ZioNation Progressive Zionism-Israel Web Log

Meeting Iran half way

A few years ago I was engaged in an animated multi-way debate with American and other foreign policy analysts who insisted that Iran poses no existential danger to Israel. They reasoned that Iran could not realistically use nuclear weapons against Israel even if they got them, and they pointed out Iran has no border with Israel, and would have no way of invading Israel. Therefore, they could attack under a nuclear umbrella that prevented massive retaliation. So how, they asked could Iran constitute an existential danger to Israel?

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Ami Isseroff on 05.11.08 @ 09:03 PM CST [link] [2 Comments]

Thursday, May 8th

Israeli Independence: Looking back and looking forward

I saw an Israel Independence day celebration for the first time in 1958, Israel's tenth anniversary. It was quite a bit different from the slick, choreographed production of today, where soldiers in dress uniform formed impressive patterns that spell out Israel or form a Jewish star or the symbol of the state, and choirs and electric instrument bands played Euro-pop vulgarized versions of Zionist pioneering songs.

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Ami Isseroff on 05.08.08 @ 07:14 PM CST [link] [No Comments]

Wednesday, May 7th

Why I am a Zionist

In the Jerusalem Post, Gil Troy explains eloquently why he is a Zionist. He gives good reasons, including reasons that resonate deeply with many of us, including myself. However, some of these reasons are not the reasons that I am a Zionist.

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Ami Isseroff on 05.07.08 @ 03:20 PM CST [link] [2 Comments]

Tuesday, May 6th

"Durban II" anti-racism conference - more anti-Zionism in store?

The debacle of the 2001 Durban "anti-racism" conference has left a terrible taste in everyone's mouth. The last conference is remembered for the noisy and ugly, if inconsequential, demonstration of anti-Semitism and "anti-Zionism" that made people forget that the conference was supposedly fighting racism. With Libya and Iran in the driver's seat, one might think the next conference will be as bad or worse than the last one.

That may not be the case however, as Benjamin Pogrund explains in a report that first appeared at the Centre for International Political Studies (CiPS) of the University of Pretoria. We can all hope he is right, but somehow, it seems unlikely that the rerun of this conference will really focus on racism.

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Ami Isseroff on 05.06.08 @ 02:51 PM CST [link] [No Comments]

Monday, May 5th

Bringing our Israeli boys home

It is most unpleasant to write this particular article, but, I fear, it is most necessary. Almost two years have past since Palestinian bandits loosely affiliated with the Hamas kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. In July, it will also be two years since the Hezbollah kidnapped Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser. Our hearts go out to our kidnapped soldiers and to their families. There is no argument that we must to everything within reason to bring them home.

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Ami Isseroff on 05.05.08 @ 05:29 PM CST [link] [1 Comment]

Israel at 60: Our friendly neighbors

Israel's 60th anniversary is a time to take stock. Alon Ben Meir notes that Israeli security problems have not ended, despite our achievements. He blames the occupation. If only Israel ended the "torment" of the occupation, we could live in peace and security and consolidate our considerable gains, writes Ben-Meir. Bashar al Assad will show himself as a true democrat and friend of peace. The Hamas will sing Hatikva.

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Ami Isseroff on 05.05.08 @ 02:30 PM CST [link] [No Comments]

Sunday, May 4th

Palestine Nakba - the obvious mystery

There is an obvious mystery about the Palestine Nakba - the situation of the Arab refugees of the 1948 Israel War of Independence. It is one of those things that is so obvious that nobody mentions it, like an elephant in the room, but why it is not mentioned by anyone at all is not obvious.

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Ami Isseroff on 05.04.08 @ 03:13 PM CST [link] [2 Comments]

Jewish Blogging

The ways of Jewish blogging are mysterious to yours truly, who is only a peripheral cog in the great wheel of Jewish bloggers. I am Jewish and write Web logs, about subjects that are usually related to Zionism, the Holocaust, who is a Jew, aspects of Judaism, so I guess I qualify as a "Jewish blogger."

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Ami Isseroff on 05.04.08 @ 01:15 PM CST [link] [No Comments]

Thursday, May 1st

Holocaust, Israel, Zionism

Benjamin Pogrund has written what is in many ways an excellent and sensitive little article in the Guardian about the Holocaust and Israel. It is in many ways excellent, except that he called it Why we are here. and that by way of introduction, he wrote a remark that was bound to be misconstrued: "The foundation of Israel was born out of the Holocaust."

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Ami Isseroff on 05.01.08 @ 10:56 PM CST [link] [2 Comments]