Joel Schalit

Drones Over London

Based on the number of times I’ve encountered mentions of Israeli drones buzzing across Gaza’s sky this past week, the world felt a lot smaller when I ran into this mural on Coldharbor Lane, here in south London.

Covering nearly the entire back side of a residential building just across the street from Brixton Market, this 1980s anti-war mural, featuring an early-model US cruise missile, is both a throwback and eerily prescient.

Throughout the time we’ve been here, I’ve taken a lot of shots that show off what a visually rich part of town we live in. For more pictures, including this, check out my December slideshow on Facebook.

From Gaza to Tehran

On Friday afternoon, France 24 published my thoughts on the Gaza campaign’s geopolitical significance, recalling Israel’s deteriorating relationship with Iran during the Bush era. If you read French, the translation is stellar, and the comments fascinating. I’ll be the first to admit I’m easy, but I prefer this version to my English original.

History as Partisanship

I spoke too soon. My final piece for 2008 was published online last night in The Forward. This week’s print edition, which carries the article, is available on US newsstands starting today.

A review of two new translations of classic works by Uri Avnery and Israel Eldad, Two Minority Reports reflects on the compressed nature of time, and of ideology, in Israeli politics.