The United States and Israel:
Obama Meets With Israeli and Palestinian Leaders (New York Times, 24/07/08)
Escape From the Holy Shtetl (New York Magazine, 13/07/08)
Gitty Grunwald fled the pious world of her mother to return to the secular city of her grandparents. There’s only one problem: The Satmars kept her daughter. A family saga of four generations of American Jews.
No peace for Obama on Israel (Salon.com, 02/07/08)
He's facing nervous Jewish voters in Florida, attacks by Joe Lieberman and smear tactics in a political war that threatens his campaign.
The Kind of Friend Israel Needs (Forward, 19/06/08)
President Bush was in this part of the world last month, and I had the opportunity to attend two of his speeches, one at the Knesset, the other at the World Economic Forum in Sharm el Sheikh. On both occasions I found myself standing up and clapping for a president whose feelings of friendship for Israel cannot be doubted — but both times I got up so as not to be the only person in the room to remain seated.
US professors face hostile reception in Jerusalem (The Guardian, 09/06/08)
Board challenge on terror (The Jewish Chronicle, 06/06/08)
Three members of a Jewish human-rights organisation have accused the Board of Deputies of misusing its claim to speak for the Jewish community.
Obama to AIPAC: Jerusalem will remain Israel's undivided capital (Haaretz, 05/06/08)
At AIPAC, Wieseltier Seems Sad, Admitting the 'Harsh' Responsibility of Standing Up for Zionism as Intellectuals Flock to One-State Solution (Mondoweiss, 03/06/08)
McCain at AIPAC Offers Americans and Israelis the Same Gloomy, Insecure, Hope-Free Future (Huffington Post, 03/06/08)
Who's afraid of Finkelstein? (Haaretz editorial, 27/05/08)
On Friday morning, the State of Israel refused to allow Prof. Norman Finkelstein, an American Jewish political scientist, to enter the country. Finkelstein was arrested at the airport and questioned by the Shin Bet security service for several hours. A day later, it became known that he had been banned from entering Israel for 10 years, for security reasons. Finkelstein managed to meet with a lawyer, who told him his chances of changing the decision were slim. When the Shin Bet decides that someone constitutes a security risk, the courts do not intervene.
Israel imposes a 10-year ban on American critic of Israeli policies (Salon.com, 27/05/08)
Mr. Zbig (The American Conservative, 05/05/08)
Brzezinski brings wisdom—and controversy—to Barack Obama’s campaign
The Doors Are Opening... NYT Publishes Walt, Mearsheimer and a Nakba Jew (Mondoweiss, 20/05/08)
Bush and Israel’s Alamo (Rootless Cosmopolitan, 15/05/08)
"In January of last year, I wrote an op-ed in Haaretz suggesting that Israel ought to beware of riding in President Bush’s back seat, precisely because his Administration is pursuing a Middle East policy that is anything but sober. The “friendship” he offers is hardly likely to help Israel resolve any of its security dilemmas. And listening to what Bush said in his address to the Knesset, today, sobriety clearly remains a long way off: “Masada will never fall again,” he intoned, as in, “Remember the Alamo!”"
Should the U.S. help broker peace? (Los Angeles Times, 15/05/08)
George E. Bisharat says the U.S. injected itself into the peace process by serving as Israel’s abettor of Palestinian suffering. Judea Pearl replies that Palestinians ought to be honest about what they want — be it one state or two states.
Bush should stay home (Haaretz, 12/05/08)
If George Bush were a true friend of Israel, he would seize the investigation against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as an excuse to stay home tomorrow. Unless he has a rabbit in his hat, this will be the third time in the past half year that the U.S. president shows the Palestinians and the entire Arab world that they are wasting their time by trying to end the occupation by peaceful means. Writes Akiva Eldar.
5 Myths on Who's Really 'Pro-Israel' (Washington Post, 11/05/08)
Talking to Fisk: Truth as a Causality of War (The Palestine Chronicle, 17/04/08)
New kid on the block (The Guardian, 15/04/08)
The American-Jewish lobbying group J Street hopes to provide a fresh approach to Israeli-Palestinian peace - but it may face opposition from Aipac.
