tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21842828336583636182024-02-20T11:15:53.900-08:00By Benjamin KersteinThe occasional musings of an Israeli-American writerbenjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00583970274145351152noreply@blogger.comBlogger85125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2184282833658363618.post-10046637747992838152014-08-08T04:24:00.002-07:002014-08-08T04:24:40.992-07:00The Global Pogrom<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But since no one was listening, everything must be said again."</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">—Andre Gide</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There is a Global Pogrom under way.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is a terrible truth. And people tend to ignore terrible truths. So it must be said again: There is a Global Pogrom under way.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And another terrible truth must be spoken: The Global Pogrom has been under way for more than a decade. It has taken lives. It has destroyed property. It has injured, brutalized, and terrified Jews and Jewish communities in many nations. And it is creating a silent exodus, a de facto expulsion, an ethnic cleansing in slow motion.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To say again, because it must be said again, this is something almost no one wants to admit. A truth that almost no one, including many Jews, wants to speak or hear. But over the past month, it has become a truth that is impossible to ignore.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Yet even in the face of this, many continue to deny it, or at least to minimize it. And many, one regrets, have chosen to blame it on the Jews themselves.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A mere seven decades after the Holocaust, after the world was supposed to have learned its lesson, this is not only monstrous. It is not only evil. It is also an existential threat to the civilized world. Because the Global Pogrom presents the world with a stark choice: The Global Pogrom or civilization. And a civilization, any civilization, that cannot or will not say no to barbarism, is no longer a civilization at all...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Continue reading at <a href="http://www.thetower.org/article/the-global-pogrom/">Tower Magazine</a></span></div>
benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00583970274145351152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2184282833658363618.post-87627390494322043652013-11-07T04:18:00.001-08:002013-11-07T04:25:14.586-08:00Could Israel Become a Cultural Superpower?<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My latest article at The Tower, on why Israel's growing media presence around the world could make it the world's next cultural superpower.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Despite its high international profile, Israel has always been a somewhat provincial county, with a domestic culture largely unknown to outsiders. The classic pieces of Israeli pop culture, such as the comedy group Ha’Gashash Ha’Hiver, Eretz Israel and Mizrahi music, and the classic bourekas movies, remain ubiquitous in Israel—most Israelis can quote lines from them at will—but almost nowhere else. Everyone in the world knows who Brad Pitt is, but no one outside of Israel knows Yehuda Levi, his rough Israeli equivalent. Indeed, when Yair Lapid suddenly emerged as Israel’s newest political star, the global media proved completely ignorant of a man who had been one of Israel’s most famous media personalities for decades.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But this may be changing, and very quickly. Over the past decade, Israeli films, actors, television shows, celebrities, and music have spread and, more importantly, been embraced around the world. This includes films like Walk on Water, Fill the Void, Ajami, Or, and the cinema of Amos Gitai, which have won international prizes and foreign distribution, often with considerable success. There are television shows like Betipul, remade almost word-for-word as HBO’s In Treatment, and Hatufim, whose American remake Homeland is a runaway success; game and reality shows have also been reproduced and remade in numerous other countries.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Actors like Noa Tishby, Ayelet Zurer, and Mili Avital have appeared in American and European films, become stars, producers, and conduits through which the Israeli film and television industry can reach into foreign markets. Zurer in particular has met with significant Hollywood success, co-starring in Steven Spielberg’s Munich, as well as blockbusters like Man of Steel.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Even more surprisingly, musicians like the heavy metal band Orphaned Land and Mizrahi singer Sarit Hadad have become popular in countries that have historically been ambivalent or violently hostile toward Israel, garnering fans from nations like Turkey and Syria.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">While it is too soon to know for sure, it increasingly looks like Israel may well be on the road to becoming a cultural superpower.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.thetower.org/article/could-israel-become-a-cultural-superpower/"><i>Continue reading at </i>The Tower</a></span>benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00583970274145351152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2184282833658363618.post-24687919931971716202013-10-19T02:24:00.002-07:002013-10-19T02:24:28.791-07:00Radio Interview With Me on TLV1<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In English, on my article on Israel having to go it alone and the legacy of Rav Ovadia Yosef. Hosted by the excellent writer and my personal friend Alex Stein.</span><br />
