On the main Z Word site, there’s a new essay by Africa analyst Michelle Sieff. Entitled “Nasser’s Legacy: Pushing Anti-Zionism in Africa”, Michelle offers a thorough critique of the notion that there is a unified Afro-Arab bloc in confrontation with the State of Israel.
There has been much speculation of late about the possibility of Israel attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities; what there hasn’t been is much analysis about the feasibility of such an attack. There’s an article here which offers a serious and credible examination of some of the issues involved.
A notable feature of the analysis of international affairs that appears on CiF is the frequency with which people who engage in undesirable or criminal behavior are portrayed as doing so only, or mainly, because they have been put up to it by the United States and/or its allies . An exception is usually made for Israel, a country whose government and citizens are held to be intrinsically capable of doing wrong without encouragement from Washington.
This is a guest post by Contentious Centrist
A recent petition by a group of Israeli academics claims that the “meaning of ‘academic freedom’ is fairly obvious. It is … associated with democratic societies, and it is universally held in high esteem, even though its boundaries and limits are often unclear.”
World music aficionados among you may well be familiar with Natacha Atlas, the Arabic singer who combines her epic vocal range with driving, dub reggae influenced beats.
Here’s Point of No Return taking apart an essay by historian Michael Fishbach on the issue of the Jewish communities uprooted from the Arab world:
Morrissey has ignored PACBI’s boycott call and arrived in Israel for his concert. Supporting him are The New York Dolls - the true pioneers of the punk era, in my humble opinion.
Over at The Guardian - the newspaper which recently opined that Barack Obama was “compelled” to visit Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem - Saree Makdisi, a Professor of English Literature at the University of California, is waxing lyrical about the “one-state solution.”
Normblog celebrates five years today. Norm anticipates the question and gives his answer: “Have I got any special thoughts after five years of blogging? Come on, be reasonable. I’m blogging my thoughts on a daily basis, nearly. I’ll just go on doing that.” Please do.
Elif Kayi, Z Word’s European press reviewer, reports on coverage in the French press of a row over President Nicolas Sarkozy’s son which centers on antisemitism.
“You can cut off my balls.” That was the considered response of Siné, cartoonist and columnist for the French satirical journal Charlie Hebdo, to angry entreaties that he retract a remark he made about the relationship between Jean Sarkozy, son of the President, and Jessica Sebaoun-Darty, a Jewish heiress, which was widely judged as antisemitic.
Writing in the New York Times, Nicholas Kristof advises Barack Obama, should he become President, to show Israel some “tough love.”
So asks the redoubtable Terry Glavin. Somewhere, they are out there, and it’s a safe bet that we’ll have come across them before. Anyway, Terry points out that the butcher of Bosnia - who rebranded himself as New Age healer Dragan Dabic - offered, among other things, “spiritual cleansing.” Hmmm. Was that was he was doing in Srebrenica?
(Ben Cohen writes: With this post, we welcome Eamonn McDonagh to the Z Word blog. Eamonn also maintains the excellent El Nuevo Pantano and we’re delighted to have him join us.)
A delegation from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions visited Israel, the West Bank and Gaza last November. The delegation’s report came out in June and I commented briefly on the accompanying press release - which endorsed the call for a boycott of Israel - here. I have now had a chance to read the full report.
Continue reading ‘ICTU on Israel’s Right to Exist (Or Not)…’
In a week that has revived public discussion about genocide - the indictment issued by the International Criminal Court against Sudanese dictator Omar al-Bashir, the arrest of Bosnian Serb butcher Radovan Karadzic - it’s important to remember those who survive these onslaughts, as well as those who perish. So here’s a project in Rwanda that’s really worth supporting.
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