American jewish community

Batya Ungar-Sargon speaking at a conference on racism and anti-Semitism at Bard College.

Reckless charges of anti-Semitism endanger Palestinians

The baseless claims made by The Forward’s Batya Ungar-Sargon at Bard College last week feed the dysfunction of the American debate on Israel-Palestine, making it more difficult for Palestinians and their allies to advocate for their rights. In a strange public controversy last week, Batya Ungar-Sargon, the Opinion Editor at The Forward, published a column claiming that…

By Amjad Iraqi October 16, 2019

An activist with IfNotNow is carried away by Israeli police during a Jerusalem Day protest, Jerusalem, May 24, 2017. (JC/Activestills.org)

‘You never told me’: Confronting American Jewish myths about Israel

A group of young American Jews are challenging the the institutionalized myths they were taught about the Jewish state in classrooms, youth group trips, and summer camps. By Emma Goldberg U.S. anti-occupation movement IfNotNow released its “Liberation Syllabus” last week. Crowd-sourced from teachers, students, journalists, and rabbis, the syllabus offers a collection of resources — from…

By +972 Magazine June 19, 2018

Members of the Reform and Conservative Jewish movements hold torah scrolls during a mixed men and women prayer at the public square in front of the Western Wall, in Jerusalem's Old City, on May 18, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The lie at the heart of the Jewish American consensus

By choosing to engage on specific issues of Israeli policy while ignoring the fate of Palestinians, the Jewish American establishment has effectively sided with perpetuating the occupation. For years, the Jewish American establishment has been able to convince the world, and itself, that it does not directly meddle in internal Israeli affairs — a declaration most commonly used…

By Edo Konrad June 30, 2017

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Jewish protesters are arrested after disrupting the Celebrate Israel parade in Manhattan, New York City, June 4, 2017. (Jewish Voice for Peace)

Jewish activists arrested for protesting New York pro-Israel parade

New York’s annual, lavishly-funded Celebrate Israel parade was interrupted by scores of American Jewish activists, several of whom were arrested in the process. Seven Jewish protesters were arrested in New York on Sunday afternoon as over 100 activists disrupted the annual Celebrate Israel parade. The event, which sees thousands of participants march down Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue accompanied…

By Natasha Roth-Rowland June 5, 2017

Thousands march in Washington, D.C., to protest against U.S. support for Israel's offensive in Gaza, August 2, 2014. So far, Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,622 Palestinians, the majority of them civilians, including 326 children.

A litmus test for the American Jewish left

I hesitate to critique BDS, but there is still something in the campaign that troubles me — a sense that some on the left are inadvertently using boycott as a tool with which to sort through, measure, and reject other progressive voices. By Penina Eilberg-Schwartz Palestinians living in Israel are all too familiar with litmus…

By +972 Magazine August 18, 2015

An action by If Not Now, When, for Tisha B’Av in New York City, where participants read the names of Israelis and Palestinians who died in this summer’s Gaza war. (Photo by Gili Getz)

‘As U.S. Jews, we need to figure out what leverage we have in ending the occupation’

Amid the Gaza war this summer a group of young American Jews formed a new group, ‘If Not Now, When?’, which aims to challenge the American Jewish establishment’s unquestioning support for the occupation. +972 sits down with one of its founding members to find out who the group is and what they hope to accomplish.…

By +972 Magazine October 25, 2014

Israelis in Tel Aviv protest against Israel's assault on Gaza, calling for a ceasefire and an end to the blockade of the Strip, Tel Aviv, August 23, 2014. (Photo: Activestills)

Now is the time for American Jews to speak up on Israel

As an Israeli in the U.S. I learned that criticizing Israel is not an option for many American Jews. But there is a legitimate way to criticize Israeli policy, and if you care about someone or something you won’t let it go astray. By Abraham Gutman We were sitting in front of a lagoon at…

By +972 Magazine August 27, 2014

ADL Director Abraham Foxman (justinhoch/CC BY 2.0)

No, Abe Foxman, America is not out to get the Jews

The U.S. Jewish establishment is starting to say publicly that anti-Semitism is the reason Jonathan Pollard is still in prison. This is sickening slander that reflects a deep-seated psychological problem. Abraham Foxman, long-time leader of the Anti-Defamation League, capo di tutti capi of the Israel lobby, scourge of all scourges of anti-Semitism (real or…

By Larry Derfner January 28, 2014

When it comes to Israel, the political is personal: Review of ‘Crisis of Zionism’

The author of a new book describing a crisis in Zionism may not be telling us anything we didn’t already know – but in tracing his own personal journey of his anguished relationship to Israel, Peter Beinart has touched a nerve no one in the American Jewish community can ignore. At a recent lecture in…

By Mairav Zonszein April 8, 2012

Jewish Student Union in Berkeley boycotts J Street

The isolation of J Street and other Jewish groups that are critical of Israeli policies is evidence of a growing moral crisis in the American Jewish community This post was updated. A couple of years ago, while spending some time in the States, I was invited to a dinner at a Jewish friend’s home. “Just…

By Noam Sheizaf December 8, 2011

Don’t blame Obama for impasse on Palestine

Obama decided there is no point in wasting his time and political resources on Palestine, and he is right. He can’t change Israeli society; no foreign intervention can do that Obama’s stance regarding the recognition of the Palestinian state, and his strident pro-Israeli tone before the UN have been variously explained as symptoms of the…

By Roi Maor September 22, 2011

Let’s not talk about it: US Jews’ problem discussing Israel

My piece on last weekend’s Haaretz Magazine, and some other thoughts on the issue While visiting New York last year, I got into a long political conversation with a friend, after which he invited me to dinner at his house. “But you must promise me we won’t discuss Israel,” he warned me. “It might ruin…

By Noam Sheizaf April 5, 2011