He couldn’t take it any more. He was a nationally-known American rabbi who had publicly supported the Israeli government, despite his doubts about the wisdom or morality of its policies. He had backed its initial military response to attacks by non-state actors on Israeli citizens. But as time wore on, he could not find a […]
American Jews
Ignoring reality in the Gaza Strip is the problem, not the “mainstream media”
No doubt Ethan Bronner will be attacked by both the Israel-can-do-no-right crowd and their ideological adversaries for his wonderful piece in today’s NY Times, which conveys the impossibility of covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict without offending someone. No doubt the attacks on him will prove his point: Trying to tell the story so that both sides […]
Wrestling with American Jewish Realpolitik
Richard Silverstein, Jerry Haber and Verso Books are striving to obtain signatures for an impassioned attack against Israeli behavior in the Gaza Strip. I thought long and hard about whether or not to sign the statement and then post it on Realistic Dove. The rationales for not associating with it were the same rationales that […]
“Emergency! Emergency! U.S. caves in at the U.N.”!
MJ Rosenberg writes, somewhat gleefully, that “AIPAC is furious with George Bush for not vetoing Security Council Resolution 1860 which calls for an immediate ceasefire. After almost eight years, the Bush administration has decided not to stand with Israel against an otherwise unanimous resolution.” The AIPAC statement notes: AIPAC…expresses its disappointment with the U.S. administration […]
Philip Weiss picks the wrong enemies
In a recent post, Philip Weiss denounces Americans for Peace Now and J Street for “equivocating” about the assault on Gaza. He believes they have not been emphatic enough in their opposition to Israel’s behavior because they have not come down hard enough against Palestinian civilian casualties. His conclusion: “It is very difficult, nigh impossible, […]
More challenges for the Gaza assault’s spin machine
Yesterday, I reported on the frenetic efforts of Israel’s p.r. volunteers to defend what most of the world views as an over-reaction to Hamas’ provocations. Now there are even more troubles ahead, because the would-be spinmeisters are getting different messages about the goals of “Operation Cast Lead.” I bet you a hundred dollars that, right […]
The Israeli spin machine is sputtering
The carnage in the Gaza Strip has shaken me out of my blogger’s hibernation. The best response, thus far, comes from Gideon Levy in Haaretz: Once again, Israel’s violent responses…exceed all proportion and cross every red line of humaneness, morality, international law and wisdom…Israel did not exhaust the diplomatic processes before embarking yesterday on another […]
Peace Now: While Hebron was heating up, settlers created new facts in Jerusalem
The best, most original summary of important developments in Israel, the territories and the rest of the region is the “Middle East Peace Report,” which is created every few weeks by Noam Shalef of Americans for Peace Now. The latest issue isn’t posted on the APN website yet but you should be able to find […]
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 […]
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 […]