The J Street conference in Washington DC is over. There is so much to say, reflections, criticisms, praise and exhaustion. Until I have the chance to fully re-engage, Mondoweiss have two good pieces about the event (here and here). The challenges facing anybody in the US to seriously shift the dialogue was revealed once more…
Showing all posts tagged Israel lobby
Gazan tragedy reflected (oh so briefly) at J Street
M J Rosenberg has a personal revelation at the J Street conference. A powerful sign that the event wasn’t simply about re-hashing tired slogans: Between sessions at the amazing J Street conference, people mill around talking to friends and, sometimes, just a person standing near by. I was lucky enough to find myself talking to…
The J Street dance around justice
The J Street conference in Washington DC continues. Coverage here, here and here. Forgive the minimal coverage. I’m snowed under with work commitments, so more about all this shortly.
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…
Discussions and clarifications from J Street
J Street head Jeremy Ben-Ami talks to The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg and clarifies that his group is desperate to remain in the centre. The key problem with this position, of course, is that such “centrist” negotiations have taken place for years and the power imbalance is largely ignored. The Palestinians are under occupation. This won’t…
J Street: good Jews, mad Jews and many in-between
I’m now in Washington DC for the first J Street national conference. Stay tuned.
J Street is calling but are we really listening?
I’m on my way to the first J Street conference in Washington DC. Extreme Zionists in the US call the group “cranks“. Other so-called leading Jews in the US are equally spooked. What, some Jews meeting who don’t love the settlements and want to bomb every country in the Middle East? Lynch them! Gideon Levy…
Life in Aceh, Indonesia
My following article is published in the Huffington Post: In a collection of just released work by Acehnese writer Azhari, Nutmeg Woman, we are brought into a world before the devastating 2004 tsunami that killed over 220,000 Indonesians. Civil war wracked the province. Indonesian occupation was brutal and fought against the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).…
The job of Judaism is to expand debate, not reduce it
Following J Street’s shameful cancellation of a poet’s performance at its upcoming Washington conference, the man in question (and his colleague) have released a statement: This week, some right-wing blogs and pseudo-news organizations latched on to various lines of poems Josh wrote and churned the alarmist rumor mill saying that hateful anti-Israeli poets are keynote…
Should Jews watch their speech around J Street?
The disappointments mount. J Street believes in dissent, just not dissent that may upset conservative, hardline Zionists: Five days ahead of the leftist pro-Israeli lobby J Street’s first National Conference in Washington, D.C., the controversies continue to mount. The Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren refuses to attend the conference, despite the open letter issued by the…