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The following is an adaptation of my talk on Sept. 1 at a Zoom session of the NYC Political Forum, a “Meetup” group.  Some of what I’ve learned came from Dr. Nimrod Novik in an Israel Policy Forum webinar.  I began by thanking the organizer for providing some helpful news links: . . . The link […]

TELL DEFENSE MINISTER GANTZ: STOP SETTLEMENT EXPANSION INTO E-1 Dear friends, Though Prime Minister Netanyahu has suspended plans to formally annex the West Bank, de facto annexation continues unabated. Right now, his government is advancing plans for a major new settlement project in the controversial E1 area which would devastate prospects for peace. E-1 is […]

Peter Beinart’s recent NY Times op-ed and his longer essay in Jewish Currents argue in principle for a one-state binational solution for Israelis and Palestinians.  His article in Jewish Currents attempts to draw a parallel for his proposal with the story of Yochanon Ben Zakkai, a first century C.E. religious scholar who is said to have smuggled himself out […]

Religiously, Peter Beinart is what one may call “conservadox,” an observant Jew who attends a liberal-ish modern Orthodox synagogue but does not routinely cover his head and doesn’t consider himself Orthodox.  Some years back, we were both guests at the home of a mutual acquaintance for a Shabbat dinner.  And I’ve written a few articles […]

Calev Ben-Dor, deputy editor of Fathom, the British online publication on Israel-related subjects, has written a broad examination of the prospect for Israel’s annexation of large swathes of the West Bank, officially open for government consideration on July 1.  Ben-Dor discusses a range of rightwing views, more moderate and center-left perspectives, and historical opinions going back to […]

This top photo of a 1950s-era MAPAM socialist-Zionist celebration of May Day (distributed by Creative Commons.org CC by 2.5) accompanied my History News Network review article, “The Decline and Fall of Socialist Zionism.”  Tal Elmaliach, a young Israeli historian, has written a book (cover below) with a double focus: 1) the leftwing MAPAM political party and […]

The Alliance for Academic Freedom is deeply troubled by the Israeli government’s apparent intention in the near future to unilaterally annex substantial portions of the West Bank, possibly including both existing settlements and the Jordan Valley. Prime Minister Netanyahu’s winning of a new term and his post-election pronouncements about annexation point to a substantial territorial […]