Zionism defined the Jews as a people/nation, rather than a religion. But most American Jews and especially American Jewish organizations, would and could never accept the definition of Jewishness outside religion. America Jews were unwilling from the first to see themselves as victims of persecution (the ADL notwithstanding) or as a national group.

Continue Reading »

“Religion” no longer was an adequate characterization of “Jewish” by the nineteenth century (see What is “Jewish?”: 3. The Jewish religion in modern society) since one could be a Jew and have no religious belief or even be a “non-Jewish” Jew. The German statesman Otto Von Bismarck meant no slight when he said of Benjamin Disraeli, “Der alte Jude, das ist der Mann!” (The old Jew, that is the man!).

Continue Reading »

“Jewish Identity,” “Who is a Jew?” “What is Jewish?” are all related to our definition of “Jew.” Writing about this topic is a thankless task. It will bore most people, mystify many non-Jews, and evoke the most dogmatic invective from others, no matter what is written. It is a vast topic, and I cannot hope to cover all the various aspects in one or a even a few articles.

Continue Reading »

Israel advocacy activists experienced the unaccustomed flush of victory after Seattle authorities decided not to run some obnoxious ads alleging Israeli war crimes and to review their policy regarding non-commercial advertising (see What to do about those anti-Israel bus ads). The ads were placed by a local Hamas groupie named Ed Mast, to advocate against U.S. foreign aid to Israel. This local issue became important when anti-Israel activist Cindy Corrie urged people to campaign in support of the ads.

Continue Reading »

By now, you may know that YouTube has banned Palestine Media Watch (PMW) (See also We don’t have to – we’re Google) because of “hate speech” and has partially rescinded the ban. The big unreported story however, is that YouTube allows a great deal of anti-Semitic and Nazi propaganda and comments, none of which are flagged or censored as “hate speech.”

Continue Reading »

Egyptians believe that Israeli Navy commandos have scored a unique success. Here are the main points of account of this latest Jew-Zionist perfidy as published in the Huffington Post:

A German tourist was mauled to death by a shark off Egypt’s Red Sea coast Sunday, but if popular rumors on the street are to be believed, it was the Israelis who did it.

The attack came days after authorities claimed they had hunted and killed a shark believed to have injured three foreign tourists in previous incidents…

A popular account has it that Israel is “dumping” hungry sharks in the Red Sea in a bid to weaken Egypt’s thriving tourism industry…

One tourism company operator who owns a small fleet of mini-buses that cater to Cairo’s tourist spots told me that Israel wants Egypt to lose one of its most vital economic resources so that it can toe the line on the Palestinians.

A waiter at a popular cafe went further and theorized that the deadly fires in Northern Israel were God’s way of punishing the Israelis for orchestrating the shark attacks.

“Look at how God has brought Israel to its knees as it asks the world – even Egypt – for help in putting out the fires,” he said.

Blaming Israel for nearly every malady is not restricted to loony street conspiracies. Political analysts blame Israel for emboldening Nile Basin countries in Africa to dispute Egypt’s share of the river, fueling diplomatic tensions between Cairo and regional capitals…

And in mid-August, when a series of power blackouts lefts millions of Egyptians sweltering in the summer sun, who did they blame? Some speculated that gas exports to Israel have left Egyptian power plants “undernourished”.

On December 5, the Ministry of health reported that two women had died from the H1N1 and Avian flu viruses, respectively. No word yet on whether the birds flew in from Israel.

Update: Since the posting of this article, the governor of South Sinai has gone on a popular Egyptian television program to say there is a possibility Israeli intelligence is behind the shark attacks.

These are relatively mild and “moderate” views. When analysts talk about Arab “moderates,” they often  mean Egypt. Keep in mind that Egypt is one of two Arab counties that have a peace treaty with Israel, and remember that the current regime is quite moderate in comparison with the Muslim Brotherhood that may soon take power in Egypt.

In the context of historical anti-Semitism, the view that Jews are at fault for everything is hardly new. In the Middle East, the conflict with tiny Israel (population less than 8 million)   is routinely blamed for Arab underdevelopment and the misery of hundreds of millions of people. This view is not confined to kooks and krazies only. It is touted by respected analysts in the west and enshrined in U.N.reports.

Ami Isseroff

We have already discussed What is not Zionism? and also what Zionism is not (not the same thing, exactly). We have not considered the question “What is Zionism?”

Continue Reading »

A.B. Yehoshua makes some strange points in his article Zionism is not an ideology. He will be listened to, because he is an Intellectual,  and because it is expedient for many people to hold similar beliefs, and because these beliefs are fashionable. However, it seems clear that he is wrong about key ideas. It is worthwhile dissecting his philosophy, because it encapsulates a way of thinking about Zionism and Judaism that is typical of many Israeli intellectuals.

Continue Reading »

The bad news about 19 year old Gabriel Latner is that he is not a gentleman. It seems he didn’t play fair in a debate about the proposition “Israel is a rogue state” held by the Cambridge University Cambridge Union in the UK. The proposition itself is ungentlemanly of course. It is rather like holding a debate on “How often do you beat your wife?”

Continue Reading »

Daoud Kuttab piously objects to Israel as a Jewish state. He writes:

…[W]e have been inundated with continuous demands by Israel’s leaders that Palestinians not only recognize the state of Israel but its Jewishness as well…

Palestinians have rejected, and will continue to do so, equating the two terms, for a variety of reasons. Palestinian nationalists insist that the Arab-Israeli conflict is a political national struggle and not a religious one. And although Palestinians have recognized Israelis within the 1967 borders, they totally refuse the concept that Jews have a biblical right to the land of historic Palestine or beyond.

Continue Reading »