In our feature essay this month, we explore a peculiarly Israeli institution: the commission of inquiry. These unusually powerful panels are convened to investigate the Jewish state's mistakes. Will the same happen after October 7, and if not, why?
“When a Jew is harassed by a neo-Nazi, he counts. When a Jew is harassed by a person from another minority group, not so much . . . . If the story suits the narrative, it counts. If it undermines it, it doesn’t” writes
@bariweiss
In the warped view of self-proclaimed anti-racists, Jewish success is somehow evidence of racism. Watch
@GlennLoury
and
@bariweiss
cut through the nonsense:
Critical race theory may be coming to a California public school near you. Are Jews ready to fight back against its distortion of their history? (via
@EmilyBenedek1
)
"Slowly but surely, the Internet began celebrating its hatred of me. People I'd known for years, who [had long curried my favor], turned on a knife's edge against me—and with glee" writes
@Eve_Barlow
The real reason there's no Palestinian state: Palestinian leaders care more about ending the Jewish state than about creating a Palestinian one (from
@EinatWilf
and
@Adi_Schwartz
)
Academic boycotts of Israel aren't going to force the Jewish state to change its policies, but they will help push Jews out of universities.
@Martin_Kramer
explains:
Israel has no legal obligation to vaccinate Palestinians in the West Bank, but some U.S. senators have tried to assert one.
@EVKontorovich
cuts through their mythmaking
"The idea that a bunch of Jews 'control' or 'conspire to control' anything starts to sound really dumb the moment you start thinking it through" writes
@JonahDispatch
Just a month into Joe Biden's presidency, Iran is already testing his administration's limits.
@rich_goldberg
joins the podcast to discuss how the U.S. might respond
“In 30 years on the road, I had never experienced anything like this.”
Ray Charles on his first visit to Israel (where he sang “Hava Nagilah” with David Ben-Gurion)
During Israel's fight with Hamas, many Jewish groups like the
@ADL
not only ignored left-wing anti-Semitism but actively excused those who trafficked in it (via
@SethAMandel
)
With Joe Biden's expected tilt back towards Iran and Netanyahu's secret meeting with the Saudi crown prince, now may be the perfect time for an Israel-Saudi Arabia normalization.
@rich_goldberg
analyzes what the Saudis are thinking right now:
"Thousands and thousands of New Yorkers marching in the streets was fine for de Blasio, but a few dozen ḥasidic mothers in a park was too much to bear"
The application deadline for the Krauthammer Fellowship—a new full-time opportunity for young writers, editors, and journalists—is coming up. Apply today!
Although they comprise about 0.2 percent of U.S. population, Orthodox Jews account for some 18 percent of altruistic kidney donations. Listen to the founder of that movement discuss its origins:
Listen to
@HusseinAboubak
go inside the twisted logic that has brought many Arabs, including Mahmoud Abbas, to believe that Israelis are the new Nazis and Palestinians the new Jews
There's a myth that Nazism rose in Germany because the Allies were too harsh on the Germans after WWI. As
@KyleWOrton
shows, if anything they weren't harsh enough
Why do so many Westerners want to ostracize Turkey?
@Doranimated
argues that the benefits of a robust alliance including it, Israel, and the West would be significant
While Israel has grown its economic ties with China, it shouldn't forget: China cares much more about Iran than it does about the Jewish state (via Jacob Nagel and
@MDubowitz
)
In 1924, a British pilot flew over the ancient fortress of Masada and took photos. Now they've led archaeologists to Herod's pleasure gardens, writes
@robintngo
via
@BibArch
In his response to Iranian attacks on American soldiers, Joe Biden seems to be repeating the same failed policies of Barack Obama.
@mdubowitz
and Behnam Ben Taleblu analyze:
"It's very easy for some to be sad when Jews are murdered. Yet, at the same time, so many of them are uncomfortable with Jews asserting themselves, protecting themselves. . . " writes
@LahavHarkov
Join
@ShMMor
,
@havivrettiggur
, and
@HusseinAboubak
next week to discuss the Palestinian predicament, and what the conduct and result of this current war could mean for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict going forward.
By funding a UN agency that advocates for the so-called right of return, the Biden administration is helping perpetuate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
@EinatWilf
explains:
"As well as betraying Israel, President Biden's irresponsible diplomatic signaling—which also appeases his hard-left supporters—is a betrayal of the Palestinian people" writes
@COLRICHARDKEMP
@ShMMor
To
@doranimated
, it’s no surprise that American debates over Israel ignore the realities of the Middle East. That’s because they’re not really about Israel, but about something very different
The apocalyptic ideology of Hamas frames the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as one of divine justice and cosmic warfare.
