Antisemitism is pure evil, and as Christians, we must combat it and denounce it. However, contrary to misconceptions in the church and in the media, the Israel-Palestine struggle is not a religious conflict but a complex political dispute rooted in human rights violations and decades of injustice. I believe in Israel’s right to exist and […]
Read MoreTag: Foreign Affairs
Why Biden and Bibi Are Tangling, and Why Biden Could Win
After Hamas’s brutal attack on October 7, Biden prioritized his commitment to Israel’s security over his distaste for its leader. But Netanyahu has done nothing to make the truce last. When Biden told Capehart, “It’s contrary to what Israel stands for,” he was referring specifically to the death toll in Gaza. Arguably, though, the comment […]
Read MoreThe British Royal Family Is Losing Its Media Touch
The British press has been largely mum on the whole thing until now, which is unsurprising and traditional. When Charles’s great-uncle Edward VIII dated a divorced American named Wallis Simpson in the 1930s, British newspapers ignored the brewing scandal for as long as they could while their American counterparts, freed from social mores and a […]
Read MorePrincess Catherine’s Weird and Worrying Photo Scandal
The British press has been largely mum on the whole thing until now, which is unsurprising and traditional. When Charles’s great-uncle Edward VIII dated a divorced American named Wallis Simpson in the 1930s, British newspapers ignored the brewing scandal for as long as they could while their American counterparts, freed from social mores and a […]
Read MorePrincess Kate’s Weird and Worrying Photo Scandal
The British press has been largely mum on the whole thing until now, which is unsurprising and traditional. When Charles’s great-uncle Edward VIII dated a divorced American named Wallis Simpson in the 1930s, British newspapers ignored the brewing scandal for as long as they could while their American counterparts, freed from social mores and a […]
Read MoreIs Joe Biden Uniquely Indifferent to Palestinian Suffering?
The Biden administration has claimed repeatedly that it is working to reduce civilian casualties, increase humanitarian aid, and press the Israelis to conduct the war in a less indiscriminate way. That may be, but the numbers speak for themselves, and while the administration is sending one message from its podiums, it has repeatedly circumvented Congress […]
Read MoreBiden’s Three-Pronged Approach to the Middle East Gives Peace a Chance
As The Washington Post’s David Ignatius reported, Biden and his team have worked assiduously with the leaders of Saudi Arabia to create a proposal for normalizing relations with Israel—a major goal of Bibi’s. The kicker, of course: Saudi agreement would be contingent on Israel’s acceptance of a clear path to a Palestinian state. For Israel […]
Read MoreThe Time Has Come for Israel and Its Allies to Make a Choice
Since those days in the 1960s and 1970s, Palestinians have carried out attacks against Israelis, some of which have included attacks on civilian Israelis and airplane hijackings. Israel has labeled the PLO and all attacks against Israeli occupiers (including attacks against soldiers) to be acts of terrorism. It would take a while, but eventually Palestinian […]
Read MoreThe Mood in Israel Is Grim and Despairing
One thing I didn’t expect to feel during this current visit to Israel was calm. But I felt it the second I landed—sad, even depressed, but calm. For two weeks, I escaped from the vitriol in the American streets, the canceling of friends online, the arguments about Israel’s right to exist. No one is paying […]
Read MoreWho Is Marwan Barghouti, and Why Is He Israel’s Most Important Prisoner?
This initiative makes the parameters of an agreement clear, according to Fares, with “solutions—Jerusalem, refugees, borders, economic cooperation, everything. Some people criticize us because of the exchange of border swaps.” The compromise is to split Palestine. “All this land is Palestine,” he told me. “But when we signed the agreement, it became Palestine and Israel, […]
Read MoreIsrael’s “Right to Exist” Is a Rhetorical Trap
Apparently, it was not. The specific meaning of the phrase relies a lot on things unsaid or implied: Both the nature of the supposed refusal and the implication that denying Israel’s “right to exist” means denying Jews’. It also depends a lot on the dependent clauses that come after that word: “as a state,” “in […]
Read MoreHow Jesus’s Hometown Is Coping With War at Christmas
Some of Bethlehem’s Syriacs have been displaced multiple times over. Joseph Khano was born in Bethlehem to Syriac parents who found refuge there after fleeing their home in what is now Turkey. He grew up in West Jerusalem. He told me that in 1948, his family was forced to flee, this time from the Nakba, […]
Read MoreIt’s Not Just the Killing. Why Must Israel Dehumanize Palestinians?
What is interesting in both cases, the stripping and the toy store incident, is that someone took time to film them, and others had no problem in distributing them widely. Why? The only explanation that one can surmise from these actions is that they were carried out to show to the Israeli public, which felt […]
Read MoreA Would-Be Dictator Welcomes the World’s Beauty Queens
They were just a few blocks from the Intercontinental when they made a last turn onto a boulevard that was blocked by dozens of police and soldiers, who belted into a loudspeaker, “Señores from MOVIR: You cannot proceed!” A soldier perched in the hatch of a Yagu-brand tank—reportedly acquired from Israel last year so Bukele […]
Read MoreMiss Universe in the World’s Newest Autocracy
They were just a few blocks from the Intercontinental when they made a last turn onto a boulevard that was blocked by dozens of police and soldiers, who belted into a loudspeaker, “Señores from MOVIR: You cannot proceed!” A soldier perched in the hatch of a Yagu-brand tank—reportedly acquired from Israel last year so Bukele […]
Read MoreI Opposed Humphrey in ’68. All I Did Was Help Prolong the Vietnam War.
