IfNotNow’s protest at the ADL ended with 17 arrests — and stronger connections to Judaism

By Chloe Sobel April 22, 2016

IfNotNow’s “Liberation Seder” in New York on Wednesday began with a march from Bryant Park to the lobby of the Anti-Defamation League’s office building, and ended with the arrests of 17 protesters. The New York action was one of five that took place from April 19-21 held by the Jewish anti-occupation group. IfNotNow was founded…

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Co-opting social justice won’t erase reality in Israel

By Chloe Sobel January 20, 2016

I was hoping that in 2016, the Jewish community would find better ways to reach out to millennials. I guess they have, if co-opting social justice, intersectionality, and related ideas counts as outreach. It started with an op by David Bernstein, the current CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, published Jan. 4 in…

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The left-wing double standard on Israel

By Amram Altzman December 22, 2015

When the documentary “The J Street Challenge” was released in 2014, one of its main arguments was that while certain Israel advocacy groups who claim to be bipartisan are acceptable political advocates, left-wing political groups, like J Street, should be condemned as beyond the pale of acceptable conversation about Israel for disagreeing with the Israeli…

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What happens the day after National Coming Out Day?

By Amram Altzman October 12, 2015

A few years ago, while I was working as a staff member at Brandeis High School Programs, someone asked me what could be done for LGBTQ people who were still in the closet. At first, I had no response. The only real way to give someone the direct help that they need is for them…

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Will Students Take the ‘JUMP’ for Human Rights in the Middle East?

By Nicole Zelniker February 18, 2015

This past June, Boston University junior Raphael Fils decided he was fed up with the stances Jewish organizations take on the conflict in the Middle East. Whether Hillel, Jewish Voice for Peace, or J Street, all organizations seemed to have a bias. To change that, Fils launched Justice and Unity in Mideast Policy, or JUMP…

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Distance Running With Praying Feet

By Derek M. Kwait December 30, 2014

“I felt my feet were praying.” – Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel on his experience in the third Selma to Montgomery march for civil rights. I was marching through a display of Christmas trees with a group of Jews screaming for the rights of people of color when I was first struck by the question of…

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#JSIL and the Hypocrisy of its Advocates

By Michael Goldin October 7, 2014

In recent/days weeks the hashtag #JSIL has been trending on Twitter. It has become popular amongst anti-Israel activists to the use the hashtag to promote the idea that the actions of Israel are similar to those of the so called “Islamic State” (ISIL). Users of the hashtag did not have anything particularly interesting or intelligent…

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Stuff White People Like: Savior Complexes and Palestine

By Jonathan Katz August 15, 2014

    Some people study whales. Some people study epistemological analysis. I study white people. More specifically, I am interested in diaspora networking and migrant housing stock, but I am also interested in the way whiteness as a concept affects these in host countries. A lot of the time, that idea means things like deeply…

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The Reform Movement Must Apply its Values to Israel

By Hannah Ehlers July 31, 2014

Early in my Jewish education, I was taught that, as Jews and as human beings living in an imperfect world, we are obligated to stand up and speak out in the face of injustice. However small or large the perceived wrong, and despite our shaking legs and cracking voices or how powerful and vocal the…

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This British Student is Disappointed in America’s Healthcare Laws

By Michael Goldin July 30, 2014

The US Supreme Court’s decision in in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby has resulted in two main talking points, both of which seem odd, in particular to those of us outside the U.S.A. Firstly, the fact that the “conscience” of a legal corporation is protected by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act 1993 (RFRA); and secondly, that…

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How Hobby Lobby Forces American Jews to Reexamine Our Commitments to Religion, Pluralism, and Secular Governance

By Maddie Ulanow July 23, 2014

The case of Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., presented a classic conundrum in American constitutionalism: a conflict between religious expression and the lengths to which such expression may infringe on the rights of others. The case also raised controversial questions of personhood and gender equity, and ultimately seemed to pit the interests of religious…

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Force-Feeding Hunger Strikers is Wrong and Illegal No Matter What

By Michael Goldin July 10, 2014

  The context in which the force-feeding bill is passing through the Israeli Knesset is clear. Ziva Miral, a spokesperson from the Israeli Medical Association said that the practice “goes against the DNA of the doctors to force treatment on a patient…force-feeding is torture, and we can’t have doctors participating in torture.” The bill has…

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The Israeli Government Isn’t Pinkwashing — We Are

By Amram Altzman June 18, 2014

The idea of “pinkwashing” is not new. The concept is defined as such: the Israeli government, having to deal with the violation of human rights in the Occupied Territories, uses its record on LGBTQ inclusion (for example, its military has never had a Don’t Ask; Don’t Tell policy, unlike some countries we know) to obscure…

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Building the Great Student Constituency for Peace

By Joanna Kramer April 3, 2014

“Failure will kill the political constituency of the two-state solution,” warned American Task Force on Palestine Director Ghaith Al-Omari at an event co-sponsored by J Street U Brown and Brown RISD Hillel last week. These chilling words reminded me of why it is so essential to demonstrate support for Secretary of State John Kerry’s current…

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Is My Birthright a Sexual Playground?

By Jonathan Katz March 4, 2014

Let me be direct: the men in Birthright ads are hot. As in, “let’s do something not tzanua together” hot. This queer man, despite his dovish tendencies, distaste for right-wing “anti-assimilation” efforts, and critiques of Israel, is not completely displeased when a Birthright ad featuring smiling, shirtless, muscular Jewish men surfaces on Facebook. The Jewish…

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