It was a busy blogging day today for me: Anti-Israel partisans were soundly defeated in their effort to convince the Norwegian NTNU to boycott Israel, as the university’s executive board unanimously rejected the measure. Rhode Island’s governor vetoed a bill which would have allowed domestic partners the right to dispose of their partner’s remains. It’s a slippery slope to human dignity, after all. In happier news, the LDS in Utah has surprisingly come out in favor of several...

This is an excellent interview by Jeffrey Goldberg of the American Task Force for Palestine’s Hussein Ibish. I’ve spoken positively about the ATFP before, and interviews like this help demonstrate why. Mr. Ibish is a clear and steadfast supporter of a peaceful, two-state solution, and it really comes through in this interview that he gets the conflict and he, from the position of a Palestinian advocate, gets the contours of the American Jewish community’s stance regarding Israel....

Cross-posted to The Debate Link In a PJ Media questionnaire that exemplifies the worst in fusing baseless speculation with raging demagoguery, Lenny Ben-David wanted to ask, among others, the following questions about J Street to its leader, Jeremy Ben-Ami: You were recently asked in an interview about funds J Street received from Palestinians, Arab-Americans, and Iranian-Americans, to which you answered: “J Street does have some Arab and Muslim donors — about five. These are individuals, not...

The UNHRC has officially adopted the Goldstone report criticizing Israel and Hamas for their conduct during the Gaza war. Well, sort of — though Goldstone’s report contained criticisms of both Israel and Hamas, the UNHRC’s resolution, “inexplicably”, says nary a word about Hamas. Stunning, I know. Judge Goldstone apparently is displeased with this, but you can’t tell me he’s actually surprised, as the only principle the UNHRC holds deeper than “screw...

Gaza City’s zoo lost its only two zebras to hunger during the Gaza war. The animals were extremely popular with area children, but were too expensive to replace. So the zookeepers got novel: they hired a painter to paint black and white stripes on two donkeys, making them approximate the real thing. The article reports that many Gaza children, having never seen a real zebra, enjoy their local “variant”. Nonetheless, this strikes me as a worthy fundraising endeavor. Whatever thoughts...

Governor Rick Perry has been advising citizens concerned about the prospect of government-sponsored universal health care to “read the book” — the book being Frederick Hayek’s “The Road to Serfdom”. The problem? Hayek is surprisingly positive towards government social insurance directed towards things like accidents and sickness — in that very book no less. Maybe Governor Perry should try reading the book first, and then he can get back to us.

An Israeli MK is giving a speech today where he will talk about the discrimination and racism faced by Israeli Arab citizens, forthrightly declare that they are integral and indispensable parts of Israeli society, and recognize the real and true trauma faced by Palestinians coinciding with the creation of Israel. On its own, this isn’t all that noteworthy — Israel has a vibrant political culture with members of the Knesset occupying literally every imaginable political niche. What makes...

There was speculation that Alaska Governor (and right-wing darling) Sarah Palin would not run for re-election in 2010, both to give time to run for President in 2012, and to avoid a potentially embarrassing upset defeat which could derail her political career altogether (see Allen, George). But in a stunning announcement, Gov. Palin is in fact planning to resign the governorship, effective at the end of the month. Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell (R) will take over. I have to say, I consider this...

Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine and prominent leader of the BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanction) movement against Israel, is an apologist for anti-Semitism at the UN. Indeed, she goes out and directly blames the victims, accusing them of “sabotage” for having the temerity to call out bigotry at the Durban II conference this past year.

Mark Lynch has come back from Israel and has a message for Obama: don’t back down on the settlements. I mostly concur, and give my additional analysis here

University of Chicago law professor Todd Henderson examines the “nanny corporation” and what he calls the “market for paternalism.” I’m going to be blogging all summer covering Chicago’s “works in progress” talks for the Faculty blog. There should be one going up each week — your chance to take a peek at what’s percolating at one of the world’s top intellectual centers.

Happy Juneteenth! It’s nice that it falls on a Friday. Unfortunately, Chicago has been under a severe thunderstorm warning all day.

