Journalism by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students.
Direct talks haven’t failed yet and the two sides have even set out a schedule for negotiations, so as our cautious optimism continues to grow, here’s some insight into the importance of peace for Israelis, and some discouraging thoughts on whether they actually care about a final settlement: Hebrew U. Professor Gadi Taub says that…
As a law student, my required reading is painfully boring and rarely controversial. So I have to say I envy the Brooklyn College students who are being forced to read a book by someone Bruce Kesler calls a “radical pro-Palestinian professor,’” who at least will have something interesting to discuss. Forget disinheriting the college; I’d happily…
I woke up this morning to the news that four people had been gunned down and found dead in their car. The details explain that this was a terrorist attack, carried out by Hamas, against four Jewish settlers in the West Bank. After years of relative calm, this disguising murder was perpetrated. As Israelis across…
Call up the spirit of 1773! Defend your freedoms! Slap on the chives shmeer! The time has come for us to fight against New York’s bagel tax, proposed recently in Albany. [Above the Law] Is the IRS “impeding or denying” tax exemptions from non-profits that oppose Obama’s Israel policies? If so, the Elders of Zion need…
And they’re off. For the first time since the 2007 Annapolis Conference, the US is restarting direct talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. This comes after numerous strains in the US-Israel relationship (Settlement Freeze, East Jerusalem, Flotilla, etc.), months of “proximity talks” wherein the US met separately with the Izzies and Pallies to convince them…
Nice try, Berkeley and Evergreen! Harvard may have beaten you to the task of divesting from Israel. Israeli business news site Globe reported in the above-linked article that Harvard University may have quietly scored the latest major victory for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement aimed at getting large institutions–including universities–to withdraw all economic activity…
Before flying off to Israel a couple weeks ago, I went to hear journalist Peter Beinart speak. I asked him how young, liberal American Jews should engage the kind of “uncomfortable Zionism†he prescribed in his famous June article. “To connect to the people in Israel who share your values, you know?†Beinart replied. “To…
Good morning, class. Here is your reading list. Haaretz reports that the Israeli government tried to cover up the Waqf’s secret excavations on the Temple Mount. Did Senator Lindsey Graham go against Abe Lincoln and the Bible in advocating the repeal of the 14th Amendment? asks Rabbi Andy Bachman. An American university president and Clinton-era…
For every critic who disparages hip-hop as being all about “booty-shaking†and liquor, there’s a rapper who defies that stereotype by putting out “conscious rap.†This subcategory of the genre often deals with real life problems that the artist faces, everyday dilemmas that are problems common to the artist’s listeners. As an area with its…
At least there is some good news today. There is obviously no Zionist conspiracy to run the world. Given the division in the Jewish community, it’s unlikely the community can agree on who a Jew even is, and the meaning of Judaism. With assimilation  at an all time high, one would think the Orthodox world…
I last blogged about the controversy surrounding Pride Toronto’s decision to ban the group “Queers Against Israeli Apartheid” from marching in this year’s pride parade. Since then, the controversy has done anything but slow down. After the decision, QuAIA accused the city of censoring their freedom of speech, and organized resistance in an attempt to…
On June 16th, J Street NYC and the New York Society for Ethical Culture hosted a vital conversation between Jeremy Ben Ami, J Street Founder and President and Jeffrey Goldberg, National Correspondent for the The Atlantic entitled, “Who Speaks for Me? Israel and America in the 21st Century.” .The Center for Ethical Culture on 64th…
The college campus has always been a place for heated debates, but has it gone too far? When protesters from the UC-Irvine Muslim Student Union shouted down Ambassador Michael Oren, the school came under fire for allowing students to overstep their bounds as activists. Â Â Freedom of speech is important but the event was a black…
One Thanksgiving during college, my father told us that though we criticize many of the United States’s policies and actions, we should never forget that we live in the greatest country in the world: a country that pioneered and sustains religious and civic freedom, political equality, tolerance and democracy. His point was that criticism and appreciation should…
In case you were wondering, tobacco is terrible for you. And in case you were wondering, hookah is tobacco. If you’d chosen to forget that until now, don’t worry: I’d sublimated it for some time too. Hookah used to be, for me, a way of looking exotic, feeling Israeli and trying out low-risk smoking, and…