Israel's War on East Jerusalem
This edition of Salaam Shalom: Report on Palestine Israel, the 250th since the show began in 2003, examines during the first half the growing violence, repression and bloodshed in East Jerusalem. It features graphic reports of life in the occupied city from AJ+ Labs; two Palestinian youth who created a video diary of Jewish settler encroachments in their neighborhood of Sheik Jarrah; written commentary from Israeli activist Micha Kurz; and an interview with Jeff Halper, one of the founders of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, by the Real News Network. This program also shares a musical video of a first-ever collaboration between musicians from South African (the band The Mavrix) and Palestine (Oud player Mohammed Omar). The song they wrote and perform, “The New Black,” documents the connections in the struggle against apartheid in both South Africa and Palestine. The show closes with American-Jewish writer and activist Max Blumenthal speaking with Abby Martin of Russia Today. They discuss Blumenthal’s his recent trip to Germany, where he encountered stiff opposition and charges of anti-Semitism to his anti-occupation and anti-Zionist advocacy work with Israeli activist David Sheen, and the different forms of German complicity with Israel’s occupation.