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<a href="http://tlv1.fm/episodes/2013/10/18/jerusalem-cuisine-and-going-it-alone-from-j-town-to-ta/"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Listen at TLV1...</span></a>benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00583970274145351152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2184282833658363618.post-60360170082196335872013-10-05T04:43:00.002-07:002013-10-05T04:43:54.315-07:00Special Discount on My First Novel<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">The Kindle version of my first novel, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Mighty-Quinn-ebook/dp/B005EROEMY/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1380972201&sr=8-3&keywords=benjamin+kerstein">The Mighty Quinn</a>, is temporarily available at a considerable discount. It's a dystopian satire of environmentalists, hippies, psychotic activists, and whales. Enjoy!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Mighty-Quinn-ebook/dp/B005EROEMY/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1380972201&sr=8-3&keywords=benjamin+kerstein">Click to buy at Amazon.com</a></span></span>benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00583970274145351152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2184282833658363618.post-27941061325707697032013-10-02T09:00:00.002-07:002013-10-02T09:00:37.663-07:00The Tower #7<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The latest issue of <a href="http://www.thetower.org/magazine/issue7/">The Tower</a> - of which I am associate editor - is now online. It contains some excellent articles by <a href="http://www.thetower.org/article/utopian-dreamers-and-the-israeli-spirit/">David Hazony</a>, <a href="http://www.thetower.org/article/egypts-liberals-cant-get-a-break-will-they-ever/">Armin Rosen</a>, and <a href="http://www.thetower.org/article/sometimes-just-go-alone/">myself</a>.</span>benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00583970274145351152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2184282833658363618.post-6220815959151081502013-10-02T08:57:00.001-07:002013-10-03T01:49:48.906-07:00Sometimes You Just Have to Go It Alone<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">It is, of course, very widely believed among supporters of Israel—and
among some opponents, one imagines, though they are unlikely to ever
admit it—that it is not only a reasonable supposition but practically a
moral certainty that Israel cannot and will never get a fair hearing at
the UN or from the international community in general. Indeed, Netanyahu
all but said as much in his 2011 speech to the General Assembly, noting
that the Lubavitcher Rebbe once referred to the international body as
“a house of many lies.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Most Israelis likely agree with this, as well. But however fervently
they agree, there always remains a nagging doubt. This doubt was
expressed fairly well, ironically, by one of the UN’s former leaders. In
2002, with Israel deep in the horrors of the second intifada and Ariel
Sharon’s Operation Defensive Shield at last fighting back against
Palestinian terrorism, international condemnation of the Jewish state
reached a fever pitch. Then-UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan summed up
the general attitude by asking, “Can Israel be right and the whole world
wrong?”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Continue reading at <a href="http://www.thetower.org/article/sometimes-just-go-alone/">The Tower... </a></span>benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00583970274145351152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2184282833658363618.post-59766314736130740902013-08-03T17:48:00.000-07:002013-08-03T17:48:57.876-07:00Israel and Racism<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">If the reaction to the death of Helen Thomas, with its studied indifference to her cackling demand that the Jews “get the hell out of Palestine,” has told us anything, it is that the embrace of racism among Israel’s critics has become so ubiquitous that it has essentially been normalized.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">There is a fascinating irony in this, because critics of Israel, however ferocious they may be, almost always portray themselves as anti-racists....</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"><a href="http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-Ed-Contributors/Israel-and-racism-321683"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Continue reading at the Jerusalem Post</span></a></span>benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00583970274145351152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2184282833658363618.post-61663463513329301442012-05-20T22:19:00.001-07:002012-05-20T22:19:11.648-07:00Yes, all criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic!‘But surely you don’t believe,” they always ask you, “that all criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic?” It is a noticeably patronizing question, of course, in that it is obviously an admonition that all civilized, thinking people must answer “no” or “of course not.” It is an important question, however, because of its real answer, which is unequivocally and unquestionably “yes”...<br />
