Joel Schalit

Interrogating Israel Anxiety

You’ve read about it before, but you’ve never read about it like this. An exhaustive account of American Jewish anguish over Israel, this is as good a final word as you’re going to get on the subject. At least for now, which, from the way things are going, may last an extremely long time.

Together with journalist Eric Alterman (who namechecked Israel vs. Utopia in The Nation in December 2009,) Zeek board member Steven M. Cohen, journalist Shmuel Rosner (whom I wrote about in IvU) and J Street chief Jeremy Ben-Ami, I got a chance to participate in the discussion.

From America to Israel (and Back)

Last week may turn out to have been the best yet, in terms of publicity, for Israel vs. Utopia. Closing out with a midweek plug in The Nation, by Eric Alterman, the week began with a reprint of Keith Kahn-Harris’ review for The Forward in Sunday’s edition of Ha’aretz.

Out of Gas

The battery light started blinking wildly. “It looks like we’re losing power,” said Jennifer, pointing to the flickering dashboard. “I don’t know what the problem is,” replied my father. “But it looks like we’re coming to a stop.” “Pull over to the shoulder,” I urged him, hoping to make use of the last bit of motion at our disposal.

Once the car had finally stopped, Elie put his finger on the source of our problem. “We’re out of gas,” he declared. You could hear the frustration in his voice. “I can’t believe it. The tank is empty.” Fortunately, we were less than a kilometer from the house, and even closer to a friend, who ended up taking my dad to get a jerrycan full of gas.

Luckily, there was a copy of the weekend edition Haaretz to read while I waited for Elie to return. Featuring a cover story on how Israel’s new Prime Minister had brought the country closer than ever to war with Iran, I found myself strangely enjoying the article. Not because I agreed with the analysis. But because I was reading the piece sitting in a stalled car around the corner from Netanyahu’s own home.

No Such Thing as the Diaspora

Israeli conservatives always proffer the most inexcusable of anti-Zionist conundrums. Indulging justifiably anti-colonialist reflexes, they frequently are wont to discourage foreign Jews from involving themselves in domestic political affairs. “We know what’s best for us, don’t get involved,” or so the tired retort often goes.

At the same time, those Israelis who issue such admonitions are also the first to bemoan Diaspora Jewish alienation from Israel. Such concerns have multiplied in recent years, especially considering how increasingly divergent foreign Jewish opinion is on Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, in contrast to Israeli government policy.

One of my favorite Jewish writers in the UK, Keith Kahn-Harris, has just published a great piece in Makom‘s new supplement to the English edition of Haaretz. Encouraging Diaspora Jews to get involved, Keith’s article explains what’s at stake in remaining complacent, and why Israel’s affairs are the responsibility of global Jewry.

Safe European Home

It was a far better title than the one I had originally given the piece. A Diplomatic Thaw, my analysis of Shimon Peres’ visit to the UK last month was published this morning in The Guardian. Coinciding with Monday’s decision by the European Union to upgrade its overall relationship with Israel – on economic, diplomatic and security grounds – the timing of the article’s publication turned out to be absolutely stellar.

A friend who is a seasoned Comment is Free Israel contributor warned me that the piece would definitely push some buttons, particularly given the deliberately dry, ironic voice I wrote it in. To that end, this time out, progressives are having their way with me in the comments section.  Compare that with the right-wing folks who leaned in on my Independent Jewish Voices piece, and its a completely different experience.

I’ve worked with a number of editors and journalists who hate reading comments on articles. They make their blood boil, especially when they’re responses to their own pieces. My feeling is the more, the better. Sometimes it hurts, sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes they’ll even make you laugh, like the guy who attacked me in Haaretz for being an Israeli who lives in a gated community in the United States. That was awesome.

Blue and White Blues

If you haven’t read Roi Ben-Yehuda before, you’re sorely missing out.

One of the best writers I’ve ever worked with, Roi’s articles epitomize the sensibilities of someone who has grown up in both Israel and the US, and remains rightfully suspicious of one-dimensional appeals to all forms of nationalism and xenophobia.