Reframing the Israel Debate (The Washington Independent, 15/04/08)
New PAC [political action committee] Forms to Support Two-State Solution Candidates.
Our debt to Jimmy Carter (Haaretz editorial, 15/04/08)
Carter Defends Plan To Meet Hamas Despite Israel Criticism (Agence France Presse, 13/04/08)
Inside Iraq - Motives for war (Al Jazeera English, 04/04/08)
Inside Iraq examines the 'official' and 'unofficial' reasons the US invaded Iraq and what, if any, was Israel's role in the decision to go to war.. Debate between Norman Finkelstein and John Mearsheimer.
Two faces of the Zionist lobby (Antony Loewenstein blog, 12/04/08)
Obama talks to JTA (JTA, 10/04/08)
In a wide-ranging exclusive interview with JTA, Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama stressed his support for Israel, but said both sides in the peace process must live up to their agreements. The U.S. senator also did not shy away from his insistence on sitting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and listening closely to Palestinian complaints.
Wiesel recruits Nobel laureates for Tibet (JTA, 24/03/08)
Elie Wiesel has recruited 25 of his fellow Nobel laureates to sign a letter condemning the Chinese government's "violent crackdown" on protesters in Tibet.
Who’s Afraid of Dick Cheney? (Rootless Cosmopolitan, 17/03/08)
A Debate on the Israel Lobby (Mondoweiss, 14/03/08)
Define Lobby! Define Apartheid! Ignore Both (Mondoweiss, 13/03/08)
Hillel Exhibit Draws National Criticism (The Harvard Crimson, 10/03/08)
The ongoing controversy fueled by the opening of an Israeli soldiers’ photo exhibit last week at Harvard Hillel has prompted attention from national Jewish organizations beyond Harvard’s Jewish community.
Unreconstructed Neocon Wurmser Decants 'Regime Change,' Holy War, and 'Goodbye to 2-State Solution' to a Thin Crowd (Mondoweiss, 07/03/08)
The Kids Are Alright (Forward editorial, 06/03/08)
Fears of American Jewry disappearing, drifting into a velvet oblivion of assimilation, have given rise to a cottage industry of research, outreach and alarm-ringing in recent years.
Study: Israel love not fading away (JTA, 05/03/08)
Flying in the face of two decades of research suggesting that American Jews feel less connected to Israel, a new report says that American Jews love Israel as much as they always have -- and that the connection may intensify over time.
The Gaza Bombshell (Vanity Fair, April 2008 edition)
After failing to anticipate Hamas’s victory over Fatah in the 2006 Palestinian election, the White House cooked up yet another scandalously covert and self-defeating Middle East debacle: part Iran-contra, part Bay of Pigs. With confidential documents, corroborated by outraged former and current U.S. officials, David Rose reveals how President Bush, Condoleezza Rice, and Deputy National-Security Adviser Elliott Abrams backed an armed force under Fatah strongman Muhammad Dahlan, touching off a bloody civil war in Gaza and leaving Hamas stronger than ever.
Iran Contra 2.0: How the Bush Admin Lied to Congress and Armed Fatah to Provoke Palestinian Civil War Aiming to Overthrow Hamas (Democracy Now, 05/03/08)
Obama and the ‘Jewish Vote’ (Rootless Cosmopolitan, 27/02/08)
In Cleveland, Obama Speaks on Jewish Issues (The New York Sun, 25/02/08)
Good for the Jews? Hillary Clinton's surrogates are questioning Obama's commitment to U.S.-Israel relations (Newsweek, 23/02/08)
Who Will Stop the Bulldozers? (The American Prospect, 18/02/08)
The Bush administration is supposedly committed to a freeze on Israeli settlement, as part of the bid to reach an Israeli-Palestinian agreement this year. So what are all those hardhats doing at building sites?
U.S. Jewish leader worried by thrust of White House campaigns (Haaretz, 13/02/08)
'I don't care if our pro-Zionist stance costs us' (Haaretz, 12/02/08)
Anyone who doesn't more or less share Marty Peretz's views on Israel or U.S. politics has little hope of getting a job at The New Republic, the editor-in-chief of the prestigious U.S. journal told Haaretz while in Israel last month.
