You Must Be Kidding: 
“I’ve met…every Secretary of State since [George] Shultz and every President since George H.W. Bush.”
--The US rejected the recent visa request of veteran Palestinian official, Hanan Ashrawi, who received her Ph.D in the US and who has visited the US many times, and whose grandchildren live in the US. Ashrawi said no reason was given.*

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Evangelicals and Empty Promises: A Year After Trump’s Embassy Move, Only One Country Has Followed U.S. to Jerusalem (Noa Landau, Haaretz+) 12 months ago, President Donald Trump broke one of the international community’s greatest taboos. However, despite Benjamin Netanyahu’s best efforts to leverage the historic moment, Guatemala is the only other state to have followed suit. Here’s why.
The siege on Gaza is not the way to get the bodies of the dead and the prisoners returned (Menachem Ben, Maariv) The root of the siege and the crisis with the Gaza Strip is the adoption of the approach of the bereaved Goldin family to torture Gaza until Hamas says "I will” and returns the bodies of Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul. But that will not happen. The siege on Gaza is not the way to return the bodies of the dead as well as the prisoners (not the POWs!), who are reportedly mentally unstable, such that they each crossed the border of their own volition (and therefore we owe them nothing), including Avraham Mengistu and Hisham Sha’aban a-Sayyid…So Israel insists on its justness: we will continue torturing Gaza under siege until it returns the "POWs and MIAs.” This is the concept of Prof. Goldin…Meanwhile, the entire south and Israel as a whole are facing Gaza and Hamas in a war situation, rising and falling, which has been going on for more than a year. And except for a frontal war against Hamas and the invasion of Gaza (which is perhaps the only option left in the current situation), Israel can not really stop the fire. This will be stopped for the long term only when the Gazans and Hamas really have nothing to lose. That is, only when the siege on Gaza is really stopped. Therefore, to start from the end, Israel must reach an immediate and generous arrangement with Gaza, regardless of the question of the dead and the prisoners…It is precisely the recent case in which the remains of the fallen soldier Zecharia Baumel were returned after 37 years of his absence from Sultan Yaakoub (in Lebanon) that proves that it is not urgent to return the dead…Yes, it is important and holy to bring the fallen to the grave of Israel, but why not wait patiently for a future deal that will allow this? Would anyone have thought that Israel would have been called upon to continue the war with Syria until the body of Zecharia Baumel, or the distinguished spy Eli Cohen, who was executed in Syria in 1965, was returned to Israel and since then Israel has signed several agreements with Syria without his body being returned?…It would have been preferable, of course, if Israel had completely and once and for all destroyed the firepower of Hamas and all its missiles, but if Israel is unable to decide on this, it must at least allow itself and Gaza residents to live independently of our dead heroes.
The Ultimate Deal: Netanyahu’s Freedom for His Citizens’ Liberty (Chemi Shalev, Haaretz+) Neutering the High Court of Justice would place Israel among countries such as Hungary and Turkey that are rapidly shifting from democracy to authoritarianism.
Netanyahu stalling for time refuses to face the charges against him (Nahum Barnea, Yedioth/Ynet) The new Knesset will pass a law to protect Prime Minister Netanyahu from prosecution but what price will the Israeli public have to pay in religious and far-right interests.
The Law Against Democracy (Haaretz Editorial) The bill’s purpose goes far beyond limiting the ability to determine the guilt of politicians suspected of corruption in general; it creates an escape route from the law for the criminal suspect in the prime minister’s residence. The proposed amendment, which would in part grant Netanyahu immunity from prosecution, undermines the Basic Law on the Judiciary, so sacred to the rule of law in Israel. It would deny the High Court of Justice of the authority to rule on the constitutionality of decisions made by the Knesset — including not only laws but also matters such as removing an MK’s immunity. The High Court would not have the authority to deliberate on the constitutionality of resolutions passed by cabinet ministers, ministerial committees and the cabinet. The right to file a so-called public petition, in cases where a governmental decision injures an entire population but a single individual cannot be named, would also be rescinded.
Netanyahu's on a Quest for Survival, and the Hell With Israeli Democracy (Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz+) Netanyahu did nothing for 10 years, but things have changed. Now it’s his own neck on the line, and suddenly Israel is ripe for a judicial revolution to override the High Court.
Jew-hatred given a pass by Democratic Congress (Carol Greenwald, Israel Hayom) There is a new tone in American politics, in the media and on university campuses – one that should scare every American Jew.
Ilhan Omar’s anti-Semitism wins the pop-culture primary (Jonathan S. Tobin, Israel Hayom) The real defeat for those who worry about the legitimization of Jew-hatred wasn’t in Congress but on the late-night comedy television shows.
