Judaism

Committee on Academic Freedom | Middle East Studies Association | – Dear President Harring, Provost Furge and Professor Dowd: We write on behalf of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) and its Committee on Academic Freedom to express our grave concern about the announcement by Muhlenberg College that it intends to terminate […]

Islam

The Verse “Hear O Israel” is Common to Judaism and Islam

Shamai Leibowitz

( The Times of Israel) – This Shabbat we read the second paragraph of the Shema, and last week we read the first paragraph which opens with a call — arguably the most famous prayer in our liturgy: Listen, Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord is one” (Deut. 6:4). “The first paragraph of […]

Featured

Ascending the Temple Mount: Political Act in a Site of Holiness

Yakov M. Rabkin

Montréal (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Every year, Jews recite the entire Pentateuch aloud in synagogues. It is divided in weekly portions. This week’s one (Vaet’hanan, Deuteronomy 3 :23 – 7 :11) contains passages that are central to Jewish liturgy, including the Shema, a declaration of loyalty to God, or more precisely, a declaration […]

Anti-Zionism

Liberal Zionism and the woke facade of Israeli genocide

Yoav Litvin

( The New Arab ) – Israel’s ongoing genocide is part of a downward spiral for the Zionist project. In the words of acclaimed historian Professor Ilan Pappe: “We are witnessing a historical process – or, more accurately, the beginnings of one – that is likely to culminate in the downfall of Zionism.” Yet Zionism’s […]

American Jews

Jewish critics of Zionism have Clashed with American Jewish Leaders for Decades

The Conversation

By Marjorie N. Feld, Babson College | – Since October 2023, American Jews have been engaged in an intense, fractious debate over Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip. Media reports say that American Jews are experiencing “the great rupture,” widening “rifts,” and stand at a “moral, political crossroads.” While most American Jews remain broadly supportive […]

Anti-Zionism

Voices for Justice in Palestine

H. Patricia Hynes

Greenfield, Mass. (Special to Informed Comment, Feature) – They gather every Saturday morning on the Greenfield Common, Massachusetts from 11-Noon. Their signs and banners read: LET GAZA LIVE FREE PALESTINE CEASEFIRE – NO ARM$ TO ISRAEL NEVER AGAIN FOR ANYONE Why? Johanna (Jo) Rosen stands on the Common because she is “heartbroken and outraged by […]

Anti-Zionism

Most Bigoted, Genocidal Representative in Congress smears Juan Cole as a Racist

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The House Committee on Education and the Workplace, headed by the increasingly unhinged Rep. Virginia Palmieri Foxx (R-NC), held another Stalin-style show trial on Thursday, grilling the presidents of Northwestern University, Rutgers University, and the University of California Los Angeles about how they dealt with campus student protests against the […]

Anti-Zionism

Weaponizing Antisemitism

Common Dreams

By Ellen Cantarow and Jennifer Loewenstein | – ( Commondreams.org ) – All of us—and we are legion across the worldmust keep our eyes on the genocide in Gaza, as well as on the vicious pogroms underway in the West Bank. A recent statement by James Elder of UNICEF reports that in Rafah, “The European […]

Anti-Zionism

Antisemitism and Antizionism: A Dangerous Conflation

Yakov M. Rabkin

Montréal (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Antisemitism is making the headlines. The Israeli Prime Minister describes as antisemitic the accusation that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, and even American students who are calling for a ceasefire. What Israel is doing does in fact provoke antisemitic acts against synagogues, Jewish schools and even individual […]