Editor-at-Large, Jewish Currents. Author, "Beinart Notebook" on Substack. Prof, Newmark School of Journalism, CUNY. MSNBC Analyst. Tweets=my views, not CUNY's
If you foment hatred against Muslims don't offer your sympathy when hatred kills Jews. Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia are two symptoms of the same white nationalist disease. You either fight them both or you are complicit in them both.
Just randomly overheard
@realDonaldTrump
on
@CNN
call
@RepAdamSchiff
"little shifty Schiff." Doubt it will even make the papers. Think for a second what would have happened if
@IlhanMN
or
@RashidaTlaib
had said that. Then ask yourselves what explains the double standard
Suleimani has lots of blood on his hands. So did Saddam Hussein. And assassinating him is the single most reckless act of American foreign policy since the Iraq War.
Are Jews white? Sometimes. But if you don't think white privilege is operating here, imagine if Malia Obama had converted to Islam and married a devout Palestinian Muslim, who Barack Obama then put in charge of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. You can't even imagine it, can you?
Jared Kushner on why the Palestinians would accept his Middle East peace plan:
"I'm not here to be trusted...They're gonna judge it based on the facts and then make a determination. Do they think this will allow them to have a pathway to a better life or not?"
@dctvny
@hbodocs
.
@RashidaTlaib
is an embarrassment to other Democrats. She's an embarrassment because she exposes as a sham their claim to defend human rights. She's an embarrassment because she endures so much when they sell out so cheap. She reminds them that their lack of courage is a choice
I am the only Palestinian American serving in Congress, and my perspective is needed here now more than ever. I will not be silenced and I will not let anyone distort my words.
I’m from Detroit, where I learned to speak truth to power, even if my voice shakes.
The campaign to depose the presidents of Penn, Harvard + MIT is a campaign to restrict pro-Palestinian speech on campus. If you support it, please have the decency never to sermonize about free speech, academic freedom or cancel culture again.
When I speak on campus, I ask what % of the pro-Palestine protesters are Jewish. Usually, Jews are overrepresented. Sometimes they're the largest identity group. Maybe folks calling for cracking down on protesters in the name of Jewish safety should consider their safety too
This tough guy bravado bullshit from people who have no idea what consequences America has just unleashed and won't suffer those consequences themselves. For those too young to remember, this is what it was like in 2003
This perfectly captures the generational and moral divide among American Jews. Establishment Jewish leaders were offended that
@AOC
applied the language of Never Again to Trump's barbarism. Young Jewish activists are invoking Never Again to fight it
Even if you're a hawk who thinks wars in the Middle East tend to go well. That's insane but let's go with it for a second. Even if you believe that. This White House can barely issue press releases without spelling mistakes. You really think they can manage a war?
Have you ever seen an American politician asked to defend themselves against charges that they are bigoted against Palestinians? In American political discourse, the category of anti-Palestinian bigotry essentially does not exist. That's how far we still have to go.
Imagine if measles were spreading rapidly because some religious Muslims refused to vaccinate their kids. Fox News would be calling for internment camps
I know many Jews find it upsetting to hear Israel called racist. But in the West Bank, Jews enjoy citizenship, due process, free movement + the right to vote for the govt that controls their lives. Their Palestinian neighbors enjoy none of these rights. What would you call that?
To be blunter: I don't think the Jewish advocacy organizations are as interested in protecting actual Jewish students as they are in quashing anti-Zionist speech, even if the anti-Zionist speech comes from Jews themselves
When I speak on campus, I ask what % of the pro-Palestine protesters are Jewish. Usually, Jews are overrepresented. Sometimes they're the largest identity group. Maybe folks calling for cracking down on protesters in the name of Jewish safety should consider their safety too
In addition to asking why
@IlhanMN
and
@RashidaTlaib
wanted to see the profound injustice in the West Bank, we should ask why the 41 Democrats who went to Israel with
@AIPAC
did not
The West Bank is not a "conflict zone." It's a territory where Jews enjoy citizenship, free movement, due process and the right to vote for the government that controls their lives while Palestinians are denied all these rights. That's not "conflict." It's oppression.
The killing of American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is an horrific tragedy. A thorough, objective investigation is needed now. Congress is committed to the defense of press freedoms worldwide and protection of every journalist, particularly those in conflict zones.