Part of Netanyahu’s agreement to establish a Palestinian state is the condition that the state be demilitarized. It isn’t as radical an idea as it’s made out to be. It is also flat wrong, and will make Israel less secure in the process.

Ha’aretz reports that prosecutors have dropped an indictment of a Hebron settler who went to the house of local Palestinians, drew his gun, initiated an argument, and then assaulted and shot two at close range. And was caught on film doing it. This is not isolated. The settlers have recently embarked on a campaign of intimidation and violence: torching Palestinian fields, throwing rocks at Palestinian cars, and attacking Israeli police. This is a threat to the very core of Israel’s status...

In a fascinating bit of political history research, Swing State Project blogger “Silver Spring” takes a look at the now-vacant NY-23 district (represented by John McHugh before he was nominated as Secretary of the Army) and finds that much hasn’t been represented by a Democrat for awhile. A long while. Nearly half of the district hasn’t been represented by a Democrat since 1854. And one county (Franklin) was more recently represented by a Whig (1852) than a Democrat (1850). So...

Yesterday, I signed on as a supporter of TULIP: Trade Unions Linking Israel and Palestine. TULIP was formed by three labor leaders in the UK, US, and Australia as a counter to the growing movement within the labor community supporting boycotts of Israel. Groups like BRICUP and PACBI, and BDS leaders like Naomi Klein, have consciously placed themselves in opposition to “constructive engagement” (their words) as the proper strategy to achieving a peaceful and just solution. They seek to...

Cross-posted to The Debate Link Daniel Doron writes in opposition to the creation of a Palestinian state: But should not the establishment of such a state–which the Europeans so strongly promote–adhere to the European Union’s 1993 Copenhagen Political Criteria for new members, which states, “Membership criteria require that the candidate country must have achieved stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, rule of law, human rights, and respect for and protection of...

I have to admit I stunned by the sheer naivete it takes to find it a shocking revelation that Israel might have agents in the US. Why wouldn’t they? I bet we have agents in Israel. And France and the UK and Germany and Japan for that matter (and vice versa). And I’m sure they have agents here as well. And sometimes the agents get caught, and get arrested or expelled or whatever, and it’s a big incident, and then everyone goes back to where they started. Just because sovereign states...

PDF of the opinion here. And the arc of history bends a little more towards justice.

Gershom Gorenberg has an unbelievably good article in The Weekly Standard taking a look at the possibility of a genuinely non-violent Palestinian resistance — one set to the mold of Gandhi and King. He looks at the people advocating such a stance today, the reasons why it hasn’t manifested in the past, and the barriers to producing such a movement in the future. It is a stellar, nuanced, fascinating read that I can’t recommend highly enough. I give some more specific thoughts at...

Go here for info on how to participate. I think the TMV readership could have some good questions. I fantasized about being able to ask President Bush a question (okay, more like deliver a speech at him) when he was president. And I do firmly believe that American politicians should face determined inquiry from American citizens of all stripes and persuasions. That isn’t to say I think Obama (or Bush for that matter) has an obligation to grapple with professional bomb-throwers or people who...

Former PLO cabinet minister Sari Nusseibeh, and former Shin Bet chief Ami Ayalon, have forwarded a peace plan that they call The People’s Voice. It is very good. Are there things I would quibble with? Yes, of course. But they are not sufficient such that I would have any hesitation in voting for it, were it up to me. Indeed, I would say they are not sufficient so as to justify anyone who calls themselves “pro-peace” to vote against it. The problem with The People’s Voice is...

I’ll be doing it here.

I’m already pretty firmly on the record that the continued expansion of the settlements poses a massive threat to the viability of the two-state solution of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. The longer the settlements stay up, many argue, the more entrenched they will become — eventually, they will be so dug in that evacuating them will become impossible, and suddenly there is no two-state solution. At that point, the only alternatives will be ethnic cleansing, outright apartheid, or...

The results of the Israeli election were confusing at best, with a majority of the country shifting significantly right-ward but a plurality unifying around Tzipi Livni’s centrist Kadima Party. The best thing we can hope for over the next couple years is stasis, with some kind of unity coalition centered around Kadima and Likud that treads water until the government inevitably collapses and the next set of elections come around. The worst case scenario is a stable right-wing coalition made...