Israel
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Give me just 1 good reason to oppose UN anti-settlement resolution
Monday, January 24th, 2011
I have yet to hear one good reason why the U.S. should veto a new UN Security Council resolution that condemns Israeli settlements, or why it should try to keep the resolution from coming up for a vote. Oh there have been protests from the usual suspects who support the settlers or object to any [...]
Is there a shred of hope for a renewed Israeli Labor Party? Sure…
Monday, January 17th, 2011Today, two days after I posted a lament about the rightward tilt of Israel’s Labor Party, Ehud Barak announced that he was quitting Labor and forming a new party, “Atzmaut,” that would be “centrist, Zionist and democratic.” He took four Knesset members with him. Good riddance. While this blog obviously doesn’t keep track of the [...]
The Labor Party’s new flirtation with the settlers
Thursday, January 13th, 2011I don’t think there is much chance of resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict without a revival of the parliamentary left –or at least left-center– in Israel, the development of a powerful and consequential counterweight to the aggressive right. (Of course, there is not much chance of resolving it even if there were such a revival, but [...]
“Not All Criticism Of Israel Is the Same”
Tuesday, December 14th, 2010My op-ed on the campaign against the “anti-delegitimization” of Israel was just posted on the New York Jewish Week web site. The far left won’t like it. The far right won’t like it. I don’t know what the centrists will think… Here it is: Not All Criticism Of Israel Is The Same In an article [...]
Have a strong stomach? Track the settlements on your cell phone
Monday, September 20th, 2010Americans for Peace Now has just released a “Facts on the Ground” application that gives iPhone and iPad users real-time, digital maps of the West Bank settlements. It’s also available on the web. You can find it here. Interviewed by Ha’aretz, APN’s estimable CEO Debra DeLee said, “One of the things that make this tool [...]
Is there any hope?
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010We’ve been here before, of course. We’ve been here so many times I’ve lost count. Most of what needs to be said about the upcoming Israeli-Palestinian peace talks was expressed in a poem written nearly sixty years ago by the late, truly great Yehuda Amichai. In The U.N. Headquarters Headquarters in the High Commissioner’s House [...]
Philip Weiss and the inconvenient truth of suicide bombers
Sunday, June 13th, 2010In a recent post, the increasingly influential Philip Weiss tells of a Gaza psychiatrist who pleads with his visitors to “reach out and heal” Israelis because they are “gripped by fear.” Weiss accepts the challenge. After saying Israelis have a “psychosis” because of their fears, he asserts: I use the word psychosis because Israeli society [...]
The Israeli blockade is actually strengthening Hamas
Thursday, June 3rd, 2010The estimable Lara Friedman of Americans for Peace Now has provided ten reasons for Israel to reassess its blockade of the Gaza Strip. One rationale for the blockade is Israel’s desire to weaken and undermine Hamas. The opposite has occurred, according to Friedman. Oops. This is a classic, tragic example of the law of unintended [...]
Dialogue on the Gaza Flotilla
Tuesday, June 1st, 2010“I appreciate your call. My staff was going to get in touch with you. The task force is meeting tomorrow at 8:30. Can you make it?” “I’m afraid the Consulate will need to get someone else. I’m calling to tell you I can’t help anymore. I’m too upset…” “But the facts are on our side. [...]
In Israel, a nation brainwashes itself on the Gaza flotilla
Tuesday, June 1st, 2010Writing about the Israeli reaction to the attack on the Gaza flotilla, Larry Derfner, a columnist for the Jerusalem Post, sent the following note to a small group yesterday. He was kind enough to let me quote it in full: For those of you in the U.S., you’re missing out on the experience of a [...]
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