Apologies for not keeping this site up to date with new things published over at Elder of Ziyon. Will be catching up over the next few days.
Coddling of the American Mind – Part 2
What might Lukianoff and Haidt’s 2018 Coddling of the American Mind tell us about how the conflict over Israel is playing out on campuses?
The Coddling of the American Mind – Part 1
One of the best books of 2018 provides some answers to those bewildered by the crazy happenings on college campuses, Israel-related and not, over the last few years. I’ve been doing most of my posting over at Elder of Ziyon these days, but thought I’d catch anyone stopping by the site on new posts from […]
The Network
The Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs and Public Diplomacy just published research that describes the links between various BDS-promoting entities and terrorist organizations such as the People’s Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and Hamas. The report confirms (as if more confirmation was necessary) that – far from being the grassroots human rights movement […]
SMART Goals
Last time, I listed the genuine goals of anti-Israel activists which include (1) poisoning the minds of the young against Israel while (2) colonizing and completely controlling the Left end of the political spectrum. An obvious description of our own goals would include seeing our opponents’ efforts defeated. But this is simply a surface-level tactical […]
Nasty Goals
One of the things that makes debate over whether BDS is winning or losing so confusing is lack of common agreement regarding what constitutes success and failure. For example, this year we saw more BDS votes in student government than in previous years, and more of those votes go in favor of the BDSers. Needless […]
The Worthy Life – II
Last time, I talked about what it means to live a worthy life and how Israelis’ existential condition – in which each of them is responsible for defending and building a nation – has made them some of the happiest people on the face of the earth. For those of us who do not live […]
A Worthy Life
I’m reading a book that again reminds me how much we’re leaving unused our most potent argument for creating attachment to Israel among not just Jews but everyone else in the world. Leading a Worthy Life by Leon Kass is not about Judaism, Israel or the Middle East (although the author is the child of […]
The Price
The price even a non-intentional embrace of anti-Israel propaganda places on the believer was brought home to me during a recent conversation with a good friend, whose opinion I respect on all matters, who was aghast at the bloodletting at the Gaza border over the last month. Interestingly, she was willing to accept that the […]
A Disproportional Response
The boycotters have been wetting themselves over last month’s “victory” getting 50 student groups at New York University (NYU) to jointly pledge a boycott of not just Israel, but campus groups (i.e., organizations created and run by other NYU students) and off-campus groups (such as Birthright, StandWithUs and the ADL) that support the Jewish state. […]
The Seige – Gaza Version
I remember getting a lot of pushback once I started using the siege metaphor to describe Israel’s situation, both historically and as part of a wider discussion of how to look at our battle with Israel’s enemies through the lens of military conflict. That criticism largely stemmed from a misunderstanding of siege warfare, with advocates […]
Framing
It’s only natural that we humans make sense of the world by placing things into categories. Action movies vs. comedies. The “Fruits and Vegetables food group vs. “Breads and Cereals.” Conservative vs. liberal. Mental shortcuts that help us streamline our thinking are called “heuristics,” and while they can be an asset when trying to figure […]