Norman Finkelstein, a noted advocate for Palestinian rights slammed the BDS movement, likening it to “Maoists”. His shift in position is indicative of a greater pattern in which the conflict is viewed as a matter of civil rights, rather than tension between two states, Sean O’Neill claims. [+972]
“There is a paradigm shift in the works in how the Israel/Palestine conflict is understood and approached. There is an increasing consensus among Israel’s critics to see the issue as one of civil rights, rather than a conflict between two nations. Indeed, some BDS activists harbor a desire to see the end of the Jewish state, and others believe this is the inevitable outcome of a civil rights movement, whether they desire it or not. But many others, I would argue most Palestinians among them, simply don’t care about this abstract One State v. Two State argument. They just don’t think civil rights – indeed human rights – can be trumped by someone’s nationalist claims.”
The latest in the Shit ___ Say meme has hit the internet: Shit Zionists say. However, instead of poking fun, it takes the meme as an excuse to make not so thinly veiled commentary on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. [Heeb]
Tablet magazine rounds up the best of Jewish tweeters, a group, though not cohesive or well-defined, possessing playful self-deprecation, humor, and razor sharp wit. [Tablet]
“You would expect a people known since ancient times as the go-betweens par excellence and renowned for their facility with language and humor to use Twitter with similar brio and specificity, and, duly, a large number of Jewish writers and media types clearly enjoy the medium.”
A picture of a nude Ethiopian woman bathing in a Mikvah has caused controversy after an Israeli photojournalist posted it to Facebook. [Haaretz]
“Internet surfers questioned whether the photographer asked the woman for permission to take and publish the photo, and said the authenticity of any consent would be questionable, given her vulnerable status at the time it was taken.”
