Gaza conflict amplifies ‘identity crisis’ for young American Jews

Gaza conflict amplifies ‘identity crisis’ for young American Jews

The New York Times reports: Dan Kleinman does not know quite how to feel. As a child in Brooklyn he was taught to revere Israel as the protector of Jews everywhere, the “Jewish superman who would come out of the sky to save us” when things got bad, he said. It was a refuge in his mind when white supremacists in Charlottesville, Va., chanted “Jews will not replace us,” or kids in college grabbed his shirt, mimicking a “South Park”…

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Peaceful coexistence in Israel hasn’t been shattered – it’s always been a myth

Peaceful coexistence in Israel hasn’t been shattered – it’s always been a myth

Nimer Sultany writes: On Tuesday, in my hometown of Tira, which is inside Israel’s pre-1967 borders, the shops were closed and the streets were empty. A general strike had been declared in protest over Israel’s policies, whether the ethnic cleansing in Sheikh Jarrah, the storming of al-Aqsa mosque, or the onslaught on Gaza. As the Palestinian death toll continues to rise, commentators lament the shattering of coexistence inside Israel between Palestinian and Jewish citizens. Yet in my experience as a…

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In Israel’s mixed Jewish-Palestinian towns, old frustrations boil into violence

In Israel’s mixed Jewish-Palestinian towns, old frustrations boil into violence

Aida Touma-Sliman, a Palestinian member of Israel’s Knesset, writes: Several mixed towns in Israel looked like war zones over the past two weeks. In these communities, such as my hometown, Akka, Jewish Israelis and Palestinians like me live near each other. Recently, small numbers of young Palestinians, enraged by Israeli provocations at Al-Aqsa Mosque and plans to evict Palestinian families from their Sheikh Jarrah homes, clashed with police and attacked local businesses. Hundreds of other Palestinians, myself included, attempted to…

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Sen. Bernie Sanders to introduce resolution of disapproval on $735 million U.S. arms sale to Israel

Sen. Bernie Sanders to introduce resolution of disapproval on $735 million U.S. arms sale to Israel

The Washington Post reports: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is preparing to introduce a resolution on Thursday disapproving of the U.S. sale of $735 million in precision-guided weapons to Israel, according to a draft obtained by The Washington Post. The resolution aims to halt the planned sale to Israel by the Biden administration of JDAMs, or Joint Direct Attack Munitions, and Small Diameter Bombs, as the worst hostilities in years continue between Israel and Hamas. The resolution needs only a simple…

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The pandemic’s mental wounds are still wide open

The pandemic’s mental wounds are still wide open

Ed Yong writes: This time last year, the United States seemed stuck on a COVID-19 plateau. Although 1,300 Americans were dying from the disease every day, states had begun to reopen in a patchwork fashion, and an anxious nation was looking ahead to an uncertain summer. Twelve months later, the situation is very different. Cases are falling quickly. About half as many people are dying every day. Several vaccines were developed faster than experts had dared to predict, and proved…

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Arizona’s absurd election ‘audit’ could be just the beginning for Trump dead-enders

Arizona’s absurd election ‘audit’ could be just the beginning for Trump dead-enders

Eric Lutz writes: Back in November, on the same day Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in the 2020 election, Alabama Republican Mo Brooks announced that he would fight the results of the vote—and urged his colleagues to do the same. “There’s no way I’ll vote in the House to ratify the Electoral College votes of states where illegal votes distorted the will of the people in those states who voted legally,” the congressman wrote November 7. “This election was stolen…

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The self is not singular but a fluid network of identities

The self is not singular but a fluid network of identities

Kathleen Wallace writes: Who am I? We all ask ourselves this question, and many like it. Is my identity determined by my DNA or am I product of how I’m raised? Can I change, and if so, how much? Is my identity just one thing, or can I have more than one? Since its beginning, philosophy has grappled with these questions, which are important to how we make choices and how we interact with the world around us. Socrates thought…

