As more and more young Jews say that Israel practices “apartheid” or “genocide” against Palestinians, Israeli President Isaac Herzog calls on the U.S. Jewish community to push back against these Jews. But he never mentions Palestinian conditions that alienate American Jews.
Har Bracha is a Jewish settlement outpost that regularly terrorizes the Palestinian village of Burin, whose lands it stole. President Isaac Herzog, who is routinely celebrated by liberals in the U.S., toured the settlement Tuesday and declared that the Jewish people’s connection to that land cannot be “denied or diminished.” So much for all the liberal Zionist talk of a two-state solution that would yield land to Palestinians.
The extremist response by Israeli leaders to Ben & Jerry’s — that it is antisemitic or terrorist — ignores the fact that McDonald’s has refused to operate in Israeli settlements for many years. McDonald’s just didn’t make a big splash about it. Ben & Jerry’s very public move is fostering the BDS campaign that sees Israeli human violations on both sides of the Green Line.
Israel’s new president Isaac Herzog has said that left wing critics of Israel are responsible for murderous attacks on Jews. And when asked about growing American Jewish criticism of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, Herzog says it is because “American Jews have no clue about” what life is like for Israelis and have only a “superficial” and “short-sighted” understanding of the conflict.
Phil Weiss tracks the fallout from Seth Rogen’s comments about Israel on the Marc Maron show, tracing how the conversation has veered away from the serious issues Rogen first raised.
Many pro-Israel organizations have condemned the systemic racism in the George Floyd killing while remaining silent on Palestinian treatment. J Street did link the Floyd killing to that of Eyad al-Halaq in Jerusalem, but said the US suffers “deeply entrenched… structural racism,” while Palestinians suffer “deeply entrenched occupation.”
The success of the Palestinian Joint List in the Israeli election has given hope to liberal Zionist groups for a post-Netanyahu era of non-discrimination and a better international image. Though there is little in Israeli Jewish politicians’ conduct to support the hope, Ayman Odeh of the Joint List will be speaking to J Street next month.
Last week, Isaac Herzog, the outgoing Labor leader and newly elected head of the Jewish…
Isaac Herzog’s belief that intermarriage is a “plague” reflects Zionism’s inability to imagine a Judaism apart from Orthodoxy. Palestinians have already paid the price for Zionism. Israeli women are likely to be next. If Israelis want a way out of this labyrinth, they would have to dismantle the Zionist state.
“What sane Israeli would choose to live in a state with an Arab majority?” Labor Party Leader Isaac Herzog challenges Gideon Levy in an argument over Zionism that would never appear in the U.S. press