IMEU Institute for Middle East Understanding
Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics revealed a figure on Monday that will concern the country's nationalistic right wing: As many Muslims (6.5 million) now live alongside Jews (6.44 million) between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea. But for one man in the midst of the Israeli-Palestinian quagmire, that number is full of encouragement.
on March 28, 2018
A far-right Israeli politician has been admonished by his party and roundly condemned by commentators after suggesting Jewish and Arab women should be separated in maternity wards in apartheid-style segregation. Betzalel Smotrich, a 36-year-old member of parliament from the Jewish Home party, which is part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition, is an ultra-nationalist settler who is frequently outspoken on issues of religion and the Palestinians.
on April 6, 2016
The government is expected to present a new version of a bill allowing Knesset to suspend sitting lawmakers. The new version replaces the criterion for suspension from "behavior unbecoming a Knesset member" to one of three grounds: denying Israel's existence as a Jewish and democratic state, inciting to racism and supporting the armed struggle of terror organization or an enemy state.
on February 9, 2016
A bill that opponents say targets Israeli human rights groups critical of Israel's policies towards the Palestinians won initial approval in parliament on Monday with the support of right-wing parties. Called a "transparency bill" by its sponsor, far-right Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, the legislation would require NGOs to give details of overseas donations in all their official publications...
on February 8, 2016
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has proposed a bill that would suspend politicians who follow in the footsteps of three Palestinian members of the Knesset, including Hanin Zoabi, who visited relatives of alleged Palestinian attackers.
on February 7, 2016
The Knesset approved on Tuesday a toned-down version of a controversial law on expanding police power to carry out body searches. The so-called stop-and-frisk law – which the permits police to frisk a person if there is a “reasonable suspicion that he is about to commit a violent offense, in order to check whether he is carrying an illegal weapon” – was approved in the second and third readings.
on February 2, 2016
Israel's State Attorney charged MK Haneen Zoabi (Joint Arab List) with insulting a public servant rather than incitement to terror on Thursday, as part of a plea bargain reached between the Israeli Arab lawmaker and justice officials. Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein agreed to the deal signed last month with Zoabi, according to which she will plead guilty and pay a fine of 500 shekels ($127).
on January 7, 2016
Fact Sheets
Over the past decade, the messianic Temple Mount movement has grown rapidly, gravitating from the margins of Israeli society to the mainstream. The IMEU offers the following fact sheet providing an overview of Israeli government support for the extremist Temple Mount movement, whose provocations in occupied East Jerusalem are one of the main causes of the current crisis in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel.
on November 4, 2015
Fact Sheets
The IMEU offers select quotes from senior Israeli officials expressing extremism and incitement to racial hatred towards Palestinians, migrants, and other citizens and residents of Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.
on October 23, 2015