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This moment is different

This moment is different

Yousef Munayyer writes: For those who periodically tune in and tune out of the Israel-Palestine situation, the events of recent days and weeks might seem like a replay of a movie they have seen before: Palestinians are being forced from their homes; Israel drops bombs on Gaza; Palestinians fire rockets from Gaza; Israel destroys most of the rockets with an air defense system that is largely paid for by American taxpayers. All familiar. But the truth is, this moment is…

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Gaza war deepens a long-running humanitarian crisis

Gaza war deepens a long-running humanitarian crisis

The New York Times reports: The nine-day battle between Hamas militants and the Israeli military has damaged 17 hospitals and clinics in Gaza, wrecked its only coronavirus test laboratory, sent fetid wastewater into its streets and broke water pipes serving at least 800,000 people, setting off a humanitarian crisis that is touching nearly every civilian in the crowded enclave of about two million people. Sewage systems inside Gaza have been destroyed. A desalination plant that helped provide fresh water to…

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In show of unity, Palestinians strike across West Bank, Gaza and Israel

In show of unity, Palestinians strike across West Bank, Gaza and Israel

The New York Times reports: Hundreds of thousands of Palestinian citizens of Israel stopped work for the day on Tuesday, as did other Palestinians across the occupied West Bank and in Gaza, protesting violence against Arab Israelis, the unfolding Israeli military campaign targeting Hamas militants in Gaza and the looming eviction of several families from their homes in East Jerusalem. Streets were deserted in Arab areas across both Israel and the occupied territories, as shopkeepers shuttered stores along the waterfront…

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Mob violence against Palestinians in Israel is fueled by groups on WhatsApp

Mob violence against Palestinians in Israel is fueled by groups on WhatsApp

The New York Times reports: Last Wednesday, a message appeared in a new WhatsApp channel called “Death to the Arabs.” The message urged Israelis to join a mass street brawl against Palestinian citizens of Israel. Within hours, dozens of other new WhatsApp groups popped up with variations of the same name and message. The groups soon organized a 6 p.m. start time for a clash in Bat Yam, a town on Israel’s coast. “Together we organize and together we act,”…

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How the storming of the Capitol became a ‘normal tourist visit’

How the storming of the Capitol became a ‘normal tourist visit’

Thomas B. Edsall writes: It is no wonder that Republican leaders in the House do not want to convene a truth and reconciliation commission to scrutinize the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The more attention drawn to the events of that day, the more their party has to lose. Immediately after the riot, support for President Donald Trump fell sharply among Republicans, according to surveys conducted by Kevin Arceneaux of Sciences Po Paris and Rory Truex of Princeton. The…

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CDC chief Walensky keeps changing her story — and confusing everyone

CDC chief Walensky keeps changing her story — and confusing everyone

The Daily Beast reports: The most remarkable moment of national frustration over the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s coronavirus guidelines began two days before the agency’s controversial new mask guidance was even announced. “Dr. Walensky, I used to have the utmost respect for the guidance from the CDC,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) told Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the agency’s director, last week, in detailing her belief that the CDC has been slow to keep up with the science. “I always…

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Sleep evolved before brains. Hydras are living proof

Sleep evolved before brains. Hydras are living proof

Veronique Greenwood writes: The hydra is a simple creature. Less than half an inch long, its tubular body has a foot at one end and a mouth at the other. The foot clings to a surface underwater — a plant or a rock, perhaps — and the mouth, ringed with tentacles, ensnares passing water fleas. It does not have a brain, or even much of a nervous system. And yet, new research shows, it sleeps. Studies by a team in…

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Biden’s response on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has badly damaged his credibility

Biden’s response on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has badly damaged his credibility

Shibley Telhami writes: The United States is not a bystander in Israeli-Palestinian conflict; it is part and parcel of the overwhelming asymmetry of power favoring Israel. When the United States does nothing, it is further implicated in what Israel does, which is directly enabled by decades of American support. When thinking about US clout with Israel, most analysts, and an increasing number of critics within the halls of Congress, focus on the quantity of financial aid to Israel, now amounting…

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