Making Sense of Barack Obama (The Third Way: Finding Balance In Mideast Analysis, 08/02/08)
A Matter of Trust (The New Republic, 04/02/08)
Why the racist email campaign against Barack Obama worked
Obama's Israel Shuffle (Mother Jones, 01/02/08)
We must defeat Islamofascism (The Jerusalem Post, 04/02/08)
By Mike Huckabee.
Keeping it fair and balanced at the Los Angeles Times (JewishJournal.com, 01/02/08)
Q&A with Op-Ed Editor Nicholas Goldberg
Methodist Church Renews Drive For Divestment From Israel (Forward, 30/01/08)
Battle Lines Drawn Between Jewish Groups and Protestant Churches.
We need America's help (Ynet, 25/01/08)
US should recall its ambassador in order to prompt us to remove illegal outposts, writes A. B. Yehoshua.
Hamas Blows a Hole in Bush’s Plans (Rootless Cosmopolitan, 23/01/08)
The hole blown by Hamas in the Gaza-Egypt border fence has finally punctured the bubble of delusion surrounding the U.S.-Israeli Middle East policy.
There Won't Be Peace in the Middle East Till There's a Naqba Museum in the U.S. (Mondoweiss, 22/01/08)
Democracy is Poison to Arabs (New Matilda, 18/01/08)
George W Bush’s arrival in Israel and Palestine has been greeted with soaring rhetoric, writes Antony Loewenstein.
Did 'The Times' Leave Judy Miller Out in the Cold Because She Was Jewish? And Other Parochial Asides from an Angry Bill Kristol (Mondoweiss, 18/01/08)
American Jews Cannot Conduct a Discussion of Jewish Power Out of Earshot of 'the Goyim' (Mondoweiss, 16/01/08)
Bush: US Should Have Acted on Auschwitz (Associated Press, 11/01/08)
Bush calls for end of ‘occupation’ of Arab lands (MSNBC, 10/01/08)Calls for ‘painful concessions’ from both sides, predicts success within year.
Mike Huckabee, the candidate for transfer (Tapped, The group blog of The American Prospect, 08/01/08)When asked about a Palestinian state, Gov. Huckabee stated that he supports creating a Palestinian state, but believes that it should be formed outside of Israel.
Underwriting the Conflict in Hebron (The American Prospect, 20/12/07)When it comes to U.S. fundraising for Israeli settlements, donating to the Hebron Fund is not merely an expression of support for Israel, it's a perpetuation of the systematic oppression of Palestinians.
Haaretz Editor Urged Rice To ‘Rape’ Israel (The Jewish Week News, 26/12/07)
What's the hurry? (Haaretz, 27/12/07)
The Annapolis summit and the efforts to revive the peace process have exacerbated the tension that already existed between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Olmert's personal charm doesn't work on Rice, and the Prime Minister's Office is anxious about her tendency to push ahead too quickly with political contacts.
GOP Leader Calls For Revisions to Fatah Movement’s Outdated Charter (Forward, 26/12/07)
Survey: U.S. Jews are losing interest in Israel (Haaretz, 12/12/07)
New Poll Reveals How Unrepresentative Neocon Jewish Groups Are (Salon.com, 12/12/07)
Poll: Support for Palestinian state falls (JTA, 11/12/07)
American Jewish opposition to the Iraq war, concern over anti-Semitism and support for the Democrats have remained steady -- but support for a Palestinian state has dropped, an American Jewish Committee poll finds.
Why Annapolis Worked (Forward editorial, 30/11/07)
In the end, the Annapolis peace conference proved to be far less than the cataclysmic, watershed event that its sharpest critics had predicted. It unfolded, to everyone’s surprise, with very little upheaval. And for that reason, it might yet turn out to be far more than the pointless flop anticipated by the world-weary wise men.
Broken Peace Process (Foreign Policy Focus, 27/11/07)
There’s little reason to hope for a breakthrough at the Middle East peace summit in Annapolis, unless there is a fundamental shift in U.S. policy in addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And there’s little evidence to suggest such a change is forthcoming.
