Received the following email this evening from the gentleman who runs Ziopedia. I stumble upon gems from the coherent, seemingly lucid paranoid fringe all the time and don’t do much with them. But I have never seen a coherent, seemingly lucid, paranoid want ad before. There are many out-of-work editors and reporters out there. Perhaps […]
Anti-Semitism
What I learned at the Museum of Tolerance
Yesterday, I visited the Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles for the first time, accompanied by my uncle. Both of us were struck by what was conspicuously absent from the interactive exhibits that are meant to fight racism, hate speech, human rights violations and genocide. There was virtually nothing about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict […]
The Jewish exodus from Arab lands: Why Zionists and anti-Zionists are both wrong
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 […]
Announcing the “Fleshies”: awards for the best responses to anti-Semitism on the Web
It is hard to convey the amount of bile and reductionist, blame-the-Jews-for-every-sin rhetoric that has taken over much of the blogosphere. Phil Weiss’s blog generally attracts some of the most articulate Jew-bashers, so I tune into the comments from time to time in order to gauge the level of hatred. I just noticed some great […]
Sorry to disappoint you, conspiracy theorists: few Jewish voters are obsessed with Israel
A commentator with a brilliant nickname, “Agog,” was disturbed by the previous thread’s discussion of candidates’ positions on Israel. Agog asked: “Is that how you judge the merits of the respective candidates: who is best for Israel? Shouldn’t the criterion be who is best for the US? The two countries’ interests are not one and […]
Weiss exonerates people who are obsessed with dual loyalty…
Philip Weiss reacted to my HuffPo piece (see previous post) on the neocons with a little essay entitled Fleshler Exonerates the Neocons of Dual Loyalties. Why He’s Wrong. Take a look at it. Take a look at the comments. There are a number of people, including Richard Witty, who disagree with Phil and make some […]
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 […]