Michael G. Kearney (LSE): Lawfare, Legitimacy, and Resistance: The Weak and the Law. From Dissent Magazine, a symposium on One State/Two States. Did journalist and peace activist Uri Avnery serve a communist agenda in his weekly news magazine Haolam Hazeh? From The New Yorker, Haaretz prides itself on being the conscience of Israel — does it have a future? The first chapter from A History of Palestine: From the Ottoman Conquest to the Founding of the State of Israel by Gudrun Kramer. Max Blumenthal on facing up to Jewish nationalism and racist violence. Slavoj Zizek on why Israel’s best hope lies in a single state. They were defeated by Zionism and Judaism, their members murdered by Nazism and Stalinism, but the radical Jewish movements of the 20th century left behind a rich Yiddish literary legacy. From NYRB, an article on young Israelis: A turn to the right? The New Israeli Left: Activists march side by side with Palestinians against the wall and the occupation. Adina Hoffman reviews Jerusalem, Jerusalem: How the Ancient City Ignited Our Modern World by James Carroll (and more and more). How can we explain why Israel is apparently held in such low esteem in Canada, Germany, France, Portugal, the UK, Spain, Japan and Brazil? God plays no favorites: Could there be any more polarizing figure in the Jewish community than Richard Goldstone? Aryeh Neier on the Goldstone reversal. Despite a “reconsideration” on the part of its author, the Goldstone Report remains as vital as ever for understanding the 2008-2009 Gaza conflict. Hannah Rosenthal, the State Department’s anti-Semitism envoy, must defend Israel from delegitimization while confronting a growing wave of anti-Jewish rhetoric among European elites. Two books examine the history of the kibbutz movement and cast a cautious glance forward.
