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Michael Levin

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  • US to differentiate between 'personally displaced' Palestinian refugees and their descendants
  • 'New York Review of Books' calls it 'apartheid' and prepares Americans for the end of the Jewish state
    • Michael Levin May 16, 2012 at 1:36 pm with 1 replies

      Every day without silly generalizations is like a day without sunshine.
      I remain,
      a subscriber under sixty living outside of 10024/10025 zip codes.

  • Today in Pittsburgh, Jesse Lieberfeld, 17, will deliver a hammer blow to American Jewish support for Israel
    • Michael Levin January 17, 2012 at 2:54 am

      Also see: Tim Wise, "Fraud Fit for a King: Israel, Zionism and the Misuse of MLK," 1/21/03. Excerpt: "Rarely am I considered insufficiently cynical. As someone who does anti-racism work for a living, and hears all manner of excuse making by those who wish to avoid being considered racist, not much surprises me. I expect people to lie about race; to swear they haven’t a racist bone in their bodies. And every January, with the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday around the corner, I have come to expect someone to misuse the good doctor’s words so as to push an agenda he would not likely have supported....Yet, even with my cynic’s credentials established, the one thing I never expected anyone to do would be to make up a quote from King; a quote he simply never said, and claim that it came from a letter that he never wrote, and was published in a collection of his essays that never existed. Frankly, this level of deception is something special. The hoax of which I speak is one currently making the rounds on the Internet, which claims to prove King’s steadfast support for Zionism." link to timwise.org

  • Contextualizing the Holocaust
    • Michael Levin November 17, 2011 at 2:49 pm

      Roma singer, La Caíta, is standing on a hillside overlooking new housing, a place where she will probably never live. She sings a heartbreaking song, The Blackbird. ¡La Caíta! ¡Opré Roma!
      link to youtube.com

  • You've got to be carefully taught
  • IDF cites int'l law against use of white phosphorus in 'inhabited areas'--then removes the tweet
  • 'Shocked' by tour of occupation, 11 feminists led by Angela Davis 'unequivocally' support BDS
    • Michael Levin July 12, 2011 at 6:32 pm with 1 replies

      A good article re. "the hoax": Tim Wise, "Fraud Fit For A King: Israel, Zionism, And The Misuse Of MLK," 1/20/03. Excerpt: "Rarely am I considered insufficiently cynical. As someone who does anti-racism work for a living, and thus hears all manner of excuse-making by those who wish desperately to avoid being considered racist, not much surprises me. I expect people to lie about race; to tell me how many black friends they have; to swear they haven't a racist bone in their bodies. And every January, with the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday just around the corner, I have come to expect someone to misuse the good doctor's words so as to push an agenda he would not likely have supported....And yet, even with my cynic's credentials established, the
      one thing I never expected anyone to do would be to just make up a quote from King; a quote that he simply never said, and claim that it came from a letter that he never wrote, and was published in a collection of his essays that never existed. Frankly, this level of deception is something special. The hoax of which I speak is one currently making the rounds on the Internet, which claims
      to prove King's steadfast support for Zionism. Indeed, it does more than that...." link to timwise.org

  • Does Jello Biafra's possible Tel Aviv show mark bedtime for punk rock relevancy?
  • Mona Eltahawy’s speech signals shift in mainstream discourse that Zionists don’t want
    • Michael Levin February 28, 2011 at 10:21 pm

      Earlier this month the website Ikhras ("Dedicated to Throwing the Proverbial Shoe" -- link to
      -- ". . . [W]e will focus on bringing attention to the plight of the oppressed in the Arab world, and the victims of the alliance between Arab tyranny and US Imperialism") offered an interesting critique of some of the statements which have been made by Mona Eltahawy. See "Mona Eltahawy Should Be Careful What She Wishes For," Ikhras, February 2, 2011. Excerpt: ". . . [W]e think it would be helpful to compare her [Mona Eltahawy] political outlook to the well-known, and repeatedly verified views held by a vast majority of the Arab public. We can begin by contrasting Mona’s pride in being “the first Egyptian journalist to live and to work for a western news agency in Israel” with the Egyptian people’s refusal for over 30 years to normalize with the Zionist entity. Like many of the wonderful chants of the unfolding Egyptian revolution the phrase “The first (government) to sign, but the last (people) to normalize” rhymes in Arabic. . . . [W]e will rely on a very revealing article she wrote about two years ago with the obnoxious title "Israel is the opium of the people, and other Arab taboos."
      For the full post in Ikhras see: link to ikhras.com

  • If you will it . . .
  • Report finds US policy toward Israel/Palestine contradicts American values
  • Israel grabs more Palestinian land to build Greater Jerusalem
    • Michael Levin May 6, 2010 at 9:56 pm

      To be clear[er]: the PS was part of Mazin Qumsiyeh's message -- the words and actions deserving support are his.

