Israel/Palestine
An open letter to Andrew Sullivan
Dear Andrew, You have written approvingly (here and here) of John Mearsheimer’s recent speech in which he divided American Jews into three camps: “New Afrikaners,” or right-wing supporters of Israel; “righteous Jews,” i.e., critics of Israeli policy toward the Palestinians; and the “great ambivalent middle.” I’d like to focus on something that you glossed over entirely in your remarks: Mearsheimer’s
Defying the boycott thugs
Proponents of an anti-Israel boycott have tried to pressure Amitav Ghosh, one of my intellectual heroes, to turn down the Dan David Prize. Ghosh has declined to do so, and his reasoning is characteristically eloquent. Margaret Atwood, Ghosh’s co-recipient of the prize, has also rebuffed the boycotters, and just as eloquently. [Via Normblog, Engage.] In marked contrast, Gil Scott-Heron seems
Greenwald on Goldberg
There’s something a little disgusting about Glenn Greenwald, in this post, taking a cheap shot at Jeffrey Goldberg, portraying Goldberg as some sort of bloodthirsty oppressor of Palestinians, when Goldberg’s position on Middle East peace is in fact more admirable than most. Goldberg, today: I’m for the creation of a Palestinian state on one hundred percent of the West Bank
Mahathir Mohamed, from the heart
I think this qualifies as a remarkable statement: The Jews had always been a problem in European countries. They had to be confined to ghettoes and periodically massacred. But still they remained, they thrived and they held whole Governments to ransom. Even after their massacre by the Nazis of Germany, they survived to continue to be a source of even
“As a Jew”
Three words that have come to make my hair stand on end. Here is Mary-Kay Wilmers, editor of the London Review of Books (via Norm): “I’m unambiguously hostile to Israel because it’s a mendacious state. They do things that are just so immoral and counterproductive and, as a Jew, especially as a Jew, you can’t justify that.” And then, this:
Israel-Palestine via Toronto
Sanctimonious lefties, including such performers as David Byrne, have lent their signatures to an odious campaign to protest a series of Israeli films being shown at the Toronto International Film Festival. (Hat tip Ben Cohen.) One of the committee members is Naomi Klein, who debased herself as an apologist for the Mahdi Army in 2004. One of the signatories is
“Liberators”
Here at Lerterland we take a dim view of Israeli human rights abuses, and are annoyed by those who excuse them. We’re equally miffed by the tendency on the left to excuse Hamas’s antisemitism and vicious terror attacks, and to ignore altogether its clear record of violence against Palestinians themselves. The indispensable Human Rights Watch, all too often attacked for
Michael Scheuer, hatemonger
Jeffrey Goldberg cites a string of extraordinary comments by ex-CIA analyst Michael Scheuer. I’d seen this over a week ago and didn’t have time to remark on it. Pro-Israel Americans, Scheuer argues, are a “fifth column,” “disloyal citizens,” “enemies of America’s republican experiment and will have to be destroyed” and so on. People turn to Scheuer as an expert commentator on