Bibi’s War
The Israeli government has passed legislation clamping down on leftwing NGOs. What does it mean? Yours truly, in conversation with Anna Momigliano, in Tuesday’s edition of Panorama. (In Italian)
Archived entries for Israel
Expat Opinion
On Tuesday, +972 published a great piece, polling Israelis living abroad about their opinions on the July 14 movement. Together with other journalists and academics, I took part.
All in the Family
A poster for an event I’ll be speaking at on Sunday, in London. Hosted by congregation Bet Klal Israel, it will take place between two and six PM, at the Unitarian Church, 112 Palace Gardens Terrace, Notting Hill Gate, W8. I’ll be discussing the fate of Israeli democracy, and Israel vs. Utopia.
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.
Combat Rock(s)
How the Libyan war intersects with debates about multiculturalism in the EU. The second installment of my weekly column, in Monday’s edition of Souciant.
Always the Underdog
I came late in my parents’ lives. By the time I was born, they were already well into their forties. Adults during WWII, I grew up around veterans of the conflict, many of whom were Jews who fought in the resistance, in Europe, or had been drafted into Commonwealth armies, like my 89-year-old Israeli father.
A person who reminds me much of my dad’s peers is 93-year-old French politician Stéphane Hessel. Imprisoned at Buchenwald for resisting the Nazis, Hessel is the author of a controversial best seller, urging a revival of liberalism. My profile of Hessel was published in Monday’s edition of The Forward.
Front Page News
“France is the most anti-Semitic country in Europe,” an American acquaintance recently informed me over dinner. “You wouldn’t believe how bad it’s gotten there. Everyone is buying apartments in Israel!”
The cover of last week’s Le Monde books supplement features a review of a new Israeli novel in translation. A photograph of two young IDF conscripts is placed on the left, making out on Tel Aviv’s waterfront.
Inside, there’s a review of a new edition of the correspondence of Walter Benjamin and Gershom Scholem. See the reference, above the photograph.
Tanks for the Memories
The AMX-13 was one of the Israeli army’s first tanks. Supplied by France during the 1950s, the light MBT bloodied itself in the Sinai campaign, in 1956. Eventually it was phased out in favor of better, more heavily armored combat vehicles, such as upgraded M4 Shermans, British-supplied Centurions, and American M48 Pattons following 1967′s Six Day War.
Driving across northeastern France in late November, across the epic battlefields of the First World War, I passed the tank memorial at Berry-Au-Bac. Sitting to my right, on a hill overlooking the highway, was this AMX-13. I immediately turned around, parked the car, and started snapping pictures. The last time I’d seen one was in Israel, a decade prior.
It was the second time I’d seen a tank that month. Several weeks earlier, en route to Berlin from Stuttgart, Jennifer and I pulled over to get gas. Right across from our VW stood two trailers, one bearing a more recent Leopard 2 tank, belonging to the German military. The second was a turretless Leopard recovery vehicle. Both were being towed somewhere north.
One of my earliest childhood memories is sitting outside a tank factory, near La Spezia. I’m eight years old. It’s November, and the air is freezing cold. As a uniformed Italian army officer speaks to us in broken English, an early model Leopard 1 goes through it’s paces in front of us. Smashing through walls, raising and lowering its gun, rotating its enormous turret.
Star Power
Sometimes it feels as though I’ve never seem more stars of David than in Berlin. Karl Marx Strasse, Neukolln.
However, it’s very rare to see the symbol scrawled on sportswear adverts like this. Hackescher Markt, Mitte.
Zohan Admiration Society
The first book review I’ve received in Australia. Likely the last for Israel vs. Utopia as a new title. Published yesterday, in the State Zionist Council of New South Wales’ Ozi Zion Blog. (“Ozi” is a faux Hebraization of “Aussie”, or Australian, for my non-Anglophone readers.)