American Jews
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Why neoconservatism is [almost] dead — Notes on the J Post review of my book
Sunday, May 10th, 2009
Initially, I was delighted to read Jonathan Schanzer’s vicious attack on my book in the Jerusalem Post. Until then, the few reviews out there had been been quite positive (See essays by Jerome Chanes, the History News Network’s Murray Polner, and Thomas Mitchell), and I was hoping and praying for controversy of some kind, as [...]
Americans for Peace Now’s sensible take on new Iran sanctions bill
Friday, May 1st, 2009New Iran sanctions legislation is now in the House and Senate (S. 908 and HR 2194). No doubt it will be the major focus of AIPAC’s lobbying efforts this coming Tuesday, after AIPAC”s Policy Conference, when literally throusands of its members will descend on Capitol Hill. According to a contact at Americans for Peace Now, [...]
Ace reporter: American Jewish leaders are getting nervous about Obama
Friday, April 17th, 2009The well-connected and astute James Besser is hearing from American Jewish learders who are concerned that Obama will ignore conventional political wisdom and not worry (too much) about battling “the pro-Israel establishment.” He tells us: Last month Obama said “the status quo is unsustainable,” and he sounded like he meant it. For many pro-Israel leaders [...]
Is praise from Philip Weiss the kiss of death?
Wednesday, April 15th, 2009Uh oh. Philip Weiss had nice things to say about me and my book in a recent post. Did he just ruin my life? Walt and Mearsheimer, let us remember, were castigated because David Duke promoted them on his web site. Should I worry for similar reasons? I am sometimes deeply offended by what Weiss [...]
J Street poll: for some American Jews, “evenhandedness” doesn’t go far enough
Friday, March 27th, 2009There has been much ado about the latest J Street poll of American Jews. The most important finding, as noted in the survey analysis, is that “Jews want America to be much more aggressive in its Middle East peace efforts than it is today.” 87% of respondents said they supported the United States playing an [...]
Two myths about Charles Freeman and the Israel lobby
Wednesday, March 11th, 2009I’ve patiently tried to dissect who was responsible for the Charles Freeman fiasco and to discern what it portends for the Obama administration. Some commentary on the commentary: Myth #1: The “Israel lobby” and AIPAC per se were not behind the opposition to Freeman; it was just a bunch of loud neocons. AIPAC has publicly [...]
Jewish-Muslim engagement on domestic issues isn’t enough
Sunday, March 8th, 2009The Jewish Council for Public Affairs has adapted a resolution that, at first glance, warms the heart, according to the Forward. It proclaims: “Jewish and Muslim Americans…should work in coalition to advance our common commitment to civil liberties, the struggle against all forms of terrorism, racism, anti-Semitism (and) anti-Muslim prejudice,” the resolution declared. It also [...]
What I learned at the Museum of Tolerance
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009Yesterday, I visited the Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles for the first time, accompanied by my uncle. Both of us were struck by what was conspicuously absent from the interactive exhibits that are meant to fight racism, hate speech, human rights violations and genocide. There was virtually nothing about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict [...]
Time for shameless self-promotion: advance blurbs on my book
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009Here are some advance reviews. Pretty cool, huh? “This is a brilliant study of two intriguing contradictions pertaining to the story of America’s Israel lobby. One is the contradiction between the reality and limits of Jewish power, on the one hand, and the popular perception of that power, on the other. Another has to do [...]
J Street: Support Bob Simon and “60 Minutes”
Thursday, January 29th, 2009The J Street gang is trying to organize a response to the burgeoning smear campaign against Bob Simon of “60 Minutes,” whose segment castigating Israeli settlements on Sunday was a first for network T.V. Here is their message: Tell Bob Simon you thought his 60 Minutes segment on Israeli settlements was an accurate and thoughtful [...]
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