J Street rolls on

Here in Washington DC the J Street conference rolls on. It’s pretty thrilling to be around many like-minded people but also accepting that the mainstream view on Israel/Palestine is still imagining a Jewish state that doesn’t exist (democratic, free for all etc). Here’s a collection of key links about proceedings: here, here, here, here and…

The increasingly toxic smell of Zionism

This is the kind of attitude that I’m hearing constantly here at the J Street conference in Washington DC (time to redefine what it means to be Jewish, critical and pro-peace): J Street’s university arm has dropped the “pro-Israel” part of the left-wing US lobby’s “pro-Israel, pro-peace” slogan to avoid alienating students. That decision was…

Annoying Gazans need to start enjoying death

The Goldstone report over Gaza is a defining document. Israel’s crimes are clear to see. For some in the Murdoch press – such as Alan Howe writing in Melbourne’s Herald Sun (the man has form) – “Jews prove easy catch“: The none-too-smart and ideologically unsound United Nations works on more simplistic levels – it sets…

J Street begins

The first J Street conference began tonight here in Washington DC. Over 1200 people attended, a few Jewish protesters outside accused the group of being worse than Nazis and the overall message inside was on opening up public debate on Israel/Palestine. On that level alone – and I have profound disagreements with the group on…

Rising anger around the Temple Mount

An Haaretz editorial worth considering: The clashes yesterday between Israeli police who entered the Temple Mount plaza and Palestinian stone throwers and inciters seemingly ended calmly. There were “only” three policemen who suffered light injuries. In contrast to prior incidents on the Temple Mount, and using the standard wherein the number of casualties is the…

The Jewish background of Aceh

My following article is published in Crikey: In the shadow of Aceh’s tsunami memorial museum sits a colonial, Dutch-era cemetery. Framed by overgrown grass and red flowers, graves lie disjoined, the result, I was told by writer Fozan Santa, of time and the tsunami’s raging water. At the back of the space, behind ornate statues…

Smearing Goldstone isn’t really about Gaza at all

South African anti-apartheid politician, activist and Jew Ronnie Kasrils, a man with a long history of support for the Palestinians, spoke on 24 October at the National Association of Democratic Lawyers of South Africa about the Goldstone Gaza report: The reason for the hysteria against Justice Goldstone’s Report goes far deeper than the findings. Goldstone…

Indonesia moves a little towards America, for now

Following my recent visit to Aceh in Indonesia, this piece in today’s Washington Post is particularly interesting (though highlights the seeming inability of the American corporate media to see the world in anything other than what benefits the US): In many ways, Indonesia — a nation of 240 million people scattered across 17,000 islands —…

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