Journalism as we know it is in crisis. Daily newspapers are going out of business at an unprecedented rate, and the survivors are slashing their budgets. Thousands of reporters and editors have lost their jobs. No print publication is immune, including the mighty New York Times. As analyst Allan Mutter noted, 2008 was the worst year in history for newspaper publishers, with shares dropping a stunning 83 percent on average. Newspapers lost $64.5 billion in market value in 12 months. All traditional media is in trouble, from magazines to network TV. But newspapers are the most threatened. 

… Forty-five years of history records the unflinching support of the United States for Israel’s goals and its ruthless means to attain them. First, there is the military support. The United States provides the fighter planes, bombers, helicopters, ground vehicles, technology and munitions – including cluster, phosphorus and blockbuster bombs … Israel ignores more than 100 U.N. resolutions, including resolutions demanding that it return to the original U.N. borders of 1947 and later the 1967 borders. Yet it took only three violations by Iraq for the United States to attack this longtime opponent of Israel’s behavior. 

Jewish groups are expressing deep disappointment after delegates at a Canadian Union of Public Employees conference of university locals voted in favour of a boycott of Israeli universities … The union will also look into its pension plan to make sure it’s not funding the research and development of weapons. Ryan says his union’s boycott is part of a bigger, worldwide campaign to boycott Israel with participants in Australia, Ireland and the United States. 
 

Responding to the many calls for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel, solidarity movements around the world have marked many successes. It is important for human rights advocates to build on this momentum and seize the opportunity to do what is within their power to hold Israel accountable for its abuses of human rights and other international laws.