Not Through Annapolis (Democracy Now!, 27/11/07)
Noam Chomsky Says Path to Mideast Peace Lies in Popular Organizing Against U.S.-Israeli “Rejectionism”
A Policy That Dare Not Speak its Name (Rootless Cosmopolitan, 26/11/07)
There are several things going on at once in U.S. Middle East strategy. Perhaps these are unrelated or coincidental, but it is more interesting — and potentially more illuminating — to look at them as separate moving parts of a larger scheme. By Gary Sick.
Israel Lobby Rapped for Supporting Arabs (Forward, 21/11/07)
The America Israel Public Affairs Committee is coming under fire from one of its major donors, Sheldon Adelson, who said the pro-Israel lobby is giving too much support to the Palestinians in advance of the upcoming peace summit.
Get used to the Iranian bomb (Haaretz, 15/11/07)
Iraq comes home: the war of ideas (Mondoweiss, 12/11/07)
Now That the Religious Right Is History, Let's Talk About the Religious Left (Which Claims to be Secular) By Philip Weiss.
The Jewish Lobby Israel Needs (Forward, 07/11/07)
Academics expand Israel lobby case (Australian Literary Review, 07/11/07)
Review of Mearsheimer & Walt’s The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy by Antony Loewenstein.
Air Strikes First, Questions Later (Inter Press Service, 06/11/07)
More than two months after Israeli warplanes conducted a mysterious raid in northeast Syria, there is a growing consensus among U.S. government and independent analysts that the suspicious target was a nuclear facility.
Friends and enemies (The Guardian, 03/11/07)
That evangelical American Christians support Israeli government policies through thick and thin should come as no surprise to those who pay attention to Middle Eastern politics.
The New McCarthyism (The Nation, from the November 12, 2007 issue)
‘… None of these charges are true. You could look it up. I did, in El-Haj's book Facts on the Ground, about which these charges are made. The statements for which a network of right-wing critics assail her book are not there.’
USAF Struck Syrian Nuclear Site (Jerusalem Post, 02/11/07)
The September 6 raid over Syria was carried out by the US Air Force, the Al-Jazeera Web site reported Friday. The Web site quoted Israeli and Arab sources as saying that two strategic US jets armed with tactical nuclear weapons carried out an attack on a nuclear site under construction.
Are We Exaggerating the Power of the Israel Lobby? (Tikkun, 01/11/07)
I was invited to comment on a TV segment that his staff had put together about the Christian Zionist movement. What was particularly striking was how explicit and adamant the Christian Zionists were that Israel must refuse to make any deals that would lead to a transfer of land for peace. They were equally clear that the U.S. and Israel need a “preemptive” war with Iran. The Christian Zionists may be the largest element in the Israel Lobby, though they are not Jewish…
Carter’s Efforts To Mend Ties With Community Get Cold Shoulder / Foxman: ‘I Didn’t Want To Be Used’ (Forward, 31/10/07)
The Israel Lobby (Tikkun, 31/10/07)
It's Not Only the Israel Lobby, Other Interests Benefit from the Chaos (Antiwar.com, 31/10/07)
The new, public debate about the Israel lobby is missing a major point – the lobby's allies, the many other interests in America that want chaos in the Middle East.
Putting the 'Israel Lobby' in Perspective (Middle East Report, 31/10/07)
Orthodox rabbi breaks with norm (L.A. Times, 27/10/07)
Jewish leader's article says Israel must be open to talks of dividing Jerusalem. Impassioned, deeply divided responses quickly follow.
Intellectual terrorism (The Guardian, 26/10/07)
For the sake of free speech, British organisations should confront pro-Israel bullies, not appease them.
CAMERA blasts 'Jewish defamers' (JTA, 23/10/07)
The media watchdog group CAMERA held a conference this weekend titled "Israel's Jewish Defamers." The target: Jews who blast Israel with comparisons to Nazi Germany and apartheid South Africa.
