First, an apology: One reason why I’ve taken to blogging so sporadically, and why Realistic Dove has experienced a rapidly diminishing number of page views, is that I am tired of arguing. I am tired of trying to prove that anyone is wrong or anyone is right. The premise of this blog is that there […]
Author: Dan Fleshler
Cluster bombs, morality and anti-Israel rhetoric: two views
When discussing Israel, one of the most difficult challenges that confronts passionate moderates like me is criticism that holds the Jewish state to a different moral standard than the one that is used to judge other nation states. By and large, I am suspicious of people who are obsessed with singling out Israel and the […]
Rallying against Ahmadinejad will accomplish…what, exactly?
There has been a loud, justified uproar over the fact that Sarah Palin was invited to speak at a rally of Jewish groups at the UN this Monday, an event prompted by the appearance of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the General Assembly. The invitation to Palin has been rescinded, but, as the Jewish Week […]
“No thanks. We’d rather sit in the dark.”
There are enemies of everything Israeli who are like the storied Jewish mamas who prefer to suffer in darkness because suffering is more comfortable, suffering –and anger about the past—is what they are used to. That’s the simile that comes to mind as, gasp, good news rears its unexpected head in the West Bank and […]
A Jewish state vs. a “Judahist” state
During my latest, lengthy respite from blogging (and, as much as possible, from thinking very hard), Y. Ben-David suggested that a “truly traditionist Jewish/Israeli” culture would be less threatening to “the Arabs.” Similarly, here and elsewhere, (if I understood him correctly), he has suggested that religious Jewish settlers are more likely to get along better […]
Next post will be after Labor Day…
..or perhaps before. I refuse to post anything unless I think it adds something useful and original to the conversation about the Middle East and/or American Jews. That means I am probably not suited to this medium. At one point last year, this blog was picking up a good many visitors. But when posts appear […]
American Jews at Meretz USA say to Israelis: “The settlements are our business, too!”
A potentially explosive new campaign by Meretz USA has just been launched. It calls upon American Jews to urge Israel’s Housing Minister to stop building settlements, and says they have the right and the obligation to do so because they are AMERICAN CITIZENS, as well as Jews with ties to Israel. It’s the part about […]
One state advocates: More lessons from South Africa, Northern Ireland
What follows is another guest column from Tom Mitchell. As he notes in the first line, those who advocate a single, “secular” binational state in what is now Israel and the Palestinian territories often cite Northern Ireland and South Africa as examples of countries that resolved deep-seated ethnic conflicts and forged one, common nation. He […]
Americans for Peace Now makes the neo cons panic about Syria
I can hear the alarms clattering in the minds of neo cons inside and just at the edges of the Bush administration, who have been increasingly upset that the U.S. is opening the door to diplomatic contacts with Iran. Despite arduous efforts, they were unable to prevent Israel from (gasp) negotiating with Syria under Turkish […]
Philip Weiss attacks J Street. Why he’s wrong.
Philip Weiss and I have been communicating after he attacked J Street on MondoWeiss. A good many issues were broached, but one of his arguments is that J Street ought to be appealing to a much broader constituency than American Jews who feel some attachment to Israel. Some of his acolytes, true to form, said […]