Israel Boycott Fight Roils Democrats in Year-end Spending Debate 
The Hill

"A bipartisan group of lawmakers is scrambling at the eleventh hour to include controversial language in a year-end spending bill prohibiting U.S. companies from joining boycotts of Israel launched by the United Nations or similar groups… A decision to attach the language to an enormous, year-end spending bill is sure to stir controversy."

(Image: Democratic Senators talk to reporters (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite).  

Sens. Sanders and Feinstein Oppose Israel Anti-Boycott Provision 
The Hill

Senators Sanders and Feinstein denounced the boycott, divest, sanction (BDS) movement, while still calling for the removal of a provision to the end of year spending package that "would bar companies from endorsing anti-Israel boycotts promoted by governmental groups such as the United Nations." The Senators argued that such a provision "poses a threat to free speech protections."

Image: Senator Sanders (Joshua Roberts/Reuters).

Israel Urges UN Action over Hezbollah 'Attack Tunnels' 
BBC News

"[Prime Minister] Netanyahu said the Israeli military had uncovered four "attack tunnels" on the border with Lebanon since starting an operation to eliminate them on 4 December… Netanyahu said the tunnels, which violated a Security Council resolution, were "not merely an act of aggression" but "an act of war." Netanyahu urged the UN to "designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization in its entirety, impose heightened sanctions on it and hold Lebanon to account."

(Image: A Hezbollah tunnel found in Israel).

Clashes in Ramallah Amid Israeli Raids After West Bank Shooting
The Telegraph

Israeli raids in Ramallah followed "days of violence in the West Bank… The [Israeli] army declined to comment on the clampdown on the city, the Palestinians' economic and administrative centre - an unusual step that signaled the severity with which Israel views the violence in the West Bank this week," especially because "much of the Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed in recent months has been limited to the Gaza Strip."

Image: Clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli soldiers in Ramallah (Abbas Momani/AFP).

UN Agency Announces Cutbacks in Food Aid to Gaza, West Bank
Haaretz

"The World Food Program announced on Wednesday cuts in food aid affecting some 190,000 impoverished Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank - or half of all its recipients there - citing a severe funding shortfall… 'It's not just WFP, it's across the whole humanitarian community as donor contributions significantly fall,' [WFP country director Stephen] Kearney said, blaming the shortfall on cuts by the United States, WFP's biggest contributor, and other countries in aid to Palestinians."

Image: A Palestinian girl takes a drink in the West Bank (Wissam Nassar/Dpa Picture-Alli).

She Wouldn't Promise Not to Boycott Israel, So a Texas School District Stopped Paying Her
The New York Times

Ms. Bahia Amawi, a Palestinian-American, is the only Arabic-speaking speech pathologist and therapist in her school district. She [does] not consider herself an activist but avoided buying products from Israel." However, "her new contract came with an addendum: She was asked to affirm that she would not boycott Israel during the term of the contract… So she didn't sign, and her contract wasn't renewed. Now, Ms. Amawi is suing."

Image: Bahia Amawi (Screengrab/The Intercept).