Coates has done what MLK did over Vietnam. He's followed his principles to a place that will alienate many who once celebrated him. For people who support equality except in Israel, his moral consistency now constitutes a threat. He's not just a brilliant writer. He's a brave man
In W Bank, Israel has 2 legal systems. One provides free movement, due process, citizenship + the right to vote to Jews. The other denies all these rights to Palestinians. What kind of Democratic leadership calls
@IlhanMN
a bigot but won't call out that?
This is idiotic and dangerous. Protest outside the Israeli consulate or the offices of your member of Congress, not Jewish or Israeli-owned restaurants.
These activists don't represent most Jews. Neither did the Jews who went to Mississippi for Freedom Summer. Neither did the Jews who joined the ANC. People who demand justice when they have the luxury of indifference are rarely representative. That's why we remember their courage
Hundreds of primarily Jewish protesters are currently in the Capitol’s Cannon building staging a sit-in protest, calling on Biden and Congress to push for a ceasefire in Gaza.
They’re slowly being arrested.
Saying GOP is now the party of the working class is utter nonsense. Trump lost voters earning under $50K by 15 points. He lost voters earning btw $50-$100K by 13. He WON voters earning over $100K by 11. That's what happens when u enact Paul Ryan's agenda
This is a monstrous crime. It's happening in plain view, with US support. Are those 1.1 million people responsible for Hamas' barbarism? May God forgive us.
Breaking News: UN spokesperson stated that the Israeli army has issued a demand for the immediate relocation of 1.1 million Palestinians from northern Gaza to the south in 24 hours.
I supported the Iraq War. A mentor died in it. My sister-in-law left her toddler to serve in it. I wrote 2 books grappling w/ how I got it so wrong. I never thought people like Bolton + Netanyahu could pull off a campaign of lies like that again. They have
this is why Bibi was afraid. Because
@IlhanMN
and
@RashidaTlaib
would have brought attention to the deep injustice that Tlaib's grandmother and every other W Bank Palestinian endures--paid for in part by our tax dollars
In true
@dror_etkes
fashion, a precise play-by-play of the convoluted stages of Israeli authorities’ (internationally unlawful) dispossession of
@RashidaTlaib
’s grandmother’s village lands. The backdrop to what her Sity teaches her and what
@IlhanMN
was prevented from witnessing.
The reason the American debate over Israel-Palestine could shift dramatically and quickly is that many Democratic politicians don't need to be convinced that what Israel is doing is wrong. They just need to be convinced that they can say so without hurting their careers
My father, Julian Beinart, of blessed memory, died on Friday. He loved cities, design, intellectual provocation, ginger beer + fast-bowling. He fought for a democratic South Africa + left for his children's sake. In every immigrant who loves America + challenges it I see his face
My friend’s mom in Gaza eats a piece of bread and a hot pepper. That’s her meal of the day. She hasn’t been able to find flour and so her family has gone without eating for a few days until someone found a bag for them. My other friend’s sister hasn’t drank any water in two days.
This is how dehumanization works.
@BernieSanders
challenges a blockade that is making Gaza uninhabitable: denying people drinkable water, electricity + the right to leave their open air prison. But for Shapiro, there are no human beings in Gaza. There is only Hamas.
Who puts up those signs? The Israeli government--the entity that controls every inch of the West Bank. It's like saying that whites were the ones discriminated against in South Africa because the apartheid government wouldn't let them enter Bophuthatswana
When I travelled to the West Bank, I saw signs prohibiting Israelis from entering Area A.
Are there any signs in the territories that restrict access to Jews only? I never saw one.
The audience cheered when
@BernieSanders
spoke about Palestinian rights because ordinary Democrats believe in Palestinian rights. And because they know that, even in the Democratic Party, acknowledging Palestinian humanity requires political courage
Sorry to be repetitive but the potential for another mass expulsion of Palestinians--in Gaza + the West Bank--is real. Palestinians have been saying so with increasing desperation. This story isn't getting the attention it deserves in the US media
Israel is proposing writing off a significant chunk of Egypt’s international debts through the World Bank to entice the cash-strapped Abdel Fattah el-Sisi government to open its doors for displaced Palestinians, Ynet reported
One day, when supporting apartheid in Israel-Palestine is as inconceivable as supporting it in South Africa, American Jews will remember these young activists the way we remember the Jewish Freedom Riders of the early 60s. Reviled now, they will one day be recognized as heroes
Hundreds of primarily Jewish protesters are currently in the Capitol’s Cannon building staging a sit-in protest, calling on Biden and Congress to push for a ceasefire in Gaza.
