Stephen Zunes : Israel and Palestine


Bipartisan Bill for Middle East Peace Will Enable Dictatorships and Occupation
8 March 2022


Democrats Attack Amnesty Report on Israel to Justify US Complicity in Human Rights Abuses
28 February 2022

T The Biden administration and congressional leaders of both parties have launched a full-frontal assault on the integrity of Amnesty International, the world’s largest human rights organization. This decidedly mainstream nongovernmental organization (NGO) — which is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, boasts more than 10 million members worldwide and is cited frequently by […]


Have ‘Human Shields’ Accusations Become an Excuse for War Crimes?
17 June 2021

photos of dead Palestinian children on the front page of The New York Times to gripping accounts of people digging through the wreckage of high-rise apartment complexes and office buildings, evidence of last month’s horrific death toll from Israel’s eleven-day bombing campaign was hard to deny.


The United States’ Imperial Foreign Policy Is the Deadly Enemy of Progress at Home
14 June 2021

So explained a well-known artist, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, as he sat in the tiny “safe room” (in fact, the bathroom) of his Jaffa apartment, chatting over WhatsApp during the latest flare-up of extreme violence in the Holy Land. Rampaging mobs of right-wing Jews marauded through the neighborhood below his window while missiles shot […]


Professor Stephen Zunes on Gaza, the U.S., and Israel
1 June 2021

J.G Michael   I wanted to have you on the program to discuss the current issues involving the Israel-Palestine conflict and the U.S. role, particularly in light of the recent fighting between Israel and Hamas. What is your view of the recent conflict? Stephen Zunes   The world watched in horror as the forces of both Hamas […]


Commentary: Panetta out of touch with constituents in his support for Netanyahu
27 May 2021

As the ceasefire takes hold ending the fighting between the forces of Hamas and Israel, questions are being raised by central coast voters over controversial statements made by Congressman Jimmy Panetta (D-20) as the carnage was unfolding. During the 11-day war, eleven Israeli civilians and close to 150 Palestinian civilians, including 66 children, were killed. […]


FROM ALEPPO TO GAZA: A HANDY GUIDE FOR DEFENDING WAR CRIMES
26 May 2021

The rhetoric Israel’s defenders have used to defend its assault on Gaza is a mirror image of that employed by apologists for Syria’s regime.By Stephen Zunes | May 26, 2021 The strident defense of Israel’s recent military onslaught on the Gaza Strip from members of Congress, the Biden administration, and various pundits sound remarkably similar to those […]


125 Democrats Say Military Aid to Israel Shouldn’t Depend on Human Rights Record
3 May 2021

n an apparent response to growing calls for making U.S. aid to the Netanyahu government conditional on Israeli adherence to human rights law, 330 members of the U.S. House of Representatives signed a letter late last month insisting that the $3.8 billion in annual military aid the United States provides Israel remain unconditional. The letter — which […]


A Dangerous Move to Crack Down on Protests Against Israel
4 December 2020

Late last month, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the U.S. government finds the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaign to be inherently “anti-Semitic.” He pledged to “immediately take steps to identify organizations that engage in hateful BDS conduct and withdraw U.S. government support for such groups” and urged all nations to “recognize the BDS movement for the cancer that it is.”


Pompeo Embraced Israeli Settlements, But Democrats Also Paved the Way for It
28 November 2020

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has faced widespread international condemnation for his recent assertions that illegal Israeli settlements constructed in the occupied West Bank are somehow legal and part of Israel, and that products from these colonies on confiscated Palestinian land should be labeled as “Made in Israel.” What fewer are discussing, however, is that while these proclamations are unprecedented in their scope, they are in fact the culmination of decades of bipartisan support for Israeli expansionism.