In November, Richard Nixon won a narrow victory over both Humphrey and George Wallace, the right-wing populist from Alabama who suggested that anti-war dissenters be indicted for treason. A shift of less than 88,000 votes from the Republican to the Democrat in just four states (Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, and Alaska) would have given Humphrey […]
Read MoreI Opposed Humphrey in ’68. All I Did Was Help Prolong the Vietnam War.
In November, Richard Nixon won a narrow victory over both Humphrey and George Wallace, the right-wing populist from Alabama who suggested that anti-war dissenters be indicted for treason. A shift of less than 88,000 votes from the Republican to the Democrat in just four states (Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, and Alaska) would have given Humphrey […]
Read MoreYes, Israel Is a Colonialist State. But Does That Matter Today?
Those who call for decolonization sometimes compare Israel’s situation to that of South Africa and Algeria—two countries that were decolonized. But in these countries, the settlers had only the most tenuous hold over the native inhabitants. In South Africa in 1990, as apartheid was about to end, whites made up only 17 percent of the […]
Read MoreDid Henry Kissinger Hate the Jews?
The former group spanned the political spectrum, from the democratic socialists Irving Howe and Michael Walzer to neoconservatives such as Seymour Martin Lipset and Norman Podhoretz. There was no room for disagreement between the two poles, however, because the only issue discussed was Israel’s security and how to best ensure it. Kissinger posed as Israel’s […]
Read MoreHenry Kissinger Only Cared About One Thing
Far from blemishing his record, Kissinger’s willingness to inflict remorseless violence in the service of an abstract conception of U.S. grand strategy was precisely his appeal. Kissinger’s crimes—a nonexhaustive list would include the illegal carpet-bombings of Cambodia and Laos, the extermination campaigns in Bangladesh and East Timor, and the support for right-wing military juntas from […]
Read MoreBiden Can’t Save America From Trump if He Alienates Young Voters Over Gaza
But it’s not just young voters Biden has to contend with on this issue: 68 percent of all voters favor a cease-fire in Gaza, versus the 31 percent who support sending Israel weapons. And yet, Biden continues to refuse to call for an enduring cease-fire. The expectation in the White House is that after the […]
Read MoreThe Ultimate Cost of Biden’s Refusal to Call for a Full Cease-fire in Gaza
More bad news for Biden: Young voters tend to be loyal not to a party or candidate but to their preferred policy objectives, often voting on a single issue. They didn’t vote for Biden in 2020; they voted against Trump, more specifically his policy agenda. They weren’t excited about Biden, but their lack of enthusiasm […]
Read MoreHamas’s Main Source of Funding Might Surprise You
Hamas has even experimented in recent years with using cryptocurrencies to evade government surveillance. While the full extent of its efforts is unknown, Israel as recently as mid-October continues to freeze Hamas-linked crypto accounts. Even with these diversified income streams, the money itself never has to touch Gaza. Hamas and its allies, like most sophisticated […]
Read MoreHamas Will Survive Israel’s Invasion of Gaza
Hamas has even experimented in recent years with using cryptocurrencies to evade government surveillance. While the full extent of its efforts is unknown, Israel as recently as mid-October continues to freeze Hamas-linked crypto accounts. Even with these diversified income streams, the money itself never has to touch Gaza. Hamas and its allies, like most sophisticated […]
Read MoreOnce, There Was Hope in Gaza. I’d Like to Think There Can Be Again.
Given this instability, thousands of talented youths emigrated from Gaza. In addition, businesspeople, women, elite medical doctors, professors, and teachers, losing their faith in Gaza’s future, made their way to Europe. Palestinian civil society in Gaza has suffered from financial deficits, lack of international funding, and weak investment in education, technology, and innovation. I continue […]
Read MoreMeet the Knesset Member Who Revived the Two-State Solution
Kariv does suggest a broad outline for moving forward once the fighting is done. “We should insist on three principles,” he told me. “One is that Hamas cannot control the Gaza Strip. Two, that Israel will not recontrol the lives of two million Palestinians. And third, with the involvement of the international community, the moderate […]
Read MoreHere’s the Horror Hamas Left in Its Wake at One Kibbutz
In the living room, on the rubble, lies a single Hebrew page from the Book of Psalms burned around the edges. “Save me from my enemies, O my God, secure me against my assailants,” reads an intact verse. A murmur in my mind tells me I am walking through people’s exposed lives, that I am […]
Read MoreThe Palestinian People Should Be Enraged at Both Israel and Hamas
Israel believed that both Palestinian factions were essentially content with ruling their own little fiefdoms, but over the past couple of years Hamas has clearly been developing other ideas. It was making no headway in advancing control of the national movement despite Israeli policies that made Fatah and the PLO look weak and pathetic. Hamas […]
Read MoreWhy We on the Israeli Left Feel Hit From Both Sides
On the morning of October 7, over 2,000 Hamas terrorists marched into Israeli towns and kibbutzim in the south of Israel, entered the houses, killed their inhabitants, burned the houses of those who were hiding in safe spaces, and kidnapped over 230 Israelis, including babies, children, old people, and women. Many of those who were […]
Read MoreThis War Will Not End Well for Anybody
But to extend that fairness, it’s a mistake to believe that American presidents can move Israeli leaders to do anything they really don’t want to do. It has almost never happened since the state was founded in 1948. Even the smallest concession by Israel demands a degree of confrontation from the U.S. that is clearly […]
Read MoreWe’re Seeing the Calamitous Cost of Ignoring Palestine
While this might be the worst-case scenario for Palestinians in Gaza, it isn’t the bottom of the abyss. Beyond Gaza the region is boiling. Protests erupted across the Arab and Muslim world and well beyond it at a scale and scope we have not seen in the region since the Arab Spring. Abdel Fattah El […]
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