It’s Not Surrender to the Settlers, It's Israeli Policy (Amira Hass, Haaretz+) Attributing an official and consistent policy to “surrender” to the power of a specific group of people was already wrong and deceptive back in the ‘70s immediately after the Six-Day War. The massive land grab in Jerusalem and its surroundings and in the Jordan Valley prove it. But at the time at least a majority of Israel’s Jews weren’t trapped in the messianic real estate project of the Greater Land of Israel, and there was the impression that this majority would support a full withdrawal in return for peace. But (today) most of the Jewish public now sees the Jordan Valley, Area C (61 percent of the West Bank) and the area beyond the separation barrier as part of the State of Israel. The talk about the government’s surrender to the settlers also exposes a denial of the similarity and continuity between the land grab stunts implemented in the occupied territory and those in force inside Israel proper. Here, the Palestinians citizens of Israel, whom we failed to banish, are also doomed to living in densely populated enclaves. The word “surrender” lifts responsibility from the Jewish Israeli public and from key Jewish figures and organizations in the Diaspora who support Israel’s policy of forcing the Palestinians out from their space.
Breaking the Silence harms Israel with attempts to politicize Eurovision (Ben-Dror Yemini, Yedioth/Ynet) The prestigious song contest is traditionally an apolitical event, which is essentially a tourism ad for the host country, even right-wing hardliners like Miri Regev understand that; the anti-occupation group, however, want Europeans to stay biased against Israel.
Netanyahu’s assault on judiciary will lead to rule without restraint (Mordechai Kremnitzer, Haaretz+) For those who seek unlimited power, neutralizing the High Court makes sense as it will rescue Netanyahu from the charges against him. This must be stopped.
Fighting anti-Semitism, supporting Israel (France’s Ambassador to Israel, Hélène Le Gal, Israel Hayom) Those, like Israel Hayom correspondent Eldad Beck who claim France's policies are hostile to Israel and the Jews, have forgotten history and reality.
The Other Threat That Both Muslim and Jewish Women Face (Elizabeth Arif-Fear, Haaretz+) Jews and Muslims face a common struggle against white supremacists. Now Jewish and Muslim women are building another form of solidarity: jointly facing the discrimination within our own communities that denies us religious and ritual equality.
Israel Should Talk to Hamas' Leader in Gaza (Ronit Marzan, Haaretz+) In 2006, when Sinwar was imprisoned in Israel, he told journalist Yoram Binur that Hamas wouldn’t recognize Israel, but he also admitted that Hamas had no chance of destroying Israel, and that he was willing to support a long-term truce that would bring calm and prosperity to the region. Sinwar made clear that this would be tough going, but when a hudna was achieved, his side would respect it, and maybe it could continue through another generation. That interview was highly indicative of the changes penetrating the language of struggle, both his own and that of his Hamas comrades. These people have gone from being members of the Muslim Brotherhood to fighters in the Palestinian national liberation movement. Their grand vision – of liberating all Palestine from the river to the sea – is now accompanied by a more practical and modest vision of an independent Palestinian state with full sovereignty along the 1967 borders. They have replaced the rhetoric of a to-the-death religious war against the Jews and absolute opposition to peace initiatives and international conferences with a rhetoric of a diplomatic struggle alongside the armed one – this time not against Jews but against the Zionist occupation. Even Sinwar’s youngest son, who was photographed in a uniform holding a toy rifle during a military clash, appeared in a suit and pink tie at the May 2017 ceremony where the new Hamas policy document was presented.
Ramadan introspection for Hamas? Not likely (Prof. Eyal Zisser, Israel Hayom) Paradoxically, the dollars funneled into Gaza by Qatar only expedite Gaza's descent into decay, as it keeps Hamas in power.
Iran's nuclear standoff has left it in a bind (Alex Fishman, Yedioth/Ynet)Tehran's 60-day ultimatum to Europe, China and Russia to renegotiate the 2015 agreement brokered by Obama and rejected by Trump could leave the Islamic Republic with no option but to go cap in hand to the Americans, unless the ayatollahs are playing a more dangerous game.
Not Interested in War With U.S., Iran Walks a Tightrope (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) An escalation with Washington could turn Iranian citizens against their rulers and neutralize Tehran's diplomacy of intimidation – but the Trump administration's lack of strategy may spark a conflict.
Time to end the Falash Mura charade (Danny Adeno Abebe, Yedioth/Ynet) The entire mechanism of bringing to Israel those Ethiopians whose ancestors were once Jews is a money-making exercise that takes advantage of the poor and desperate in order to line the pockets of the uncaring and unscrupulous.