WHAT'S WORTH KNOWING

 

Why everything in the world can be divided into 'Jewish or Goyish'

Life can be complicated. We divide up the world into the only two categories that really matter

 

A Reform Rabbi on the movement’s creeping anti-Israelism

Nota bene - I am not endorsing the editorial slant of any of these articles; Some I agree with, others maybe not. They are worth knowing about.  Your recommendations for WHAT'S WORTH KNOWING are invited.  ej5@nyu.edu

WHAT'S WORTH KNOWING (and a comment)

 

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh with Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi.

On another morning after, I remind myself that the conflict between the Palestinian Arabs and the Zionist enterprise has been drawing blood for more than 120 years.

 

In so long a war of attrition, it helps to remember First Principles.

 

1.     The Jewish people have an inalienable right to a national homeland in this country. 

 

The Arab leadership has historically rejected this idea. Thus, our clash is not about borders, settlements, or the West Bank and Gaza. It is about whether the Jews get to have a national homeland in a world where there are 57 Muslim countries. A national homeland on our ancestral land. 

 

All these many years into the conflict, what pains me most is that there is a fundamental cleavage within the Jewish body politic about what kind of Jewish homeland we want.

 

2.     I can say what I don't want: to live in Sparta. To adapt the shahid mores of our enemy. To run riot as if we had no Zionist state. To burn and pillage as if we were not the sovereign.

 

I do not want to mirror Islamist extremism with ultra-Orthodox chauvinism,  fanaticism, and ultra-nationalism.  To replace Sharia law with Halacha interpreted by benighted narrow-minded decisors. To live in a country guided by pure majority rule.

 

I do not want to dehumanize the enemy. I do not want to let them rob us of our humanity.

 

I am not a pacifist…

 

3.     But Jewish violence needs to be the outcome of deliberation and tied to a strategy. It needs to be authorized by legitimate political institutions.

 

      4.  As a polity, we need to belatedly articulate what we want to do in and with Judea and Samaria. Should we settle every inch in the name of our mystical and historical connection to the soil, or would it be more prudent to fortify strategic settlement blocs and vital roads? We can't afford to withdraw from the West Bank and let it fall to Hamas or Iran, but that does not mean our present settlement policies are making us more secure.

We should not solidify this conflict into one between our God and theirs. This leaves them no way out.

 

We can't pick our enemies or their leadership. Yet isn't it plain that they are as committed to their struggle as we are to ours? So poking or humiliating them just because we can does not serve our interests.

 

Within the confines of this zero-sum conflict, we must recognize that our actions (changing the status quo on the Temple Mount, for instance, and in the Christian, Muslim, and Armenian Quarters of the Old City) – and our words – have deadly consequences.  Yes, they exploit our every mistake. But the overreach is ours.

 

If we become them – if we embrace unmitigated violence and religious fanaticism as a way of life – then holding this Land will prove a pyrrhic victory indeed.

 

Sadly, about half of Israel doesn’t see it my way.

###

 

And here are today's links:

 

Controversial land sale puts Jerusalem Armenians on edge

 

Booknotes + Podcast: Robert Kaplan, "The Tragic Mind"

Israel agreed to give up sovereignty in part of Jerusalem Old City in 2000 —

A newly declassified response to Clinton's proposal under PM Ehud Barak shows Jerusalem was willing to accept Palestinian sovereignty in much of Temple Mount as the basis for peace talks

Wokeism and The Anthropological Origins of Gender Bending

Nurture, Not Nature

 

WHAT'S WORTH KNOWING

Somebody, perhaps, will look back at this explosion of what looks like a roadside bomb and say that the third

intifada 

began 

around this time.  

Maybe today.

Both links above take you to enemy clips and stills (in Arabic) of fighting this morning in Jenin.  

It was the first time that the IDF had to use helicopters 

to salvage an operation in Samaria since 2002.

As of 1300, enemy losses are four dead (one age 15) and 45 wounded, according to Army Radio.

Nota bene - I am not endorsing the editorial slant of any of these articles; Some I agree with, others maybe not. They are worth knowing about.  Your recommendations for WHAT'S WORTH KNOWING are invited.  ej5@nyu.edu

WHAT'S WORTH KNOWING

Britain's 'swarming drone' research shared with Iran

New evidence show joint studies involving UK and Iranian scientists on ‘advanced military technology’

https://www.thejc.com/news/news/britains-swarming-drone-research-shared-with-iran-5P709ETPi4A6ciem12exx

 

Jewish summer camps are an American tradition rooted in World War II

https://www.npr.org/2023/06/11/1181547724/jewish-summer-camps-are-an-american-tradition-rooted-in-world-war-ii?utm_source=Pew+Research+Center&utm_campaign=4e88ebb88d-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2023_06_13_01_17&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-4e88ebb88d-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

 

Southern Baptists Move to Purge Churches With Female Pastors

Some conservatives in the evangelical denomination fear a liberal drift, and are set to vote on a strict ban against women in church leadership. Two churches are appealing their expulsions.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/13/us/southern-baptist-movement-women-pastors.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Inside North Korea: 'We are stuck, waiting to die'

For months the BBC has been communicating in secret with three North Koreans living in the country.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/extra/bskbb4rmae/inside-north-korea

 

Palestinian Arab Public Opinion

On the 75th anniversary of the Nakba, the Palestinian public sees the WBGS split as the most damaging development that has happened since 1948, followed by the occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in 1967. But two-thirds of the public do not fear a repeat of the Nakba; to the contrary, two-thirds say Israel will not celebrate the centenary of its establishment, and the majority believes that the Palestinian people will be able in the future to recover Palestine and return its refugees to their homes.

http://www.pcpsr.org/en/node/940

 

 

Nota bene - I am not endorsing the editorial slant of any of these articles; Some I agree with, others maybe not. They are worth knowing about.  Your recommendations for WHAT'S WORTH KNOWING are invited.  ej5@nyu.edu

 

 

WHAT'S WORTH KNOWING

The Skyrocketing Arab Murder Rate in Israel: Las Vegas Rules Do Not Apply (Hard Questions, Tough Answers

https://peacenow.org/entry.php?id=41701

 

The illusion of moral decline

Morality is declining, right? Scientists say that idea is an illusion

Surveys show people around the world have believed for decades that morals are decaying — but other survey data contradict that perception.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06137-x

 

The New Yorker Interview

A. G. Sulzberger on the Battles Within and Against the New York Times

The paper’s publisher discusses bias in reporting, the Times’ financial comeback, and criticisms of its coverage of Trump, trans issues, and the war in Ukraine.

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-interview/a-g-sulzberger-on-the-battles-within-and-against-the-new-york-times?utm_source=Pew+Research+Center&utm_campaign=d09489b5ac-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2023_06_12_01_35&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-d09489b5ac-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

 

Nota bene - I am not endorsing the editorial slant of any of these articles; Some I agree with, others maybe not. I am saying they are worth knowing about.  Your recommendations for WHAT'S WORTH KNOWING are welcome.  ej5@nyu.edu