Oakland, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Previously I’ve argued that Zionism has run its course as a political movement, and accomplished its goal: The creation of a viable Jewish nation-state. I’ve also argued that Zionism under Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu (Bibi) has become a driving force in nurturing global anti-Semitism. He has perverted […]
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Jewish History
Israel on the Brink as Ultra-Orthodox Exemption from Military Service is Set to End
Oakland, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment; Featured) – On March 29, the Israeli Supreme Court ordered the government to stop subsidizing the academies and yeshivas (seminaries), whose students have been exempted from military service since Israel’s founding. This move, brought by Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara, was prompted by the expiration of prior government actions to maintain […]
Europe’s Jewish Scholars of Islam
Middlebury, Vt. (Special to Informed Comment) – At the end of the nineteenth century, the Turkish government asked its Minister of Education to prepare a report on European universities and the possibility of introducing Western style higher education to the Ottoman realm. The Minister travelled to the great European educational institutions and submitted his report […]
Purim at the Time of Genocide
Montréal (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – The Jewish holiday of Purim, related in the Book of Esther, celebrates deliverance from a genocide. How to celebrate it when death and starvation kill thousands in Gaza, and the holiday’s rhetoric, namely the memory of the archenemy Amalek, is being used by Israeli politicians responsible for it? […]
QZionism hits Peak Conspiracy Theory with Smears of Oscar-Winning Jonathan Glazer
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The brave and highly ethical Oscar-award-winning director, Jonathan Glazer, has been targeted by the crazies on the Zionist (Israeli-nationalist) right wing, as were all the actors and film people who expressed horror at the genocide in Gaza. Their allegations on social media are so bizarre and crazed that they are […]
The Battle for the Soul of Judaism: Tribalism, Amalek and the Axial Age Universalism of Isaiah
Kyoto (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Viewers of Tucker Carlson’s recent interview with Vladimir Putin may have been surprised by Putin’s lengthy reference to the historical founding of Russia. What does that have to do with Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine one might ask. Yet, as any student of history, let alone a diplomat, […]
US Scholars of Mideast dispute House Resolution 894’s Equation of anti-Zionism with Antisemitism
Committee on Academic Freedom, North America, Middle East Studies Association | – Representative Mike Johnson Speaker of the House of Representatives Representative Hakim Jeffries Minority Leader, House of Representatives Dear Speaker Johnson and Minority Leader Jeffries, We write on behalf of the Committee on Academic Freedom of the Middle East Studies Association […]
Never Forget: Jews and Muslims have Often imagined themselves in History as Siblings and Allies
Excerpted from Tingis. Historically, and even theologically, Jews have always been closer to Muslims than they were to Christians. It was in Muslim lands, the late eminent historian Bernard Lewis told us, that Arabic “became the language of science and philosophy, of government and commerce, even the language of Jewish theology when such a discipline […]
Does Compromise show Weakness or Strength? – A Surprising finding in the Talmud
Growing up in Israel, the prevailing mentality surrounding me everywhere I went was that compromise shows weakness. The message was clear: compromise is a “Diaspora thing,” but for us Israelis – we stand strong, we take “what is ours,” and we don’t back down. But my father Elhanan Leibowitz OBM (of blessed memory), whose yahrtzeit, […]