Richard Silverstein

Richard Silverstein is a MintPress analyst who has written the Tikun Olam blog since 2003, specializing in Israeli politics and US foreign affairs. Silverstein works to expose the excesses of the Israeli national security state. He breaks major news stories that are often under judicial gag or military censorship, and which may not be reported in Israel. He has been published in Haaretz, Al Jazeera English, the Forward, Christian Science Monitor, Middle East Eye, and the Seattle Times. He speaks Hebrew fluently and incorporates the Hebrew-language press into his blog and other publications. He earned a BA from Columbia University, a BHL from the Jewish Theological Seminary, and MA in Comparative Literature from UCLA. He did two years of undergraduate and graduate study at the Hebrew University. He lives in Seattle. Follow Richard on Twitter: @Richards1052

ANALYSIS: Casinos, Newspapers, Elections: If It Can Be Bought, Sheldon Adelson Will Buy It

The casino magnate is following the plays he wrote in Israel to achieve familiar results in Nevada: buy up media property, use that media to promote a pro-Zionist, pro-right wing agenda, and hope that the public votes according to what they read.

Richard Silverstein
By Richard Silverstein
Sheldon Adelson

SEATTLE --- Less than a year ago, Nevada’s largest paper, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, was sold as part of a group of seven regional newspapers for $100 million. This week, the reporters at the paper discovered it had been sold again. But the latest sale was exceedingly unusual. The Review-Journal was not part of a package deal. It was sold as

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‘Still Playing By The Rules’: Poll Reveals The Outsider Nature Of Palestinian Participation In Israeli Public Life

The poll conducted among Israeli Jews and Palestinians underscores the notion that Israel has been remarkably blessed with a minority which resents, but does not rebel against its second-class status. But that doesn’t mean Palestinians will await justice forever.

Richard Silverstein
By Richard Silverstein
A Palestinian is pushed an Israeli policemen. Saturday, Oct. 10, 2015. (AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi)

SEATTLE --- As Europe grapples with the Syrian refugee crisis and an accompanying rising tide of Islamophobia, Israel faces an issue even more intrinsic to its existence. Before it was born in 1948, the land Israel occupies was home to a large Arab majority. Nearly 1 million indigenous Arab inhabitants were expelled, but 250,000 remained and

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Rupert Murdoch Owned Tabloid Purports ‘1 In 5’ Muslims ‘Sympathize’ With ISIS

One critic of the poll describes a recent surge in hate crimes against Muslims, and argued: “It’s hard to see how statistically questionable coverage of the issue [perceived support for ISIS] helps reduce such crimes.”

Richard Silverstein
By Richard Silverstein

SEATTLE --- In the aftermath of the Paris attacks perpetrated by eight European-Islamist terrorists pledging fealty to Daesh (the Arabic acronym for the group also known as the Islamic State, ISIS or ISIL), media pundits have come forward with a plethora of warnings and unsolicited advice to the world’s entire 1.6 billion Muslim population. Among

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Israeli Documentary Exposes Myths Of Six-Day War, While Perpetuating Them

As glorious as Israel has made its victory in the 1967 War sound, “Censored Voices” presents the brutal accounts of the soldiers who lived through the war that was neither miraculous nor a historical event out of character in the course of Israeli history.

Richard Silverstein
By Richard Silverstein
Israeli Sherman M4 tanks are seen moving towards the Sinai during Israel's invasion of the Sinai in the six day war of Israel, June 6, 1967. (AP Photo)

SEATTLE --- The award-winning Israeli documentary film “Censored Voices” tackles one of the most freighted myths of the Zionist ethos: Israel's “miraculous” victory in what was once called the Six-Day War, the June 1967 conflict with Egypt, Jordan and Syria, which resulted in Israel’s conquest of the Sinai, Golan, East Jerusalem and the Occupied

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Video Captures Israeli Police Beating Unarmed Palestinian, Then Inventing A Scenario To Justify It

The man is one of the over 2,600 Palestinians injured in the ongoing violence in Israel and Palestine that started early last month and shows no sign of abating.

Richard Silverstein
By Richard Silverstein
An Israeli border policeman detains a protester during a weekly demonstration against Israel's apartheid wall in the West Bank village of Bilin near Ramallah, Friday, Feb. 13, 2015.

Israeli police stopped a young Palestinian man on a Jerusalem street on Monday. In a video apparently shot by Israeli Jews at the scene, the police yell at the suspect to drop his pants. The man does not comply, but instead lifts his shirt and turns around to assure them he is not carrying a weapon or wearing a suicide vest. Unsatisfied with this

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Analysis: Kerry’s Al-Aqsa ‘Deal’ Is Little More Than A Band-Aid On A Bleeding Ulcer

The major announcement is that Israel will lift restrictions on Muslims worshipping at the Holy Site and video surveillance cameras will be installed to “discourage anybody from disturbing the sanctity of this holy site.” But will this really be the “game-changer” Kerry says it will be?

Richard Silverstein
By Richard Silverstein
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men stand in front of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem's Old City. Israeli police are reporting new unrest at Jerusalem's most sensitive holy site Sunday, Sept. 27, 2015. The site, known as the Temple Mount to Jews and the Noble Sanctuary to Muslims, had experienced several days of unrest in recent weeks. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner, File)

SEATTLE --- Secretary of State John Kerry is in the midst of a whirlwind of Middle East diplomacy. In addition to seeking a deal with Russia over Syria, he’s concluding a separate deal with Jordan aimed at reducing recent tension in the Holy Land that has resulted in the deaths of 60 Palestinians and 10 Israelis. Since the latest wave of

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Third Intifada Or Zionist Jihad: Israel Escalates Tensions With Execution Style Force

No matter the label, one thing is clear: Violence is escalating and Netanyahu has no strategy for addressing Palestinian grievances short of more force and more blood spilled from Israelis and Palestinians alike.

Richard Silverstein
By Richard Silverstein
Israeli police stand around a Palestinian shot after he allegedly tried to stab a person at Damascus Gate of the Jerusalem's Old City, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2015, Israeli police said. (AP Photo/Oren Ziv)

SEATTLE --- Each new day in the current round of strife in Palestine seems to bring news that more Palestinians have been killed in increasingly gruesome ways by Israeli security forces. Each day, more young people take to the streets with whatever weapon is at their disposal in a heroic, and often fatal, effort to uphold the honor of Al-Aqsa

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