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TOPIC: palestine

Geopolitics

Israel's Parallel Crises, And The Whiff Of Civil War

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's return to power with the most right-wing government in the country's history has revealed a deep schism in Israeli society between settlers and secularists.

-Analysis-

Israeli society is facing an intense and unprecedented moment in its history. There have been other protest movements in the past, such as the hundreds of thousands of people gathered against the war in Lebanon in 1982 or the economic demonstration of tents on Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv in 2011.

But in the current wave of protests, there is an existential dimension. It's different than during wars, where it's been literally the physical survival of the Israeli state; this is rather existential in its identity, political system, and the weight of religion.

This is sometimes difficult to understand from the outside, where we often view this part of the world through the lens of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is also escalating. An attack in Tel Aviv on Thursday reminded us that the two crises are evolving in parallel.

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Netanyahu's Extremist Blitz Is Reaching Its End Game

By challenging Israel's constitutional system and launching a crackdown on the Occupied Territories, Benjamin Netanyahu is playing a high-stakes game opposed by half his country and the country's allies. It can't last much longer.

-Analysis-

In just two months, the most right-wing coalition in Israel's history has achieved a tour de force.

Perhaps because its days are numbered, it has begun a lightning-fast institutional transformation of the Jewish state in a sharply "illiberal" direction; it has taken steps to achieve the de facto annexation of part of the West Bank; it has blown hard on the burning embers of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; it has divided Israel as rarely before; and finally, it has begun to alienate the support of its main diplomatic partners around the world.

Undoubtedly, this summary may seem excessive to those who observe Israel with the lasting indulgence of disappointed lovers; and insufficient to those who didn't need the return of Benjamin Netanyahu, along with his new friends, to have a strong opinion against Israeli government policy.

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Closing In On Bakhmut, More West Bank Violence, Messi’s FIFA Crown

👋 Dobrý deň!*

Welcome to Tuesday, where Russian troops close in on Bakhmut, violence continues in the West Bank and The Weeknd makes Spotify history. Meanwhile, La Stampa recounts the events that led to the tragic shipwreck off the coast of Italy in which at least 64 migrants were killed.

[*Slovak]

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This Happened - February 25: The Hebron Massacre

On this day in 1994, Israeli terrorist Baruch Goldstein entered the Cave of the Patriarchs, a holy site for Jews and Muslims, and opened fire on Muslim worshippers, killing 29 people and injuring more than 100 others.

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Geopolitics
Pierre Haski

Should We Still Even Be Talking To Netanyahu?

After forming a governing coalition with right-wing extremists, will Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu face a chill in relations with the West? The reshuffled geopolitical cards offer a fair share of paradoxes.

-Analysis-

PARIS — No one has yet dared to call for a boycott of Benjamin Netanyahu, who arrived in Paris for talks Thursday with French President Emmanuel Macron. And yet ... the political leaders with whom he's built his ruling coalition in Israel make Europe's far right look like centrists.

In Israel, it's an unsettling question. The government is seeking to defuse the risk of diplomatic isolation resulting from the Jewish state's extreme rightward turn. The first weeks of the new government have been like a storm warning for the region — both because of the outbreak of violence which killed dozens of Israelis and Palestinians in January, but also threats to Israeli democracy itself.

In a sign of the changing times, the Arab countries in the Gulf that have recently normalized ties with Israel after decades of conflict are turning a blind eye to the Palestinian question. Their security ties with Israel are more important.

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In The News
Emma Albright & Ginevra Falciani

Deadly Strikes On Kyiv, Nine Killed In Israel West Bank Raid, Trump’s Meta Comeback

👋 ආයුබෝවන්*

Welcome to Thursday, where Kyiv is facing a new barrage of Russian missiles, Israel troops kill nine Palestinians in Jenin, and Donald Trump is allowed back on Facebook and Instagram. Meanwhile, Niccolò Zancan and Giuseppe Legato in Italian daily La Stampa take us to Campobello di Mazara, the quiet Sicilian village where Italy's most-wanted fugitive Matteo Messina Denaro was hiding in plain sight.

