Jessica Buxbaum

Jessica Buxbaum is a Jerusalem-based journalist for MintPress News covering Palestine, Israel, and Syria. Her work has been featured in Middle East Eye, The New Arab and Gulf News.

Israel Pumps $30M into “Concert,” a Revamped Propaganda Campaign to Fight Apartheid Label

Israel’s cabinet recently approved 100 million shekels (about $30 million) in funding to revive “Cabinet,” a defunct government propaganda program targeting Western countries.

Jessica Buxbaum
February 9th, 2022
By Jessica Buxbaum
February 9th, 2022
Israel Hasbara Feature photo

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Losing the battle for hearts and minds abroad, Israel hopes injecting millions into a revamped government project will counter a changing global narrative. Last month, the Israeli cabinet approved 100 million shekels (about $30 million) in funding to boost government propaganda in Western countries. Under Foreign Minister

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How Israel’s Occupation of Palestine Intensifies Climate Change

“Israel’s actions over the last almost 75 years demonstrate that there is very little regard for the indigenous landscape, the indigenous flora and fauna, the wildlife population, and the indigenous people.” – Zena Agha, Middle East Institute

Jessica Buxbaum
February 3rd, 2022
By Jessica Buxbaum
February 3rd, 2022

AL-NAQAB — On Sunday, roughly 200 activists demonstrated outside Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s office in Jerusalem against the Jewish National Fund’s (JNF) tree-planting project in al-Naqab, maintaining the forestation is an attempt to displace the indigenous Bedouin population. Contracted by the Israeli government, the JNF razed

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As Trump’s ‘Deal of the Century’ Unravels, Congress Launches New Pro-Israel ‘Cheerleading’ Caucus

In less than two years, former President Trump’s Middle East peace agreement is in shambles and the Israel lobby is desperate to revive it, no matter the cost.

Jessica Buxbaum
January 28th, 2022
By Jessica Buxbaum
January 28th, 2022
Abraham Accords Feature photo

WASHINGTON — Earlier this month, Congress launched the bicameral, bipartisan Abraham Accords Caucus to support normalization between Israel and Arab states. Backed by pro-Israel groups, this new political development can be interpreted as a way for the Israel lobby to regain its power over a U.S. Congress that is increasingly critical of

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Israel is Tightening Its Grip on Syria’s Golan Heights by Creating “Facts on the Ground”

In the occupied Golan Heights, the population of Settlers and Syrians is approximately equal, but experts fear that a new Israeli project will turn Syrians into a demographic minority on their own land.

Jessica Buxbaum
January 20th, 2022
By Jessica Buxbaum
January 20th, 2022
Golan Heights Feature photo

MAJDAL SHAMS, OCCUPIED GOLAN HEIGHTS — On Dec. 15, 1981, the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) enacted a law officially annexing the Golan Heights — Syrian territory captured by Israel during the 1967 Six Day War. Now, 40 years later, the Israeli government hopes to double the size of Jewish settlements there by the end of this decade, in an effort

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AIPAC Goes PAC and SuperPAC to Cover its Tracks as it Targets Progressives

We’re likely to see even more money going … to support these candidates who are perceived to be moderate Democrats who are pro-Israel, and to either protect them if they’re incumbents or to unseat [their opponents] if they’re progressives. – Don Waxman, UCLA

Jessica Buxbaum
January 12th, 2022
By Jessica Buxbaum
January 12th, 2022
AIPAC SuperPac Feature photo

WASHINGTON – The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the leading organization of the Israel lobby in the United States, launched two political action committees (PACs) last month in a move largely seen as an attempt to retain control amid a political climate becoming increasingly more critical of Israel. One of the newly formed

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Israeli State Violence Intensifying as 2021 Proves Deadliest for Palestinians Since 2014

According to the UN, in 2021, 342 Palestinians, most of them civilians, were killed by Israel across Palestine, including 86 children. 

Jessica Buxbaum
December 22nd, 2021
By Jessica Buxbaum
December 22nd, 2021
Israel extra-judicial killings Feature photo

NABLUS, OCCUPIED WEST BANK — On December 10, Jamil Abu Ayyash, 31, was shot in the head by Israeli soldiers during anti-settlement demonstrations in Beita, a village south of Nablus in the Occupied West Bank. Abu Ayyash succumbed to his injuries. Three days later, the Israeli army fatally shot Jamil al-Kayyal, also 31, in the head during an

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Biden Admin’s Reluctance to Spend Geopolitical Capital Greenlights Israeli Settlement Push

“No U.S. administration wants to be perceived as picking 10 fights every day with Israel, even if Israel is engaging every day in 10 things that really demand a response from the U.S.” – Lara Friedman, Foundation for Middle East Peace

Jessica Buxbaum
December 15th, 2021
By Jessica Buxbaum
December 15th, 2021
Demolition, East Jerusalem Feature photo

OCCUPIED EAST JERUSALEM — Last week, Israel bowed to American pressure and scrapped the controversial Atarot settlement in the Palestinian neighborhood of Qalandiya just north of Jerusalem. But on the heels of that decision, the state advanced another Jewish settlement in Palestinian neighborhoods along Jerusalem’s southern tip, even as the

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