'It's Hopeless!' Cynthia Ozick on the Battle With 'Jewish Defamers of Israel' (Philip Weiss, 22/10/07)
Muting the Alarm over the Israeli-Palestinian Confict / The New York Times versus Haaretz, 2000–06 (International Security, Vol. 32, No. 2 (Fall 2007), pp. 84–120 )
[.pdf file] The underlying assumption of this article is that the present situation is disastrous not only for Israel and the Palestinians but also for U.S. national interests. There is a wealth of information and critical commentary, much of it by Israelis, on the terrible consequences of Israel’s policies and behavior toward the Palestinians—and not just for the Palestinians but also for Israeli security, society, civil culture, and even the future of Israeli democracy.
How Israel Thinks (Forward, 19/10/07)
Israel’s foreign intelligence service, the Mossad, recently concluded that Syria is sincere in its offers to make peace with Israel in exchange for Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights. The assessment was reported last week in the mass-circulation Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot, based on sources within the Mossad. … the Israeli intelligence community is now unanimous in its view of Syrian sincerity.
Academic freedom at risk on campus (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 16/10/07)
"Academic colleagues, get used to it," warned the pro-Israel activist Martin Kramer in March 2004. "Yes, you are being watched. Those obscure articles in campus newspapers are now available on the Internet, and they will be harvested. Your syllabi, which you've also posted, will be scrutinized. Your Web sites will be visited late at night."
The Columbia Professor Who Also Doesn't Think Gay People Exist in the Middle East (The New Republic, 15/10/07)
Rudy Roughs Up Arabs (New York Times, 17/10/07)
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed this about the Democratic debates,” Rudy Giuliani said, “but they never use the word ‘Islamic terrorist.’ Ever.”
Bush warns nuclear Iran could spur 'World War III' (Haaretz, 17/10/07)
Critics of pro-Israel lobby hold parley (JTA, 16/10/07)
Several of the pro-Israel lobby's strongest critics gathered in Chicago to fight what they described as Jewish efforts to stifle academic freedom. ["In Defense of Academic Freedom" conference]
In Defense of Academic Freedom (Mr. Zine, 16/10/07)
Listen to the recordings of the "In Defense of Academic Freedom" conference (University of Chicago, 12 October 2007). Speakers include: Tariq Ali, Noam Chomsky, Akeel Bilgrami, Tony Judt, John Mearsheimer.
GOP hopefuls want Bush Jews (JTA, 15/10/07)Each of the leading GOP presidential candidates to some degree has run away from the Bush legacy. But this week they will be making their case before one of the president's most loyal constituencies: Republican Jews.
Ann Coulter's dream of a Jew-free America (Haaretz, 14/10/07)
… Coulter told an exasperated Jewish talk-show host that in her dreams, heaven - for that matter, America - is a place where everyone is Christian. / Where would the Jews have gone? She went on to explain that that Jews needed to convert to Christians in order to be "perfected," noting that Christians have a "fast track" to God.
Jewish group wants media to give "perfected Jew" Coulter cold shoulder (Israel Insider, 11/10/07)
The National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) called on mainstream media outlets to stop inviting Ann Coulter as a guest commentator/pundit and strongly condemned her comments that Jews should be "perfected" by accepting the New Testament and that America would be better off if Judaism were "thrown away" and all Americans were Christian.
The Tutu Heave-Ho (Forward, 10/10/07)
Not much lasting harm will come from the recent nastiness surrounding Archbishop Desmond Tutu and a Minnesota university that canceled his invitation to a human rights conference, for fear of offending the Jewish community.
Deal with it (Haaretz, 09/10/07)
Review of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy by John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt.
Surge Protectors - The mixed motives behind the Freedom’s Watch ad campaign (The American Conservative, 08/10/07)
Late this summer, just as American political armies were squaring off over the next, and likely last, act of President Bush’s Iraq War policy, a new pro-war group called Freedom’s Watch announced a $15-million ad buy over several months in key states. The first ads featured soldiers who had been maimed in Iraq but stood by the cause of a global war on terror. Political observers said they were targeted at the districts of Republican congressmen who were going wobbly on the war.
