Longtime Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen has a book coming out in two weeks called Israel: Is It Good for the Jews? a question that Cohen answers in the affirmative. From his publisher, Simon and Schuster:
A very personal journey through Jewish history (and Cohen’s own), and a passionate defense of Israel’s legitimacy.
Richard Cohen’s book is part reportage, part memoir—an intimate journey through the history of Europe’s Jews, culminating in the establishment of Israel. A veteran, syndicated columnist for The Washington Post, Cohen began this journey as a skeptic, wondering in a national column whether the creation of a Jewish State was “a mistake.”
As he recounts, he delved into his own and Jewish history and fell in love with the story of the Jews and Israel, a twice-promised land—in the Bible by God, and by the world to the remnants of Europe’s Jews. This promise, he writes, was made in atonement not just for the Holocaust, but for the callous indifference that preceded World War II and followed it—and that still threatens.
Cohen’s account is full of stories—from the nineteenth century figures who imagined a Zionist country, including Theodore Herzl, who thought it might resemble Vienna with its cafes and music; to what happened in twentieth century Poland to his own relatives; and to stories of his American boyhood.
Cohen describes his relationship with Israel as a sort of marriage: one does not always get along but one is faithful.
When Cohen supported the Iraq war in 2003, did he do that for his wife?
One chapter is titled, “Jabotinsky Was Right” (about the Arabs). Another “Jabotinsky was Wrong,” (Palestinians never supposedly developed moderate leadership). The book has been blurbed by Christiane Amanpour, Barbara Walters (who sort of punted: “Is Israel good for the Jews? I don’t know. But this book is.”), Mort Zuckerman, Lesley Stahl (“brilliant and epic”), and Gay Talese (it’s not European colonialism, the drowning found a life raft).
I assume the Washington Post will assign this book for review to someone outside the Post, that’s a convention in journalism. Why not that guy who wrote a big book about Israel last year? He probably has something to say about this.
“Cohen describes his relationship with Israel as a sort of marriage: one does not always get along but one is faithful. – ” Cohen.
Well , with every marriage “uncivil-ised” how do you get along.
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/shavuot/.premium-1.596576
Max is the obvious choice. Thanks Phil.
As he recounts, he delved into his own and Jewish history and fell in love with the story of the Jews and Israel, a twice-promised land—in the Bible by God, and by the world to the remnants of Europe’s Jews.
I guess love really is blind (although national-familial metaphors never end well).
The first “promise” is only relevant to those who actually believe in it and, as such, is wholly invalid as a real-world political argument.
The second “promise” is just plain silly – like me promising Richard Cohen’s house to Phil Weiss. It gets even sillier when robbing Peter to pay Paul (or Richard to pay Phil) is presented as some sort of magnificent act of “atonement” on my part.
In the spirit of the season of repentance, it’s like (as the Yiddish expression goes): klappen al cheyt oyf yenems brust*, to say the very least.
*Beating one’s mea culpa on another’s breast.
As Camus said: “”
I’m using “astounding” a lot lately, but the degree to which one has to abstract other people’s humanity to make the marriage analogy work is ASTOUNDING.
You’re married to a mass murderer, ffs. Being “faithful” is #257 (if that high) on the to-do list.
The Zionist/Israel bubble is noticeably collapsing as people like Richard Cohen completely ignore 100,000 dead Iraqi civilians, pictures of headless Palestinian infants, etc. to make their case. More and more normal people see those pictures, compare them to Cohen’s rationalizations, and see the gaping crack in his reality.
Hopefully, as Dickerson excerpted yesterday, that crack becomes the way the light shines in.
I can’t seem to link to the comment, so:
– See more at: https://mondoweiss.mystagingwebsite.com/2014/08/judaisms-support-zionism.html#comment-706905 (D’oh!)
if my spouse was homicidal I would divorce him.