Before his controversial book used the “A-word” (apartheid), I never understood the reflexive, visceral hostility harbored for Jimmy Carter in the mainstream American Jewish community. He made a good many political mistakes early in his admnistration, using code words like “Palestinian homeland” and almost casually intimating that the U.S. and Israel should deal with the […]
Month: April 2008
Don’t just sit there and complain about American policy. Help J Street
At long last, the urgently-needed “J Street” project has been officially launched. It has generated a great deal of media attention, much of it positive, but the most important story by far was in yesterday’s Washington Post: Some of the country’s most prominent Jewish liberals are forming a political action committee and lobbying group aimed […]
Lessons for Israel from antebellum America: Guest column #3
What follows is the third in a series comparing Israel past and present with other nations that had internal conflicts. It is by Realistic Dove Resident Scholar Tom Mitchell (I don’t actually know where he lives and we’ve never met in person, but I am sure he will be honored by the designation). For those […]
Free Marwan Barghouti?
What are the mainstream American Jewish organizations going to say if Israel releases a convicted murderer who is one of the Palestinians’ most powerful advocates of peace and a two-state solution? o–Haaretz reports that: “Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer on Saturday said that if Israel were interested in achieving peace, it had no choice but to […]
What lessons can be learned from Northern Ireland?
Below is the second column by Tom Mitchell. I have always told myself that the main “lesson” that can be learned from Northern Ireland is that violent, longstanding and seemingly intractable ethnic or religious conflicts eventually can be solved. It has been a source of hope. I am not sure if Tom agrees with that […]