARETZ: The damage felt by the Mossad over the release of footage of the hit on Mahmoud al-Mabhouh is now likely to be suffered by the Shin Bet security service with next week's publication of Mosab Hassan Yousef's memoir.

"The Green Prince" was apparently among the highest ranking agents the security service operated among Hamas' military wing in the West Bank, the most murderous terror network ever known in the Palestinian territories.

In his book, and in his interview with Avi Issacharoff (to be published in full Friday), Yousef exposes the methods by which the Shin Bet almost entirely obliterated the network by which hundreds of Israelis were murdered in terrorist attacks between 2000 and 2005. >>> Amos Harel | Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Obama the Imperialist
THE TELEGRAPH: Several thousand right-wing Israelis have massed in central Jerusalem to denounce a Jewish construction freeze in the West Bank and brand Barack Obama an imperialist.

In their biggest show of force since a moratorium on new residential building was announced late last month, some 3,000 settlers and their sympathizers gathered outside the residence of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister.

But it was the American president Barack Obama, seen by many settlers as ultimately responsible for the 10-month construction slowdown, who was as much in the sights of the demonstrators.

In scenes reminiscent of protests in the Arab world during the administration of George W Bush, they castigated Mr Obama as an imperialist from the same mould as his predecessor.

"Obama is continuing Middle East Imperialism," read one banner, "Was hoping for change - Got the same old imperialist," another.

Despite falling domestic approval ratings, Mr Obama remains the subject of much adulation abroad. But there is little evidence of such sentiment in Israel, where less than 10 per cent of the population claims to trust him, according to opinion polls.

The American president has become the focus of right-wing revulsion in Israel ever since he called for a freeze to Jewish settler construction earlier this year, even though he has since appeared to soften his stance.

The demonstrators at the rally had no doubt that Mr Obama was the real cause of the settlers' woes. Right-wing Israelis protest against West Bank settlement freeze >>> Adrian Blomfield in Jerusalem | Wednesday, December 09, 2009

Israel: An Impossible Situation
Watch Journeyman Pictures video: Hot Property: Israel/Palestine >>> | Monday, November 09, 2009

Obama: U.S. Does Not Recognize 'Legitimacy of Continued Israeli Settlements'
FOX NEWS: Obama's stark declaration, which drew applause, was coupled with a call for Palestinians to end their "incitement of Israel."

In declaring that it is time for Middle East peace "without preconditions," President Obama used his speech to the U.N. General Assembly Wednesday to fire a warning at Israel that "America does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements."

Obama's stark declaration, which drew applause, was coupled with a call for Palestinians to end their "incitement of Israel."
But it was the use of the U.N. forum to carry the settlement message to Israel that drew the most enthusiastic response on the floor -- and incredulous reaction outside its walls.

Obama just put Israel "on the chopping block," said former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton.

Obama said he met Tuesday with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was not in attendance at the speech, and agreed that the two have made some progress in both strengthening security and facilitating freedom of movement, which have allowed the economy in the West Bank to grow.

But more progress is needed, he said.

"We continue to call on Palestinians to end incitement against Israel, and we continue to emphasize that America does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements," he said.

Obama said four issues separate the two sides: security, borders, refugees and Jerusalem, but the goal is clear: a secure, Jewish state for Israel and "a viable, independent Palestinian state with contiguous territory that ends the occupation that began in 1967."

He also said a new order is needed in dealing with the dispute.

"The United States does Israel no favors when we fail to couple an unwavering commitment to its security with an insistence that Israel respect the legitimate claims and rights of the Palestinians. And nations within this body do the Palestinians no favors when they choose vitriolic attacks over a constructive willingness to recognize Israel's legitimacy, and its right to exist in peace and security," he said.

In his first speech to the world body, Obama applied his campaign slogan to the international community and challenged the global community to step up and fix the world's problems both at home and abroad. >>> FOXNews.com | Wednesday, September 23, 2009