Last week, Jared Kushner and various other Trump administration officials met with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas reportedly urged the Americans to publicly endorse the two state solution. The Americans refused. The reason, according to the Washington Post, is that Kushner and company believe “that it is down to the two sides, not them, to agree on a way forward.” …
What did you feel when you heard the neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, Virginia, chant, “Jews will not replace us?” Fear, of course. Bewilderment, perhaps anger. But I bet a lot of Jews felt another emotion, which they’re less likely to articulate in public: snobbery. “Replace you? Where, behind the counter at Wendy’s? We’re successful, industrious, upper-middle class. You’re the dregs of society. Replace you? Don’t kid ...
When I heard Donald Trump say in his Tuesday press conference that there were “fine people” among the marchers in Charlottesville, Virginia, who protested the removal of a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee, it brought me back. …
If you want to understand American Jewish politics in the Donald Trump era, pay close attention to the skirmish last week between the Anti-Defamation League and Ohio Republican State Treasurer and U.S. Senate candidate Josh Mandel. It’s a foretaste of things to come. …
When Benjamin Netanyahu begins an official visit to Hungary today, he will mark one of the most remarkable alliances in world politics: The alliance between a prime minister of the Jewish state and a group of would-be authoritarians who exploit anti-Semitism for political gain. …
Over the coming years, environmental scientists will probably chronicle the many species that Donald Trump’s presidency has brought to extinction. Political scientists may add another: the conservative Jewish intellectual. …
Last week in Poland, President Trump uttered this remarkable statement: “Americans, Poles and nations of Europe value freedom and sovereignty. We must work together to confront forces, whether they come inside or out, from the south or the east, that threaten over time to undermine these values and to erase the bonds of culture, faith and tradition that make us who we are.” ...
When people ask what gives me hope that the American Jewish community will one day defend freedom and justice for Israelis and Palestinians, rather than defending Benjamin Netanyahu, I answer: “If Not Now.” A Millennial-powered movement, speaking in an authentically Jewish idiom, which challenges American Jewish leaders to meet the moral responsibilities of power, is exactly what American Jewry needs. …
Watch the American debate over Israel closely and you notice an intriguing symmetry. In official Washington, where establishment Jewish groups wield power, they erect a de facto litmus test for Palestinians: Endorse Zionism or we will bar you from the halls of power. Earlier this month, for instance, Nadia Ben-Youssef, a representative of Adalah, which advocates for Palestinian citizens of Israel, said at a panel ...
When it comes to Palestinians, the American Jewish establishment is in the ignorance business. The average American synagogue has never hosted a Palestinian speaker. The average “pro-Israel” activist has never read a book by a Palestinian author. The American Jewish philanthropists who fund Birthright send thousands of young American Jews to Israel each year, on a program that systematically excludes the voices of 50% of ...