IMEU Institute for Middle East Understanding
Sarah Silverman has never exactly shied away from the outrageous, whether in her comedy or on Twitter. But when she stood up for a teen activist last week, the backlash was intense, even for her. On Feb. 15, Silverman tweeted out a link to an Amnesty International petition to free 16-year-old Ahed Tamimi accompanied with the following message: "Jews have to stand up EVEN when — ESPECIALLY when — the wrongdoing is BY Jews/the Israeli government."
on February 23, 2018
A letter posted today by the organization Dream Defenders calls for the release of a detained teenage Palestinian activist, Ahed Tamimi, who was arrested by Israeli forces this past December for slapping an Israeli soldier in a video that went viral. “In the US, we know all too well what it’s like to be oppressed simply because you exist, because you refuse to give up your fight for freedom,” the letter signed by artists and activists including Vic Mensa, Tom Morello, Angela Davis, Jesse Williams, and Cornel West reads.
on February 12, 2018
Bassem Tamimi’s voice sounded frail and exhausted when he answered the phone. He had been answering calls about his daughter’s arrest by Israeli Defense Forces for days, “They surrounded my home,” he told Yahoo News. “Between 3 and 4 a.m., they attacked the village.” His daughter, Ahed Tamimi, 16, was arrested last month in a pre-dawn raid on the family’s home. The arrest followed another video, posted to Facebook, of Tamimi protesting the Israeli occupation by slapping an Israeli soldier outside her house in Nabih Saleh.
on January 24, 2018
Sometimes the way to really figure out who you are, what you’re supposed to be, where you go next, is to drop everything and find your way back home. With apologies to Mr. Wolfe: You can and should go home again—back to the beginning, to the place that made you and set you on your course. If you’re lucky, like Bay Area chef Reem Assil, it’s a journey that might even touch a place inside you that you couldn’t have reached on your own.
on January 2, 2018
Israel last week extended the administrative detention of Palestinian lawmaker Khalida Jarrar by a further six months, meaning she will have been held without trial for a year at the end of June. As is usual in such cases, the evidence on which Jarrar is being held is deemed confidential and has not been released.
on December 31, 2017
Reem Assil on her Muhammara dip: “Muhammara is my homecoming. I discovered this addicting dip as an adult and fell in love with it when I went back to Syria in 2010. At the time, I was soul-searching in my father’s homeland and started to open my eyes to all the richness of my Syrian identity, particularly through the food and hospitality."
on December 18, 2017
There is a small constituency in the United States that genuinely cares about the location of the American Embassy in Israel. Evangelicals and a right-wing, pro-Israel lobby were thrilled by President Trump's campaign promises to reverse decades of U.S. policy by recognizing a “united” Jerusalem as Israel's capital and shifting the U.S. Embassy there from Tel Aviv. At a speech on Wednesday, Trump is expected to outline his plans to do just that.
on December 6, 2017
In a move that would break from decades of U.S. policy and potentially trigger major regional turmoil, President Donald Trump is reportedly set to announce that the United States will recognize the disputed city of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The White House announced that Trump will deliver his remarks on the subject Wednesday, with the New York Times reporting that the president has already informed Israeli and Arab leaders about his plans.
on December 5, 2017
In a startling demonstration of support for Palestinian human rights from Capitol Hill, 10 Democratic senators wrote a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday urging him to halt the impending demolition of two Palestinian and Bedouin towns. Israel has been actively planning the demolition of the West Bank Palestinian village of Susiya for months.
on November 29, 2017