Journalism by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students.
In South Africa, there’s a conspiracy theory that has spread among the white population since the fall of Apartheid. It goes by many names: Uhuru, Operation Vula, Operation White Clean-up, and – in a nod to Nazi Germany – Night of the Long Knives (in Afrikaans, Die Nag van die Lang Messe). Â What it says…
Forgive me for my late post. You see, like my ancestors before me, I too had an arduous exodus from Egypt. Â And although mine involved less wandering through the desert and more riding in buses through the desert–not to mention waiting in security lines, enduring a ‘random’ bag search, and withstanding a heart-stopping bomb scare–I…
Barack Obama: Arrogant. Barack Obama: Despicable. Barack Obama: Muslim? The other day, as I do every day, I rode to work on Jerusalem’s bus #28. Â The commute is usually long and tedious, and only made palatable by the sounds of my iPod. Â On this specific morning, I found myself sitting behind two elderly women. Â Normally…
For years they wandered, desperate to be at home in their God-given land. Â Despite constantly being at the mercy of cruel, tyrannical leaders, they tried to live lives of dignity. Â Above all else, they were certain that they were God’s chosen people and that eventually, the land they loved would belong to them. Â The trials…
As Israel Apartheid Week finally winds to a close across campuses around the world, allow me to take a look back at the demise of the original Apartheid in South Africa. Â Though South Africa’s Apartheid and Israel’s occupation are two wholly different animals, at their core they are very much alike. Â In both, the government…
To start, let me apologize for the delay. I was in the midst of a move and was unable to access the Internet until now. Fortunately, this gave me the opportunity to further grapple with Israeli Apartheid Week–and my editor Ben’s response–and hopefully formulate a coherent defense of my position. First off, let me acknowledge…
Today, the sixth incarnation of Israeli Apartheid Week gets underway. Â Aiming to amplify international calls for the BDS movement–that is, the boycott of Israeli goods, divestment from the Israeli economy and placement of sanctions on Israeli imports, respectively–organizers have planned various demonstrations in more than 40 international cities over the next 14 days. Â And though…
Before coming to Israel, everyone I spoke to raved about Tel Aviv. Oh, you’ll love it there, It’s such a hip city, and so on and so forth. All this was music to my ears, except when I remembered that I’d actually be living about 100 kilometers east in the very austere and very un-hip…
Earlier this week, the world celebrated the twentieth anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s release from South African prison. Though Apartheid wouldn’t officially end for another four years, Mandela’s release – more than anything else – heralded the racist institution’s imminent demise. As Umkhonto weSizwe leader Kebby Maphatsoe would later remark, “on that day we knew that…
Today is the 1,324th day of Gilad Shalit’s captivity. In fact, as I write this, it’s been 1,324 days, 14 hours, 19 minutes, and roughly 31 seconds since Shalit walked free. I know this not because of any particular concern on my part, but because everyone in Israel knows this. It’s impossible not to. Along…
Welcome everyone to my sparkly new MASA blog. To give you a better idea of where all this is coming from, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Sam Melamed, I’m 22 years old, and I graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison last May, having studied history and philosophy. Besides studying abroad in Cape…