Tag Archive for ‘Words of the Week’

“Nothing about this is remotely pro-Israel. It is precisely the opposite. In a country where Israel is already facing an uphill battle with younger and more progressive Americans, where minorities are becoming a larger percentage of the population, and where Trump is the most unpopular president of modern times, bringing Israel out of the blue into his racist demagoguery is one of the most anti-Israel acts that he could possibly commit.”

Source: Michael Koplow, “Trump Is Using Israel to Shield His Racism” (Forward)

Labels: Israel, Words of the Week

“Let’s parse that last sentence—’I know the star itself is deeply meaningful to Jews no matter where they stand on Israel’s attacks on Palestinians.’ John, I don’t deny the Israeli occupation is wrong in many ways. I’m not alone in my thinking, which should tell you that my fellow Jews are not monolithic, and neither are the Palestinians. But it must be said that Israeli citizens have died in Palestinian suicide bombings on buses, in malls and cafes just because they were Jews. There are frequent rocket attacks out of Gaza. Don’t misunderstand me; I very much support a two-state solution. But let’s acknowledge that at this moment the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a highly complicated situation, and we’re out of our depth.”

Source: Judy Bolton-Fasman, “An Open Letter to John Cusack” (JewishBoston.com)

Labels: Israel, Words of the Week

“Ask why she feels confident in asserting that I often speak out against justice for Palestinians—when I never have—and we quickly run into the rigid dualism of the activist, where whatever isn’t wholly good in their eyes must be wholly evil. According to this febrile logic, those who don’t support the cause must of necessity oppose it. Thus, while she is right that I am unlikely to be a friend of Palestine Live, she is wrong to suppose that a hostility to Palestinians is the reason. Continue reading ›

Labels: Israel, Words of the Week

“On Friday, Representative Rashida Tlaib was attacked by President Donald Trump for a ‘horrible and highly insensitive statement on the Holocaust’ and for having ‘tremendous hatred of … the Jewish people.’ Trump’s off-base attack distracted from the actual problems with Tlaib’s account of the Arab-Israeli conflict, in which she deployed deliberately imprecise language, misleading her listeners about the early history of the conflict in Palestine and misrepresenting its present and possible future.”

Source: Benny Morris, “Rashida Tlaib Has Her History Wrong” (The Atlantic)

Labels: Israel, Words of the Week