The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) last week announced they are conducting criminal investigations into charges of intentional misconduct by their soldiers during December and January's fighting in the Gaza Strip. In a report seeking "to place the Gaza Operation in its proper factual and legal context," the IDF said that they are currently investigating 13 allegations against IDF personnel, including pillaging Palestinian homes, mistreating detainees, and using civilians as human shields.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has ordered embassies to use a photo of Adolf Hitler's 1941 meeting with the Mufti of Jerusalem to counter international criticism over a Jerusalem settlement project, a senior official told AFP July 22. "The foreign minister ordered the distribution of the photo to all embassies abroad as a response to the Shepherd Hotel incident in order to prove a well-known point that the mufti collaborated with Hitler," the official said on condition of anonymity. Foreign Ministry staff apparently opposed the move.

The Israeli Supreme Court on July 1 ordered the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to refile indictments on more serious charges against a soldier and an officer accused of shooting a blindfolded prisoner with a rubber bullet. Human rights groups B'Tselem, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) and Yesh Din filed suit against the IDF, saying that a charge of conduct unbecoming a soldier, the least serious military criminal sanction, did not reflect the severity of the crime.

Amnesty International July 21 accused Israeli forces of war crimes, saying they used children as human shields and conducted wanton attacks on civilians during their offensive in the Gaza Strip. The rights group also accused Hamas of war crimes, but found no evidence that the Islamist rulers of Gaza similarly used civilians as human shields during the 22-day Israeli offensive. It reiterated its call for an international arms embargo against Israel.

Bowing to pressure from President Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a major speech June 14 that he'd accept a Palestinian state—as long as it was demilitarized and recognized Israel as a Jewish state. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is now on a 10-day tour to gauge the international reaction. (Newsweek, June 16) While Netanyahu's speech has won global headlines as an historic first for the hardline prime minister, we will now see if a reciprocal move by a senior Hamas leader will receive similar media treatment...

Israeli soldiers shut down a non-violent protest in Hebron June 6, declaring the area a "Closed Military Zone" and harassing international peace activists and Palestinians. The protest was against the expansion of the illegal Susya settlement of south of Hebron, which has recently added several trailer homes outside the initial settlement boundaries. Verbal clashes and heated arguments erupted as troops barred protesters from entering the area—though the soldiers claimed the area was closed because they feared violence from settlers against the protesters. (Ma'an News Agency, June 6)

The legislative committee of the Israeli cabinet on May 31 rejected a bill that would make a declaration of allegiance to a "Jewish, Zionist and democratic" Israel a prerequisite to the issuance of a national identity card. The measure was proposed last week by Knesset member David Rotem of the Israel Beytenu party, which was the only party to vote in favor of the bill. Israel Beytenu spokesman Tal Nahum criticized the vote and said that the party would continue to pursue this and similar measures. Abe Foxman, director of the Anti-Defamation League, told the New York Jewish Week last week that the proposal was discriminatory, aimed at only the Arab minority.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed at a ceremony marking the occupation and annexation of East Jerusalem in the 1967 Six Day War this week that Jerusalem would "forever" remain Israel's capital. "Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. It has always been, will remain so forever and will never be divided," Netanyahu said before thousands of supporters waving Israeli flags. Hundreds of Palestinians and Israeli left-wing activists held a protest sit-in at the Old City's Damascus gate, chanting "No to occupation, yes to peace."