Archive by Author: Ralph Seliger

The only surprise regarding Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP)—a group that fully supports BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) against Israel—finally “coming out” as anti-Zionist, on January 14th, is that it took so long. As a longtime left-Zionist who views the Trumpification of Israel with trepidation and horror, I can understand the JVP up to a point, […]

NY Times opinion editor and writer, Bari Weiss, has a heart of gold who hits the right notes for most liberal defenders of Israel and Jews — but not necessarily with the right emphasis.  Speaking from the stage of the ornate sanctuary of New York’s Temple Emanu-El, in an event organized by the Streicker Center, its […]

This is my reflection on three recent British books about antisemitism and the Left, which I was originally commissioned to review for Jewish Currents.  But I dawdled until the editorial regime suddenly changed at Jewish Currents, and the new editor was not receptive.  The following is drawn from the publishers’ blurbs: Robert Fine and Philip […]

Dr. Micah Goodman, a liberal Orthodox scholar of Jewish thought (i.e., a believer in religious pluralism), has ventured into Israeli politics and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with his latest book, Catch-’67: The Left, the Right, and the Legacy of the Six-Day War.  He is also a Research Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, under whose […]

Tel Aviv University emeritus professor of history, Shlomo Sand, mostly specializing in French and intellectual history.  He’s engaged in a virtual second career promoting the notion that Jews are not a historic people and that the current crop of Jews are not substantially descended from the ancient Hebrews of the Biblical era or the Judeans […]

The initial Oslo agreement was famously signed on the White House Lawn 25 years ago, on Sept. 13, 1993.  Originally, I was intending to write about a conference I attended at New York University on March 25th (“Oslo: 25 Years Later“), but was waiting until this September’s anniversary (forgive my tardiness). An alternative title for this post could be […]

This post would have been more timely if written last year in response to Stephen Shalom’s article, “Looking Back at the June 1967 Middle East War,” in the summer 2017 issue of New Politics; but it’s still appropriate a year later for the 51st anniversary of the Six Day War (June 5-10, 1967).  It reminds […]