Three months ago Commentary Magazine called Jimmy Carter “our worst ex-president” (because of his position on Israel, of course). Now Carter is calling Bush “our worst president ever,” and the press is attacking him for violating some unspoken ethic of…
The latest Jewish Currents traces the history of the blackmail “self-hating Jew” to describe Jews who have not drunk the Israel koolaid. It quotes Noam Chomsky on the subject: Chomsky attributes the promiscuous use of the accusation of Jewish self-hatred…
Did George Tenet’s threat to resign cause Clinton to scuttle deal with Israel to release imprisoned spy Jonathan Pollard in ’98? Did Tenet lie about his role? And does Tenet secretly share Walt and Mearsheimer’s view that the Israel lobby…
In a comment the other day, Larry says that religion sustained the Jews for generations, and my assimilationist stance could break the chain: Most of us are only a few generations away from the shtetl, where our grandparents or great…
For some time I have argued that the ’67 war in the Mideast was related to Israel’s nuclear plans. Today the Jerusalem Post heralds a book that says I am right…
I see it as part of my function to document instances of dual loyalty–in which American Jews are called upon to show loyalty to Israel. These appeals are problematic: 1, they define Jewish identity in a narrow and dubious way,…
A few weeks back, I landed on Michael Walzer for his parochialism in a speech about Jewish identity at the Center for Jewish History. The speech was complacent: it celebrated the American Jewish religious revival and American Jews’ connection to…
Last night’s “Sopranos” turned on the famous line from Wordsworth: “Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers; Little we see in Nature that is ours…” Young Anthony Soprano reads the line on a college blackboard. Then his father realizes…
Realistic Dove has picked up an unbelievable story about the Israeli army not allowing Palestinians to bathe at the Dead Sea: Israelis bathing on the north shore of the Dead Sea had not been pleased with the presence of the…