They’re slowly being arrested.
I know some Jewish kids feel threatened by "intifada," which references uprisings that have involved anti-Jewish violence. But if we ban the phrase, what do we say to Palestinian students who feel threatened by the Israeli flag, emblem of a state that is killing their relatives?
There is nothing “contextual” about calls for all Jews to be killed.
Jewish students around the country are afraid.
If colleges refuse to protect Jewish students from generalized bullying and harassment then the universities either need a new code of conduct or new presidents.
just learned
@SenWarren
is not going to
@AIPAC
conference in any capacity. Good for her. The other 2020 Dems should be held to the same standard. And if they go off the record to schmooze with donors, journalists should report that--and ask them what they said
#AIPAC2019
When my father came to the US he was amazed to see a Jewish policeman. And he was amazed that Jews trusted the police. In so many countries, police have been among the killers of Jews. Here they tried to save us. We should make sure their families never want for anything
Why doesn't Harvard's new antisemitism task force include its own scholars who study antisemitism + Israel-Palestine? Because those scholars won't endorse a crackdown on pro-Palestinian free speech. Which is what big donors demand.
Yesterday, I traveled to the southern West Bank, including the Palestinian village of Susya, which the Israeli government has destroyed twice and currently denies access to water.
I know many wonderful people who hate my views on Israel. Some are my relatives. But if you're one, I'd humbly ask: If you talk about Palestinians, shouldn't you talk to them? Shouldn't you see for yourself? "Who is wise?" says Pirkei Avot "The one who learns from all people."
People in Jenin can't become citizens of the country in which they live. Can't vote for the govt that determines if they live or die. Can't return to the lands from which their families were expelled. This underlies everything happening now. The American press rarely mentions it
Benjamin Netanyahu has half-apologized for my detention yesterday at Ben Gurion airport. I'll accept when he apologizes to all the Palestinians and Palestinian-Americans who every day endure far worse
Despite the horror of this time, despite the agony in Israel, the agony in Gaza, the rising antisemitism + anti-Palestinian racism, something else is growing: a movement of Jews + Palestinians for mutual safety + mutual liberation. That's what gives me hope
There's a subtext to the
@IlhanMN
expulsion effort that echoes through US history: From Paul Robeson to Muhammed Ali to Andrew Young. Black public figures who endorse anti-imperial critiques of US foreign policy are almost always punished.
15 years ago, John Bolton + Benjamin Netanyahu made the same arguments for war in Iraq that they're now making for pulling out of the nuclear deal with Iran. And they're getting away with it.
Renowned Holocaust historian Yehuda Bauer just signed the academics' letter accusing Israel of "apartheid." He is honorary chair of the Intl Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, whose purpose is to use claims of antisemitism to prevent such accusations. Overton window is shifting fast
Last night, settlers invaded the village of Susya (South Hebron hills) and ordered its residents to leave within 24 hours - otherwise they would all be killed.
hey
@Liz_Cheney
+
@MeghanMcCain
, who use Jewish suffering to justify the abuse of today's immigrants. We're told 36 times in Torah to remember the stranger because we were strangers in Egypt. We have an ethical tradition. Try learning about it before you speak in our name
"He was just doing a limited strike" says the 'Face the nation' host
“Oh…just a limited strike!"