Changing the laws of war - Conference seeks to legitimize civilian casualties (National Catholic Reporter, 05/10/07)
The Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism in the United States and the Institute for Counter Terrorism in Israel are sponsoring a conference Oct. 8 in Washington to argue for changes in international humanitarian law -- also called the “laws of war” -- that protects civilians in armed conflict.
Jeffrey Goldberg's Prison (Counter Punch, 06/10/07)
In his hatchet job for the New Republic on Mearsheimer and Walt's new book The Israel Lobby, Jeffrey Goldberg dismisses their depiction of the Israel-Palestine conflict as "simply unrecognizable to anyone halfway fair and halfway learned about the Middle East," and he recommends instead his own book on the "moral failings of israel's occupation of Palestinian lands." It happens that Norman Finkelstein, who is more than halfway fair and halfway learned about the Middle East, has plowed through Goldberg's book. Here is his entirely irrefutable and absolutely devastating report.
Milton Viorst on ‘The Israel Lobby’ (Truth Dig, 04/10/07)
About 30 or so years ago, when I first began to write of my concern that Israel was embarked on a course that would lead only to recurring wars, or perhaps worse, I received a letter from Abraham H. Foxman, then as now the voice of the Anti-Defamation League, admonishing me as a Jew not to wash our people’s dirty linen in public. I still have it in my files. His point, of course, was not whether the washing should be public or private; he did not offer an alternative laundry. His objective was—and remains—to squelch anyone who is critical of Israel’s policies.
Lobbying Degree Zero (The Nation, 04/10/07)
To be sure, Mearsheimer and Walt are not anti-Semites, and The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy does not portray Israel as uniquely evil or "singularly pernicious." But just because a book is not bigoted does not mean it is good, and the one that Mearsheimer and Walt have written suffers from significant methodological deficiencies, which is a polite way of saying it's a mess.
My Favorite ‘Anti-Semite’ (Rootless Cosmopolitan, 03/10/07)
The utterly charming thing about the Zionist Thought Police is their apparent inability to restrain themselves, even from the very excesses that will prove to be their own undoing. Having asked sane and rational people to believe that Jimmy Carter is a Holocaust denier simply for pointing out the obvious about the apartheid regime Israel maintains in the occupied territories, the same crew now want us to believe that Archbishop Desmond Tutu is an anti-Semite. No jokes! That was the reason cited for Tutu being banned from speaking at St. Thomas University in Minneapolis. “We had heard some things he said that some people judged to be anti-Semitic and against Israeli policy,” explained university official Doug Hennes...
Two Knights and a Dragon (Information Clearing House, 04/10/07)
THERE ARE books that change people's consciousness and change history. Some tell a story, like Harriet Beech Stowe's 1851 "Uncle Tom's Cabin", which gave a huge impetus to the campaign for the abolition of slavery. Others take the form of a political treatise, like Theodor Herzl's "Der Judenstaat", which gave birth to the Zionist movement... The impact of these books was amplified by their timing. They appeared exactly at the right time, when a large public was ready to absorb their message.
It may well turn out that the book by the two professors, John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, "The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy", is just such a book. Writes Uri Avnery.
Dissenting at your own risk (Star-Telegram, 03/10/07)
Last year, I agreed to speak to a Jewish youth group about my organization, Jewish Voice for Peace, and our opposition to Israel's occupation. My talk was to follow one from a member of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which calls itself "America's pro-Israel Lobby."
A week before, a shaken program leader said the AIPAC staffer had threatened to get the entire youth program's funding canceled if I was allowed in the door. The threat worked, and in disgust, they canceled the whole talk.
Archbishop Tutu barred by U. of St Thomas because of criticism of Israel (MuzzleWatch, 03/10/07)
Rumors have been circulating for some time that Archbishop Desmond Tutu was banned by the University of St Thomas in Minnesota because of statements he made that some consider anti-Semitic. Now it’s official: winning the Nobel Peace Prize doesn’t protect you from charges of anti-Semitism if you criticize Israeli human rights violations. Neither, apparently, does being one of the most compelling voices for social justice in the world today, or even getting an honorary degree from and giving the commencement address at Brandeis.
