Author

David Samel

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North Carolina should double down on its anti-LGBTQ legislation and declare itself a “heterosexual state.” Then invade South Carolina, transfer North Carolinians there, and when any one objects, call them a terrorist. Guess who the role model is?

David Samel discusses last week’s debate between Yousef Munayyer and Peter Beinart. He says in the end Beinart’s sincerely stated positions were no match for Munayyer’s more reasoned analysis buttressed by his own experience and simple refusal to tolerate injustice and inequality that all of us, including Beinart, would consider intolerable.

David Samel remembers Joan Peters, the author of “From Time Immemorial: The Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict over Palestine” who died this week at the age of 78. Samel writes, “The bizarre chapter of Joan Peters’s contribution to the Middle East debate does not end with her death. Her arguments, both those she adopted from others and those she formulated herself, still constitute a huge portion of the go-to hasbara repertoire. From Time Immemorial is an embarrassment that taints anyone who embraced it as well as those who continue to do so.”

David Samel offers a math test and a morality test that look at the same numbers from different perspectives. Do you come up with the same answer in both tests?