Ali Abunimah has a terrific op-ed in the New York Times today on why the upcoming Israeli-Fatah negotiations are doomed to fail. Actually, the very fact that a piece like this would appear in the Sunday Times is news in itself. Author Abunimah really broke through an iron wall when he got this column in the Times, on Sunday no less. Read More »
Huffington Post 
Thilo Sarrazin, German Banker, Under Fire For ‘Racist’ Jewish Remark
BERLIN — German government officials and immigrant leaders are condemning remarks by a board member of Germany’s federal bank as racist and anti-Semitic. Thilo Sarrazin of the German Bundesbank came under fire Sunday for telling the weekly newspaper Welt am Sonntag that “all Jews share the same gene. Read More »
Obama Visiting New Orleans On Katrina Anniversary
VINEYARD HAVEN, Mass. — President Barack Obama is aiming to underscore his commitment to a region weary of calamity as he travels to New Orleans on the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Obama ends his Martha’s Vineyard vacation Sunday and heads to the Gulf, five years to the day from when Katrina roared ashore in Louisiana. Read More »
Al Eisele: A Good, Sacred Memory from a Family Reunion
Clear Lake, Iowa – Recent demographic studies point to the graying of America as birthrates decline, life expectancy increases and the nation faces the social and economic consequences of a 65 and older population that the U.S. Census Bureau says will account for almost 20 percent of the nation’s citizenry by 2030. Read More »
Michael Sigman: A Hotel, A Phone Number and a Song
New York’s City Council this week approved a controversial office tower at 15 Penn Plaza, swatting away criticism that the project will obscure some views of the Empire State Building, the city’s defining structure. Read More »
Gahl Eden Sasson: Rosh Hashanah: Why It’s Your Real Birthday
“In the seventh month, on the first of the month (New Moon), shall be for you a day of rest, a remembrance of the sounding of the shofar.” –Leviticus 23: 23-25 If you are human or consider yourself an offspring of Adam and Eve, then your mythological birthday is coming up on the new New Moon, September 8. Read More »
Phyllis Bennis: Is Mosque Hysteria Being Ginned Up to Bolster Support for the Disastrous Wars in …
At its core, the controversy surrounding the proposed Islamic community center in downtown Manhattan is not about religion. It’s about war. For some years now the fear factor that followed the attacks of September 11, 2001 and fueled public support for the “global war on terror” (or the onomatopoetic “GWOT”) has been diminishing. Read More »
Deepak Chopra: Do Words Cause Wars?
Anti-Muslim speech has been curtailed in the U.S. since 9/11 so far as official channels go. Popular sentiment and right-wing radio are another matter. The Bush administration has been chastised for using terms like “war on terror” and “clash of civilizations” as code for an attack on Islam itself. Read More »
Eboo Patel: America’s Promise Is Meant For Everyone
Can you believe that, at one point, women couldn’t vote in America? That Japanese American citizens were put in detention camps because of the actions of the Imperial Japanese Navy? That Jackie Robinson was spat upon on the baseball diamond because Read More »
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach: Suicide Bombers in Heaven? Imam Rauf Won’t Say No
When you detonate explosives attached to your torso, simultaneously decapitating people on a bus or disemboweling little children at a kindergarten, do you go to heaven or to hell? Are you a martyr or a murderer? Heroic or heinous? While the answer Read More »
Jason Derr: Beyond the Scapegoating of Islam: Returning to the American Dream
Several years ago I moved away from the USA to pursue a graduate education in theology at the Vancouver School of Theology. That short hop over the border is a much bigger ideological jump than one might think. Somewhere along the 49th parallel perspectives shift, change and migrate. Read More »
Ian Moss: The Cordoba House Debate: “It’s Like A Dog Chasing Its Tale”
A lot has been written and will be written about the controversy* surrounding the proposed construction of the Cordoba House , two blocks from the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan. The Cordoba House, an Islamic cultural center, also happens to include a space for prayer commonly known as a mosque. Read More »
Tom Alderman: What’s Inside YOUR Shoebox? Facing History…and Ourselves.
Jeff Krieger stands in front of a group of 17-year-olds and asks them to look inside their shoeboxes. It’s the 9th grade classroom at Ipswich High in Massachusetts and Krieger, the social studies teacher, has asked each student to bring in a shoebox filled with meaningful things that best identify themselves. Read More »
MJ Rosenberg: Pro-Bombing Iran Is Anti-Israel
In his Atlantic piece designed to elicit an Obama endorsement of an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, Jeff Goldberg undermines his case by realistically predicting what the effects of an attack would be. He predicts thousands of deaths – not only Iranians but also many Israelis and probably Americans. Read More »
Meredith Fineman: Fifty First (J)Dates: How To Score During the High Holy Days.
