I love how you frame the war in Gaza with the Yom Kippur reading of Jonah. The "comic wisdom" you highlight from the book makes me reformulate a reading from the Gospels: no path to lasting peace and to moral suasion exists except for the path of the prophet Jonah.
Thank you for introducing me to Beinart's book. I can't wait to read it.
Thanks, Bryce. Again, I appreciate your encouragement. We all get hundreds of these blogs. - Regarding Peter Beinart: Despite being Jewish and a long-time supporter of Israel, he has faced serious threats and harassment stemming from his shift toward criticism of Israeli policy in Gaza. Earlier this year, the militant Zionist group Betar US urged followers to place electronic pagers on those it labeled “anti‑Israel” or “pro‑Hamas,” referencing an Israeli military tactic used in Lebanon. Peter Beinart was specifically singled out—Betar urged its social media followers to place a pager on him if they spotted him on the Upper West Side of New York. Beinart lives with such death threats but, as of now, no "official" designation as a deportable threat to national security.
I've been reading some Jewish writers of the 1920s through 40s, a majority of whom were either anti-Zionist or ambivalent about the project. I'm woefully behind on how the debate has shifted since 1948, when anti-Zionist can be understood as wishing to somehow undo the nation. However, one can support and defend Israel's existence while regretting its initial choice to exist. One can certainly support and defend Israel's existence while criticizing its harsh regional policies and the decline of its public freedom. (One might argue that, in the long run, defending its existence involves such a critique.) I assume Beinart is somewhere close to the latter category. Thank you for this background.
I love how you frame the war in Gaza with the Yom Kippur reading of Jonah. The "comic wisdom" you highlight from the book makes me reformulate a reading from the Gospels: no path to lasting peace and to moral suasion exists except for the path of the prophet Jonah.
Thank you for introducing me to Beinart's book. I can't wait to read it.
Thanks, Bryce. Again, I appreciate your encouragement. We all get hundreds of these blogs. - Regarding Peter Beinart: Despite being Jewish and a long-time supporter of Israel, he has faced serious threats and harassment stemming from his shift toward criticism of Israeli policy in Gaza. Earlier this year, the militant Zionist group Betar US urged followers to place electronic pagers on those it labeled “anti‑Israel” or “pro‑Hamas,” referencing an Israeli military tactic used in Lebanon. Peter Beinart was specifically singled out—Betar urged its social media followers to place a pager on him if they spotted him on the Upper West Side of New York. Beinart lives with such death threats but, as of now, no "official" designation as a deportable threat to national security.
I've been reading some Jewish writers of the 1920s through 40s, a majority of whom were either anti-Zionist or ambivalent about the project. I'm woefully behind on how the debate has shifted since 1948, when anti-Zionist can be understood as wishing to somehow undo the nation. However, one can support and defend Israel's existence while regretting its initial choice to exist. One can certainly support and defend Israel's existence while criticizing its harsh regional policies and the decline of its public freedom. (One might argue that, in the long run, defending its existence involves such a critique.) I assume Beinart is somewhere close to the latter category. Thank you for this background.
Well said!