A post by Dylan Matthews, guest-blogging for Ezra Klein, has been nagging at me for a couple of days now. Netanyahu’s policy position here is based entirely on negatives. He doesn’t want to divide Jerusalem, even though annexing East Jerusalem is illegal and would cripple the Palestinian economy. He doesn’t want a return to 1967 borders, even though that would secure Israel recognition from the entire Arab League. But the problem isn’t just that the planks are wrong. It’s...

I have a ton of work to do this weekend (mostly so I can have a free next weekend with a certain special someone in Minnesota). So … roundup time. Ha’aretz reveals an Israeli government report detailing the extent to which the settlement enterprise (even the “legal” ones) has been carried out without government permission and on private Palestinian land. Let’s be clear: Settlements on open territory? Political problem. Settlements on private Palestinian property? Theft....

My good friend Richard Jeffrey Newman is collecting stories of anti-Semitism in a post over at Alas, a Blog. He’s looking for stories from Jews and non-Jews alike — his only rule is that you can only give a story: no analysis, no critique of some politician’s rhetoric. Just a story. It’s a good project, and an interesting one, and Mr. Newman has specifically told me he’s looking to grab from as wide a scope of people as possible. So, if you have a story you’d like...

According to Ha’aretz, the decision was unanimous. Obviously, I’m pleased by the decision, but it is not a positive sign for a putatively liberal democracy that it needs to be bailed out by a notoriously aggressive judiciary in cases like this. It never should have come to the court’s attention, because we have the right to expect that the Knesset will behave like a mature, democratic body and not vote to ban parties it doesn’t like. Had the decision by the Central Elections...

Part II of the Feministe guest post series is now up. This was originally supposed to be Part III, but I flipped it with the second post — it will be coming next. I am so looking forward to these comments again.

The guest-posting stint at Feministe has begun! It’ll will be a seven part series on Jews, anti-Semitism, anti-subordination, and Israel. I’ll post a link to each post here as it comes up, but you’ll need to head over yonder to get the full bit. Part one is now available here.

What happens if Israel “wins” in Gaza and manages to actually crush Hamas? Flowers? Fairies? Fatah? Or an even more radical, Salafist-inspired organization that makes Hamas look timid? Jews should know — it can always get worse.

Larger summary here. Look: I’m sure the two parties have taken stances I consider wrong-headed or even appalling. It doesn’t matter. That’s true of a lot of parties in a lot of states (including the risible and frankly racist Yisrael Beiteinu among Israeli parties). Insofar as Israel claims to be a liberal democracy, it needs to act like it, and that means not taking creepy fascist actions like banning the only two Arab-run parties in the Knesset (there are Arab MKs who represent...

BUMPED, with the link fixed. My two well-received posts this summer on Black Conservatism have been been reposted on Racialicious (here and here). In honor of the occasion, I have put up some excerpts from a larger piece I’ve been working on explaining how Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas fits in with my theory. It’s long, but I think it’s worthwhile if you find Justice Thomas interesting (or inexplicably infuriating).

I read this article by Jeffrey Goldberg, about the most extreme, fanatical wing of the Israeli settler population. Though published in 2004, I have no doubt many of these people are still alive today and have not moderated their views in the slightest. As I read it, I found myself disturbed, quite a bit more so than I expected, and I tried to put my finger on why that was. Obviously, a big part (and the part that was quite “expected”) was the simple fact that these people are, in the...

Being tolerant of your gay, lesbian, or bisexual child significantly reduces their risk of suicide. Trying to “help” them by trying to change or challenge their sexual orientation, by contrast, causes their risk of suicide to spike. Stunning, isn’t it?

Though my own posts haven’t been bad, I think the folks over at Lawyers, Guns, and Money have probably the best package of coverage regarding Israel’s latest operation in Gaza. One of the things I think they’ve done effectively is avoid some of the easy traps that obscure efforts to actually evaluate what Israel’s doing. Trap #1, emanating from the left, is the “disproportionality” argument. In international law, disproportionality is a term of art: It does not...

Some of you may know that I’m currently in an open relationship with my girlfriend (as I continue to cement my place as the liberal hippie of the TMV crowd). One of the reasons why is that traditional “closed” relationships are a little too reminiscent of the view of women-as-property (property being, at root, that to which you have the right of exclusive use). At times, this justification feels a little anachronistic. But then, I read insults to the Jewish community like Dennis...

Quin Hillyer argues that limiting big government isn’t just a good principle for Republicans, but historically has been good politics for them as well. He proves his point through the brilliant argumentative strategy of (a) defining “big government” only to encompass things that conservatives dislike (no critique of the partial-birth abortion ban here!), (b) excluding all counter-examples, like the 2000, 2002, and 2004 elections where George W. Bush was specifically running on big...

A brief exploration stemming from some 3 AM musings.

I’m not well-versed enough in college football to know if this is fair analysis by the LGM crowd. But I do know that the lack of Black coaches in D-I football is a long-standing problem, and one the NCAA has bent over backwards to avoid correcting. LGM’s story is about the coaching moves by Auburn University, which just fired Tommy Tuberville after a disappointing 5-7 2008 season. Tuberville, prior to that, had gone 42-9 over the past four seasons. Still, college football is tough business...

After radical Israeli settlers launched what can only be described as a pogrom against innocent Palestinians outside of Hebron, are we finally seeing the formation of a broad-based anti-settler backlash amongst mainstream (and even conservative) Israeli and American Jewish elements? Because if so, it will be well past time.

CNN has a video story up about high school cheerleaders who were kicked off the team, after it was revealed they had texted nude pictures of themselves to their boyfriends. Everyone CNN talked to was in 100% righteous fury mode, absolutely convinced the school did the right thing, lamenting how today’s girls are sluts, and slamming the parents for trying to get their daughters reinstated. Can I try and offer a dissenting opinion here? Read the rest of this post

The University of Ottawa chapter of PIRG (Public Interest Research Group — one of the largest and most mainstream sources of college student activism) rejected a request by the campus Hillel to fund a speech on interfaith education efforts and sustainable development projects by the African Jewish community. The reason? Hillel’s “relationship” with “apartheid Israel”.

Israeli groups are fighting back against ultra-Orthodox Judaism’s version of the Taliban. These people make my entire religion look bad.

Some conservatives are now claiming that the Mumbai massacre was made worse because Indians simply aren’t tough and manly enough. We heard this same refrain from these characters after Virginia Tech. It was appalling and juvenile then, and it’s appalling and juvenile now.

That’s the lesson drawn by a 14 year military veteran who volunteered as an interrogator during the height of violence in Iraq. Torture is immoral, unnecessary, and gets Americans killed. It’s as simple as that.

If most American Catholics are pro-choice, what will they do if the Church hierarchy decides that a vote for the Freedom of Choice Act is grounds for “automatic excommunication”?

I mean, it’d be good anyway, but footnote 19 catapults it into legendary status.

A female Egyptian “human rights” attorney made that statement in the course of urging Arab men to, at the very least, sexually harass Israeli women as part of their “resistance” to Zionism.