[*Ayubōvan - Sinhala, Sri Lanka]

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Geopolitics
Pierre Haski

Why Ben-Gvir's Explosive Visit Is Really Aimed At Netanyahu

Less than a week after being sworn in for the sixth time as Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu was defied by a highly charged visit his far-right coalition ally, Itamar Ben-Gvir, made to the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, that has enflamed the entire Muslim world. Netanyahu has a choice to make.

-Analysis-

PARIS — Pick an arsonist to head the fire department and you’re sure to have blazes to fight. That's exactly what is happening in Israel right now, since far-right leader Itamar Ben-Gvir was installed as Minister of National Security.

It didn't take more than a week for the new minister, who had been convicted in the past for incitement to racial hatred, to do what his Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wish he hadn't: to make a visit to Jerusalem's al-Aqsa Mosque compound (a.k.a. Esplanade of the Mosques, or Temple Mount), the third holy site of Islam, and one of the most sensitive spots on the planet.

Ben-Gvir has a clear objective: He wants to challenge the status quo, which exists since 1967, that bans Jews from praying on the esplanade, on which stood their Holy Temple, some 2,000 years ago.

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Society
Paolo Valenti

Morocco Has Become The World Cup Flag Bearer For A Nation: Palestine

The World Cup in Qatar has been political on many fronts. Right now, with the event in an Arab country for the first time and Morocco as the first Arab team to make the quarterfinals, the Palestinian question is now very much on the agenda.

When Morocco beat powerhouse Spain at Qatar's Al Rayyan stadium on Tuesday, it was a small bit of soccer history: the first time Morocco had qualified for the quarterfinals of the World Cup.

But the victory traveled well beyond the field, and beyond Morocco. Joy and celebration erupted across the Middle East and North Africa, where people of different nationalities gathered to celebrate that Morocco was also the first ever Arab team to ever qualify for the quarterfinals.

And those who were at the stadium or watching the post-game celebrations on the field will have noticed a peculiar detail: waving in the hands of the victorious players was not the Moroccan flag, but the Palestinian one.

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This Happened

This Happened—December 9: The First Intifada Ignites

A series of Palestinian protests and violent uprisings in the West Bank, Gaza and Israel began in defiance of Israeli occupation.

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In The News
Sophia Constantino, Anne-Sophie Goninet, Laure Gautherin and Bertrand Hauger

Here Comes The Sunak, Six Killed In West Bank, WhatsApp Outage

👋 Hæ hæ!*

Welcome to Tuesday, where Rishi Sunak officially becomes the new British Prime Minister, an Israeli raid leaves at least six dead in the occupied West Bank and WhatsApp is back online after a global outage. Meanwhile, Chinese-language media The Initium’s You Gao reports on how the rise in cyber fraud in Cambodia is linked to China.

[*Icelandic]

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In The News
Newsletter by Anne-Sophie Goninet, Laure Gautherin, Sophia Constantino and Bertrand Hauger

Russia To Evacuate Kherson, Capitol Riot Hearing, Denim Archeology

👋 გამარჯობა*

Welcome to Friday, where Ukraine keeps regaining territory, Trump gets subpoenaed as part of Capitol riots hearing, and you may want to hold onto your vintage Levi’s for a little while longer. And in Kyiv-based Livy Bereg, Alina Grytsenko looks at how, pushed by Putin’s nuclear threat, several nations have recently been looking to acquire a nuclear arsenal for national security.

[*Gamarjoba - Georgian]

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LGBTQ Plus
Laura Valentina Cortés Sierra, Sophia Constantino and Laure Gautherin

LGBTQ+ International: “Gay Propaganda” In Russia, Gruesome West Bank Murder, Madonna Out — And The Week’s Other Top News

Welcome to Worldcrunch’s LGBTQ+ International. We bring you up-to-speed each week on a topic you may follow closely at home, but can now see from different places and perspectives around the world. Discover the latest news on everything LGBTQ+ — from all corners of the planet. All in one smooth scroll!

This week featuring:

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