stan van houcke: Israel as a Rogue State 149

woensdag 8 december 2010

Israel as a Rogue State 149

Dear Friend,

As we write to ask you to support The Electronic Intifada's independent reporting on Palestine by making a contribution, we find ourselves under attack from a prominent anti-Palestinian organization.

Their goal, we believe, is to shut us down by pressuring funders to withdraw grants they've given us. If we can't pay our editors or reporters, or maintain our equipment and keep our servers working, their reasoning goes, then there will be one less watchdog to report on human rights abuses in Palestine and to educate thousands of readers like you about the Palestinian struggle for freedom and the global solidarity movement.

The escalating attacks on The Electronic Intifada and other Palestinian, Israeli and international civil society groups working for justice are evidence that the educational work your support helps us do is changing minds. Why else would they try to stop us?But we also know that major organizations which oppose human rights for Palestinians are gearing up for even more aggressive tactics, as we have reported.

We are resilient because most of The Electronic Intifada's funding comes not from a foundation grant but from readers like you who rely on us every day for solid reporting, prescient analysis, moving features, activism news and a full range of arts coverage and reviews.

As long as we have strong community support from friends like you, no one can stop us from doing our work. Show your support and help us to keep educating people and inspiring them to take action for justice. Please make a contribution today.

Readers like you support our work because you know that the solid information produced by The Electronic Intifada is a powerful resource in the hands of all who work for justice, and supporting The Electronic Intifada is a way you can strengthen their efforts. Look at what we have achieved!

Our consistent reporting on Veolia's involvement in the "Jerusalem Light Rail" linking illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank has provided activists with the information they needed to launch a successful campaign to hold the corporation accountable and make it unprofitable to build infrastructure for the Israeli occupation in violation of international law. In late November, Veolia announced it was pulling out of the project, a major victory.

In January, The Electronic Intifada broke the story that the son of Ethan Bronner, The New York Times bureau chief in Jerusalem, had voluntarily enlisted in the Israeli army, raising a serious conflict of interest for Bronner's and The New York Times' coverage. Citing our report, the newspaper's public editor called for Bronner to be reassigned ("Too Close to Home," 6 February 2010). Although the The Times chose to ignore its ombudsman's recommendation, our story forced a major institution to publicly acknowledge its own biases and generated broad debate about double standards plaguing mainstream reporting about Israel and the Palestinians.

These are just two examples of how, with your support, The Electronic Intifada makes a big impact. Below are some more highlights of our original reporting and analysis over the past year, powerful pieces made possible with the support of our readers. Please read and share them, and remember, we can't do this work without you.

As we do each year, it is our turn to say we count on you. To make sure we stay strong in 2011, please take action today to help us meet our $100,000 goal by 31 December. It's a bigger goal than we've ever had because we are doing more reporting than ever. Please do more if you can. Donate now.

Thank you.

Ali Abunimah, Executive Director and The Electronic Intifada Team

Read this message on The Electronic Intifada

Highlights from The Electronic Intifada 2010