Malak Mattar’s paintings hang on the walls in the homes of her many fans around the world and express, beautifully, the utter misery of life and death in the besieged Gaza Strip. Mattar’s dream was to leave Gaza and attend art school in the U.S. But just when this dream was about to come true it was shattered, this time not by Israel, but by the Palestinian Authority.
Palestinians and Israelis watched last week’s referendum of Iraq’s Kurds with special interest. Israeli officials and many ordinary Palestinians were delighted – for very different reasons – to see an overwhelming vote to split away from Iraq. Palestinian support for the Kurds is not difficult to understand. Palestinians, too, were overlooked when Britain and France carved up the Middle East into states a century ago. Israel’s complex interests in Kurdish independence are harder to unravel.
California congressman Ted Lieu has had the courage to criticize Trump for bombing Syria and Saudia Arabia for its atrocities in Yemen. But constituent Charlie Zimmerman was disappointed when, in April 2017, he signed on as a co-sponsor of H.R. 1697, the Israel Anti-Boycott bill. Its provisions clash with the strong support for human rights he otherwise espouses.
No one is forced to observe Jewish holidays like the Palestinians. The Times of Israel reports that Israel plans to shut down the entire West Bank and Gaza Strip for 11 full days during the Sukkot holiday.
The 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration is nearly upon us and its 67 words of apparent British imperial generosity towards the Jewish people are already taking on sacred status. Robert Cohen writes, “For the sake of future Jewish generations, not to mention historians of the 20th century, it would be a good idea to put a stop to this manufacturing of holiness, this muddling of religion and nationalism. It’s only adding to the mountain of historical and political deceit that blocks the road to a place of justice and peace.”
The left is trashing the Vietnam documentary by Ken Burns on PBS. Though it is didactic and middle-brow and America-centric, the documentary is majestic in its depiction of murderous arrogance, and should educate millions to the horrors of occupation and the ferocity of a subjugated people’s resistance.
“While 71 percent of Modern Orthodox Jews 55 and older actively support the Jewish state, less than half — 43 percent — of Jews 18 to 34 do the same”– says a new survey. So decline in Jewish support for Israel is happening in all segments of the community.