On Monday night Zehava Gal-On was declared the new chair of the Meretz party. She won majority support of about 950 members of the party central committee with 60.6% of the vote. MK Ilan Gilon won 36.6%, and Ori Ophir won 2.8%. Read More »
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Meretz USA Weblog 
CHECK OUT THE MERETZ USA WEB SITE AT www.meretzusa.org.
The Meretz USA weblog is a platform for discussion of issues related to Israel and the American Jewish community. The views expressed in its posts, and the comments on them, do not necessarily reflect the official position of Meretz USA.
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For a constructive response to Fatah-Hamas unity
It is reported that the Palestinians are on the verge of a unity government once again. History argues against this as a lasting arrangement, but regardless, Israel’s reaction is predictably and unnecessarily negative. Read More »
Alternatives needed now for 2 states? (Not yet)
Some people are saying that since Israeli-Palestinian negotiations are a non-starter, the settlements are continuing, and the international community seems to be unable to jump-start the peace process (President Obama’s preoccupied with the Read More »
Responses to NY Times Mag Article on Iran
Gary Sick , a veteran foreign policy analyst currently associated with Columbia University, has written a sharp rebuttal on his blog , which begs a number of questions: Is Prof. Read More »
Palestine-Israel Journal issue on ‘Arab Spring’
This is a message from the British-Jewish Mideast analyst and activist, Tony Klug : I thought you might like to know that an extraordinary compendium of articles on the Arab uprisings — more than 20 altogether — specially commissioned by the Palestine-Israel Journal, has just been published in its latest volume under the rubric ‘Arab Spring’. Read More »
Israel vs. Iran: Who is threatening whom?
As you should know by now, I’m very much against an Israeli attack on Iran to forestall its nuclear development; and I agree with Prof. Shibley Telhami that moving toward regional nuclear disarmament may facilitate a solution. But I take Iran’s nuclear program seriously as a security threat to the region. Read More »
Storm over Obama ‘hit’ idea & Iran
In his column a few days ago, the owner-publiser of the Atlanta Jewish Times , a Jewish weekly newspaper independent of the local Jewish community federation, spun out the “option” (one of three posed) of Mossad agents killing Pres. Obama to get Vice Pres. Read More »
Jewish labor leader chastises Netanyahu
Stuart Appelbaum, JLC pres. The Jewish Labor Committee is an organization in which a number of our activists have played a leading role for many years. Read More »
E. Jerusalem national park is a ‘farce’
“According to many planners and urban development experts there is no special ecological interest in these areas, which are located in the middle of two Palestinian villages. Indeed, according to a member of Jerusalem’s city council, Meir Margalit, “This national park is a farce. Read More »
Holocaust scholar interviewed on Al-Jazeera
Yehuda Bauer (photo at Wikipedia.org) I was made aware of this television discussion with Yehuda Bauer , a distinguished Israeli Holocaust historian, by our friend in Canada, Prof. Stephen Scheinberg (also a historian). Read More »
What remains of Israel’s months of protest?
Faces of Daphni Leef & Stav Shafrir, protest leaders, held aloft Allow me to review what I’ve learned in recent months about Israel’s new movement for social justice, and project forward. Read More »
Urgent Zionist Need to Break Ultra-Orthodox Power
The article I am recommending below, came to me via the father & father-in-law of the couple who wrote it, Ariel and Erin Beery, who moved to Israel last year. They are expecting a daughter. Read More »
My response to liberal-Zionist skeptic on J St.
Speaking only for myself, I e-mailed someone I know who is progressive and a Zionist, but concerned that J Street is not adequately addressing Israel’s needs. The following is how I responded to his concerns: I understand your suspicions of J St. and even may share your concerns to some extent, but I have decided to be active within it. Read More »
Frightening Video of ‘Hilltop Youth’
The following is from Stephen Scheinberg, a veteran leader of Canadian Friends of Peace Now: An enlightening video of the militant settler youth. Recall, as you watch, how many times we are told that “they (the Palestinians) teach their children to hate. Read More »
H. Schenker: ‘Don’t…shut down discussion’
Hillel Schenker Sadly, the lack of progress toward a two-state solution is creating a backlash among some Palestinians who are now turning against dialogue and cooperation with dovish Israelis. An article in Haaretz by our Israeli colleague, Hillel Schenker, “Don’t let them shut down discussion ,”published on Dec. Read More »
Widening concern for Israeli democracy
Two articles, very different articles pointing to the same problems: one by Yossi Sarid, former Minister of Education and former Meretz party leader, writing about how Israelis have gotten used to the deterioration of morality, especially public Read More »
What Are Israelis So Happy About?
