I am starting to get private and public criticism about this blog from people who believe I am betraying Israel, people who believe I am justifying Israeli war crimes, people who don’t want Israel to exist, people who think the U.S. should provide knee-jerk support for every Israeli decision, and people who believe the U.S. […]
American Jews
More conversations about one state vs. two states
All right, let’s say you believe everything about Israel is worthy of contempt and insult, and the Jews should never have set foot in Palestine, and the whole Zionist enterprise must be halted. So what do you want to do? Short of throwing out millions of Israeli Jews by force (which, of course, is an […]
The price of demonization
Some wise words from Cecilie Surasky about this little experiment here: I personally find the whole Zionism/anti-Zionism litmus test both distasteful, often offensive, and certainly odd. It’s odd and to me artificial because the definitions are so slippery, the understanding of Zionisms so superficial. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever had a discussion about […]
Progressive answers to anti-Zionism — Part 2: Alternative visions
Some respondents to my previous post on “What Israel Could Be” were predictably furious that anyone could associate the word “progressive” with the word “Zionism.” They described Zionism as a movement that was, by its very definition, murderous and evil. “Zionism” is one of those elastic words or phrases that have long since lost a […]
Progressive answers to anti-Zionism — Part 1: A vision of what Israel could be
There are perfectly reasonable, articulate, well-meaning people who share many of the values of progressive Zionists but do not believe the Jewish state should exist. It is possible to believe this without being anti-Semitic. It is possible to believe this and still denounce protestors against the Jewish state who treat Palestinians suicide bombers as freedom […]
Worth reading: “Reclaiming the Z Word” (i.e., Zionism)
On Sunday, I am going to argue that it is important to start answering the claims of educated anti-Zionists with cogent, calm and respectful arguments, rather than engaging in frenzied efforts to deny them platforms. In the meantime, the following essay by Chris MacDonald-Dennis on why he calls himself a Zionist is worth reading. It […]
Philip Weiss and the straw man of Jewish “separatism”
On April 1st, I remarked that a post by Philip Weiss had conveyed the far left’s discomfort with Jewish identity. Weiss’ response created so many straw men that it would take hours to torch them. But one of his ideological scarecrows deserves comment, because it is based on a notion of Jewish identity that is […]
The far left’s discomfort with Jewish identity
Philip Weiss, a casual friend and often an ideological nemesis, has a fascinating, typically disturbing post about Jewish identity on his blog, MondoWeiss. In his magazine articles and his blog, he has been asking very provocative, often necessary questions about American Jews and Israel. As a result, he has become an increasingly important figure to […]
“AIPAC Hijack: With Friends Like These”: Worth Reading
Much has been written about the latest AIPAC Policy Conference. Bits and scraps of details have been revealed about it but, until now, I have not read an enlightening, detailed summary. Here is an impassioned description of what happened by Ameinu’s new Executive Director, Gidon Remba.
The next time someone tells you not to criticize Israel…
Instructive tidbit from today’s Haaretz: Poll: More than half of Israelis support Diaspora Jews’ right to criticize Israel By Amiram Barkat More than half of Israeli Jews support the right of Diaspora Jews to criticize Israel on particular issues, according to a recent survey by the World Union for Progressive Judaism. The survey found that […]