@BernieSanders
quipped, "Oh, I’m sorry, I just didn't know that it's okay to simply attack another country with bombs. That’s a limited strike? That’s an act of warfare,”
In 1949, a Polish Holocaust survivor named Genya Kowalski was offered a Palestinian house in Haifa. She refused, saying: "I don’t want to live [in a house] of people who were thrown out...a human being is a human being.” We can be her heirs today
If a Palestinian senate candidate wrote this sentence-but substituted "Jews" for "Palestinians"-they would be forced to drop out. But I doubt a single GOP leader will ask Mandel to do so. That's how normalized anti-Palestinian racism is. In US politics, it's the air we breathe
Biden's failure to stop this is a disaster for the safety of people all over the Middle East, including Israelis. It's a disaster for the security of US forces in the region. And it's a disaster for Biden's chances of reelection. Trump will run as the peace candidate, as in 2016,…
Showing the faces of dead Palestinian (and Israeli) children isn't a "blood libel." It's a recognition of the infinite value of their young lives. If you consider that anti-Semitic, it's because you consider it anti-Semitic to view Palestinians as human beings.
I am cancelling my subscription to NYTimes. I grew up in America on the NYT- I delivered the NYT to my classmates- I learned civics- democracy and all the news”fit to print” for 65 years but no more. Today’s blood libel of Israel and the Jewish people on the front page is enough
75 years ago--when the US wouldn't admit Jews in DP camps into the US because of our supposed communist inclinations--these bigots were saying the same thing about us
Blinken says he wants 2 states. Ok. So he'll support UN resolutions condemning settlement growth? Condition US aid on an end to settlement growth? End tax-deductible US funding of settlements? Of course he doesn't support 2 states. How long must we put up with this farce?
The only road to lasting peace and security in the region, the only way to break out of the horrific cycle of violence, is through two states for two peoples.
As far as I can tell, these are Americans praying in a public place. I'm proud to live in a country where that's possible. I wonder how Shai would feel if someone implied there was something wrong with publicly davening Kabbalat Shabbat?
David--this stuff didn't age well when you said it circa 2003. It won't age well now. Besides, I suspect you know some of these American Jewish kids. They're the children of your friends.
Donald Trump appears to be the only thing standing between John Bolton and the war with Iran he has been demanding for more than a decade. That's how bad things are. We're on the verge of another potentially catastrophic war and DONALD TRUMP is the grownup in the room
Amazing statistic buried in this discussion with Emily Dische-Becker. Jews comprise less than 1% of Germany's population. They comprise close to 30% of the people cancelled in recent years by state-funded German institutions for alleged antisemitism
I don't know the assholes who in the name of Palestinian freedom are attacking Jews across the world. I hope they spend time in jail. But every Palestinian I know believes that Palestinian freedom + Jewish safety not only can coexist but must. That gives me hope. Shabbat Shalom
In a truly jaw-dropping document revealed in full today by
@yuval_abraham
in
@972mag
, Israel’s Intelligence Ministry officially proposes the complete ethnic cleansing of Gaza’s 2.2 million Palestinian residents in the framework of the current war.
I don't agree with every slogan of the protests on campus + elsewhere. Some I really dislike. But when people look back they will see this as the moment when a real debate began about university + govt complicity in the oppression of Palestinians. And the protests made it happen.
I know some Jews-perhaps many-will look at these folks + think they don't care about the Israelis who were murdered + captured, that they are indifferent to Jewish safety. It's not true. They care deeply. They just believe that Jewish safety depends on Palestinians being safe too
Hundreds of primarily Jewish protesters are currently in the Capitol’s Cannon building staging a sit-in protest, calling on Biden and Congress to push for a ceasefire in Gaza.
They’re slowly being arrested.
Hey people calling Marc an anti-Semite. I'll happily moderate a debate btw you and him. 1) You'll see that he's not an anti-Semite. He believes in human rights for all people, including Jews. 2) You'll realize he knows more about Israeli policy towards Palestinians than you do
I support Palestinian freedom. I support Palestinian self-determination. I am deeply critical of Israeli policy and practice.
I do not support anti-Semitism, killing Jewish people, or any of the other things attributed to my speech. I have spent my life fighting these things.
.
@BernieSanders
just told a student from
@IfNotNowOrg
: "The United States government gives a whole lot of money to Israel, and I think we can leverage that money to end some of the racism that we have recently seen." When will the other progressives in the race join him?
Speaker after speaker at this year's policy conference vowed that
@AIPAC
will not be silenced. But when it comes to free speech, AIPAC is not a victim. It's a victimizer
Tel Aviv is quite literally the best place on planet earth. Crazy to me that everyone on this boring ass planet isn’t busting their ass to get over here asap.
