Issue: Israel / PalestineRSS feed

Recently, an earthquake struck the Jewish world. Peter Beinart, the poster-child of liberal Zionism in the US (ever since the NY Review of Books published his 2010 seminal essay, “The Failure of the American Jewish Establishment“) has officially abjured political Zionism.  Still, his about-face was foreseeable. I have the utmost respect and admiration for Peter Beinart, […]

Superstar leftwing Member of Congress, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, backed out of speaking at an online memorial for Prime Minister Yizhak Rabin, sponsored by Americans for Peace Now.  To start the ball rolling backwards, an anti-Israel comment on Twitter apparently shook her up, questioning why she’d participate in a memorial for an Israeli leader who, as Defense […]

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 […]

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 […]