The satisfying crunch of a piece of tadig at Friday night Shabbat dinner; the sweet aroma of a freshly brewed cup of cardamom tea; the melodic, flowy notes of a traditional Persian song. These are likely not the sights, smells, and sounds that come to mind when asked about Judaism....
Amherst College student paper publishes ‘In Defense of Hamas’ piece
A student newspaper at Amherst College in Massachusetts is under fire for publishing a piece titled “In Defense of Hamas” in its second Fall 2022 issue. The Amherst Contra piece, which does not appear to be online yet although a print version of it has gone viral on social media,...
BDS and the refusal to see antisemitism in UK Palestinian Societies
Earlier this term, KCL Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) co-hosted an event with 17 other Palestinian student societies across the UK featuring the co-founder of the anti-Israeli Boycott Sanction and Divest (BDS) campaign, Omar Barghouti. Barghouti co-founded the campaign in 2005. While BDS officially claims to oppose “anti-Jewish racism”, the...
The Blue and White Elephant in the Room
Sunrise Movement is a group of young activists dedicated to stopping man-made climate change. The organization has over 400 branches, most of which are located in the US. One of the political branches of the organization located in Washington DC (DC chapter) announced on October 20th on Twitter that it refused to attend the voting rights rally in Washington DC...
Sally Rooney’s Israel Boycott Fits in With Ireland’s Anti-Israel Hate
A few weeks ago, Teen Vogue ran an article reporting on the decision of best-selling Irish author Sally Rooney not to have her latest novel translated into Hebrew by a publisher in Israel. The article was titled, “Sally Rooney Boycotts Israeli ‘Apartheid,’ Refuses Work With Publishers.” In a statement, Rooney...
Is Wearing a Kippah Safer in Dubai than in London or Paris?
Following a recently broadcasted conversation with Fleur-Hassan Nahoum, current Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem and co-founder of the UAE — Israel Business Council, I found it essential to narrow down concrete examples of the changing climate in the Middle East following the Abraham Accords, notably taking into account both the financial...
J Street and the Myth of “Creeping Annexation”
Photo: Almon Roth/Wikimedia Commons When organizations or activists report on the Arab-Israeli conflict, instead of relying on the facts, many choose to construct a false narrative that casts Israel in a poor light. J Street, a self-proclaimed pro-Israel and pro-peace organization, resorts to this tactic as well. On April 18th-19th,...
Apartheid Libel is a Cover to Target Jews
Israel is not an apartheid state per any definition of the word. Apartheid refers to the legal, political and societal structure of discrimination that the white minority of South African citizens imposed on the black and Asian South African citizens from 1948 to 1994. Disenfranchisement was followed by segregation, violence,...