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<a href="http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=270755">...continue reading at the Jerusalem Post</a>benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00583970274145351152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2184282833658363618.post-12523876541411729102012-03-29T04:42:00.003-07:002012-03-29T04:42:57.821-07:00PJ Media » House Jew, Field Jew<a href="http://pjmedia.com/blog/house-jew-field-jew/">PJ Media » House Jew, Field Jew</a>benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00583970274145351152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2184282833658363618.post-11438410533229715402011-08-01T01:26:00.000-07:002011-08-01T01:26:41.253-07:00My First Novel<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px; font-family: 'Bookman Old Style'; ">My first novel <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005EROEMY">The Mighty Quinn</a> is now available via Amazon Kindle. It's a satire of environmentalism, Moby-Dick, samurai movies, Scientology, stupid hippies, nausea, and many other highly amusing things. Also, sex and violence. And whales. If you like it, spread the word. And if you don't have a Kindle, <a href="http://tinyurl.com/6jxj3qy">these apps</a> let you read it on various other highly amusing devices. Enjoy! </span>benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00583970274145351152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2184282833658363618.post-92126716288906205872011-07-29T10:23:00.000-07:002011-07-29T10:23:40.222-07:00ImperfectBefore 1967 it was rarely the tendency of Zionists to cite God as their master. Even Zionists of a distinctly religious bent formulated an esoteric but highly effective theology according to which Zionists were—albeit unknowingly—serving God, not vice-versa.<div><br /></div><div>Continue reading <a href="http://www.tabletmag.com/news-and-politics/72838/imperfect/">Imperfect - Tablet Magazine</a></div>benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00583970274145351152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2184282833658363618.post-10274347868317341742011-07-27T07:18:00.000-07:002011-07-27T07:18:14.600-07:00The Test<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; ">It is an accepted if oft-forgotten truism that political fortunes can change with dazzling speed, especially in a country as volatile and contentious as Israel. No one, however, could have predicted the sudden change in the fortunes of the current Israeli government. It has come, politically and metaphorically, out of left field.</span><div><br /></div><div>Continue reading <a href="http://www.worldjewishdaily.com/the-test.php">The Test</a></div>benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00583970274145351152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2184282833658363618.post-59060994146903305802011-07-26T04:03:00.000-07:002011-07-26T04:03:05.507-07:00The Fallen Woman<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; font-family: 'DejaVu Serif'; ">Media coverage of the sudden though not entirely unexpected death of British R&B singer Amy Winehouse mentioned only in passing that she was Jewish. This says something in and of itself, but the truth is that Winehouse’s Jewish identity was always just below the surface of her fame, particularly among her Jewish fans.</span><div><br /></div><div>Continue reading <a href="http://www.worldjewishdaily.com/fallen-woman.php">The Fallen Woman</a></div>benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00583970274145351152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2184282833658363618.post-52130810684523104752011-07-26T04:02:00.000-07:002011-07-26T04:02:23.511-07:00Tahrir in Tel Aviv?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; font-family: 'DejaVu Serif'; ">For a moment, at least, it felt as if – to steal a line from Albert Camus – all the guns of Tel Aviv were firing at once. The night of Saturday, July 23, 2011 marked the largest political demonstration in Tel Aviv in over a decade.<a href="http://www.worldjewishdaily.com/toolbar.html?4t=extlink&4u=http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?ID=230689&R=R1" style="font-family: 'DejaVu Serif' !important; color: black; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; ">Tens of thousands</a> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; font-family: 'DejaVu Serif'; ">of people took to the streets, marching to the plaza in front of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, across the street from the Kirya, the underground headquarters of the IDF.</span><div><br /></div><div>Continue reading <a href="http://www.worldjewishdaily.com/tahrir-in-tel-aviv.php">Tahrir in Tel Aviv?</a></div>benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00583970274145351152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2184282833658363618.post-71056710632253252342011-03-19T01:34:00.000-07:002011-03-19T01:34:25.602-07:00An Open Letter to the Arab Street<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">First and foremost, congratulations. Even from our vantage point on the other side of a seemingly unbridgeable divide between our peoples, the extraordinary nature of what you have accomplished in recent weeks is obvious. The eventual outcome of your revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and elsewhere is clearly still in question, but there is no doubt that by your actions you have changed the Middle East, possibly forever.<br />
