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In addition to “Don’t Be ‘Useful Idiots’ for BDS” by Michael Walzer, this post is a further followup to “Summer of Defeats for Academic BDS.”  It is by Steven B. Smith, the Alfred Cowles Professor of Political Science at Yale University.  Both Professors Walzer and Smith spoke against a proposal considered and defeated by the Foundations of Political Theory […]

This is a followup to “Summer of Defeats for Academic BDS.” This short talk was my contribution to the debate at the Foundations of Political Theory section of the American Political Science Association which defeated a proposal for boycotting Israeli institutions of higher learning:           I was glad to hear from a speaker earlier this evening […]

The following letter, dated August 27, 2019, was co-signed by 25 retired Israel Defense Forces commanders and former government security heads (listed under text). It is addressed to four members of the US House of Representatives: Bradley S. Schneider, Lee Zeldin, Jerrold Nadler and Ann Wagner:  We wish to express our appreciation for the passage […]

Loathing Israel has become a religion in a large segment of the left – especially the far-left, which has always been anti-Zionist, but even in much of the liberal left. Questioning Israel’s existence is no longer taboo. According to left-wing anti-Zionists, Israel is a “colonial-settler” state that should be dismantled to repair the wrongs done […]

In an extensive email discussion, participants in The Third Narrative (TTN) have indicated some difference of opinion regarding this episode as it has evolved.  There’s a clear consensus that Israel erred politically in reversing its prior stated decision to allow Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar to enter Israel; Ameinu, TTN’s sponsor, was consonant with […]

Ameinu strongly condemns the decision of the Government of Israel to deny entry into Israel to US Congressional Representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, clearly goaded by US President Donald Trump, has made an unprecedented and irresponsible decision to bar these two democratically elected American officials from Israel,” said Ameinu President […]

On Saturday, July 27th, my lifelong Zionist convictions were emotionally whipsawed in opposite ways.  First, a lengthy article in the Haaretz weekend magazine (“When Arabs Were Invited to Live the Zionist Dream“)  opened a hole in my heart by illuminating Israel’s historic failure to integrate its pre-1967 Arab minority as equal citizens.  Later that day, […]