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January 1st, 2021 
Awake Goy 
I cover hope.
It doesn’t always seem that way. As a U.S. reporter for Mondoweiss, much of what I do involves sifting through some dizzying spin to get to the real news about Israel and Palestine. Too often, what I uncover isn’t good news.
But this year, as I prepared to file my year-end wrap-up, there was a discernible shift. What I saw were some important – some hopeful – steps forward.
To be honest, after a hellish 2020 that brought the world so much sorrow, I didn’t expect to catalog so many positive stories about Palestine. But as I brainstormed with my Mondoweiss colleagues the list grew – and grew!
We all know about the astounding political victories: New York congressman/Israel BFF Elliot Engel’s loss to Jamaal Bowman, who supports conditions on aid to Israel – a position once seen as a death wish in Democratic politics.
Then there was Cori Bush’s win in Missouri. The nurse and Black Lives Matter activist didn’t shy away from comparing America’s racism with Palestinian oppression, and still she defeated an incumbent!
Pro-Israel groups denounced and targeted the Squad — Reps Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley — but it had no impact on their races. All won easily, defying pundits’ predictions and proving that these kinds of attacks are no longer so powerful.
And Rep. Betty McCollum, a champion of Palestinian rights, introduced two progressive bills on Palestine.
We also saw dramatic activity at U.S. colleges and universities after the Trump administration openly declared war on Palestine Solidarity and Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movements. Among those wins:
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Columbia University students passed resolutions calling for divestment from Israel.
- Public pressure resulted in dismissal of an investigation into a pair of Bard students targeted for alleged antisemitism for protesting an anti-Palestinian speaker.
- Fordham’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) won a lawsuit against that university’s ban on their club.
- And students at Butler University defeated resolutions that condemned the BDS movement and embraced the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism. Those resolutions were seen as part of a broader, well-funded effort to stifle Palestinian speech and students’ agency.
As the Butler students told me, resolutions like the ones on their campus not only harm Palestinians, they uphold the systems historically used to silence other marginalized voices.
To my mind, that broadening intersection of the Palestine struggle with other U.S. and international movements is another very positive sign.
And here’s one more: As Nada Elia reported Monday in Mondoweiss, National Students for Justice in Palestine is planning their 2021 conference, marking the 10th year of this annual reunion.
Seen individually, you might miss the importance of these stories, especially when contrasted with overwhelming news about social media censorship, moving the U.S. Embassy, Arab states’ normalization deals with Israel, and the continued destruction of Palestinian lives, rights and property.
But these stories are important because they reflect a shift across the country — the points of light that become a constellation. More students are finding common ground around racism and oppression. More Jewish voices are standing against Israeli apartheid. More Americans are seeing the heinous crimes their tax dollars pay for in Israel. And pushed by U.S. activism, more political candidates are recognizing Palestinian rights.
Big media often ignores these stories, but I don’t. Mondoweiss doesn’t. This shift fuels hope, and hope leads to change.
Your gift makes hope possible. As we close out this very difficult year, please help us take Mondoweiss forward into a hopeful 2021 with a generous donation today.
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