    • Michael Levin May 6, 2010 at 6:31 pm with 2 replies

      Mazin Qumsiyeh posts his reports on his blog: link to qumsiyeh.org

      In an email he sent out today [not yet posted to his blog] Professor Qumsiyeh describes what happened:

      [Excerpt from email] "Our ten hour ordeal with the occupation forces started at 8:30 AM as we gathered in the small village of Al-Wallaja. A tiny store with an elderly women who insisted on making me coffee and not charging me. Idyllic setting except for the heavy bulldozers now carving the hills to separate the remaining people from their lands via an apartheid wall that is planned to completely ring the village. This village that already lost much of its lands is in the unfortunate position of being near the Green line sitting on rich agricultural lands and the Israelis want the land but do not want the people that come with the land. Israeli military has already demolished homes in the village (most were rebuilt) and fined others for building without permits (which are not issued in this village). The heroic villagers inspired so many including Internationals and Israelis to join them in their popular resistance. Earlier, I shared with you many videos of the actions. Today's even started as we came through the woods and sat in front of the bulldozer.

      As the soldiers gathered their forces around us, you could feel the soldiers preparing themselves for attack. We remained calm and peaceful. They dragged us one by one forcefully from the bulldozed lands. They picked the four of us for arrest for no obvious reason. George from Canada, me from Beit Sahour, and two brothers from Al-Walaja (Dia' and Nafez). They were particularly brutal with the two brothers using pepper spray repeatedly, hits with clubs (twice), and once with the rifle butt especially on Dia'. Dia' could not see for a long time. They took us down the hill with full military escort and demanded our ID cards on the way (I and Nafez had them, Dia' and George did not carry them). At the bottom of the hill sits a checkpoint for cars (mostly settlers) crossing into Jerusalem (from the illegal settlements of Har Gilo, Gilo, and Gush Etzion complex of settlements). There we were told to sit and wait as two private security guards were brought to supplement the four soldiers guarding us. Half an hour, an hour, two hours passed by. We spend time talking to soldiers explaining why they are wrong to punish people trying to defend their lands. I finally asked to go to the bathroom. They refused. I insisted and finally they escorted me to an outhouse (portable type). Other followed. Time passed. Officers came and said for us to sign a paper claiming all it said was that in our detention we were not beaten or mistreated. We refuse to sign. Finally, they receive the green light to arrest us officially so we are driven through Jerusalem and on to the investigation offices near Qubbit Raheel (Rachel's tomb). Along the way, Dia' and Nafez comment that this is unusual for them to enter Jerusalem (forbidden to them since the Oslo accords). Al-Walaja is in the area of the area that they consider Israeli territory (the Gush Etzion complex of colonial settlements). Al-Walaja sits even partially on land annexed to Jerusalem, yet its residents are given Greed ID cards like me meaning West Bank Palestinians not allowed into Jerusalem.

      We arrive at our destination and are locked up in a metal container. Two more hours pass by. Only some time soldiers come in and we talk to them. In all three we talk to three Arab soldiers including Marzouq and Madi (I nicknamed them M&M of the Israeli occupation army), three Ashkenazis, one Sephardic women who never smiled and seemed out of place, and one Ethiopian. Some are cold and distant, others argumentative but not knowing much, and yet others slightly more open and listen to what we had to tell them. I was proud of the Al-Walaja brothers using calm logic to explain: what would you do if some came and uprooted trees that your grandparents planted for you? How would you react if your source of life and livelihood is taken? But most of the nearly 40 soldiers and police officers we encountered along the way only uttered few words of orders and refused to engage with us. To them it seemed like a routine job. As they hauled us from one place to another, they would be chatting or texting on their mobile phones or joking with each other about things (I really have to take Hebrew classes).

      The 'investigator' finally arrives. We are finally allowed to make the call to a lawyer. The lawyer advises and we follow his advise. Each individually is taken to see the investigator. We are asked to sign other papers and again we refuse (in Hebrew). They force us to put our thumb on a separate form that merely has our names, ID numbers etc on it. Handcuffs are added and mobile phones are taken from us. As each one is returned to the container, we brief each other. We wait. The handcuffs are hurting. I notice it says on mine 'Hiatt-Made in England'. I think to myself this whole mess was made in England (Balfour declaration and all that). An hour later, we are told they will take us to court and that each of us is to call a relative or friend to bring NIS 2500 (about $750) to the court in Jerusalem to use as bail. The phones are returned to us to make the calls. We are then ordered to get on the van to go (we presume to court). But then they change their minds. We don't know what is going on. We are told not to use the mobile phones but we do when we are alone. My family manages to gather the money and as my wife is on the way nearly an hour later, the lawyer sends a message that we need to wait as they are negotiating with the judge. Yet another hour. We are then ordered on the van. They take us to Talpiot police station where they fingerprint and photograph us. Dragged like criminals with handcuffs in this now rich neighborhood. Old Jewish woman stares at me on the way out and I wish I am allowed to speak to her to tell her our stories. On the way in the back of the van, I tell the fellow inmates that this was an Arab neighborhood before the ethnic cleansing of 1948. Many Arab houses still stand taken over and converted into everything from residential villas to bars. We go back to the container holding pen. The handcuffs still hurting.

