Words of the Week

“How do you think Golda Meir would view the current state of Israel?

What would she see as its strengths and weaknesses? What would surprise her most? She would not approve of the current Israeli government or of the great power that the religious right has and continues to accumulate. She was a secular Zionist. She wanted to build a state for the Jewish people that was like all the other states of the world. It was not her intention for it to be a religious state. She did not believe in the greater Israel or that Israel had to conquer, own or keep control of all of Palestine. She felt after the 1967 War that the conquered and captured lands should be used as bargaining points for Israel to trade land for peace. She was not willing to give everything back because she wanted more secure borders, but she was not in favor of Israel keeping control of the entire West Bank. She would have negotiated most of the West Bank away in exchange for peace. She certainly was not a lover of the Arabs or Palestinians, but she was also very pragmatic. I believe that over time she, like Yitzhak Rabin, would have made a deal with the Palestinians and given them their state.”

Source: Marilyn Cooper’s interview with Francine Klagsburn, author of a new biography of Golda Meir (Moment Magazine)

Words of the Week

“We condemn unequivocally President Abbas’ recent statements rejecting the Jewish people’s connections with Israel, denying the legitimacy of a Jewish State of Israel, and promulgating conspiracy theories about the creation of the State of Israel. We condemn as well the Palestinian Central Committee’s affirmation of his views and its call to break relations with Israel. Such statements and actions undercut possibilities for a peace process that alone holds the path to a viable and independent Palestinian state. While the on-the-ground ramifications of these statements are still unclear, there is no doubt that these statements risk a new and very dangerous escalation of tensions between Israel and the Palestinians.

We continue to believe that the only future for a Jewish democratic State of Israel is to end its rule over millions of Palestinians. We urge responsible forces in the Palestinian community, Israel, the U.S. and international community, who remain committed to a two-state solution, to do everything feasible to restart movement in that direction.”

Source: Statement from URJ President Rick Jacobs.

Words of the Week

“Why does no one find it remarkable that in most world cities today there are Jews but no one single Hittite even though the Hittites had a great flourishing civilization while the Jews nearby were a weak and obscure people? When one meets a Jew in New York or New Orleans or Paris or Melbourne, it is remarkable that no one considers the event remarkable. What are they doing here? But it is even more remarkable to wonder, if there are Jews here, why are there not Hittites here? Where are the Hittites? Show me one Hittite in New York City.”

Source: Walker Percy, quoted in Meir Y. Soloveichik, “The Builders and Founders of the City” (Commentary)

Words of the Week

“The sheer bluntness of far-right anti-Semitism makes it easier to identify and stigmatize as beyond the pale; individuals like David Duke and the hosts of the “Daily Shoah” podcast make no pretense of residing within the mainstream of American political debate. But the humanist appeals of the far left, whose every libel against the Jewish state is paired with a righteous invocation of ‘justice’ for the Palestinian people, invariably trigger repetitive and esoteric debates over whether this or that article, allusion, allegory, statement, policy, or political initiative is anti-Semitic or just critical of Israel. What this difference in self-definition means is that there is rarely, if ever, any argument about the substantive nature of right-wing anti-Semitism (despicable, reprehensible, wicked, choose your adjective), while the very existence of left-wing anti-Semitism is widely doubted and almost always indignantly denied by those accused of practicing it.”

Source: Jamie Kirchick, “The New Jew Hatred: Right and Left” (Commentary)