Anti-Zionism
A New Germany?Thursday, April 14, 2011 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
At a joint press conference in Berlin on April 7, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked German Chancellor Angela Merkel for the atmosphere of mutual trust and friendship in which their just-concluded talks had taken place. Germany, he averred, was "a great friend" of Israel. Yet any sober assessment of the Germany-Israel relationship would have to come to a different conclusion.
Clash of CivilizationsFriday, April 8, 2011 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The death toll in Afghanistan has passed the two-dozen mark in the riots "inspired" by Pastor Terry Jones's burning of a Quran in Florida. The grisly political theater has served its purpose.
“We Love Death”Wednesday, April 6, 2011 by Aryeh Tepper | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
In 2007, two years before he killed thirteen people and wounded twenty-nine at Fort Hood, Texas, Nidal Malik Hasan prepared a slide show for his fellow Army doctors on the subject of Islam. One of his last points read: "We love death more than you love life!"
Gandhi and the JewsTuesday, April 5, 2011 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
A new book about Mohandas Gandhi (1869–1948) has set off stormy protests in India for implying that the country's founding father was bisexual. That's only the beginning of it.
The Archeology WarThursday, March 31, 2011 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The Islamic Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) was founded in 1979 by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). It has three basic goals. The first is to spread a Saudi version of Koranic education throughout the Islamic world. The second is to publicize Islam to the non-Islamic world. The third goal is to oppose the "Judaization of Al-Quds"—i.e., Jerusalem.
Gaza Endgame?Wednesday, March 30, 2011 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
A March 26 meeting in Ramallah between an unofficial delegation of West Bank Hamas "parliamentarians" and Mahmoud Abbas, chairman of the Palestinian Authority and leader of the Fatah party, was ostensibly about reconciling the two factions. Actually it was about much more.
The Fate of Muslim ModeratesMonday, March 21, 2011 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The recent uprisings in the Middle East seemed, at least at first, to send a reassuring signal to Western observers: not only did genuinely moderate Muslims exist, and not only were they capable of finding a political voice, but there was reason to hope that, given time to organize and grow in strength, they might succeed in winning out against the voices of repression and Islamist extremism.
Toward a Pluralistic Middle East?Thursday, March 17, 2011 by Aryeh Tepper | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
As the Middle East lurches through the present confusion of civil war, revolution, and mass protest, decent people everywhere wonder about the chances of a more pluralistic and democratic order emerging. One way of measuring progress in that direction will be to track the treatment of minorities like the Berbers and the Jews.
The Peace Plan Israel NeedsTuesday, March 15, 2011 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Israel's wobbly friends in Europe and the U.S. are renewing their pressure on Jerusalem to "do something" about the "unsustainable" stalemate in the "peace process." As German Chancellor Angela Merkel scolded Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: "You haven't made a single step to advance peace."
An Open Letter to the Arab StreetWednesday, March 9, 2011 by Benjamin Kerstein | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
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.
Editors' Picks
Breaking the Fourth Wall Steven Hayward, Powerline. A young photojournalist exposes how his colleagues have become not merely part of the story of Palestinian unrest on the West Bank, but the instigators of it. (Video)
Re: Occupy Marc Tracy, Tablet. A response to Commentary's feature article on Occupy Wall Street and the Jews.
Where are the Red Lines? Eli Lake, Daily Beast. New diplomacy between the U.S. and Israel has prompted conversations over what triggers would justify a preemptive attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.
"Fight Judaization!" Jonathan S. Tobin, Contentions. The tour of Arab capitals being conducted by Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh demonstrates that Hamas' goal is not only to destroy the State of Israel but to eradicate Jewish history.
Occupy Wall Street and the Jews Jonathan Neumann, Commentary. Predictably, the Occupy movement was plagued by conspiracy theories implicating Jews and Israel. Which makes the prominent Jewish involvement in the protests all the more curious and alarming.
Digging that Hole Efraim Karsh, Hudson New York. Attempting to defend his political science department against charges of bias, one professor betrayed the true depth of the problem by likening Israel to Nazi Germany in several key respects.
Don't Make BDS a Religion Lisa Goldman, +972. This speech by Amira Hass, a prominent Israeli journalist of the left—and its presentation by an Israeli website—show how the anti-Israel boycott debate has been affected by Israeli law. (Video)
Broken Barometers Gil Troy, Jerusalem Post. Linus Pauling scoffed at Dan Shechtman: "There is no such thing as quasicrystals, only quasi-scientists." Now Shechtman has collected his Nobel Prize—and Hillary Clinton should take heed.
Getting Iran Wrong Alan Johnson, Jewish Chronicle. Why have intellectuals from Foucault to Žižek found it so very difficult to see dictatorships for what they are, or to summon up the moral clarity to oppose them?
The Arab Spring and the Islamic State Ed Husain, New York Times. In the recent uprisings, the burning of American or Israeli flags was not a central display; the protesters focused on internal, national problems. That's how they must continue.