      It was now nearly 5:30 and we were starving (no food and many of us have left home without breakfast and held since about 9 AM). We had asked for food on occasions. Finally they bring us some bread, each a slice of cheese and a small packets of jam (I guess because we have been in handcuffs for four hours at least and that is formal arrest). We devour it quickly and wonder whether this is a sign of us staying longer or that we would be released soon. Another half an hour and we are dragged (this time together) in front of a new investigator who asked us to sign a release form that says that we are told to stay away from the wall (yes it says the wall on official Israeli documents) for 15 days and if we don't we will be have to pay each NIS5000 (about $1200). A friend from Al-Walaja was kind enough to come and cosign to ensure that we will follow the stated orders.

      George's situation was not clear. They insisted on seeing his passport. A friend finally brought it after George was threatened with immediate deportation if he did not get the passport. The lawyer and us tried to persuade them to let him go. They asked me to translate for him at first that he must reappear at the same place Sunday and we thought they were releasing him with us. But alas, it was not to be. I hope he will not be deported anyway (their words are always not to be trusted).

      The three of us were released but the soldiers did not give us our ID cards. In our jubilation at being released, we also had forgotten to ask about them (they had them for the 10 hour ordeal). So I came back with my wife and she was allowed into the checkpoint and an hour later, I had the ID cards. We had visitors from Jenin staying overnight with us and I was supposed to work with my technologist at the University today. But here I am way past midnight still writing this note and uploading a video. Tomorrow (Friday) there will be a demonstration in Al-Masara and the lettuce festival in Artas and other work to do. Life goes on in the land of Apartheid. La luta continua. Stay tuned.

      PS Here is a video from last week in the same village of Al-Walaja of me explaining to soldiers a bit of the reality. link to youtube.com
      "

  • It's complicated
    • Michael Levin March 31, 2010 at 1:33 am

      How interesting. This is Harvard. Perhaps Ms. Blum will explore the indeterminacy of legal meaning with a perspective based in a Gadamerian hermeneutic; perhaps she finds fault with Gadamerian methodology and seeks [" in good faith" on "the contemporary battlefield"] a more rigorous, less subjective hermeneutic rooted in the work of Habermas; perhaps -- wedding a passionate intellectual desire to embrace the search for critical meaning, with an intense necessity [born of the Janus faced being-in-the-world of the battlefield as contemplation and as existence] -- she has turned to Paul Ricoeur for an a methodology of openness which dances between subject and object . . . a hermeneutic of suspicion aligned with a fully embracing hermeneutic circle.

      Or, perhaps her dance is the essence of "bad faith" -- the dance of three card monte, the dance of day for night, the dance of hasbara.

      One looks forward to her distinguishing between the types of indeterminacy faced by German generals and those faced by Israeli generals, between collective punishment of Jews and collective punishment of Palestinians.

      And, what will she make of the indeterminacy of showers of white phosphorous?

  • Under strong attack, J Street accommodates its critics, but does it alienate its supporters?
  • note new hasbara push: You did it to the Native Americans
    • Michael Levin September 3, 2009 at 5:06 am

      Described by the London Review of Books as "both an impressive analysis of Zionist ideology and a searing but scholarly indictment of Israel's treatment of the Arabs since 1948," and by Noam Chomsky as ". . . the most revealing study of the historical background of the conflict and the current peace agreement," the author [Norman G. Finkelstein] and the publisher [Verso] of Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict should be supported by the purchase of the book. In fact, buy a copy for your personal library and one for the local public library.
      While you are waiting for your copies to arrive, pp. 89-98 are available on-line on the Google books site -- go to the Google page for "Image and reality of the Israel-Palestine conflict" and search under "Historian Francis Jennings."

    • Michael Levin September 3, 2009 at 3:31 am with 11 replies

      A valuable contribution to discussion on this topic is provided by Norman Finkelstein in his examination of "the generic conquest myth" – highlighting "the apparently disparate instances of the English conquest of North America, the Dutch conquest of South Africa, the Nazi conquest of eastern Europe, and the Zionist conquest of Palestine." See pp. 89 to 98 in Norman G. Finkelstein, Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict [the section 'The Virgin Land or Wilderness Myth' in the Chapter "Settlement, Not Conquest" / Verso 2003].

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