• Islamophobia: the new anti-Semitism

    The Guardian, August 26, 2010 Today the New York Times reported that a pastor in my hometown of Gainesville, Florida is planning to “commemorate” September 11 by publicly burning Korans. The photograph that accompanied the story showed the pastor, Terry Jones, standing in a field of grass behind signs that read “Islam is of the …

  • Standard-bearer

    Tablet, August 25, 2010 In the fourth grade, I stopped saying the pledge of the allegiance. While the other children clapped their hands to their hearts, I stood, my arms limp, lips still. It was not an act of rebellion, nor did I intend to disrespect the United States. I’d simply decided—after several classmates had …

  • Behind a Shabak squeeze

    Maan News Agency, August 20, 2010 Alarms sounded through Israel’s leftist camps recently when Jewish-Israeli activist Yonatan Shapira was summoned for an interview with General Security Services, also known by the Hebrew acronym Shabak. The interrogation came in the wake of the May detention and arrest of Ameer Makhoul, Palestinian-Israeli director of Ittijah—a platform for …

  • An undiplomatic move

    The Jerusalem Post, August 20, 2010 As Shabbat drew to a close Saturday, more than 2000 protestors marched against the deportation of migrant workers’ children. On August 1, the Israeli cabinet adopted criteria that will make 800 children eligible for naturalization, subjecting another 400 to deportation. Observers have pointed out that many minors who seem …