Anti-Zionism
In November, the Arabs Said “No”Monday, November 21, 2011 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
There are no uneventful months in the tortured history of the Arab-Israel conflict. November is no exception. It was on November 2, 1917 that British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour sent Lord Rothschild a letter—the Balfour Declaration.
Israeli Intransigence? Try Palestinian RejectionismThursday, November 17, 2011 by Aryeh Tepper | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The conventional wisdom in diplomatic and media circles concerning the Israeli-Arab conflict is that Israeli intransigence—especially on the building of West Bank settlements—is the dead weight that prevents the achievement of a two-state solution.
Finally, a Palestinian “Peace Now”?Monday, November 14, 2011 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
What if a group of youthful Palestinian activists, fed up with Hamas and Fatah for leading the Palestinian Arabs over and over down bloody, self-defeating dead ends, were to emerge as a new political and social force—something like a Palestinian "Peace Now"?
To Be Young, Gifted, and a British JewMonday, November 7, 2011 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
One way to think of British Jewry is to focus on its slow and steady decline: 270,000 souls, demographically graying; synagogue affiliation on a downward spiral; out-marriage running at between 30-50 percent.
Are Young Rabbis Turning on Israel?Monday, October 24, 2011 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
For all the theological, ritualistic, and institutional differences separating the Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform movements, what distinguishes the groups in the minds of many ordinary American Jews comes down to branding.
Political ContrailTuesday, October 11, 2011 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
This month marks the 30th anniversary of an emotionally fraught and bitterly waged political confrontation between the Reagan administration and the organized Jewish community.
Israel Studies 101Monday, October 3, 2011 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The modern American research university is a house of many rooms. The field of Israel Studies, which has emerged in the past decade, occupies one of the newest—and smallest—of those rooms.
The Wages of DurbanWednesday, September 21, 2011 by Arch Puddington | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
In the days just prior to the assault on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) was very much in the news, and for reasons that are altogether relevant to the mass murder that took place on September 11, 2001.
Settling for StatehoodMonday, September 19, 2011 by Diana Muir Appelbaum | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The 66th session of the United Nations General Assembly has just begun. Unless a diplomatic miracle happens, that body will soon be asked to approve what amounts to a unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood. Palestinian spokesmen say they had no choice but to make their end run around serious negotiations with Israel.
Israel’s Isolation ProblemThursday, September 15, 2011 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Aryeh Golan, the morning news anchor for Israeli public radio, summed up the feelings of Israelis on Sunday when he said, "In Turkey the government is against us, in Egypt the mob is against us, and at the UN the majority is against us."
Editors' Picks
Refugees Forever Asaf Romirowsky, Alexander Joffe, Haaretz. UNRWA says that grandchildren of Palestinian refugees remain "refugees." No other refugee group gets this treatment—but, then, no other group supplies the majority of UNRWA's staff.
The Other Olympics David E. Sanger, New York Times. The U.S. cyberwarfare program (likely working with an Israeli partner) has frustrated Iran's nuclear project for six years. But now that the virus is loose, America must be braced for retaliation.
Jews of Yemen, Get Out! Lyn Julius, Times of Israel. The few dozen Jews who remain in Yemen—many incentivized against aliyah by the Satmar movement—insist that Jewish life is good in Tzanaa despite a death toll attesting to the contrary.
Know Your Enemy Jodi Rudoren, New York Times. After a hiatus of two decades, schools in Gaza are starting to teach Hebrew again. It isn't because they've discovered a heartfelt interest in a neighboring culture.
With Friends Like These Benjamin Weinthal, Jerusalem Post. While the prevalence of overt anti-Zionism across Europe is notorious, it is less well known that even Europeans who claim to be pro-Israel are invariably hostile to the Jewish state.
The Spirit is Unwilling Mary Pilon, New York Times. Why won't the president of the International Olympic Committee allow for a moment of silence, in "the Olympic spirit," on the tragic anniversary of the 1972 murder of 11 Israeli athletes and coaches?
Hezbollah's Newest Threat Lee Smith, Tablet. The culture of resistance crafted by Hezbollah is on the wane, as many Shiites aren't eager to serve as human shields in the next round of warfare.
Nakba and Narrative Matti Friedman, Times of Israel. The simple narrative of the 1948 displacement of Palestinian Arabs erases the uncomfortable truth that half of Israel's Jews are there not because of the Nazis but because of the Arabs themselves.
The Measure of Marx Shlomo Avineri, Jewish Review of Books. "Rather than focus on biblical sources, I decided to alert [UNESCO] to the fact that there has been a Jewish majority in Jerusalem since the 1850s, before the emergence of Zionism." According to whom? Karl Marx.
How to Talk about Israel at Harvard Matthew Ackerman, Contentions. Hint: Forget the humanities departments.