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From our point of view, two very ironic things have emerged from what you have done. The first is that, contrary to the widely held belief that the Israel-Palestinian conflict is the main reason for the "anger" of the Arab street, and the great impediment to political reform in the region, Israel's name has been all but absent from your demonstrations and protests. This, in and of itself, is a hopeful sign. The second is that Israel's own reaction to these events, despite their great promise, has been an ambivalent one.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Continue reading at <a href="http://www.jewishideasdaily.com/content/module/2011/3/9/main-feature/1/an-open-letter-to-the-arab-street">An Open Letter to the Arab Street » Main Feature » Jewish Ideas Daily</a></span>benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00583970274145351152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2184282833658363618.post-33826633099545640332011-03-18T03:21:00.000-07:002011-03-18T03:23:07.378-07:00Stieg Larsson, Lars Larson, and meListen to my discussion with Lars Larsson about the <a href="http://tiny.cc/brw3t">libertarian politics of the Millennium trilogy</a>.benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00583970274145351152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2184282833658363618.post-2084768908046313252011-03-18T03:19:00.000-07:002011-03-18T03:20:08.903-07:00The Objectivist with the Dragon Tattoo<div><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 1.4; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >One of the strangest publishing phenomena in recent memory is the extraordinary international success of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy. A semi-famous left-wing Swedish journalist who died young and relatively uncelebrated, the three mystery novels Larsson wrote before his death, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0307454541/pajamasmedia-20" style="color: rgb(2, 68, 106); text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; "><em>The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo</em></a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/030745455X/pajamasmedia-20" style="color: rgb(2, 68, 106); text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; "><em>The Girl Who Played with Fire</em></a>, and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/030726999X/pajamasmedia-20" style="color: rgb(2, 68, 106); text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; "><em>The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest</em></a>, have sold millions of copies worldwide, gained a dedicated cult of adoring fans, spawned a hugely popular <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1132620/" style="color: rgb(2, 68, 106); text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; ">Swedish film series</a>, and set in motion <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1568346/" style="color: rgb(2, 68, 106); text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; ">a Hollywood remake</a> directed by celebrated filmmaker David Fincher.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 1.4; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >There is really only one reason for the massive success of Larsson’s trilogy: a fascinating, unique, and entirely fictional young woman named Lisbeth Salander. While the books’ Swedish setting, their overtones of political and social criticism, and their main character, the plodding journalist and obvious Larsson alter ego Michael Blomquist, are interesting variations on the conventional mystery, it is Salander who elevates the proceedings into something entirely new in crime fiction.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><i><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">Continue reading at </span></span><a href="http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/the-objectivist-with-the-dragon-tattoo/" style="line-height: normal; ">Pajamas Media » The Objectivist with the Dragon Tattoo</a></span></i></p></div>benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00583970274145351152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2184282833658363618.post-77509484904195602392011-03-18T03:13:00.000-07:002011-03-18T03:18:04.537-07:00What J Street Means When It Says ‘Pro-Israel’<div><span class="Apple-style-span"><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 1.4; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span">There are certain terms whose meanings are — or seem like they ought to be — obvious. The term “pro-Israel” is one of them. One presumes that it simply means having positive sentiments toward the state of Israel and sympathy for its political or military position. In our strange day and age, however, this is no longer the case. Even the simplest terms have become hopelessly foggy.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 1.4; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span">Indeed, there is now something of a quiet but impassioned debate within the American Jewish community over what it means to be “pro-Israel.” This dispute has gone public with the emergence of the left-wing lobby J Street. Advertising itself as both “pro-Israel” and “pro-peace,” J Street both implicitly and explicitly attacks its rivals — especially the much older and more influential lobbying group AIPAC — as being neither. Critics of J Street attack the group as itself neither pro-Israel nor pro-peace, but rather pro-Palestinian or pro-Arab.