Quote of the day:

8.
Israel's ranking in terms of powerful countries, according to an annual poll compiled by U.S. News and World Report.*

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You Must Be Kidding: 
"Has the current coalition really reached such a low point that it has no way and no democratic right to enact an anti-democratic law?"
--On the subject of the controversial Jewish nation-state bill that the government is trying to pass, Maariv reporter Avishai Greenzweig writes in today's paper that it is wrong that a democratic country cannot enact an anti-democratic law.*

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Israeli Minister of Science blocked the appointment of a top brain researcher for her support for refusal to do Israeli military service in the occupied Palestinian territories.* “But this is not just another news item. Because it is so small, miserable and insulting, despicable and disgraceful, this news item turns into a black flag flying over our faces. It needs to be read again, and again, and again, and it will still be difficult to contain the shame.” -- Top Maariv political commentator, Ben Caspit.**

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You Must Be Kidding #2: 
Israel blocked access to Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzuq's Twitter account after he expressed support for a Palestinian state on the '67 borders, Palestinian political unity and an end to the siege on Gaza.
"Not, God forbid, because of any inflammatory words, since those come a dime a dozen here – one only needs to listen to an interview with MK Bezalel Smotrich – but because Israel is concerned about the changes taking place in Hamas’ positions, and that Israelis might discover that there is another truth." -- Haaretz commentator Odeh Bisharat.***

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"We saw the stares we were getting, the fear of speaking to us and mostly the fear of playing soccer together. But as soon as they realized we speak Arabic, respect our Palestinian friends, and play and work together under the two flags—the Israeli flag and the Palestinian flag—the barriers dropped and we quickly became best friends with the Iraqi team. We even taught them a few words in Hebrew."
--Lior Shalom, who led a delegation of Arab and Jewish Israeli teenagers from the Peres Center for Peace, which traveled to Russia for the World Cup to hold workshops and soccer training for teens from all over the world, including from Muslim nations.*

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You Must Be Kidding: 
"You built a (settlement) house - it's as if you wiped out a hundred Arabs. You build a settlement - it's as if you killed ten thousand gentiles."
--Prominent settler land dealer and Jewish terrorist, Moshe Zar, received a roaring applause for his words at the Education Ministry's 'Education Leaders Conference,' where Zar received a Certificate of Appreciation.**

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“#Birthright wouldn’t show us the occupation so we are going to see it for ourselves.”
—Katie Anne, live-streamed on Facebook herself announcing the reason she and four others were walking off the bus of a Birthright trip to join a Breaking the Silence anti-occupation tour - while the Birthright tour guide slammed them for it. Anne later told Haaretz: "Birthright gave us a map of Israel that does not denote the West Bank [even though] the director of our Birthright organization admitted that the majority of maps in Israel do include [it]. They keep saying they're apolitical but this is clearly to the right."

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You Must Be Kidding: 
An Israeli official declared a plot of land in the West Bank 'state land,' then turned it into a legal outpost with a farm and a guesthouse, whose profits go to a company established by the official, who has since left his government job.

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"When the security decision-making process is biased in the cabinet in favor of extremists, the price of blood spilled in vain is corruption. When decisions about education are polluted by radical bias by extremists, it is corruption. When the coalition supports laws that erode democracy, it is corruption. The Netanyahu family is a secondary story..."
—Maariv commentator, Ran Adelist.*

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Quote of the Day #2:
“Putting Ariel University, Herzog College, and Orot Israel College [all in West Bank settlements] harms both Israeli society and the academy (and…) it undercuts the Council's position as a barrier to the politicization of the Israeli academy, science, and higher education, and drags academics working in Israeli academic institutions into supporting the occupation and annexation efforts."
—Israeli Anthropological Association voted to ban institutes of higher education in the West Bank.*

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