Judaism

Killing One innocent Soul is the Same as Killing all of Humanity: Jewish and Muslim Teachings against Cosmocide

The below is an excerpt from my essay, “The Sin of Cosmocide,” for Renovatio, the literary magazine of Zaytuna, the Muslim liberal arts college in Berkeley, Ca. It underlines how both Jewish and Muslim spiritual teachings forbid the killing of innocents who are guilty of no crime, and equate this deed to killing all humankind […]

Donald Trump

What could go Wrong? Some wealthy Jewish Americans risk alliance with Trump’s White Christian Nationalism

H. Scott Prosterman

Oakland, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – A small coterie of wealthy Jewish Americans are perversely giddy and glowing over convicted criminal Donald Trump’s election. In contrast, American Jews in less wealthy income groups overwhelmingly voted against the orange authoritarian. Still, he garnered about a fifth of the Jewish vote. How did he con […]

Anti-Zionism

Protesting the Firing of Tenured Professor Maura Finkelstein for Criticizing Zionism

Committee on Academic Freedom

Committee on Academic Freedom | Middle East Studies Association | – Dear President Harring, Provost Furge and Professor Dowd: We write on behalf of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) and its Committee on Academic Freedom to express our grave concern about the announcement by Muhlenberg College that it intends to terminate […]

Islam

The Verse “Hear O Israel” is Common to Judaism and Islam

Shamai Leibowitz

( The Times of Israel) – This Shabbat we read the second paragraph of the Shema, and last week we read the first paragraph which opens with a call — arguably the most famous prayer in our liturgy: Listen, Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord is one” (Deut. 6:4). “The first paragraph of […]

Featured

Ascending the Temple Mount: Political Act in a Site of Holiness

Yakov M. Rabkin

Montréal (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Every year, Jews recite the entire Pentateuch aloud in synagogues. It is divided in weekly portions. This week’s one (Vaet’hanan, Deuteronomy 3 :23 – 7 :11) contains passages that are central to Jewish liturgy, including the Shema, a declaration of loyalty to God, or more precisely, a declaration […]

Anti-Zionism

Liberal Zionism and the woke facade of Israeli genocide

Yoav Litvin

( The New Arab ) – Israel’s ongoing genocide is part of a downward spiral for the Zionist project. In the words of acclaimed historian Professor Ilan Pappe: “We are witnessing a historical process – or, more accurately, the beginnings of one – that is likely to culminate in the downfall of Zionism.” Yet Zionism’s […]

American Jews

Jewish critics of Zionism have Clashed with American Jewish Leaders for Decades

The Conversation

By Marjorie N. Feld, Babson College | – Since October 2023, American Jews have been engaged in an intense, fractious debate over Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip. Media reports say that American Jews are experiencing “the great rupture,” widening “rifts,” and stand at a “moral, political crossroads.” While most American Jews remain broadly supportive […]

Anti-Zionism

Voices for Justice in Palestine

H. Patricia Hynes

Greenfield, Mass. (Special to Informed Comment, Feature) – They gather every Saturday morning on the Greenfield Common, Massachusetts from 11-Noon. Their signs and banners read: LET GAZA LIVE FREE PALESTINE CEASEFIRE – NO ARM$ TO ISRAEL NEVER AGAIN FOR ANYONE Why? Johanna (Jo) Rosen stands on the Common because she is “heartbroken and outraged by […]

Anti-Zionism

Most Bigoted, Genocidal Representative in Congress smears Juan Cole as a Racist

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The House Committee on Education and the Workplace, headed by the increasingly unhinged Rep. Virginia Palmieri Foxx (R-NC), held another Stalin-style show trial on Thursday, grilling the presidents of Northwestern University, Rutgers University, and the University of California Los Angeles about how they dealt with campus student protests against the […]