Partners for Progressive Israel executive director Ron Skolnik, in his latest column for Jewish Currents magazine, tries to explain puzzling polling results which consistently show a majority of Israelis optimistic about their lives and satisfied Read More »
Hannukah & history: the pride & the pity
This is a reprise and slight update of past postings about Hannukah. It comes every year, after all, and its bottom-line lesson for us has not changed: History is of necessity an interpretive process, and these interpretations often spawn self-serving myths. Read More »
Christopher Hitchens (1949-2011): ‘Jewish’ gadfly
I last saw him at the New York Public Library in June 2010, days before he learned of his illness. There, in the New York Public Library’s august main building, he spoke about his recent autobiography (“Hitch-22″) , saying (without any knowledge Read More »
An Alarmist Views Post-Holocaust Thought
Alvin Rosenfeld, the Indiana University professor of English and Jewish Studies engaged in dialogue at the NY Museum of Jewish Heritage, Dec. 14, with David Harris, director of the American Jewish Committee, on his new book, The End of the Holocaust (Indiana University Press, 2011). Prof. Read More »
Republican contenders love Israel to death
With characteristic boldness (perhaps we should call it the “audacity of nope”), the GOP front-runner du jour , Newt Gingrich, asserts that the Palestinians are “an invented people.” This was a telling moment at the pander fest that was the Republican Jewish Coalition’s candidates’ forum. Having carefully not invited Rep. Read More »
Bergson in 1940s & ’70s (VarianFry.org) The NY Jewish Week has posted my latest article, on a film
Bergson in 1940s & ’70s (VarianFry.org) The NY Jewish Week has posted my latest article, on a film and filmmaker dealing with the Holocaust-era controversy of the “Bergson Group” and whether American Jews were too passive. Read More »
‘Team Obama’ excusing Arab anti-Semitism?
As Republican Presidential debaters vie for Jewish votes by professing infinite love for Israel (all except the uninvited Ron Paul, of course), there’s that brouhaha on Obama administration figures who don’t simply blame everything on the Arabs. J.J. Read More »
Meretz Secretary General in South America
Dror Morag, the secretary general of Israel’s Meretz Party (someone whom many of us knew as secretary general of the World Union of Meretz), reports on his November tour of South America: During November, I participated in a series of conventions in Latin America. Read More »
News from World Union of Meretz
Partners for Progressive Israel remains as it was when called Meretz USA, a constituent of the World Union of Meretz under the overall rubric of the World Zionist Organization. Read More »
Our letter to the Jewish Week – Why “Buy Israel Week” is misleading
The first ever “Buy Israel Week ” in the US kicked off earlier this week, on November 28, and will run until this Sunday, December 4. Read More »
T. Mitchell Reviews Gorenberg’s New Book
TheAmericanization Project in Israel By Thomas Mitchell, Ph.D. A review of The Unmaking of Israel By Gershom Gorenberg (HarperCollins, 2011 $26.00) The IsraeliLeft has been divided, at times, over whether toemphasize the Palestinian problem or religious coercion. Read More »
Iran should not be attcked, but it’s a problem
It would be a very bad idea for either Israel or the US to attack Iran; today’s NY Times op-ed article by Malfrid Braut-Hegghammer , a Norwegian security expert, reinforces this conclusion. Read More »
T. Mitchell reviews Gorenberg’s new book
TheAmericanization Project in Israel By Thomas Mitchell, Ph.D. A review of The Unmaking of Israel By Gershom Gorenberg; HarperCollins, 2011 $26.00. The IsraeliLeft and their parties have been at times divided over whether toemphasize the Palestinian problem or religious coercion. Read More »
T. Klug: One state is unfeasible & implausible
Tony Klug is a British-Jewish researcher and writer on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I’ve noticed that he often writes for Tikkun , a venue that I’ve also been contributing to of late. Read More »
