Following my Mondoweiss report on Sunday’s New York Salute to Israel parade, Rabbi Sid Schwarz writes in The Jewish Week that he was equally disturbed: …After the parade we heard that there was going to be an Israel-themed concert in Central Park so we decided to attend. It was a shock to the system. I…
Showing all posts tagged human rights
How strong is Obama?
The US President: Part of being a good friend is being honest. And I think there have been times where we are not as honest as we should be about the fact that the current direction, the current trajectory, in the region is profoundly negative, not only for Israeli interests but also U.S. interests. We…
Our government does not speak for us
The following letter is circulating around Australia and reflects the deep anger towards the government and its media whores: As citizens of conscience we would like to protest in the strongest possible terms against the proposed Australia-Israel cultural exchange trip to Israel to be led by Julia Gillard and involving other parliamentarians, academics, business people,…
The luxury of distance and money
Sometimes, Jewish blogger Richard Silverstein nails it: Bill Clinton and George Bush Jr. spoke in Canada yesterday, each earning more than $150K for the gig. Frankly, I can’t imagine anyone possessing enough wisdom to be worth paying such a sum to them for dispensing it. But I guess enough people are star struck that they…
The Israeli face to the world
A senior settler official, Danny Dayan, rejects a report by Peace Now that finds nearly half of the land occupied by Israeli settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank is private Palestinian property: Not a single Arab has been harmed [by settlement activities].
Talking is no longer enough
The head of Sydney University’s Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies Jake Lynch explains why it’s appropriate to academically boycott Israel: Israeli academics are the source of a great deal of significant criticism of, and opposition to, Israel’s policies…so there is no suggestion that individual contacts should now cease. Discussions about peace journalism have been…
Negating their history
Ahmad Samih Khalidi writes in the Guardian that the Palestinian leadership should be very wary to accept Israeli terms: The fact is that the demand to acknowledge Israel as a Jewish state is meant less to block the prospects of being swamped by Arabs – as Israeli propagandists claim – and more as a …covert…
Forgetting that Israel is an occupier
Jewish anti-Zionist writer Shraga Elam emails just the latest example of mainstream Israeli racism: On 26.5.2009 “Channel 2” cameras photographed Betar players among them the star Amit Ben Shoshan singing very happily after they won the Israeli cup a song popular among their fans. A song that goes like this: What’s Salim doing here? Don’t…
Keeping the world focused on Sri Lanka
In early March a Sri Lankan Crisis Statement was circulated and signed by a host of Australians to highlight the dire humanitarian situation in the country. An updated statement has now been released: We are Australian citizens who share a deep concern about the humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka now affecting more than 300,000 people,…