B’Tselem, the Israeli human riights group, has released a report on civilian casualties during “”Operation Cast Lead,” Israel’s military venture in the Gaza Strip. Predictably, the Israeli military and various NGOs have different body counts, according to Yediot Achronot. Pay attention to the numbers here, because they lead to a larger point: A new report […]
Gaza Strip
Why not call Netanyahu’s bluff on “economic peace?”
Prime Minister Netanyahu still hasn’t given up on the idea of forging an “economic peace” with the Palestinians, Bloomberg reports. Last week, at a meeting in Washington, I heard Yossi Beilin tell some left-learning, pro-Israel American Jews that they –and the Israeli left– should take Netanyahu at his word. “If he wants economic peace, let’s […]
Americans for Peace Now breaks ranks again, thoughtfully
Americans for Peace Now has not gotten much attention for its recent, carefully reasoned call for a smarter U.S. policy towards Hamas. While condemning Hamas for “heinous attacks on civilians” and for denying Israel’s right to exist, it states a fact that is willfully denied by those who want to keep punishing and pummelling the […]
Israeli experts to U.S.: Come up with a regional plan, ASAP
It’s conventional wisdom that due to the divided Palestinian polity and the lack of bold Israeli leadership and political will, not much can be done to advance a two-state solution, at least not in the foreseeable future. A panel of Israelis organized by Israel Policy Forum begs to differ. In a new policy paper, they […]
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 […]
Sympathy is not a zero sum game
Compared to Realistic Dove, Charles Lenchner’s blog, Peace in the Middle East, tends to attract a higher percentage of far left ideologues. That is because it is housed on the Change.org web site, which wants to be a haven for progressive activists. What follows is a slightly edited post by Lenchner from Jan. 31st, during […]
Why Albert Einstein can’t help the orphans of Gaza
Over at MondoWeiss, Adam Horowitz gives us a “Zeitgeist Alert” and proclaims that “The two-state solution is dead.” He quotes a piece by Sandy Tolan in the Christian Science Monitor that presents all-too-familiar arguments for why it is too late, there is no hope, the Palestinians have been deprived of a state of their own, […]
“We were used like cows…”
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 […]
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 […]