Is it more important for American Jewish peace groups to prove that they speak for most American Jews, or to be right? I vote for the latter. Last week, sighs of relief could be heard in the organized American Jewish establishment. A new American Jewish Committee poll showed that a majority of American Jews favored […]
Israel
One state advocates, how do you know two states aren’t possible?
How do you know? What makes you so sure? You say, “It is too late for a two state solution” or “Israel is already one state. It is an apartheid state, and the only way forward is to transform it into a just state.” Where do you get this absolute certainty? With all due respect, […]
Is a breakthrough feasible? Alon Ben-Meir says yes
NYU Professor Alon Ben-Meir sees reasons for hope. It seems to me that ALL of the scenarios he envisions would need to occur in order for a breakthrough to occur. That is unlikely. But stranger, more unlikely things have occured on this planet, including the birth and development of a Jewish state. As I noted […]
George Mitchell rejects the “F-word”
Much of the media are dismissing today’s Obama-Netanyahu-Abbas summit as an abject failure. Check out the Guardian, which uses the word “failure” no less than three times in its chronicle of the UN meetings, along with “meager results,” “inauspicious start” and other formulations to characterize negotiations that supposedly yielded nothing. I haven’t come across the […]
Sabra, Shatilla and Gaza: A tale of two wars
On Sept 25th, 1982, at a Peace Now rally in Tel Aviv, more than 400,000 Israelis rose up and demanded an investigation of Israel’s responsibility for the Sabra and Shatilla massacres in Lebanon. Israeli troops had been responsible for guarding those two Palestinian refugee camps. But on Sept. 15th, they had allowed Christian Phalangists to […]
A prayer–and an admonition–for the Jewish New Year
Brit Tzedek v’ Shalom sent out the following message from Rabbi Bonnie Margulis, who is on their Rabbinic Cabinet. I don’t normally deal with matters of religion on this blog. But I think this is worth reading and taking to heart, whatever your religion. Happy New Year to all. —————————————————————————————— Around the world at this […]
The Goldstone report and why I am a self-hating Jew
I am a self-hating Jew. Sometimes, that is. Sometimes I hate myself after losing my temper at my daughter or wife, or envying a friend’s success, or not comforting someone who needed comforting. Sometimes I hate myself for being too hard on myself. Today, I am a self-hating Jew because I realize I’ve never taken […]
One state advocates, how would you get from A to B? –Part 1
In my previous post, I praised Hussein Ibish’s critique of those who support a one state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In response, Adam Horowitz wrote that he found Ibish’s pointed questions to be “boring” because they reprised familiar objections, and because many of his concerns have already been addressed by one state advocates in […]
An Arab American moderate argues against the 1-state solution
American Jews like me who argue against the one-state solution are constantly confronted by those who claim a moral high ground and cite the small but growing number of Palestinian intellectuals who have given up on two states. They spend much of their time showing why the two-state solution is no longer feasible while spending […]
Arguing with B’Tselem about body counts misses the point
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 […]