Religion Dispatches
…the coming months yet another attempt will be made to parcel out parts of Israel in a futile effort to appease Israel’s enemies in the Middle East. I believe that misguided souls in Europe, I believe that the misguided souls in the political brothel that is now the United Nations, and, sadly, that even our own State Department will try once again to turn Israel into crocodile food. Winston Churchill said, “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile…
Read More
…h buildings, starting right around the same time. Talk about luxury on the cheap; it’s hard to deny a feeling of similarity. (The tower is to the Burj as a certain toupee is to hair: might the Trump Tower inadvertently mimic an Islamic motif?) The regal twin palm trees in the foreground are the world’s tallest, at some 3,500 feet each. Recently a falling coconut crushed an entire apartment complex, punching a massive hole that has filled up with…
Read More…ral of them) because the modern-day Persia wants to destroy the modern-day Israel. In an interview on an Israeli radio station, Netanyahu said (via Ynet): We are on the eve of Purim, and we remember the attempts in Persia back then to destroy Israel. Today, in the same Persia, there is a regime that engraves the destruction of the Jewish state on its flag. Let’s face it, though, Netanyahu did not say this for the benefit of Israelis–or at least fo…
Read More
…dopted a victim’s stance to justify their newfound political power. Recall Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister equating the borders of Israel with the fences of Auschwitz. Today it’s not the hapless disenfranchised homeless wanderers, but the politically viable nation-state, that’s hated. And, according to this mentality at least, for the very same reasons. Because they’re Jews. Ergo, anti-Zionism is antisemitism. This is the problem that generates t…
Read More
…of “Jews will not replace us!” and a Palestinian-American woman being anti-Israel (why shouldn’t she be?). We can’t, not only because Israel is so important to many of us, but because criticizing Jews is never really, or only, about criticizing Jews; it’s also, or primarily, about negating Jewish existence, whether that’s made explicit or not. This is captured in Weiss’ notion that anti-Semitism is “the grand unified theory of everything.” This pu…
Read More
…s back to 2012 when he filed a resolution in the legislature in support of Israel. The following year, Hagee took him on a junket to Israel. CUFI hosted a reception at the Dallas conference in July, and the agenda announced a private meeting between them and NACL. One of the three founding NACL board members was Happy Caldwell, a longtime director of CUFI. NACL leadership also overlaps with a powerful faction in the Southern Baptist world. Formed…
Read More…s. In the comic book superhero circumcision battle of the century, Captain Israel takes on Foreskin Man. Looking for some clerical training? A couple of reitirees in Oklahoma run an online Bible college, the Apostolic Faith Online Bible Institute. A study finds that more education does not drive you away from religion, but instead liberalizes your religious beliefs. Israel’s basketball league is attracting Jewish American players skipped over by t…
Read More…aelis as well, but Adelson is doing his best to spread the message through Israel HaYom (Israel Today), a free tabloid that is the country’s must-read news outlet. Adelson told reporters at the Jerusalem gathering that he does not dictate the newspaper’s coverage or editorials, but that both reflect his point of view and that of his close friend, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In a nation of news junkies, Israel HaYom is trying to steer public…
Read More
…good move. When I got to the lobby another something told me to dig out my phone and check it for messages. Sure enough, I had one from an unfamiliar number. A woman’s voice said Bedi was still sleeping, exhausted from the previous day’s overseas flight, and needed to reschedule our interview for that afternoon. I called the number back, convinced the opportunity was lost. “I’m here at the hotel now, but I’m booked solid this afternoon—” “Hold on,…
Read More
…den simply calculated he has more to gain from supporting than sanctioning Israel. Of course, it’s hard to believe that the harm to America, the ways in which this undermines our global position and reputation, is worth the cost; an expanding war that inevitably destabilizes the region hardly renders Israel more secure either—especially as its American patron becomes, as a result, even more globally isolated. But the math isn’t just incorrect, it’…
Read More