Wed, January 19, 2011 Shvat 14, 5771
Israel’s right-wing politicians are trying to divert blame for its isolation onto the country’s liberal critics.
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As Netanyahu continues to explain criticism of Israel's settlement policy as a conspiracy to delegitimatize the Jewish state, hatred turns on a real or imagined enemy - Israeli Arabs.
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Those who voted for Katsav as president should ask themselves: What did I know about this man? Did I really think he was suited for what is formally Israel’s highest office? Was I capable of thinking beyond petty party politics and personal gain when I cast my vote?
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There are two choices in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: the two-state solution, or descent of the region into chaos that will make earlier rounds of bloodletting look tame.
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The real reason for insisting on the two-state solution is that we want this state to have a Jewish character. And by Jewish we don't mean that it should be a theocracy, or that it should give Jews more rights than Arabs.
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Israel suffered truly existential threats until 1973, and then severe blows when it gave peace a chance; now many Israelis are deeply angry at anybody who tries to talk them into doing it again.
56 commentsIsrael's right wing, to an ever growing extent, tends toward the position that Israel should not approve the language of individual human rights accepted today in international politics.
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After endless boycott attempts accusing Israel's universities of cooperating with the occupation, now Israel's right is waging a totalitarian campaign against what they term 'anti-Zionism.'
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In her long-awaited third novel, Nicole Krauss makes no attempts at a grand statement. Yet this work does make clear that the task of tying together and preserving the memory of all Jewish generations robs the present of vitality
12 commentsBecause the right has been so phenomenally successful in its wise strategies, we can be pretty sure that it will continue to aggravate the world even further.
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An open letter to the prime minister following his address at a memorial service marking 15 years since Yitzhak Rabin's assassination.
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Isaac Herzog is wrong when he says that fascism lurks at the fringes of Israeli society. It is now in the mainstream.
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Israel after years of dedicated experimentation has developed the Glorious New Method of Government by Chaos.
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The Iranian president’s conspiracy theories about 9/11 and his Holocaust denial shows how critical it is that the Free World protect truth from ideology.
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Never lower yourself to the level of Israel’s worst detractors. Don’t ever lie, and don’t twist the facts. Don’t use hollow propaganda phrases; you’ll lose your credibility the moment you do so.
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David Grossman’s To the End of the Land is an indispensable guide for those who want to contain in their souls both the triumph and the tragedy that is Israel.
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Prime Minister Netanyahu likes to model himself along the lines of great statesmen.
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Imagine an anthropologist from Mars sent to earth to compile a report on Israeli political culture, and to understand the distinction between Zionism and anti-Zionism.
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Netanyahu probably assumes that the Palestinians will walk out, and he will be justified in maintaining the status quo. But is he prepared for what comes next?
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Despite accusations to the contrary, Tony Judt represents an important tradition of Jewishness.
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A look at a timely and welcome collection of essays by Jewish psychoanalysts exemplifying the whole range of Jewish denominations including ultra-Orthodoxy.
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Israelis at this point prefer international isolation, painful as it is, to reliance on Arab peace partners for its own security.
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Talking to Hamas makes sense for Israel if there are good reasons to believe that, in the long run, the organization will take the course of the ANC and the IRA and move from terror tactics to becoming legitimate players in the political arena.
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Israel's lawmakers and politicians are blissfully unaware of what goes on outside their narrow fishpond, and they have no clue about the effect of their actions on the wider world.
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Like Abbas admitted that the second intifada was one of the worst Palestinian mistakes, Israel needs to admit to its worst mistake: the settlement enterprise.
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Vice Premier Ya'alon believes liberals have a 'distorted' vision of Zionism, but his own form is inflicting harm on Israel and pushing it into deeper isolation.
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Israel would do well to become a truly liberal, secular state without ethnic dominance in which subgroups no longer impose their way of life on each other.
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It seems that the ideal of a liberal society in the Mideast is gradually slipping away; that the forces of nationalism, religious fundamentalism and sheer rage and fear are engulfing us.
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Israel is stuck in the belief that it is right, and everybody else is wrong and hence incapable of admitting that its policy vis-à-vis the Palestinians has been disastrous.
