Collapsing Towers: Liveblogging my Quarrel with Haaretz

By Derek M. Kwait October 30, 2014

Though I don’t agree with them on everything (no one should agree with anything on everything), I ordinarily like Haaretz. I also normally find writing in to complain a bit gauche. Whether it’s about food, internet service, or editorial positions, I usually either don’t think it’s worth the bother (“My internet’s being slow? Good, I…

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A Brave New Hillel or More of the Same?

By Derek M. Kwait May 13, 2014

This has, possibly until now, been the academic year of Hillel shooting itself in the foot. Though its roots go back much further, Hillel’s troubles began in December, when then-new Hillel President and CEO Eric Fingerhut published an op-ed in the Jewish Week with AIPAC’s Jonathan Kessler announcing their intention to work together on college…

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What About Non-Zionists?

By Tom Pessah January 20, 2014

In an interview with New Voices last week,  Jewish educator David Harris-Gershon expressed his support for Swarthmore’s Hillel brave declaration, and recounted his own experiences of being banned from speaking at the UC Santa Barbara Hillel chapter for his political views. In the interview, Harris-Gershon recognized students’ “right to a space free of anti-Israel activity,”…

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After Divestment: The Devil’s Advocate

By Jason Willick April 24, 2013

This piece was originally published in the Daily Californian. The Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC) Senate’s deeply misguided vote to divest UC funds from companies affiliated with the Israeli military is, in one sense, utterly irrelevant. Despite its best efforts, the coterie of far-left activists that dominates student politics rarely influences university policy — Chancellor…

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