The Only Democracy? » Archive
3 problems of “benevolent soul” Nicholas Kristof
By Ofer Neiman Nicholas Kristof of the NYT seems to be a benevolent soul (no small feat, considering colleagues like Thomas “suck.on.this” Friedman’s war mongering and smug neo-liberal lecturing). However, there is a disturbing pattern of apology for Israel, and perhaps some ignorance of fundamental facts about the occupation, in Kristof’s writing. At the request of Mondoweiss’ Phil and Adam, I wrote a short piece about a previous blog entry of Kristof’s. A … Read entire article »
Filed under: On The Ground Reports
Note to Kristof: Palestinians don’t need Israeli tutelage with nonviolent protest
by Ofer Neiman A popular colloquial expression in Hebrew regards the futility of “selling ice to an Eskimo”. Perhaps the New York Times’ Nicholas Kristof should take note. In a recent blog entry, Kristof wrote that “Israeli civil society promotes democratic values in Palestinian communities”, and that “…the weekly Sheikh Jarrah protests in East Jerusalem, in which Israeli Jews play a major role, offer a useful model of peaceful protest”. Unfortunately, … Read entire article »
Filed under: On The Ground Reports
Purim is Bad for Palestinians (and a positive update)
By Ofer Neiman. Last night, three miles from my house, a settler Purim-fest which led to more violence against the Palestinian residents of Sheikh Jarrah. Here’s a short video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ImVh2Uyiu4 The border policeman surely had no reason to hold his gun like that. He is facing women, children and some youths, all unarmed in the middle of Jerusalem. Not likely to happen in the western part of our “united” capital. Today in Hebron: two Israeli peace activists arrested (unconfirmed … Read entire article »
Filed under: On The Ground Reports, Victories for Democracy
Israeli Activist Reacts to UC Irvine Protest
By Ofer Neiman. Today I read the following article by University of California-Irvine professor Marc LeVine, about the events surrounding Michael Oren’s speech there two weeks ago, which you can watch here. Here’s a key quote from LeVine : “Ambassador Oren’s appearance at UCI was part of an extremely sophisticated, well funded and self-described “propaganda” campaign–known by the Hebrew term “hasbara”–directed by the Israeli government and major American Jewish organizations with the goal of presenting Israel in the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discrimination
Interactive Video
“You have a choice! Israeli Anti-Militarists Speak”
Four Israelis—Dorothy Naor, Sergeiy Sander and Eli Fabrikant, and Ofer Golani—talking about their personal histories, political views and activism in 132 short films.