His latest piece, on the ideological limitations of Israel’s flag, was published yesterday in Haaretz.

Israel’s Next President

Republican Presidential candidate Senator John McCain’s visit to Israel this week provoked a great deal of discussion in both the Israeli and Diaspora Jewish press. To be expected, conservative commentators praised McCain’s initiative as a sign that the Arizona legislator would be a better President for Israel than the current Democratic front-runner, Senator Barack Obama, while liberal Jewish pundits opined on the lack of difference between them in matters concerning Israel.

France 24′s Observers hosted a lively forum on the greater subject in which I took part, together with Jewcy’s Daniel Koffler, Haaretz US correspondent Shmuel Rosner, and conservative Jewish blogger Neo-Neocon. What emerges is an exceedingly balanced discussion that will give you an excellent sense of the parameters of the debate currently taking place about what kind of American President would be best for Israel. Big up to France 24′s Roi Ben-Yehuda for shouting us all out.

A Nation of Metaphors

Absorbing it all with Haaretz.

Its been well over a week since my last post. As much as I’d like to say that I didn’t want to write an Israel blog because:

A. I don’t like reading them
B. I’m not a tourist, I’m a citizen
C. I’ve been insanely busy
D. The email connection at home has been bad

I just haven’t decided yet. Though all of the above is true, the fact is that I’ve been pondering what it’d mean to write it all up on the way back to SF, much as I used to do on these trips before the advent of blogs.

Nonetheless, I’ve broken down because the photograph above was simply too precious to ignore: My favorite Middle Eastern daily being used to mop up the contents of a spilled Heineken.

This is the Modern World

For anyone who watches BBC America with any degree of regularity, I’m sure you’ve seen the New York Times ad that runs towards the end of every week. A pitch for The Weekender, a Friday-Sunday discount subscription package, the presentation is truly seductive. Featuring a multiethnic array of attractive, hip adults (ages 27-40, I’d wager), even though the background music is annoying, the commercial makes an excellent case for buying a three day subscription to the ‘Times.  Despite the fact that I’ve seen it over a hundred times, it still leaves me feeling positively predisposed towards the newspaper.

That is, until I read the Saturday edition. As Jennifer has noted time and time again, its always a little too thin. Nine times out of ten, compared to the rest of the week,  there’s rarely a feature story that holds our interest. Looking over today’s paper, I had to agree with her. Even though there was one or two pieces that briefly caught my eye, nothing quite grabbed my attention as compared to the Sunday edition, which while like any news periodical, can be inconsistent, is always a bit more compelling.

Part of this I chalk up to the fact that there’s only so many days in a week that a daily newspaper can be half-way reasonable. And, part of this I attribute to the fact that American news media tends to focus on Sunday as its “big” day, when, as someone who has lived a fair amount of their life abroad, I am used to Friday and Saturday newspapers being the Sunday-equivalent for said periodical mass. Thus, for example, if I could buy the print edition of Friday’s Haaretz here in the US, I probably would. I’d read that well into Saturday, and likewise follow it up with Saturday’s edition of The Guardian. Sunday would be ‘Times day.

Though I could seek my fix out online every Saturday morning, my solution to this problem is to mix things up. Drinking my first cup of coffee, I watch a half-hour’s broadcast of the BBC news, followed by another thirty minutes of Mosaic, the daily aggregation of Middle Eastern television news offered by Link TV. Then, I follow it up with an initial perusal of the new issue of The Economist, which we receive in the mail every Friday afternoon. Between these media, I get the equivalent of a foreign weekend paper, and, for all intents and purposes, a respectable alternative to Saturday’s New York Times.

This is why, when fellow editors bemoan the falling circulation rates of established periodicals like the ‘Times, (“They’re all fleeing for the web!” or so the refrain goes) I tend to bristle. People aren’t necessarily fleeing any specific medium. For one reason or another (think of my rather exaggerated example here), they’re simply diversifying how they get their news and culture. With so many new choices, online, on TV, and in print (like the  increasing US availability of UK periodicals), can you blame them?

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