I got nothing. After almost a year of commenting on the War on Gaza, I find that there is little left to say. The war has taken on an air of surreality for those of us who are not dying under Israeli bombs, a strange sense that this is just the way things are, like...

It is the end of one year, and the beginning of the next. This day marks, of course, the end of 5784 by the Hebrew calendar, and the beginning of 5785. We celebrate with apples and honey, honey cake,and prayers to express our hope that the next year will be sweet. But...

Benito Mussolini addressed the League of Nations. "The League is very well when sparrows shout, but no good at all when eagles fall out," he said from the dais, his hands reaching out performatively and coming to fists in the air above his head. “We become strong, I...

It has not been difficult to work my head around this week’s pager bomb attacks. Israeli agents compromised the supply chain of the Gold Apollo pagers used by Hezbollah, planting small quantities of PETN explosive in about 4,000 units. When the detonation signal was...

I said kaddish for Aysenur Eygi this week. I don’t know if that was an arrogation or a cultural appropriation; I don’t know if Eygi who, after all, was not Jewish, would have been offended, or if she would have accepted my gesture in the spirit intended. I know that...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has scuttled Gaza ceasefire talks. Color me surprised. It isn’t as if he hasn’t done it before, in fact, making optimistic, conciliatory sounds about the possibility of an agreement, only to step back when one seems to be near...

Strangely enough, the War on Gaza artificially prolonged my social media life well beyond its natural span. Last summer and early fall, I was ready to pack it in. I had already closed my Twitter account (because, you know, Elon Musk), and I downloaded my Facebook data...

I have rarely thought of political parties as vehicles for significant social change, or as agents for my personal political goals and commitments. I gave up that fantasy many years ago, when I chose not to renew my membership in the New Democratic Party. Political...

I am not a Zionist. It feels weird to have to say that – JD Vance-level weird – considering that I am pretty public about my opposition to the State of Israel and contemporary Zionism. Yet, I know that I am always suspect by virtue of the fact that I am Jewish and...

I have Israeli friends. It seems strange to say that, since I seem to be setting up the classic bigot’s apologia: “some of my best friends are Jewish… Or Black… Or Gay… Or whatever.” Yet, I mention this only because many people don’t, and I believe that this is...

President Lyndon Johnson stood before the American people late at night sixty years ago today, on 4 August 1964, and lied. Two American warships, the USS Maddox and the USS Turner Joy, had come under an “unprovoked attack” by North Vietnamese gunboats in international...

One of my great regrets is that I will never visit Eretz Zion. Make no mistake, I have never felt a great compulsion to visit the State of Israel, despite many opportunities. Part of the Diaspora Jewish experience is confronting, and often dodging, the offers of...

How does it end? I have been asking myself this question since 7 October 2023. In January, three months into the State of Israel’s War on Gaza, I mused, “This is the eleventh entry in my Gaza Journal, and I could never have believed, when I began, that I would still...

From the outside, the War on Gaza has settled into those surreal doldrums that happen with wars. From the inside, the suffering continues, and the IDF continues to pummel the enclave with artillery, drones, and bombs, and Israeli soldiers stumble over the rubble of...

Antisemitism is a difficult matter for me. I have been the target of antisemitic rhetoric, and even violence, in my life, and I am well-aware of how violent it can be, from the Tree of Life Synagogue massacre to the pogroms of Europe, to the “Hep-Hep” riots and the...

It is a mystery to me how any person who has ever experienced the death of a loved one could wish the same on another person. It is a universal experience. As my father, who died 12 years ago, once observed, “if you are fortunate to live long enough, you will...

I am surprised that the announcement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he is dissolving his war cabinet did not get much attention in social media. I am not aware that any of my social media friends shared the story – I certainly didn’t. Yet, on...

A friend sent me a DM in response to my post this week about performative politics, asking why I will not display the Palestinian flag in my profile, and while I will not wear a keffiyeh, despite my support for Palestinian autonomy and human rights and my opposition...

I’m just tired. The Israeli War on Gaza has dragged on and on, and there is no reasonable end in sight. The State of Israel seems utterly resistant to diplomatic pressure due, in large part, to the Waffle House policies of it’s main sponsor, the United States. I have...

I struggle with the word “Zionism.” It seems to clearly describe the ideology – a set of beliefs, values, and assumptions following from a specific premise – that animates the policies of the State of Israel and its support in the Jewish Diaspora and among...

I feel a strange kind of hopelessness about Gaza and the cause of Palestinian human rights and autonomy. It is not that I believe that the State of Israel’s War on Gaza will never end; it must, if only because it is ultimately self-defeating. Nor is it because I...

The Israel Defense Forces must be the most incompetent armed force on the face of the planet. I know that this contradicts the image of a highly trained, well-armed, and ruthlessly efficient military but let’s face it: that’s marketing. Make no mistake, the IDF has...

The State of Israel has lost. That will be cold comfort to the people of Gaza who are suffering, starving, dying, and waiting for the IDF’s long-promised Rafah offensive. Still, six months into its bloody War on Gaza, the State of Israel not only can’t win, but it has...

What we all remember from participating in a protest march, or a demonstration for social justice, human rights, or peace, is the almost overwhelming feeling of being part of something. Long after the chants have echoed away, that sense of belonging, an undefinable...