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The ideology of Herzl can give young Israelis a way to express their Jewish identity and without being stifled by right-wing totalitarianism.
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Saying Israel is progressive and creative doesn't work when its politicians focus on victimhood and aggression.
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If Israel feels it cannot survive free speech, then it is one step closer to flirting with totalitarianism.
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Behind the scenes a drama unfolded last week which could have done enormous damage to Tel Aviv University, Israel’s higher education system and to Israel as a country.
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It is important to differentiate between those who delegitimize Israel and those liberal critics who know that Israel is not solely responsible for the absence of peace.
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Diaspora Jews around the world are realizing the time has come to reject the right’s dictate that being pro-Israel means that you need to support the policies of Israeli governments, no matter what they do.
0 commentsIsrael must choose between either holy places and East Jerusalem, or peace and democracy.
0 commentsA U.S. peace initiative is needed to break the tradition of filial sacrifice associated with Jerusalem.
0 commentsWith the high priority Obama gives the Mideast conflict, he may do well to put his rhetorical skills on the line.
0 commentsTrenchant argument is of vital importance at all times, but even more so in this time of crisis.
0 commentsThe left has failed to provide a realistic picture of the conflict with the Palestinians.
0 commentsNetanyahu seems to believe there is no tie between how Israel conducts itself and Arab rejectionism.
0 commentsThe PM faces one big question: Will he continue stalling, or will he muster the courage for a bold move?
0 commentsThere is a deep reason the majority of Israelis and Palestinians can't move toward the two-state solution.
0 commentsThe current U.S. reading must be replaced with one that looks at a Middle East scarred by multi-layered traumas on both sides.
0 commentsIsrael's liberal citizenry has all but disappeared from the political scene, but why?
0 commentsCitizens must pressure state to change the system, or we won't regain the pride that Israel could give us.
0 commentsForecasts predict total lack of cohesion among different sub-groups within Israel - here's one solution.
0 commentsIn a state from the Jordan to the sea there would be an endless Jewish-Palestinian struggle for demographic hegemony.
0 commentsOn this Rosh Hashanah, it is time for Jews, religious and secular, to connect around a forward-looking agenda that does not deny our past.
0 commentsThe demand for secularization should be supported by all religious Israelis, because it is no less in their interest than it is in that of secular Jews.
0 commentsIn using the Holocaust to defend indefensible policies, Netanyahu harms the ethics of memory that Ahmadinejad is incapable of endorsing.
0 commentsImagine a Jerusalem throughout which centers of learning and interfaith dialogue are built.
0 commentsNetanyahu at 60 needs to overhaul his worldview from Jewish Exceptionalism to Universalism
0 commentsThe language of excommunication and apostasy has never been used lightly in Jewish history, and its implications can be dangerous.
0 commentsEven Israel's friends no longer buy Netanyahu's excuses for doing nothing but build in W. Bank settlements.
0 commentsNetanyahu's claim that Israel's economic growth is unaffected by the general political situation is highly questionable.
0 commentsSome may be surprised to find that Sand's goal is to preserve Israel as a democracy with a Jewish character.
0 commentsEU recognition of a Palestinian state and capital might reignite the peace process.
0 commentsIt's not enough that Tiger Woods' name is dragged through the mud; he must be tarred, feathered and humiliated.
0 commentsSuch is the reality of the Mideast that even the most innocent holiday gets tangled up in politics.
0 commentsIsrael and the Christian world have been locked in a very complex relationship that has deep historical and theological roots.
0 commentsAt first, I did think you were using a cynical ploy in comparing the settlers to Rosa Parks.
0 commentsA response to Aryeh Deri's claim that secular Judaism has given us education but no culture.
0 commentsIn an op-ed about Avigdor Lieberman you have tacked one of the most sensitive questions in Israeli society.
0 commentsA credible vision for the Left requires sticking to our moral principles, but to take a much more pragmatic approach to peace-making.
0 commentsCarlo Strenger is a psychoanalyst, philosopher and public intellectual engaged in the defense of individual liberty, a high level of public discourse and a sane solution of the Israel-Palestine conflict. A professor of psychology at Tel Aviv University, he studies the difficulties involved in maintaining a stable sense of identity and meaning in the global era.
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