Archive for May, 2009

Be outspoken about your support for Obama


Two successive Jewschool posts of mine supporting Obama and the peace process have been quoted by the Christian Science Monitor’s blog and newsy.com’s video survey. The anchorwoman reads me aloud at 1:33 and directly before they quote the Iranian state news:


Love, Hate and the Jewish State


I’ve been working on this event for a couple months now and the teaser video features a number of my closest Jewish friends in NYC, talking about how hard it is to discuss Israel:

I’m incredibly proud of them for braving public exposure in order to help me create space in the Jewish community where we [...]


What I sent to Senator Chuck Schumer’s canned pro-Israel thank you email


Dear Senator Schumer,
This is so inappropriate! This kind of knee-jerk, one-size-fits-all-Jews response is disgusting. The Israeli-Palestinian is more complex than the answer provided here, I wonder why you have decided to blow smoke up my ass.
This is in the interests of Israel’s security:

NO SETTLEMENT GROWTH — as Hilary Clinton said today, not even “natural growth.”
Engage [...]


Max Blumenthal in the West Bank


Max is a one of those courageously cocky reporters whose work I have been a fan of for at least four years. I had the pleasure of meeting him at a conference by The Nation in 2007. So when I noticed these videos on Philip Weiss’ blog, I nearly creamed my pants with excitement. These [...]


Colette Avital & Amjad Attalah


Former Israeli Knesset Speaker Colette Avital discusses the settlements, Obama and Palestinian statehood with Amjad Attalah, senior analyst at the progressive New America Foundation.

I’ve seen Avital speak in person; she’s another example of great, liberal Israeli leadership. (Of which there is unfortunately not enough.) She’s also been greatly involved in the New Israel Fund’s project [...]


Unidentified Hebrew Graffitti


Unidentified Hebrew Graffitti, originally uploaded by Kung Fu Jew 18.

Spotted in West Philly. Anybody know what that could be?


Mudblood convention in Philly this weekend


I am a mudblood. I am the product of two generations of interfaith marriage — my maternal grandfather, a Warsaw Jew, married a Costa Rican native, and their daughter (my mother) married a Spanish Catholic. (What do you get when you mix a Jew and a Catholic? A cashew.) Both generations have been distinctly Jewish [...]


Israel Policy Forum in the NY Times


Israel Policy Forum.


Pro-Peace Adrenaline


I write this on the subway home on the 2-3 train. My headphones are playing soothing music but my heartbeat is racing and my brain is slowly calming down. I’m on a pro-peace high, of sorts.
Why am I like this — after getting off the fourth conference call this week and a bigger, heavier to-do [...]


Achmed the Dead Terrorist


I love inappropriate humor — and humor lampooning people I don’t like is even better — life fundamentalists of any stripe. Here’s a great clip off the new JewTube (moooaaaaaannnn). Best line:
“So Achmed, as a suicide bomber, did you have training?”
“Of course. The suicide bomber training camp.”
“Is is a nice facility?”
“It used to be.”
“Why?”
“New guy [...]