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 1.4; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: normal; "><i>Continue reading at <a href="http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/what-j-street-means-when-it-says-pro-israel/?singlepage=true">Pajamas Media » What J Street Means When It Says ‘Pro-Israel’</a></i></span></p></span></div>benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00583970274145351152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2184282833658363618.post-66573755904707075622011-02-25T09:01:00.000-08:002011-02-25T09:02:52.787-08:00Peter Beinart’s Liberal Fantasies<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >It is a difficult thing to keep one’s head when the world is in a state of euphoria. This is probably why so much of the coverage of recent events in Egypt, including the recent resignation of Hosni Mubarak and the installation of a military government, has lacked the kind of elementary skepticism that ought to be applied to any event of such potential magnitude. To a certain extent, this is understandable. The intoxicating power of revolutionary change is very real, and can overwhelm even the most cynical personality. It becomes problematic, however, when people become so addicted to it that, like any run-of-the-mill alcoholic, the suggestion that they might have a problem throws them into a defensive rage. The reaction toward Israel’s cautious skepticism in regard to the Egyptian revolution provides a case study in the phenomenon, with many apparently intelligent and worldly journalists throwing themselves into spasms of inchoate fear and loathing at the Israelis’ refusal to jump on the happy bandwagon. What this has revealed is not so much the childlike naïveté lurking beneath the sophisticated exterior of many commentators, but also their tendency to abandon their own intelligence whenever Israel is involved.</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><a href="http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/peter-beinarts-liberal-fantasies/?singlepage=true">Continue reading at Pajamas Media.</a></span></span></div>benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00583970274145351152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2184282833658363618.post-34663301031949292412011-01-31T13:36:00.000-08:002011-01-31T13:36:05.918-08:00Watching Egypt Burn: An Israeli Perspective<p>Like the rest of the world, Israel doesn’t know what to think about the revolution in Egypt. We aren’t even sure if it really is a revolution. We certainly don’t know if it’s good or bad. And we have absolutely no idea what the eventual outcome will be. Unlike the rest of the world, what is happening now in Egypt has immediate and potentially disastrous consequences for the Jewish state.</p><p><a href="http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/watching-egypt-burn-an-israeli-perspective/?singlepage=true">Continue reading at Pajamas Media.</a></p>benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00583970274145351152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2184282833658363618.post-65988538505259199252011-01-25T12:19:00.000-08:002011-01-25T12:19:57.416-08:00Is Israeli Democracy Finished?<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; color: rgb(85, 85, 85); line-height: 22px; "><p style="color: rgb(85, 85, 85); ">In a now somewhat notorious <a href="http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2041613,00.html" style="color: rgb(33, 33, 33); text-decoration: underline; ">story</a> published on January 11, <i>Time</i>magazine announced that Israeli politics was taking an ominous "rightward lurch." Citing, among other things, a newly proposed law that would require an oath of allegiance from naturalized citizens, another that would strip Israelis convicted of espionage and terrorism of their citizenship, a motion to investigate local NGOs that receive funding from foreign governments, and statements made by certain rabbis calling on Jews not to rent property to Arabs, the magazine's Jerusalem correspondent concluded that the Middle East's only democracy is on the slippery slope toward something like . . . fascism. According to one source quoted in the article, Israeli society today is reminiscent of nothing less than "the dark ages of different places in the world in the 1930s."</p><p style="color: rgb(85, 85, 85); ">While Israel-bashing of all kinds is much in style these days, the <i>Time</i> article was sufficiently inflammatory to elicit a vigorous point-by-point rebuttal from the office of Prime Minister Netanyahu. What the rebuttal did not mention is that the fascism charge was itself both the product and an echo of the rhetoric of Israel's own domestic Left. Indeed, over the last year or so, going well beyond the heated criticisms expected of a political opposition, the Israeli Left has exhibited signs of a serious <span style="text-decoration: underline; "><a href="http://www.jewishideasdaily.com/content/module/2010/8/25/main-feature/1/zionism-derangement-syndrome" style="color: rgb(33, 33, 33); text-decoration: underline; ">derangement</a></span>. Lately, however, it seems to have gone altogether around the bend.</p></span></div><div><a href="http://www.jewishideasdaily.com/content/module/2011/1/25/main-feature/1/is-israeli-democracy-finished">Continue reading at JIDaily.