SPME
The modern state of Israel was born in the mind of an ecstatic playwright named Theodor Herzl. It was an idea, a story, and a drama long before it became the physical reality that it is today. Before it could…
read moreDear Dr. Romirowsky and Dr. Joffe, In round one you told us about the intriguing history of the involvement of a Quaker NGO (the AFSC) in the early beginnings of the Palestine refugee relief effort. Another interesting aspect of the…
read moreFor nearly twenty years, under the leadership of Middle East historian Efraim Karsh and his Middle East and Mediterranean Studies Programme, Kings College London was a beacon of light with respect to the study of Israel and the Middle East.…
read moreFour recent incidents illustrate how American Jewish institutions are manipulated to subvert support for Israel. Call it the fairness trap. Vassar Hillel announced it would join its counterpart at Swarthmore and reject Hillel International’s guidelines prohibiting anti-Israel speakers and activities.…
read morePerhaps when literary critic C.S. Lewis despaired of “omnipotent moral busybodies . . . who torment us for our own good,” he was speaking about those well-meaning, but naïve college students who “torment us without end for they do so…
read moreMore and more, we hear from faculty and students about the need to have an “open tent” or a “big tent,” of ideas and opinions specifically, when it comes to the Arab-Israeli conflict. While the nature of public discourse demands…
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Johansson recently stepped down as Oxfam’s ambassador, which claims to be opposed to trade from Israeli settlements, as controversy ensued over her partnership with SodaStream.[1] SodaStream, an Israeli-owned company that transforms water or juice into a carbonated form, operates a…
read moreAt the recent annual gathering of the Modern Language Association in Chicago (January 9-12, 2014), papers were given on the usual range of specialized topics in literary studies; candidates for jobs in English were interviewed; and the MLA took steps toward…
read moreFirst the Association for Asian American Studies, then, most publicized, the American Studies Association (ASA), followed by the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA), and now, most recent of all, the Modern Language Association (MLA), have discovered it in…
read moreFor decades, Jewish communal goals in America, established in a mostly “peacetime” environment, have focused on issues of continuity and welfare: Jewish education, care for the elderly and basic support for Israel. As long as there was a consensus around…
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