Hillel Can’t Afford to Burn More Bridges

By Derek M. Kwait March 18, 2015

Even after following the situation so closely for the past two years, the news that Hillel CEO Eric Fingerhut withdrew his commitment to speak to 1,000 J Street U students at the upcoming J Street conference in Washington, D.C. shocked me in its ineptitude. Though Hillel credited the presence at the conference of Saeb Erekat,…

Read More...

New Voices and the ZOA: Working Together to Command Support for Israel on Campus

By Derek M. Kwait March 5, 2015

  It’s no secret that the war for Israel currently has two fronts: the Middle East and American university campuses. Jewish students feel increasingly threatened and intimidated by anti-Israel activity on campus that too often crosses the line into anti-Semitism, as seen recently in incidents at UC Davis and UCLA. All people concerned with the…

Read More...

How I Can Still Hope for the Future, in America and in Israel

By Derek M. Kwait December 4, 2014

This was a bad week for people who believe in human progress. Whether you imagined America was on its way towards becoming a post-racial society or that residents of the Levant could maybe learn to live peacefully side-by-side someday soon, the better dirt of our nature has again graffitied and burned down our delusions. What…

Read More...

What we Talk About When we Talk About Settlements

By Amram Altzman December 9, 2013

Bloomberg columnist Jeffrey Goldberg wrote an editorial last week explaining why Israeli settlements in the West Bank are not the central issue in the Middle East today. He explains that, yes, settlements are definitely one of the obstacles to peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, but then proceeds to list the ways in which the…

Read More...

On Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, and the Deal with Iran

By Amram Altzman December 2, 2013

“You and I can change the world”  The refrain from Arik Einstein’s iconic song, “Ani ve-Atah” (literally, “You and I” — no, Lady Gaga, you didn’t have the song first) seems to ring especially true as we enter Hanukkah and Thanksgiving and as news breaks of the United States and Iran agreeing to enter formal…

Read More...

THE WAIT IS OVER…

By smelamed May 10, 2010

And we’re off!  The proximity talks have officially begun. That’s right: the discussions-before-the-discussions are underway.  The Palestinian Authority, after receiving assurances from the U.S. and Israel, has finally agreed to sit down to the American-brokered indirect negotiations.  Special envoy George Mitchell’s shuttling back and forth between the two parties now, and all onlookers agree that….ummm……errrrr……..well,…

Read More...