‘The Israel Lobby’ Goes International (Forward, 03/10/07)
After hitting Europe earlier this month, “The Israel Lobby” is preparing for a frontal assault on the Muslim world.
The controversial book by American academics Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer, who accuse the pro-Israel lobby of hijacking American policy, hit bookstores in Europe in September and soon will be published across the Arab world and in Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country in the world.
Hebrew-only readers, however, will have to wait. To date, no Israeli publishing house has agreed to translate the book.
In Jews, Indian-Americans See a Role Model in Activism (The New York Times, 02/10/07)
When Anil Godhwani and his brother, Gautam, looked into creating a community center for Indian-Americans in Silicon Valley, they turned to the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco as a model.
Shifting Targets – The Administration’s plan for Iran (The New Yorker, 08/10/07)
In a series of public statements in recent months, President Bush and members of his Administration have redefined the war in Iraq, to an increasing degree, as a strategic battle between the United States and Iran. By Seymour Hersh.
Costs and benefits – The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy by John J Mearsheimer and Stephen M Walt makes Geoffrey Wheatcroft wonder when an alliance becomes a liability (The Guardian, 29/09/07)
The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States (Democracy Now, 25/09/07)
In a speech at Columbia University, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defended Iran's right to nuclear power but denied Iran was seeking to build nuclear weapons. Ahmadinejad's appearance sparked widespread protests at Columbia. We speak with Trita Parsi, author of "Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran and the United States" and Baruch professor Ervand Abrahamian, co-author of "Targeting Iran."
Case hosts controversial talk on Israel lobby (The Observer Online [The student newspaper of Case Western Reserve University], 28/09/07)
Ford Auditorium was host to a controversial talk Wednesday night by authors of a book critical of the Israeli lobby in U.S. government. The lecture had previously been cancelled in Chicago and New York, but went on with minimal protesting at Case.
An old Zionist dream: the partition of Iraq (The Cat's Blog, 27/09/07)
By Gabriele Zamparini
The Bum’s Rush (Forward editorial, 26/09/07)
If Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s fire-breathing buffoon of a president, had any doubts about the contempt and loathing he inspires in America and the West, his reception in New York this week should have cleared things up for him. Should have — but probably did not.
Why the Silence? (The Nation, from the October 1, 2007 Issue)
Two thousand years ago, in Pirkei Avot, the rabbis defined themselves as heirs of the prophets, whose task was to condemn the power grabs of kings and to demand peace and justice, even at the risk of their lives and freedom. Why, then, have almost all rabbis failed on this life-and-death moral issue to lead the American Jewish community--when even elected politicians were way ahead in defining the moral and practical failure of the war? And why have almost all other large Jewish organizations failed to speak out against the war?
On the way to a pariah state (Haaretz, 25/09/07)
Henry Kissinger used to say that Israel has no foreign policy, only internal politics. Listening to our politicians, you often indeed wonder whether any of them has any long-term strategy. Given that every Israeli politician is supposed to care for Israel's long-term survival, it is stunning to see that an important event in the U.S. with enormous implications for Israel has gone all but unnoticed here.
Eighteen months ago, two senior political scientists… published a paper claiming that U.S. Middle Eastern policy, including the misguided Iraq war and its unqualified support for Israel over the last decades, has run counter to true U.S. interests. They blame the influence of the Israel Lobby for this.
‘I Like This Violence’ / Censoring the U.S. role in Gaza’s civil war (FAIR [Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting], September/ October issue, 2007)
‘… As for the events that led up to Hamas’ takeover and the Bush administration’s role in them, these were hardly a secret—at least for the specialists who follow politics in the region closely. But Americans who rely on the mainstream media for their news were left in the dark as reporters did their best to keep any hint of the crucial background out of their coverage… The facts are no mystery.’
