By Rebecca Sugar (JNS) I missed comedian Dave Chappelle’s opening monologue on “Saturday Night Live” last weekend, but I knew I had to watch it when the wave of social media outrage reached me. When I finally saw it, what I heard shocked me. Chappelle’s jokes about the Kanye West and Kyrie Irving controversies were […]
Dave Chappelle Was More Than Just Funny, He Was Right Read More »
Opinion, USA
By Jonathan S. Tobin (JNS) You have to live in a bubble of New York Times readers and NPR listeners to think that what happens on “Saturday Night Live” is of earth-shattering importance. But the controversy about what guest host comedian Dave Chappelle said about recent antisemitic controversies involving African-Americans during the course of his
Dave Chappelle and Normalizing Black Antisemitism Read More »
Opinion, USA
By Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D JERUSALEM — The U.S. election results are not final, but a lot closer than projected in pre-election polls. The combination of a Supreme Court decision about abortion and Donald Trump’s prominence provided enough threats to limit the usual non-presidential party’s tendency to lose in mid-term elections. The projected “red wave” turned
‘Red Wave’ Turns Into a Ripple; Coalition Process Underway in Israel Read More »
International, Ira Sharkansky, Israel, Middle East, Opinion, USA
By Bruce S. Ticker PHILADELPHIA — No question that American Jews should be anxious about the future of an Israel in Benjamin Netanyahu’s hands. There will likely be two prime forces at work that can intensify the conflict with the Palestinians. We already know that Bibi (Netanyahu) plans to govern with an alliance joined by
Two Perilous Forces in Israel Read More »
Bruce Ticker, Israel, Middle East, Opinion, USA
By Alex Gordon HAIFA, Israel — In political statements and commentary, the expression “on the right side of history” often appears. The politician or commentator puts his worldview and his actions “on the right side of history,” and his opponent’s opinions and policies on its ” wrong side.” Often statements about the right side of
On the Right Side of History Read More »
Alex Gordon, International, Israel, Opinion
By Steve Kramer KFAR SABA, Israel — Judaism vs. democracy in the State of Israel, is a subject that many American Jews have been arguing for decades. I don’t get it. Could a country that has had five elections in less than four years, in which 71% of eligible voters cast ballots, be anything other
Judaism vs. Capitulation Read More »
Israel, Opinion, Steve Kramer
By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — Israel’s fifth general election in four years has just taken place, and the decision appears to be clear. Israel has moved to the right. The parties which espouse limiting the rule of law as delineated by the country’s founding fathers, as well as the practice of restricting fiscal
What Lies Ahead in Israel Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Israel, Middle East, OpinionBy Alex Gordon HAIFA, Israel — The assassination in Sarajevo of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Habsburg throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was the most important political assassination of the twentieth century, for it was the trigger for World War I. However, this assassination, committed in 1914, was not the only resounding political assassination in the
The Red Terror of the Pacifist Read More »
Alex Gordon, International, Jewish History, OpinionBy Bruce S. Ticker PHILADELPHIA — We should thank Donald J. Trump for helping Israel, but he has done far more for Jews there than he has ever done for most American Jews. In the process, his recent pronouncements have reopened the question of dual loyalty – that Jews here must ignore the everyday needs
Trump’s advice for ‘a good Jewish character’ Read More »
Bruce Ticker, Israel, Opinion, USABy Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D JERUSALEM — The world seems to be in a mess. Where to start? Israel’s election is in a bit more than a week. The parties are maneuvering. We aren’t sure who’s going to be aligned with who? And will there be enough to assure that Benjamin Netanyahu (Bibi) is not our
The World is a Mess as Israel’s Election Approaches Read More »
International, Ira Sharkansky, Israel, Middle East, Opinion, USA
(JNS) When Law Students for Justice in Palestine (LSJP) at University of California, Berkeley, School of Law promoted a bylaw that would create what critics have characterized as “no-go zones for Jews,” it may not have anticipated the thunderous and widespread denunciation it has since experienced for its toxic and radical tactic to marginalize and
By Bruce S. Ticker PHILADELPHIA — Perhaps these students had not advanced far enough in law school to recognize that the murder of women and gays is, well, murder. Otherwise, the Women of Berkeley Law would most certainly have rallied against the “honor killings” of women that ravage the Arab world, and the Queer Caucus
What’s Israel Got to Do, Got to Do with Sexism and Homophobia? Read More »
Bruce Ticker, California, Israel, Middle East, Opinion, USABy Alex Gordon HAIFA, Israel — In June 1917, in the capital of the Russian Empire, Petrograd, formerly St. Petersburg, the poet Leonid Kannegiesser wrote a poem in which he glorified the chairman of the Provisional Government Alexander Kerensky, comparing his idol to the Messiah. Kannegiesser was born into a wealthy and cultured family of
The Jewish War Over Red Terror Read More »
Alex Gordon, International, Jewish History, OpinionBy Bruce S. Ticker PHILADELPHIA — It is astounding how Israel’s foes have assembled an immense if bulky movement in America and Canada to advocate for the Palestinian cause. A great many people support this cause, and their strength is in the numbers. They have developed an extensive network of Americans and Canadians who genuinely
The Anti-Israel Wall Can Crumble Read More »
Bruce Ticker, Israel, Middle East, Opinion, USA