From the monthly archives:

November 2008

‘Empty, 61-Year-Old Promise of Palestinian State Is U.N.’s Greatest Failure’

by Philip Weiss25 November 2008

All you need to know about the Israel/Palestine situation (as I say often on this blog) is that in 1947, four groups were promised states in Asia: Indians, Pakistanis, Jews and Arabs in Palestine. Three of these groups got a…

For Countless Hires, Obama Turns to His Community-Organizing Past. Not!

by Philip Weiss25 November 2008

Obama’s still opaque to me. I have no idea of his motivation. Scares me that he has hired so many Harvard Law School grads you can’t even count em. Bill Clinton was into Rhodes Scholars, another meritocratic blue ribbon. Mike…

‘The only whites in South Africa who can claim not to have backed apartheid are the ones who actively fought it’

by Philip Weiss25 November 2008

That’s from a great letter To the New York Times in 1992 by a guy in Brookline, birthplace of Mondoweiss. The guy’s name is Andrew Perrin and he now seems to teach political sociology at UNC. Has a nice face….

Palestinian Children Teargassed Protesting ‘Annexation Wall’

by Philip Weiss25 November 2008

Children in Ni’lin demonstrate against the annexation wall and as they advance on the construction are tear-gassed by Israeli soldiers. Which side are you on?

Denial, Inc: Boston Jewish Group Takes on Israel’s Bad Image With $2.4 Million a Year, Aimed at Media and ‘Influencers’

by Philip Weiss24 November 2008

How did I ever get my little pariah fingers on this thing? A report on “Israel Advocacy,” by the “Strategic Planning Subcommittee” of the Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Boston says that–are you sitting down?–Israel has a giant image problem in…

Spooked by Left’s ‘anti-Israelism,’ Liberal Jews Sat on Their Hands as U.S. Destroyed Iraqi Society

by Philip Weiss24 November 2008

The lasting image I’ll have of yesterday’s conference on Jews against the war 6 years after the fact will be of Rabbi David Saperstein of the Union for Reform Judaism going on at length and almost angrily, citing Hebrew words…

Progressive Zionists Are as Bedevilled by the Dual Loyalty Issue as Their Neocon Cousins

by Philip Weiss24 November 2008

So far everything I’ve quoted from the conference in NY yesterday on Jews uniting to end the war (six years after the war started) has been positive. Very forward statements from Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz, Elizabeth Holtzman, and MJ Rosenberg. These people…

Adalah Fundraiser/Concert Set for Dec. 2 in NY Church

by Philip Weiss24 November 2008

Yesterday demonstrated the political limitation of Jewish communal organizations for me. At some point you are doing a potato sack race–or whatever you call that race where your leg is tied to someone else– with a neocon. That’s how it…

Rahm + Zbig + Brent + Hillary = Triangulation/Kumbaya

by Philip Weiss24 November 2008

Yesterday Lilly Rivlin of Meretz USA invoked Amos Oz and Ariel Sharon as peaceable figures (oh well), but also said the names Brzezinski and Scowcroft not with anger but with respect, in the Jewish house. She said we are facing…

‘Obama Would Put Thru a Peace Deal Tomorrow If Not for the American Jewish Community’–MJ Rosenberg

by Philip Weiss23 November 2008

Today’s conference at New York’s Central Synagogue on Jews uniting against the war—six years after it matters—was remarkable for two things: the soulsearching over the Israel/Palestine issue, which represents real progress after years of denial that the occupation had anything…

Finally. Jewish Antiwar Conference in NY Begins by Honoring Rachel Corrie as a Martyr to ‘Evil’

by Philip Weiss23 November 2008

A conference in New York today putatively aimed at reviving Jewish opposition to the Iraq war–six years after the barn door opened, and all the horses went down the hill with fiery nostrils–was actually devoted to soulsearching over the Jewish…

Haaretz: ‘Absolutely Everyone’ in Israel Is Implicated in Sinful Settlements

by Philip Weiss23 November 2008

Brilliant piece by Gideon Levy–only in Haaretz–saying that the peace camp in Israel has been feckless from the start, and all are implicated in the settlers’ movement. So much for the accidental empire claims of conscience. And when Levy says…

Savage Settlers Near Hebron Attack Palestinian Shepherds, Kill a Donkey

by Philip Weiss22 November 2008

Here is a story about 15 settlers attacking three Palestinian shepherds and injuring two donkeys, killing one of them, near At-Tuwani in the South Hebron hills. I can’t watch the video, can you? This is simply disgusting, and the fact…

Scowcroft (the New Center-Left) Said to Be Advising Obama

by Philip Weiss22 November 2008

A smart friend says that his main hope is that Obama is assembling a center-right foreign policy team in order to give himself cover to conduct a center-left foreign policy. Well let’s hope. But why does he need cover? Didn’t…

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