Hannah Arendt wrote, over 50 years ago, a famous and controversial book, Eichmann in Jerusalem, about (among other things) how the Holocaust led to the creation of Israel. If Benjamin Netanyahu were to write a book, a good title might be Eichmann’s from Jerusalem: How the Palestinians are Responsible for the Holocaust. For decades right-wing Israelis have been saying that the Palestinians are like the Nazis. Now they are arguing that the Palestinians were the original Nazis, and that the Nazis needed to take lessons from them in Jew-hatred. read more

Having failed in persuading Israelis and Palestinians to negotiate in calmer times, Secretary Kerry is making a big mistake by inserting himself in the current tragic Israeli Palestinian turmoil. He will fail again, as before, because Prime Minister Netanyahu and his right-wing government are not interested in what Kerry called a few days ago, “moving things forward.” Netanyahu opposes moving things forward; he wants the status quo, which is continued settlements and occupation. This has been the case in the previous failure to move things toward negotiation and nothing has changed for Netanyahu except the recent unrest that has been simmering all these years of occupation with no hope in sight. read more

A friend asked why I thought it was unreasonable for Jews to want to pray on the Temple Mount, which Muslims call the Noble Sanctuary. On the face of it, it sounds reasonable. Why shouldn’t Jews or anyone else, be able to pray where they want to, as long as they respect the sacred spaces of other religions? My answers are below:

First, Judaism became a world religion worthy of the name when it abandoned sacrifices and proclaimed that God could be found everywhere, not just on the top of one hill in one city in one country. And of course, until recently, orthodox Jews banned prayer on the Temple Mount/Noble Sanctuary, primarily to rid the Jewish religion of itchy messianists, who alas have returned in great numbers. The renewed demand for Jewish prayer exists for only one real reason—to challenge the Waqf, which has controlled access to the TM/NS since the 12th century. read more

When I lived in Rochester, my favorite place to visit was Toronto, one of the world’s great cities. And I always loved that when we were driving there, somewhere outside of Buffalo you could pick up the CBC on the radio, and start hearing about the Premier of Ontario, by-elections in contested ridings, a whole different political world that Americans almost completely ignore, even those who lived only, as the crow flies, or the ferry runs (or not) about 30 or 40 miles away. But since I moved to South Carolina, with its own set of problems, I confess I haven’t paid much attention to goings on in our northern neighbor. read more

In the midst of tragedy, fear and despair, voices for hope came last night from Israeli Jewish and Arab citizens in a peace vigil in Jerusalem. While citizens called for peace in Jerusalem, the United States has been taking a ‘wait and see’ attitude after the efforts made by Secretary Kerry failed to move Israeli Palestinian negotiations.

On the ground, however, as the vigil reveals, it is an entirely different matter, since Jewish and Arab citizens who live their daily lives side by side are deeply concerned; they want to see a policy shift from settlements and violence to engagement, peace and a two states’ agreement. read more