</a></div>benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00583970274145351152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2184282833658363618.post-44520297281725919272011-01-11T02:31:00.000-08:002011-01-11T02:33:47.495-08:00Loughner and How America Treats Its Mentally Ill<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 1.4; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">When I was twenty years old, I smashed through a plate-glass tabletop with a hammer. It scared the hell out of my co-workers and, I must admit, it scared the hell out of me too. I did not do it for any logical reason. It was an eruption of raw emotion, mainly rage and frustration. The immediate cause was nothing less innocuous than hitting my thumb with a hammer. Almost immediately after it was over, and I looked down at the shards of glass and felt the eyes of other people on me, I felt nothing but confusion and shame. I had no idea what had come over me. But I knew that it was a sign that something was wrong. Very wrong. Looking back on it now, the fact that I was suffering from a form of mental illness is so obvious that I wonder how I managed to miss it, or deny it, at the time.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 1.4; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">My illness is a relatively mild one, a form of chronic depression marked by occasional hypomanic episodes. It is somewhat more severe than ordinary depression, but a great deal less severe than bipolar disorder and other, far more terrifying diseases of the mind. It requires no more than two pills a day to keep it relatively under control, and the side effects, while irritating at times, are negligible. In many ways, I count myself lucky. It is perhaps for this reason that I found myself, somewhat against my will, identifying with Jared Loughner, the young man who shot and horribly wounded Representative Gabrielle Giffords and killed six others last Saturday.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 1.4; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">Continue reading <a href="http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/loughner-and-how-america-treats-its-mentally-ill/">at Pajamas Media</a>.</p></span></span>benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00583970274145351152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2184282833658363618.post-30462013695869008342011-01-09T11:29:00.000-08:002011-01-12T11:30:37.012-08:00Obama’s Irrelevant Bid for Mideast Peace<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 1.4; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not always a zero-sum game. Sometimes both sides win, and this is one of those times. It must be admitted that this is a somewhat counterintuitive idea, especially since most observers of the peace process seem to think that the breakdown in negotiations between the two parties is an unmitigated disaster for all involved.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 1.4; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">In fact, it is a disaster only for the Obama administration, and both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas have the right to claim something like a victory.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 1.4; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">Continue reading <a href="http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/obamas-irrelevant-bid-for-mideast-peace/">at Pajamas Media</a>.</p></span></span>benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00583970274145351152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2184282833658363618.post-38327099928767583492010-12-13T02:09:00.000-08:002011-01-14T02:11:16.509-08:00Christopher Hitchens’s Jewish Problem<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; color: rgb(85, 85, 85); line-height: 22px; "></span><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" >The fact that Christopher Hitchens has a problem with the Jews has been an open secret for years. No one much likes to talk about it, and for various reasons his journalistic peers have remained silent on the subject. But it is nonetheless the case, and there is little sense in denying it.</span></span></span><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" >Continue reading <a href="http://www.jewishideasdaily.com/content/module/2010/12/13/main-feature/1/christopher-hitchenss-jewish-problem">at Jewish Ideas Daily</a>.<br /></span></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; color: rgb(85, 85, 85); line-height: 22px; "><br /></span></div></div>benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00583970274145351152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2184282833658363618.post-25054354289992077862010-11-16T02:11:00.000-08:002011-01-14T02:13:21.978-08:00Obama and Israel: What Now?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; "><span><span >Since the Obama administration's major defeat in the American midterm elections, commentators have been wondering how the new constellation of forces in Washington will affect the president's Middle East peace initiative. Among hopeful partisans of the administration's efforts, the favored position is that little is likely to change. They point out that the executive branch, not the legislature, makes foreign policy, and that the party holding Congress, whether Republican or Democratic, tends to have little say in such matters. In support of this point, they cite the lessons of history, especially the experience of Bill Clinton after the GOP sweep in 1994.</span></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; "><span><span ><span><span><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; "><span><span >Continue reading <a href="http://www.jewishideasdaily.com/content/module/2010/11/16/main-feature/1/obama-and-israel-what-now">at Jewish Ideas Daily</a>.</span></span></span></div>benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00583970274145351152noreply@blogger.com