@HusseinAboubak
explains why that is, and why it appeals to so many in the West:
Will Israel cease being a Jewish and democratic state if it doesn’t come to an agreement with the Palestinians? No, but that hasn’t stopped U.S. officials from saying it endlessly
As a new book shows, students in Palestinian universities are constantly inundated with violent anti-Israel propaganda, no matter what school they’re in or degree they’re pursuing
The leaders of BDS know they can’t harm Israel. Instead, as
@COLRICHARDKEMP
writes, their campaign is about hounding and punishing Jews around the world for the existence of the Jewish state
Israel's (unconfirmed) attack on an Iranian nuclear facility did two things: it damaged Iran's nuclear program significantly, and, as
@LahavHarkov
writes, it strengthened America's negotiating position with Tehran
Why Ilhan Omar gets away with anti-Semitism: she defines herself as a victim, and then accuses her critics of being anti-black, anti-Muslim, and anti-female
@jonathans_tobin
explains
One of Harvard’s newest journalism fellows:
1. Accused Iranian dissidents of being American spies.
2. Writes odes to the Iranian regime.
3. Thinks “Star Wars” is Jewish propaganda.
@SohrabAhmari
"Nakba Day was not intended to mark the alleged humanitarian disaster that befell the Palestinian people in the 1948 war. They do not mourn the dead, the wounded, or the exiled, but the very establishment of the Jewish state" writes
@Adi_Schwartz
The UN Human Rights Council
@UN_HRC
is thoroughly corrupt. Is it better for the US to reject it, or to try to make it better?
@jaynordlinger
and
@HillelNeuer
discuss.
"When America thanks Qatar for its assistance, it's a bit like thanking the thug who punched you in eye for bringing you an ice pack. But it's worse than that" writes
@JSchanzer
20 years ago,
@Martin_Kramer
wrote a book about the failures of academic Middle Eastern studies. Watch him explain why his critiques then are just as relevant today
Saudi Arabia once funded 60% of Hamas's budget, but this month it sentenced 60 Hamas terrorists to prison. What's behind Riyadh's turn against the Gaza-based terror group?
The word "refugee" means "a person who flees for refuge or safety, especially to a foreign country." But when applied to Palestinians, it means something else entirely.
Read
@MattiFriedman
on
@EinatWilf
and
@Adi_Schwartz
's "The War of Return":
By repeatedly choosing the wrong allies, America has driven Iraq into Iran's grip.
@MPPregent
explains why it's a failure that carries grave costs for America and Israel
Yesterday, the great historian and philo-Semite Paul Johnson passed away. Read an essay of his in which he thinks about the "mental disease" of anti-Semitism
Norman Podhoretz, who turned 92 yesterday, called anti-Semitism "the hate that dare not speak its name" in 1986 in
@Commentary
. Not much has changed since.
CC
@AbeGreenwald
@continetti
Israel and the Biden administration have been friendly, but the latter's maniacal pursuit of a new nuclear deal with Iran may be changing things (via
@Doranimated
)
Hamas's entire strategy is that if it fights Israel long and hard enough, eventually the Jews will leave. It hasn't yet realized that, with nowhere else to go, the Jews will never leave (via
@havivrettiggur
)
The Saudi government’s decision to lift its ban on commercial movie theaters might seem trivial, but it’s an important step towards genuine liberal reform, writes
@SohrabAhmari
On this day of the Hebrew calendar last year, the rabbi Jonathan Sacks passed away. Meir Soloveichik and
@McCormickProf
reflect on his legacy in Britain and America
It's time for Israel to tell other nations that if they want to send food, clothing, and other goods to Gaza, they're welcome, but the cash transfers to Hamas stop now
In our feature essay this month, the analyst
@HeTows
argues that Israel's Law of Return will soon be the flashpoint for a ferocious culture war inside the Jewish state
Are Iran’s interests as legitimate as those of American allies like Israel and the Gulf states? The Biden administration seems to think so, and, as
@doranimated
shows, that’s a problem
Jews are pouring into south Florida by the thousands, remaking themselves and the area into one of the best places in the world for Jews to live.
@tamaraberens
explores what life is like there