Iran: Options and Fears
I am very fearful of a possible Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear installations, but (speaking only for myself) I hope that Israel and the US will continue to act in small but effective ways to forestall its nuclear program, including cyber-warfare and other secretive efforts at sabotage (not to mention strong economic sanctions). Read More »
Growing Haredi influence in Jerusalem
Here’s a follow-up on the growth of Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) influence in Jerusalem, after reading Anshel Pfeffer’s description of its history in Haaretz, ” Jerusalem & Babylon / Ultra-Orthodox need not protest Israel, they run it. ” Ultra-Orthodox man walks past vandalized poster of a woman. Read More »
Slice-of-life on Arab-Jewish relations in Israel
Ibtisam Mara’ana Partners for Progressive Israel co-sponsored a screening of “77 Steps” at the Other Israel Film Festival in New York on Nov. 14. It included a Q & A afterwards with the filmmaker, Ibtisam Mara’ana , a 30-something Arab citizen of Israel. Ms. Read More »
The 16th Rabin Memorial Demo: ‘We are here, we have no fear’
No matter what, I planned to go to the 16th annual memorial rally in memory of assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin — just as I have for the past 15 years, and just as I did on that fateful Saturday night, November 4th, 1995, when I went to the Read More »
The Other Iranian Option
During the past year I have been involved in a very interesting and innovative initiative, the CSCME (Conference on Security and Cooperation in the Middle East) civil society initiative, together with my colleague , Palestine-Israel Journal (PIJ) co-editor Ziad AbuZayyad. Originally conceived by Prof. Read More »
Eye-witness to Mass Protest in Tel Aviv
I was at last Saturday night’s demonstration. Although there is some controversy about the numbers and the degree of success, I think it was a success, with Rabin Square filled with some 70-80,000 people (there were counterclaims of 20,000 ). Read More »
Dershowitz’s solution for Palestine at UN
Harvard Law professor, Alan Dershowitz, is a veritable industry for writing, lecturing and preaching. Although overbearing, even boorish at times– and not really the expert on Israeli-Arab relations that he thinks he is– his core views on the conflict are not bad. Read More »
On singing songs and boycotting ‘Ahava’
Last Saturday night, I attended the Peoples’ Voice Cafe in New York for the first time. It’s a kind of left-wing nightclub and hangout that’s been around for a long time. Interestingly, I see that it closed for Yom Kippur, and I know that it used to be housed in the old Workmen’s Circle/ Forward building, which was sold a year or two ago. Read More »
E. Jerusalem construction scuttling 2-state peace
Sarah Kreimer is associate director of Ir Amim , an Israeli NGO dedicated to creating a more equitable Jerusalem and reaching an agreed-upon political future for the city (including a progressive Zionist agenda). Read More »
Postscripts on Gilad Shalit
A school-age chum of Gilad Shalit is actually living in my home right now. Lior is the nephew by marriage of an Israeli cousin of mine. Gilad Shalit (photo released by IDF) Lior describes Shalit as shy and a bit of an oddball, who “hung out” with Lior’s circle of friends, a year or two older than he. Read More »
Bradley Burston applauds prisoner swap
Haaretz columnist Bradley Burston on the deal freeing Gilad Shalit: ’Bravo for these people, these Israelis’ ” Israel has freed 13,509 prisoners in order to win the release of a total of 16 soldiers. An average of well over 800 for each one. But this is the price.”Click here to read this column. Read More »
Positive Content of PA Appeal to UN
On Monday, October 17, 2011, Partners for Progressive Israel (Meretz USA) President Dina B. Charnin, Chair Theodore Bikel, and Executive Director Ron Skolnik issued the following statement on behalf of the organization: On September 23, 2011, Read More »
Are the Jews a People?
