Words of the Week: Jeffrey Goldberg
“Qaeda suspect who shot Jewish children in the head upset by Palestine issue. I don’t think he was seeking an equitable 2-state solution.”
Source: Jeffrey Goldberg (@Goldberg3000), on the Toulouse murderer.
Posts Tagged‘Words of the Week’
Words of the Week: Clifford D. May
In America, it’s still considered impolite to openly disparage Jews, Israelis or Israel. But speaking in a coded way is not unacceptable. So it’s fine to suggest that perhaps some Jews exercise too much power and insinuate themselves into positions where they place Israel’s interests above America’s. Efforts to delegitimize Israel and even dehumanize Israelis are permissible “free speech” rather than impermissible “hate speech.” It also is increasingly considered bold, even brave, to suggest that Israel may have been a mistake.
Anyone with a grasp of history or a grain of common sense should know where this road leads. Yet too many people—not least, too many American Jews—seem untroubled by such rhetoric. Some even reinforce it.
Source: Clifford D. May, Moment magazine, March-April 2012
Words of the Week: Rabbi David Wolpe
“My children do not patrol the borders. They do not dismantle unexploded rockets. They do not walk gingerly into cafes, always wondering, always fearful, even in quiet times. There aren’t too many bomb shelters in Westwood. When I express my opinions about Israel’s conduct, which I do, this reality is foremost in my mind. There is a penalty for choosing not to live in Israel: A certain diffidence, a willingness to listen and appreciate the result of a democratic process, even when one disagrees with the result. A corresponding reluctance, at least, to demonize the elected leaders of the Jewish state.”
–Rabbi David Wolpe, “Wolpe vs. Beinart,” JewishJournal.com
Words of the Week: Stephen Marche
Israel, uniquely among nations, suffers from being turned into a synecdoche–of the part being taken for the whole. The other theater companies involved in the Globe’s program–whether from China, Zimbabwe or the United States–are simply not subject to the same scrutiny of their nation’s politics. No one would think of boycotting the English theater because Britain had been involved in the bloody occupation of two countries in recent memory. That would be absurd. yet it is not absurd when it comes to Israel.
Source: Stephen Marche, “Another Trial for Shylock,” The New York Times
Words of the Week: Paul Auster
Whatever the Prime Minister might think about the state of Israel, the fact is that free speech exists there and no writers or journalists are in jail. According to the latest numbers gathered by International PEN, there are nearly one hundred writers imprisoned in Turkey, not to speak of independent publishers such as Ragip Zarakolu, whose case is being closely watched by PEN Centers around the world. All countries are flawed and beset by myriad problems, Mr. Prime Minister, including my United States, including your Turkey, and it is my firm conviction that in order to improve conditions in our countries, in every country, the freedom to speak and publish without censorship or the threat of imprisonment is a sacred right for all men and women.
Paul Auster, in response to Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan. Source: The New York Times.