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Tribal Trouble: The Changing Nature of American Jews’ Relationship to Israel and the Question of Jewish Unity

By Shaul Magid

…orbit. That is, if Zionism (which is often really not much more than “pro-Israelism” or Israel advocacy as an identarian act) is identical to Jewishness, then challenging Zionism is an attempt to undermine the Jews. Ergo, anti-Semitism. The accusation of anti-Semitism as a policing tool to discredit these Jewish progressives may be a desperate effort to maintain the Zionism-Judaism identification without which Jews would have to construct new for…

Too Hot for Shul: Rabbis Seek Healthy Israel Dialogue After Gaza

By Sarah Posner

…nged his mind and believed Israel’s war was justified. Yet analysts on the Israeli left have made a powerful case that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s strategy was driven not by defense of Israeli civilians but by his cynical aim to undermine the peace process and the prospects for a two-state solution. Assaf Sharon, the academic director of the Israeli think tank Molad: The Center for the Renewal of Israeli Democracy, argued in a post…

RDBook: Bernard Avishai’s The Hebrew Republic

By Mitchell Plitnick

…aller share of state resources, but eager for a more prominent role in the Israeli economy. Israel’s ideally centrist leadership would be drawn initially from the first three groups. Tribe Four, the religious settlers, would doubtless be beneficiaries of increased globaliation. That is not to say that the religious sector would not benefit from increased globalization. A substantial portion of religious nationalists are very deeply involved in the…

Pariah or Charmed Hero: America’s Obsession with Jews and Israel

By Shaul Magid

…otype despite, or precisely due to, their pledge of uncritical support for Israel. Has Israel become America’s golden calf, worshiped as if it were something other than it is? It is an important ally and a democracy in the Middle East, but also a flawed country that at times deserves harsh criticism and not reflexive adoration. In other words, a “normal” country, as Theodore Herzl envisioned it over a century ago. Has the age-old obsession now eme…

The Collapse of the American Jewish Center

By Sarah Posner

…rends, along with growing repression of left-wing and dissenting voices in Israel. The current Israeli government, said Nathan Hersh, managing director of Partners for Progressive Israel, an American group allied with Israel’s liberal Meretz party, “is the further right government that I’ve seen in my lifetime.” Americans, he said, have become more conscious of “terribly racist” and “more blatant” comments tolerated by government officials. “That’…

Despite Conflation of Israel with Judaism, Anti-Zionism is More Kosher Than You Think

By Seth Sanders

…opposite. For 2000 years Jewish prayer has hoped ardently that the Land of Israel (Eretz Yisrael) would soon be redeemed by God and led by His Messiah; some even made pilgrimage to visit or dwell with others in the Holy Land. But there is surprisingly little evidence that Jews also always longed for a sovereign State of Israel (Medinat Yisrael) or to be a Middle Eastern political power. It turns out the idea may be shockingly recent, but its novel…

Electionpocalypse, Part II: The Mythical Jewish Vote

By Sarah Posner

…t at pushback against Republican charges that Obama is insufficiently “pro-Israel.” But the out-Israel-ing each is the stagecraft of self-preservation for an audience that has other things on its mind. There is no “Jewish vote.” Jews vote. A small number of them vote for Republicans. Most of them vote for Democrats. Every cycle the Republicans try to improve on their last performance, but Jews are overwhelmingly liberal. So Republicans try to draw…

Transforming America’s Israel Lobby

By Dan Fleshler

…common dilemma. “I know everything has to be revealed. B’Tselem helps keep Israel a democratic society. Israelis need to see themselves in the mirror. But I worry about the way this information is used by people who hate Israel.” American Jews who tell themselves that they are committed to human rights as well as Israel can often find justifications for Israeli activities the world doesn’t care for. The core argument is that what appears to be cru…

Goliath the Israel Slayer: Why Max Blumenthal’s New Book is a Painful Read

By Shaul Magid

…ropaganda in Education. The myth of what Palestinians actually learn about Israel and Israelis juxtaposed with what Israeli Jews learn about “Arabs,” Palestinians, and the “territories” is debunked in Peled-Elhanan’s work. It’s unfortunate that Blumenthal often gets details wrong. Some aren’t especially relevant, but if all you have are details, they all become relevant. Take the following passage from page 287: “Both [Peled-Elhanans] joined me in…

Clueless in Gaza

By Shalom Goldman

…ny buildings. As organized Jewish life became more focused on an idealized Israel—an Israel with no flaws and which had to be portrayed as a victim whatever the circumstances. Dissident Israeli opinion was discounted, marginalized, and eventually vilified. Israeli politicians on the right were acutely aware of this American tendency to idealize Israel in ways few Israelis could, and none more so than Ariel Sharon. In 1982, after the architect of I…