The "pro-Israel" groups that now justify slaughtering Palestinians will also justify expelling them, if Egypt opens the border. They will call it a humanitarian gesture. This is what young American Jews have learned, to their horror: our communal leaders have no moral red lines
Hold your head high,
@Andy_Levin
. Powerful forces in our community targeted you because they can't bear having a Jew in Congress who defends Palestinian freedom. One day there will be many. They will remember your courage and they will honor your name.
If you oppose Kamala Harris as VP because she wasn't tougher on police misconduct early in her career, you must grapple with this: As a Black woman, had she been tougher on the police she never would have had a national political career in the first place
notice how Trump is implying that Iran's nuclear weapons programs is ongoing, even though the inspectors say it is not. Clear effort to mislead Americans
Derek Penslar, a scholar of Zionism, anti-Zionism + antisemitism, runs Harvard's Jewish Studies Center. So why isn't he on Harvard's new antisemitism task force? Because, like most antisemitism scholars, he doesn't want to suppress pro-Palestinian speech.
In her vile (yet hilarious) rant,
@JudgeJeanine
's says anti-Semitism dates from when Jews "were forced out of Egypt." Uh, no. Being slaves IN Egypt was the problem. Getting OUT was the liberation we celebrate to this day. Pirro knows the Bible as well as she knows the Koran.
Trump wanted to ban Muslims like
@RashidaTlaib
and
@IlhanMN
from entering the US. But he can't. Israel can. That's the point: Trump-era Republicans love Israel because it's their model for the United States
If Israel eliminated Hamas, nothing fundamental would change. Because, fundamentally, Israel doesn't have a Hamas problem. It has a Palestinian problem. My latest newsletter
In Israel, even those Palestinians who hold citizenship are 2nd class citizens. If the Biden doesn't investigate Shireen Abu Akleh's death and hold those who killed her accountable, it will show that this true in the US as well
Conservative pundits are now claiming that the most successful Jewish presidential candidate in American history has an "anti-Semitism problem." That's their way of saying he considers Palestinians to be human beings deserving of basic rights
Me: "All those innocent Iraqi civilians. All the men and women, children killed by U.S. airstrikes. Some in massacres...None of those weigh on your conscience? None of those keep you up at night?"
John Bolton: "You don't know what you're talking about."
It's open season on Muslim-Americans and Arab-Americans in public life. It reminds me very much of the post-9/11 climate, which was stifling and constrained in a way that I think is really hard to capture for people who weren't around. This was the original "cancel culture." 2/
We are witnessing a major crackdown on freedom of speech at American universities. And many of the people who have spent the last few years denouncing cancel culture are silent. Because the people being cancelled support Palestinian freedom.
1 hour before this event with
@OmarSShakir
of
@hrw
was to take place at
@ColumbiaLaw
, the student organizers were told that the event was cancelled by the University, for failure to comply with a new event policy.
Strange that Israel's leading human rights organizations--B'Tselem, Yesh Din, Gisha-- generally come to conclusions quite similar to
@hrw
's. I guess they've been subverted by woke antisemites too
I am embarrassed to say that we and the
@PershingSqFdn
were major supporters of
@hrw
for many years.
Sadly, it became a political organization which lost its objectivity and credibility. I am therefore not at all surprised by the below post.
I remember the Israel-Palestine media debate during the 2nd intifada, the 2006 Lebanon War, the 2008-9 + 2014 Gaza Wars. It feels different this time. There are far fewer commentators with any progressive, or even centrist credentials, defending Israel's behavior.
Maybe South Africa's doing this because its ruling party, the ANC, is "totalitarian, anti-humane, anti-democratic, anti-Israel + anti-American." Oops. Sorry. That's what the ADL's national director said about the ANC when it was fighting apartheid in 1986
A new Day of Imfamy-the ICCJ at The Hague and the inquisition of Israel. Shame on South Africa, the International Court of Justice- and all those participating in the horrific sham - trying to deny Israel its legitimate right of self defense!Where are the voices of outrage?
When folks propose a joint Israeli-Palestinian Authority investigation into Abu Aqleh's death, remember: PA is not sovereign. PA officials need Israeli permission to travel. Israel jails Palestinian parliament members. It's like an investigation btw South Africa + Bophuthatswana