israel

Not since The Israel Lobby has a Jewish book evoked so much ire and criticism from the American Jewish community.

For decades, American politicians have had a “gentleman’s agreement” regarding Jerusalem, Israel, and American Jews. On the one hand, all mainstream politicians kowtow to the (right-leaning) Jewish institutional community and mouth platitudes about Jerusalem being the capital of Israel. On the other hand, once they get into office, they realize that to put these platitudes into practice would lead to diplomatic chaos—and so they do next to nothing.

In spite of some impassioned campaigning by Bishop Desmond Tutu.

Recently, Mitt Romney has been referring to the Israeli Prime Minister as ‘my friend,’ and invoking memories of the short period when the two ambitious young businessmen were working for the same Boston consulting firm in the 1970s. The elder Netanyahu’s death has given Romney yet another opportunity to position himself as ‘pro-Israel’—or in his words, a champion of “all who care about Israel.”

Six years after its American counterpart, the Conservative movement’s Israeli rabbinical school voted last week to admit gay and lesbian students. It’s one small step for LGBT people, one foot-dragging schlep for the Jews.

Are the Jews in trouble? From the outside, things look quite good. Anti-Semitism is at an all-time low in the United States. The U.S. administration seems to allow Israel to do what it wants, even as many of us disagree with what it is choosing to do.

Rosenberg retires the term.

What the anxious West has failed to recognize in the Arab Spring is that the political transformations of the Middle East are the coming of age of a new Islamism.

Recently, a controversial megachurch minister Eddie Long was crowned a Davidic king “on behalf of the Jewish people”; but he’s far from the first non-Jew to make use of a so-called rabbi to bolster his spiritual authority.

According to Professor Marc Ellis, a critic of Israel and the American Jewish establishment, Baylor University’s new president Ken Starr is seeking to replace him with “a right-wing, Israel-loving Jew that would cement [Starr’s] reputation with the right wing…”