It’s that time of year again. The High Holy days. So break out your tickets, your ugliest ensemble that you save for synagogue, and put on your game-face. It’s time to get some action. 1. Break the fast parties. These fiestas are rife with opportunities for mingling and shmearing. Read More »
Robert Naiman: “Palestinian Gandhi” Convicted for Protesting; U.S. Silent
This week, an Israeli military court convicted Abdallah Abu Rahmah, whom progressive Zionists have called a “Palestinian Gandhi ,” of “incitement” and “organizing and participating in illegal demonstrations” for organizing protests against the Read More »
Jamal Dajani: Direct Talks: Five Myths
Direct talks between Palestinians and Israelis are scheduled to commence in Washington on September 2, a decade after the last real final-status talks, and nearly two years after the last direct talks. Read More »
Indra Adnan: Civil Society is the battleground for New Politics in the UK
It’s a puzzling time for politics in the UK. All the familiar fault lines have fractured to create new patterns of connection between old enemies, leaving old friends angry and isolated. The Liberal Democrats, once considered a Centre Left Party are now in a deep embrace with the Conservatives, leaving huge swathes of their supporters stranded. Read More »
Stephen P. Cohen: How Obama Can Make These Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations Different from Other …
There is a tendency at the opening of each new round of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations for the parties to begin at the point where the previous negotiations concluded. That should be avoided this time. Read More »
Tallulah Morehead: Big Brother 12: Mothra, The Penguin, and the Succubus.
The thing I love about double-eviction weeks is that it clearly shows the producers are as sick of these houseguests as I am. Brendon, aka The Neander tal , thinks he’s “way more intelligent” than Matt, aka, Mr. Mensa. And was your MENSA membership application accepted, you big dummy? I don’t see Matt hooking up with Boobiac. At least Mrs. Read More »
Western Wall Partition: Jewish Authorities To Implement New One-Way Divider Between Men, Women
By Michele Chabin Religion News Service JERUSALEM (RNS) Jewish authorities at the Western Wall hope to replace the existing opaque partition that separates the men’s and women’s prayer areas with one that will enable female worshippers to see into the men’s section but not vice-versa. Read More »
Religious Hiring Spat: Conservative Religious Groups Push Against Employment Rules In Federal …
By Daniel Burke Religion News Service WASHINGTON (RNS) A coalition of mostly conservative religious organizations is urging Congress to amend a proposed bill that would bar them from making personnel decisions based on religion if they receive government funds to treat mental illness and substance abuse. In a letter sent Wednesday (Aug. Read More »
Jim Luce: The Stewardship Report on Connecting Goodness Announces Editorial Calendar
A bright new face has been added to the crowded Web, drawing a large readership and uploading more than 900 stories in its first twelve weeks. Still in soft-launch, The Jim Luce Stewardship Report (JLSR ) is focused on “Connecting Goodness. Read More »
Chris Marcil: The Most Trusted Names In Untrustworthy Products
” Country Eggs, Dutch Farms, Farm Fresh, Mountain Dairy, Sunshine, Hillandale…” – partial list of recalled egg brands Farmer Johnson Consumer Brands, Inc. (A FarmJo Company), a division of Amalgamated Consolidated Worldwide, GmbH. Read More »
Josh Ruebner: Top 10 Reasons for Skepticism on Israeli-Palestinian Talks
On August 20, the Obama Administration announced that it will reconvene under its auspices direct Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations beginning on September 2. Read More »
Anushay Hossain: A Mayor’s Courage: Bloomberg Continues to Fight for Park 51
To be quite honest, until this whole Park 51 Community Center controversy exploded, I really did not know much, or really have any strong feelings about New York’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Read More »
Elias Abuelazam, Serial Stabbings Suspect, Extradited To Michigan
FLINT, Mich. — A man suspected in 18 attacks in three states, including five fatal stabbings, was extradited to Michigan on Thursday to face charges in one of the assaults. Elias Abuelazam was escorted by two Michigan State Police sergeants and two troopers from an Atlanta jail to Flint Thursday morning. Read More »
David Suissa: Showdown at Sheik Jarrah
In this land of a million arguments, it’s easy to get so exhausted by the back-and-forth that you just want to tune out and say, “Well, there are two sides to every argument, so you’re probably both right — or you’re both wrong. Read More »
Fairfax District Shops and Restaurants
That stretch of Fairfax Boulevard in between Melrose Avenue and Beverly Boulevard is stuffed with kosher grocery stores, judaica shops, and strange little storefronts specializing in persian carpets and luggage. Read More »
Janet Ritz: The U.S. Military’s 1947 Warning on Intolerance
A film produced by the U.S. Military in 1947 was meant to present the case for the desegregation of the armed forces. Though it was not initially intended to be broadcast to the general public, it speaks to the divisions present in society today. Read More »
Andrew Levine: An Ideological Construct: Out of Control and Veering Lethal
“Moderate” is one of those words, like “terrorist,” that can be used precisely and informatively or loosely and ideologically. The difference is that “terrorist” is a reproach, while “moderate” is a term of approbation. Read More »
Daoud Kuttab: US, Israel and Palestinians in Tripartite Talks, but Will They Succeed?
