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PLAYLINK changes in Twitter notifications
The @PLAYLINKuk Twitter account has until now been used to publicise all of my blog posts, regardless of subject. The new position From now on a new Twitter feed – @BernardSpiegal – will be used for posts which discuss Palestine/Israel issues. Please follow me at @BernardSpiegal if interesed in that subject. PLAYLINK’s tweets will continue… Continue reading
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2019 Eurovision Song Contest – Songwashing occupation, discrimination, apartheid
Tel Aviv is to host the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest What’s Tel Aviv like? This from Business Insider: ‘From the Mediterranean shores of Tel Aviv, Israel’s fraught geopolitical position is almost non-existent. Tourists and locals alike sip Goldstar, Israel’s ubiquitous dark lager, as the waves roll in and out. Children laugh and splash in the… Continue reading
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Palestine/Israel: Reflections on a visit
Extract: War on Want Briefing to MPs Israel’s use of military force against Palestinian civilians is a prominent feature of its occupation regime. This militarised repression of the Palestinian people extends beyond the scenes of checkpoints and bombings we have unfortunately become accustomed to; Israel’s military and security services maintain an intense regime of surveillance,… Continue reading
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Palestine/Israel: What oppression looks like
I have just returned from a trip to Palestine/Israel. My purpose: to understand more; to interview/have conversations with people; to report back to those who might already be interested and, fond hope, to encourage more widespread interest – and action. The bulk of my time was spent in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), taking the… Continue reading
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So what’s new? Israel’s Nationality Law
Israel’s parliament (Knesset) has this July passed its Nationality Law by sixty two votes to fifty five. In brief, it enshrines, and in effect crows about, Israel’s status as an apartheid state. The law confirms that ‘Israel is the historic homeland of the Jewish people and they have an exclusive right to national self-determination in… Continue reading
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Another Israeli state violation now, and a harbinger of more to come
The proposed demolition of Khan Al-Ahmar – a violation now, and a harbinger of more to come This article has just been published on the ICAHD UK (Israel Committee Against House Demolition, UK) web site. I would urge you to take a look at the web site as a whole. The website also announces an … Continue reading
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Anti-semitism- an article of clear, good sense
There follows a link to an article on anti-semitism in the London Review of Books by Stephen Sedley: https://www.lrb.co.uk/v40/n09/stephen-sedley/short-cuts I commend it to you as a good and worthwhile read. Stephen Sedley is a former appeal court judge. A collection of his articles and lectures, Law and the Whirligig of Time, will be published by… Continue reading
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A State’s ‘right’ to exist?
Abstractions cannot have rights. States are abstractions. States therefore cannot have rights. At first blush, this may seem no more than a quibble, or an excursion into constructing a syllogism simply for the pleasure of it. In terms of the subject I want now to address, it is neither. Before proceeding, it’s worth stating an… Continue reading
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I thought I’d tell you a story
I thought I’d tell you a story. A true story. Or as true as a told story can be. I think it may be a tale about the perennial wrestle between pragmatism and principle, but I may be wrong. If you read on, you can decide for yourself. The story is about events that took… Continue reading
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Nineteen days and counting to Israel’s destruction of another Palestinian village
Umm Al-Hiran Village: In 19 days this village will be demolished by Israel In nineteen days’ time, that is from today the 27 March 2018, five hundred Bedouin men, women and children, residents of the village of Umm Al-Hiran in the Israel Negev desert, will see their homes destroyed, their school, community facilities and mosque… Continue reading
About Me
This is Bernard Spiegal’s blog.
I write mainly about Palestine/Israel and related issues; sometimes other stuff too
Bernard Spiegal 