Israel

The state, the society, the war, the present hour.

Anti-Zionism Is a Form of Antisemitism

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The freedom to fully live by our covenant in the land of our ancestors is an expression of the human right to choose the very order of one’s earthly existence.

It does not preclude other rights or others’ rights – but it is an inalienable right nonetheless.

If you deny my brothers and sisters that freedom, then you are maintaining a prejudiced belief towards them.

Criticism of a policy, of a politician, of a government, of a state is one thing.

So is criticism of the ways in which minorities in diasporas use and abuse the scanty social privileges granted to them in the hierarchical societies in which they’re enmeshed.

But blanket denial of the freedom to fully live by our ancestral covenant in the land of our heritage, free from foreign colonialism, imperialism, oppression, persecution, intolerance, and hierarchies, is something else entirely.

It’s taken decades of thinking and rethinking and rethinking this issue again and again for me to come to the simple conclusion that yes,

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Anti-Zionism is a form of antisemitism.
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May the war in Gaza stop, may Hamas be uprooted, may the hostages be freed, may the occupation end, and may we rebuild our Home – together.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

What Two States Solve

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Thinking pragmatically about the future of the Land…

Can an additional state, without any state institutions or assets or economy or territorial continuity or independence, really make it?

And what purpose would it serve, if it did actually work and function, that wouldn’t be realized in an inclusive Israeli/Palestinian society?

Imagine If Atlas Shrugged

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I’m not a Jewish supremacist, an Objectivist, or even a pure Capitalist anymore…

I don’t think that Ayn Rand was a fantastic novelist and I haven’t read all of her books.

But Israel is Galt’s Gulch and Atlas’ biggest shrug would be if the Jewish people of every country and every continent simply left the hostile cesspools of reactionary bigotry in which they’re currently drowning, and came Home.

If our innovators and creators said Thanks But No Thanks to anyone and everyone who wanted to buy or benefit from our wide variety of essential technological, medical, or ecological marvels, our breathtaking works of art, beauty, or laughter, our groundbreaking scientific research and discoveries, without recognizing our right to exist without being genocided.

I don’t hope for such isolationism. I think it’s ultimately a betrayal of our national ethic and mandate.

But still…

Just imagine a world where Jewish people actually put our own well-being first and decided to stop carrying the rest of the world forward, in every country on every continent. Tirelessly, often selflessly, and with xenophobia and contempt as the inevitable recompense.

Imagine if Atlas shrugged.

A New Deal for the Land of Peace

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A New Deal for the Land of Peace
ישראל – فلسطين
– one unified state
– law and order instead of militant and criminal violence
– citizenship for all
– healthcare for all
– gan-uni education for all
– infrastructure and building permits for all
– military service for all
– new anthem

We deserve it. We can do it. We will make it.

יחד ננצח

Shabbath Shalom

Emboldened by POTUS

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Is it just me or have Houthi missile attacks increased in frequency since the new regime came to power in the USA? And especially since Witikoff started traipsing around the Middle East….?

Seems the Ayatollahs and their proxies feel rather emboldened by the POTUS….

Lawless Zone

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The West Bank has become a lawless zone.

We so clearly need law and order in this country, and instead we’re being pitched on expanding the same lawlessness that results in a mother being shot on the way to give birth.

May her blood be avenged in the voting booth.

Just a Vessel

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Loose lips sink ships so I’m not publicly going to go into detail on my iss lest Iranian govt passes the intel along to the Houthis, but today’s non-interception was problematic from several angles.

Really drives home how much we depend on Hashem for our protection. A missile-defense system is just a vessel, and does not work of its own accord.

The Land Is Not Ours

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The return to the land of our ancestors.

So much of human history is bound up in disputes over land.

Your land, my land, his land, (rarely) her land.

The territorial imperative indeed runs deep in mammals, especially primates; sometimes we seem no better than gangs of monkeys fighting each other over dwindling patches of forest.

So much of human inequality is bound up in ownership of land.

My land, not yours, doesn’t matter if you need its shelter, water, food – I paid the royal estate for it, so its shelter, water, food, lumber, minerals, oil are mine… You’ll pay me to use them, and I’ll use that money to always have the advantage.

And no small part of human suffering is bound up in exploitation of land.

It’s my land, I’ll do to it what I wilt – control the shelter, poison the water, leach the soil, cut down the trees, pollute the ground and air. Those who did not pay the royal estate be damned. Those who need shelter, water, food, and air be damned. Those who depend on the socio-economic sectors I’ve monopolized through the exclusive exploitation of my land be damned.

It’s my land.

I didn’t create it or design it or raise the hills or flatten the plains or fill the rivers or plant the forests.

But it’s my land.

I can’t pick it up, stuff it in the back of my truck, and drive off with it.

But it’s my land.

I control access to it only by dint of claim, paper, and force of arms.

But it’s my land.

(You’re beginning to see how this works?)

Then along comes the Creator of the land, and says,

“It’s MY land. Forever. You are strangers here.”

And,

“If you want to live on this land – you must follow my rules.”

And,

“Build me a sanctuary, a holy city, a just society, that I may dwell within you.”

Meaning: The land is not ours.

Meaning: The land comes with a promise.

Meaning: The land has a meaning and a purpose.

We take the land for granted, we ignore our covenant, we deny its purpose – we’re out.

Our ancestors sinned and are no more.

But if we treasure and share the land, stay loyal and true to our promise to our Creator and to each other, and build a just, peaceful, and holy society on the land, together in harmony – we can stay.

The return to the land of our ancestors is a return to a right relationship; with our Creator, with each other – with the land.

May we indeed merit to return.

The Siren Started

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The siren started and my soul awoke.

I prayed for rahamim, divine compassion.

For the nation and for the souls of those who gave their lives for our future.

I prayed that in their merit and in the merit of their good deeds, sacrifices, and ultimate sanctification of the idea of the God of life – we would all be granted liberation and redemption.

I prayed for unity among the people.

I prayed that the powers of our enemies would be weakened.

I prayed that the hostages would go free.

It was an עת רצון and so I prayed, in silent harmony together with millions of my brothers and sisters.

And the siren faded, but my soul could not return to its slumber.