Islamic World
Christianity: Good for the Jews?Friday, May 24, 2013 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Examining the state of contemporary Christendom in an article first published January 5, 2012, Elliot Jager asks whether Jews have an interest in seeing Christianity thrive—and answers yes.
The Jewish Left, between History and RevelationMonday, June 11, 2012 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The association of Jews with leftist ideas and movements has been a fixture of Western politics for the past 150 years. But is the relationship logical and necessary, or is it historical and contingent?
The Six-Day War: Day SixAfter five days spent battling Arab forces, Israel now faced a new opponent: time. With the Egyptians and Jordanians out of the war, and the Syrians having agreed to a ceasefire, the Security Council was becoming restless.
On the Eve of the Six-Day WarForty-five years ago today, on June 4, 1967, Israel and the Jewish world were in suspense. Today, we recall the Six-Day War as a stunning martial victory by the Jewish state; but on the war's eve, this outcome was wholly unforeseeable. Indeed, the odds appeared firmly stacked against Israel.
The Baron-Cohens and the Problem of EvilThursday, May 31, 2012 by Allan Nadler | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The pervasiveness of evil and the suffering of innocents have confounded religious believers throughout history. Jews have produced a vast literature that attempts to reconcile God's justice with evil's apparent dominion.
Independence DayThursday, April 26, 2012 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Every spring, within a single week, Israel commemorates Yom Hashoah, Yom Hazikaron, and Yom Ha'atzma'ut. These days revisit the core drama of the modern Jewish experience. They are also among the most controversial in the Israeli calendar.
Scholarship and Anti-Semitism at YaleMonday, March 26, 2012 by Ben Cohen | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Almost a year has passed since Yale University shuttered the five-year-old Yale Interdisciplinary Initiative for the Study of Anti-Semitism, known by the unwieldy acronym "YIISA," and replaced it with the Yale Program for the Study of Anti-Semitism, or "YPSA."
Marching to JerusalemThursday, March 22, 2012 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Protests, marches, sit-ins, boycotts—all these nonviolent techniques have been employed in support of the Palestinian cause, but violence has remained at the core of the enterprise. For decades, well-meaning people have suggested that a wholehearted embrace of nonviolence would do more for the Palestinians than their continuing resort to terrorism.
Martyr in WaitingFriday, March 16, 2012 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative Khader Adnan, currently under administrative detention in Israel, has announced the end of his 66-day hunger strike in exchange for a commitment by Israeli authorities to set him free on April 17. His pending release raises a moral dilemma.
Cyrus, Ahmadinejad, and the Politics of PurimWednesday, March 7, 2012 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
At this week's pre-Purim meeting in Washington between President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu to discuss Iran's nuclear threat to Israel, Netanyahu gave Obama a present: the book (or m'gilah, scroll) of Esther, which tells how the Jewish heroine foiled Haman's plot to kill the Jews of ancient Persia.
Editors' Picks
Conspiracy of Silence Tibor Krausz, Jerusalem Report. A new book documents how “Jew” and “Zionist” have become generic insults in Muslim countries—and how Western policymakers deliberately ignore the extent of Islamic anti-Semitism.
Iran the Peacemaker Mitch Ginsburg, Times of Israel. Netanyahu’s apology to the Turkish prime minister may have been a diplomatic coup by Barack Obama—or a sign of recognition by Israel and Turkey of their common interest against Iran.
The Pope's Kissinger Martin Kramer, Sandbox. As a Vatican diplomat, Cardinal Sergio Pignedoli sought to improve relations with the Islamic world. But his signing a statement condemning Zionism in 1976 cost him the papacy.
Apartheid Agenda Patrick Mascoe, Moment. The organizers of Israel Apartheid Week distort U.N. resolutions, conceal their identities, and deliberately ignore racial segregation in Muslim countries—all under the guise of free speech.
Modernity’s Price in the Middle East Bernard Lewis, Norman Podhoretz, Peter Robinson, National Review. "In the pre-modern Middle East,” says Lewis,” there were many institutions in which power arose not from above but from within. All that was destroyed by modernization." (Video)
Raised on Hatred Ayaan Hirsi Ali, New York Times. "As a child growing up in a Muslim family, I constantly heard my mother, other relatives and neighbors wish for the death of Jews, who were considered our darkest enemy."
How Orientalism Shaped Obama Lee Smith, Tablet. Blaming the recent attacks against U.S. targets on a cheap video reflects Edward Said’s argument that Europe subjugated Muslims by distorting perceptions of their culture.
In Search of a Cultural Arab Spring Salman Masalha, MEMRI. In the images of Syrian violence an Israeli Druse sees the brutality of modern Arab regimes: “Every one of them is based on tribal and religious tyranny.”
Time for Population Separation , Diana Muir Appelbaum. Syria and Lebanon will soon be reconfigured into Sunni, Alawite, Christian, Druse, and Kurdish states—righting the wrong perpetrated by the French many decades ago.
Clinton’s Courtesy Call? Jeffrey Goldberg, Atlantic. Hillary Clinton’s visit to Israel is not about drumming up votes before the presidential election, but rather represents the latest attempt by the Obama administration to prevent an Israeli strike on Iran.