At a Philadelphia Synagogue, Fear of Walt/Mearsheimer (and the Myth of Jewish Powerlessness) (philipweiss.org, 20/09/07)
By Philip Weiss
Tomgram: Tony Karon on Growing Dissent among American Jews (Tom Dispatch, 13/09/07)
Professor Norman Finkelstein and DePaul End Tenure Dispute, But Effect on Academic Freedom Remains (Democracy Now, 10/09/07)
Professor Norman Finkelstein has resigned from DePaul University after the two sides agreed on a private settlement. The deal was announced just before a scheduled protest against the school’s decision to deny Finkelstein tenure and to cancel his classes this semester. As part of the settlement DePaul issued a statement that described Finkelstein as a “prolific scholar and an outstanding teacher.” Finkelstein has said DePaul’s decision to deny him tenure was a result of political opposition to his speaking out about the Israel-Palestine conflict. We speak with Finkelstein and his attorney, Lynne Bernabei.
Whose Human Rights Matter? NYT on Hezbollah and Israeli attacks on civilians (FAIR [Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting], 09/11/07)
Young US Jews 'detached' from Israel (Jerusalem Post, 06/09/07)
“Young American Jews are feeling increasingly alienated and disconnected from Israel, according to a study to be released Thursday by Professors Steven M. Cohen and Ari Y. Kelman. Based on the responses of more than 1,700 non-Orthodox American Jews of all ages, the study indicates that successively younger age groups show a greater detachment from the State of Israel.” Writes Ruth Eglash.
Mearsheimer, Walt and the Erudite Hysteria of David Remnick (Rootless Cosmopolitan – analysis and commentary by Tony Karon, 31/08/07)
The Wrong Guys (Forward: The Jewish Daily, 22/08/07)
“The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy” is not a good book, and it does no service to those who truly crave a more robust debate in this country. Still, if the Forward had been asked to participate in a debate with the professors, we would have done so happily. Helping them to market their book was a different story. But that’s the genius of the victimhood game: If you’ve been rejected, you’ve won in the court of public opinion.
US experts see more dangerous world for Americans (Ynet, 20/08/07)
‘A majority of top US foreign policy experts say the world is a more dangerous place for Americans today than just six months ago, thanks largely to the war in Iraq and a failing US war on terrorism, a new survey shows.’
The 10 year temporary aid package (Haaretz, 17/08/07)
‘The increase in U.S. military aid for Israel can justifiably be regarded as a failure rather than an achievement. After all, 10 years ago Jerusalem announced it would gradually eliminate its reliance on aid. But the new aid package, which was formalized yesterday in Jerusalem, proves Israel cannot be weaned from the American teat.’ Writes Shmuel Rosner.
Backlash Over Book on Policy for Israel (The New York Times, 16/08/07)
‘“The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy” is not even in bookstores, but already anxieties have surfaced about the backlash it is stirring, with several institutions backing away from holding events with the authors.’ Writes Patricia Cohen.
Soros and Media Heavyweights Attack Pro-Israel Lobby’s Influence on U.S. Policy (Forward, 23/3/07)
” The simmering debate over American policy toward Israel and the role of the Jewish community in shaping it exploded with near-nuclear force this week. Several of the nation’s best-known international affairs commentators fired salvos at pro-Israel lobbyists and defenders of Israel fired back with unprecedented fury.”
Can American Jews unplug the Israel lobby? (Salon, 20/3/07)
As Bush's unbalanced Mideast policies careen from disaster to disaster, people who don't toe the AIPAC line are beginning to speak out.
Round to AIPAC on Iran Provision - But the Fat Lady Is Just Warming Up (Znet, 17/3/07)
On Israel, America and AIPAC – George Soros (New York Review of Books, 12/4/07)
The Bush administration is actively supporting the Israeli government in its refusal to recognize a Palestinian unity government that includes Hamas, which the US State Department considers a terrorist organization. This precludes any progress toward a peace settlement at a time when progress on the Palestinian problem could help avert a conflagration in the greater Middle East.
Bloggers vs. the lobby (American Conservative, 14/3/07)
Israel’s propaganda fortress faces a surprising new challenge
Shutting Jewish mouths (LA Jewish Journal, 16/2/07)
”… The rule that American Jews don't have the right to speak out since they don't live in Israel and won't suffer the consequences of their ideas has visceral appeal but has proved, thankfully, unenforceable.”