Under much international and Arab pressure, Palestinian leaders finally buckled and accepted to hold direct talks with Israel. Many Palestinians believe that the intended talks are nothing but a photo opportunity that aims to create the impression of a peace process while avoiding making any substantive commitments. Read More »
Cynthia Wachtell: Sarah Palin’s Hometown, Wasilla, Alaska: What Are They Reading? (PHOTOS)
Earlier this month I was in Alaska and could not resist the temptation to pay a visit to Wasilla, the home of the original Mama Grizzly. Read More »
Ami Kaufman: Reservoir Dogs: The most heated debate in Israel you probably never heard of
One of the most heated debates you’ve probably never heard of going on in Israel these days is over natural gas. Ever since reports began to surface on the huge reservoirs of gas off the coast of Israel, the discussion over who the it belongs to and how much money everybody is going to make from it seems to get uglier by the day. Read More »
Steve Sheffey: Obama’s Cairo Speech
Certain mischaracterizations of President Obama’s June 4, 2009 Cairo speech have become so ingrained that what he actually said in Cairo has almost become a footnote. Let’s go with the facts, not the legends: Obama never referred to 60 years of “occupation.” Obama never equated suffering during the Holocaust to Palestinian suffering. Read More »
Steve Sheffey: Obama’s Cairo Speech
Certain mischaracterizations of President Obama’s June 4, 2009 Cairo speech have become so ingrained that what he actually said in Cairo has almost become a footnote. Let’s go with the facts, not the legends: Obama never referred to 60 years of “occupation.” Obama never equated suffering during the Holocaust to Palestinian suffering. Read More »
Jewish ‘Gold Digger’ Spoof: Rosh Hashana Makes The Soul Bigger? (VIDEO)
In the wake of Glee’s infamous take on Kanye West’s “Gold Digger” comes another parody, this time by the National Jewish Outreach Program (NJOP)’s Jewish Treats. “Soul Bigger” focuses on the Jewish New Year’s themes of teshuva (repentance), tefillah (prayer) and tzeddakah (charity). Read More »
9/11 Families, Others Rally In Support Of Park51 Islamic Center
NEW YORK — The planned mosque and Islamic center blocks from ground zero got a new boost Wednesday from a coalition of supporters that includes families of Sept. 11 victims. New York Neighbors for American Values rallied for the first time at a municipal building near ground zero. Read More »
Park51 Developer Sharif El-Gamal Helping Raise Money For Second Mosque In Harlem
NEW YORK — Eight years ago, Sharif El-Gamal was just another ambitious striver from Brooklyn, casting about for career leads and dreaming of a grander future in real estate. Read More »
Matthew Spitzer: For Doctors Without Borders, the Welfare of Patients Always Comes First
In his July 28, 2010 blog post Moonbats Against Israel Alan Dershowitz made unfounded allegations about Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the international medical humanitarian organization. Read More »
Keith Richards, Jay-Z To Give Talks At New York Public Library
NEW YORK — Don’t make them whisper: Keith Richards and Jay-Z each will give talks this fall at the New York Public Library. The Rolling Stones guitarist will speak Oct. 29 at the Celeste Bartos auditorium at the library’s main branch on 5th Avenue as part of the promotion for his memoir “Life.” Jay-Z will discuss his memoir “Decoded” on Nov. 15. Read More »
Rodney Punt: L.A Jewish Symphony Presents “Cinema Judaica” at the Ford Theatre
Photo Credit: Guy Madmoni Ford Amphitheater Los Angeles, California Sunday, August 8, 2010, 7: 30 pm It was a curious tale of two local orchestras. On a recent Saturday at the LA County Arboretum, the Cal Philharmonic’s pops-to-classics program offered something for everyone. Read More »
Hadar Susskind: Welcome Steps on the Middle East
J Street welcomes the announcement of direct talks between the Government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority, with the United States closely shepherding the process. We applaud President Obama’s leadership and the work of Secretary Clinton and Senator Mitchell in bringing the parties to the table. Read More »
Jonathan Ezer: Still no Al Jazeera in New York
My wife and were recently travelling through Europe. While resting in our hotel room, we quickly got bored of CNN International, and gingerly switched to the “depraved” channel. Of course, we had heard about Al Jazeera. We heard that it was anti-American. We heard it was propaganda. From websites like this , we heard it was ‘hate’ television. Read More »
Bryan Gobin: Republicans Abandon Freedom Over Mosque
When he announced our war against Al Qaeda, President George W. Bush said that the terrorists “hate our freedoms — our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other. Read More »
Chris Matthews Challenges Rick Lazio Over Mosque, Imam Ad (VIDEO)
Chris Matthews played hardball Tuesday with New York Republican Rick Lazio, the frontrunner for the GOP nomination for governor. In a recent controversial ad, Lazio came out against the proposed Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero, calling the Imam behind the center a “terrorist sympathizer” who called American “an accessory to 9/11. Read More »