Recently, two very interesting and important articles were published on the question of Jewish identity. One, written by Prof. Sari Nusseibeh, President of Al-Quds University, is entitled Why Israel Can’t be a ‘Jewish state’ ; the other is by Prof. Shlomo Avineri of the Hebrew University, entitled We are a people: A response to Sari Nusseibeh . Read More »
Sholomo Avineri: ‘We are a people’
This article by Prof. Shlomo Avineri will certainly stimulate much dialogue. I did not think that requiring the Palestinians to acknowledge Israel as a Jewish state was a necessary pre-condition to a continuation of negotiations. As several Israelis have said, we don’t need the Palestinians to confirm our Jewishness. Read More »
IDF general against aid cut-off to PA & ‘Jewish terrorism’
In a NY Times news article , Times Jerusalem Bureau chief, Ethan Bronner, reports on his conversation with an outgoing IDF West Bank commander: ‘Israel’s West Bank General Warns Against Radicals’ The Israeli general in charge of most of the West Read More »
Strenger’s open letter to Abbas
Carlo Strenger is a talented and busy man. He chairs the clinical graduate program in psychology at Tel Aviv University and is an opinion writer in his spare time, for Haaretz and the Huffington Post. Read More »
Take Kristof’s warning seriously
In his latest NY Times column, Nicholas D. Kristof asks, “Is Israel Its Own Worst Enemy? ” His prediction (more perhaps than a prescription) is that Palestinians will pursue a strategy of non-violent protest and that in the absence of an agreement to Read More »
Debate on one state vs. two
This is from Israeli journalist and peacenik, Gershom Gorenberg: Is the two-state solution for Israel and Palestine still achievable? Is the one-state alternative even plausible?I’ve just debated one-state advocate Dimi Reider of +972 Magazine. You can watch the whole debate on Bloggingheads at http: //bloggingheads. Read More »
Mearsheimer blurbs book by ‘anti-Semite’
When Profs. John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt co-authored their book on the “Israel Lobby,” they drew back from their original formulation that this so-called lobby had manipulated the US to invade Iraq on behalf of Israel. Read More »
Labor reviving under new female leader?
M.K. ShellyYachimovitch Polls indicate Labor reviving under its newly elected leader, Shelly Yachimovitch, a former journalist ; neck & neck in strength with Kadima, each party draws a projection of about 22 Knesset seats, apparently vying for second place to Netanyahu’s Likud party. And now both Labor and Kadima are led by women. Read More »
Not in MY name
I couldn’t believe this YouTube video when I first saw it. It was made in time for the Jewish High Holy Days by the youth affiliate of Jewish Voice for Peace, Young, Jewish, and Proud , the group responsible for disrupting Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech last year, in New Orleans. Read More »
A good result at UN after all?
Speaking only for myself, I see errors and defeats all around. First, it was morally correct but strategically wrong for the Obama administration to initially demand a total settlements freeze, which compelled the Palestinian negotiators to insist Read More »
MJ Rosenberg rages at Obama; Olmert urges ‘Peace Now’
Two items: This essay by MJ Rosenberg (“On Israel and Palestine, Obama is Rick Perry “) is really hard on Obama. I think that Obama is all we have right now and I’d rather see him in the Presidency than Rick Perry. Read what Lesley Hazleton wrote to me on this: Lilly — your statement is an understatement. Rosenberg’s is absurd. Read More »
Where we stand at the UN today
Because of events planned for this Friday at the United Nations, Partners for Progressive Israel is moving this week’s demonstration to the same street and day that Abbas and Netanyahu address the UN. Join us if you can, near the UN, from 12: 30 to 1: 30 PM, meeting at the northwest corner of 2nd Ave. & 41st Street, Manhattan. Read More »
Reaching out to editor of NY Jewish Week
Gary Rosenblatt I’ve just had a polite exchange of emails with Gary Rosenblatt, the editor and publisher of the largest circulation Jewish newspaper in the United States, the New York Jewish Week. Sadly, its content outlines a chasm between progressive pro-Israel opinion and the mainstream of the organized Jewish community. Read More »
Hussein Ibish rebuts Abbas (mis)quote
As I indicated on Sept. 7 , the NY Jewish Week recently published an op-ed, “Israel Has Always Been a Jewish State, ” by Menachem Z. Read More »
Leah Shakdiel speaks in NY for ‘Partners…’
Born in 1951, Leah Shakdiel is part of a rare breed from Israel of a “Modern Orthodox” (non-Haredi and Zionist) woman who is also a tireless progressive and campaigner for peace. Read More »
Baskin: How Arabs & Turks really see Israel
My hat tip to Lilly Rivlin for citing this important edition of Gershon Baskin’s Jerusalem Post column : Encountering Peace: The view from Cairo Since Friday I have been in Cairo. … I came to Cairo to attend a small meeting of MECA – the Middle East Citizens Assembly. Read More »
Remembering 9/11/2001
Just when you thought it safe to venture forth without any further reflections on Sept. 11, 2001, allow me to offer up the following two to click on (which I’ve posted at the Tikkun Daily Blog) : My Experience of Sept. Read More »
Ynet: Settlers, Palestinians talk peace
This post should not be taken as my endorsement of settlers having moved to the West Bank in the first place, but it is a note of hope that in the context of a negotiated peace agreement establishing a Palestinian state, some Jewish settlers believe in establishing good relations with their Arab neighbors. Read More »
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