On Sunday November 11th, people all over Britain pinned the famous blood-red emblem of remembrance to their clothing in honor of those who fought and died for the country. In particular, during a conflict few outside the UK remember quite the same way: the First World War. (More…)
After Barack Obama secured his second term Tuesday, there were a lot of questions about what it will look like. For those of us focused on the US government’s Mideast policy, the main question was whether Obama was going to exact revenge on Benjamin Netanyahu for his support of Mitt Romney. Bibi’s interference in American politics was unprecedented for any foreign leader. No amount of denial will change that. (More…)
Military occupations bring certain themes to mind: human rights abuses; poverty; crowded refugee camps, and so on. Geographic references are equally synonymous: Palestine, Kashmir or West Papua, to cite the most recent example. Rarely, if ever, is the miserable situation in the sparsely-populated province of Western Sahara cited. (More…)
Mitt Romney thinks disaster relief should be privatized. In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the idea of fobbing off FEMA’s services has been rightfully focused on for its coldness. However, given that this policy position was announced months ago, it’s surprising that Hurricane Katrina was not immediately brought to bear in criticisms of Romney’s proposal. (More…)
The plum in the pocket of the Israel Lobby (not, one must point out, the “pro-Israel Lobby”) is its hold on Congressional Democrats. Republicans don’t have to answer to a liberal constituency that struggles to reconcile Israel’s occupation and policies with their own values. The rest of the Lobby’s influence on Capitol Hill flows from their decisive influence in Congress. (More…)
The Imam was optimistic. ”This is a step forward for integration too’,” he bragged to ANSA, the Italian state news agency. The reason? The first halal mozzarella had been certified by religious authorities. Henceforth, Italian Muslims would be able to consume one of Italy’s most popular food products, in full accordance with their religious beliefs. (More…)
Election 2012 has been four (or more) years in the making, but we’re about to, mercifully, call it history. It’s not wrong to say that it has mostly been a referendum on President Obama. But this election, perhaps more than usual, has also been a referendum on democracy. What have we learned? (More…)
One of the first things I did when I arrived in Germany as an exchange student in 1986 was to walk into a bookstore and buy a collection of Bertolt Brecht’s plays. I spoke almost no German. And the only Brecht I had been aware of back in the states was his libretto for the Kurt Weill “song-play” The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (More…)
Following Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement that he was forming a joint list for the upcoming election with Avigdor Lieberman’s fascist Yisrael Beiteinu party, there was no shortage of analyses of what this would mean. Indeed, there had been plenty of projections and polls, even more so than usual, in recent weeks. (More…)
Every so often, I write a column, and have to immediately update it. This was what happened last week, so I decided to revisit its topics: the Protestant churches’ letter to Congress about US military aid to Israel, and the scandal over anti-Semitism in the Free Gaza Movement. I’ll start by admitting I was wrong about Greta Berlin. (More…)
Six years ago, I met with Kenneth Stern, the director of the American Jewish Committee’s program on anti-Semitism. Stern was one of the main figures in the creation of the framework which was called “the new anti-Semitism,” a paradigm which has since blurred the line between anti-Jewish hate and legitimate criticism of Israel. (More…)
In the pogrom-like atmosphere gathering apace in Pakistan, the religious majority – Sunni Muslims – do not perceive that what is at stake is not an ‘altruistic’ concern for weak, insignificant minorities. The market, and its partner nationalism, make us think that ‘conscience’ is reserved for exceptional moments of humanitarianism, rather than being part of everyday life. (More…)