Avigdor Lieberman, Israeli Foreign Minister, Says No Extending Settlement Slowdown In West Bank
JERUSALEM — Israel’s foreign minister said Wednesday that it would be unacceptable to extend a slowdown on West Bank settlement construction, even as Mideast peace talks get under way next week. Read More »
John Feffer: What We Talk About When We Talk About Mosques
Law became sexy in the mid-1980s. I still find this a bewildering transformation in American society. At the time, I thought that there could be nothing quite so boring as a court case or a legal brief. But then the TV show L.A. Law debuted in 1986, and lawyers never looked so good. Read More »
Nuremberg Laws: Nazi Papers Taken By Patton To Be Turned Over To National Archives
SAN MARINO, Calif. — During the final days of World War II, as American soldiers were returning from Germany with swastika-inscribed helmets, flags and other Nazi memorabilia, Gen. George Patton was packing up his own set of souvenirs. Read More »
Ed Koch: Blacks and Jews: Somehow They Always Go Together
August 23, 2010 Two New York Times op-eds, running side by side this past weekend, impacted heavily on my thoughts. One was written by Bob Herbert and the other by Charles M. Blow. Bob Herbert’s column titled “Too Long Ignored” was devoted to “a tragic crisis of enormous magnitude (that) is facing black boys and men in America. Read More »
Hitler Jewish? DNA Tests Show Dictator May Have ‘Had Jewish And African Roots’
The story of Adolf Hitler could be the most twisted in all of history. Add one more twist. Responsible for the slaughter of millions of Jews and a hero only to self-avowed racists, DNA tests apparently show that the Nazi dictator may have had Jewish and African ancestry. Read More »
Annelle Sheline: A Mark of Everlasting Infamy
“What do you think of the mosque in New York?” my Arabic teacher asked me solemnly. “The controversy is ridiculous,” I answered. “The notion that building a community center serving Muslims could offend the memory of those who died on 9/11…” I trailed off, my Arabic insufficient to articulate my disgust at the debate raging 6000 miles away. Read More »
Bloomberg Launches Another Impassioned Defense Of Cordoba House
In a rousing address before a predominantly Muslim audience Tuesday night, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg reaffirmed his commitment to the controversial Islamic cultural center near the former site of the World Trade Center. Read More »
MJ Rosenberg: Ground Zero For The Democrats’ Shame
According to Talking Points Memo , the following Democrats have come out publicly in favor of building the Islamic center in Lower Manhattan: Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA), candidate for Senate Alexi Giannoulias (D-IL), candidate for Senate Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) Rep. Read More »
NYS Candidate Reportedly Compares Jewish Politician To ‘An Antichrist Or A Hitler’
The Albany Times Union has resurfaced October 2009 comments made by New York gubernatorial hopeful Republican Carl Paladino, in which he endorsed comments comparing New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D), who is an Orthodox Jew, to “Hitler” or an “Antichrist. Read More »
Zaytuna College, First Muslim College In U.S., Opens In California
By Joanna Corman Religion News Service BERKELEY, Calif. (RNS) Faatimah Knight’s college decision came down to eight schools where she would have majored in English, or Zaytuna College, where she could study Islamic classical teachings in an environment that embraces all aspects of her Muslim faith. Read More »
Carol Smaldino: Confession in the Shadows of the Mosque (Issue)
What mosque am I talking about? It could be any one of dozens being challenged with the right to exist or expand across the U.S. heartland today, but there is only one at the moment on most of our minds and tongues. It is the proposed Muslim community center at Park 51 in lower Manhattan that will be for social gatherings as much as for prayer. Read More »
Michelle Kraus: Only A Few Blocks Could Make a Big Difference for the Ground Zero Mosque
In New York City everything changes within only a few blocks. For those that don’t know the City, whole neighborhoods shift from block to block. It seems to this girl who grew up in the shadow of the twin towers that we’ve all been hoodwinked. Read More »
Jamal Simmons: Let’s follow JFK’s Example & Ignore Obama’s Second “Mosque” Statement
It’s been almost two weeks since President Barack Obama waded into the debate around the so-called mosque to be built near Ground Zero and I really tried to stay out of it because the short-term politics are a loser, but I saw people screaming about Read More »
Brendan Nyhan: Pundits blame the victims on Obama Muslim myth
Last week, a Pew Research Center poll was released that showed an increase in the proportion of Americans who falsely believe President Obama is a Muslim. The conversation since then has largely focused on the failings of the public. Read More »
