It took the Holocaust to make casual anti-Jewish talk so toxic that polite society wouldn’t stand for it. Eroding that sense of toxicity is much easier; internet memes can do it. But it’s also possible to invite backlash against strong, important taboos by clinging to weaker ones that are broader than necessary. We ignore the distinction at our peril.
Where you stand on most issues depends on where you sit. It’s a truism that dates back far before our polarized age. Women’s issues tend to pose this problem with particular clarity; you might say that it’s not so much where you sit as what set of organs you sit on.
Yossi Klein Halevi has taken on several roles in the Israeli-Palestinian drama since he made aliyah in 1982. He’s been a protagonist in the conflict—“I chose a side when I became an immigrant”—and served in the army during the first intifada. Later, he became a journalist, trying to understand both sides’ complexity
I first knew Charles Krauthammer when I was a wet-behind-the-ears New Republic intern and he was a rising eminence, a scary and impressive senior editor.
In seeking purity, do we risk missing the bigger picture?
No reporter likes to be sucked into a story she’s covering. But when a Washington Post article late last year quoted two law clerks by name who said that Judge Alex Kozinski of the Ninth Federal Circuit Court of Appeals had shown them pornography in his chambers, while four other unnamed women described other inappropriate behavior by the judge, Dahlia Lithwick decided to speak up.
Jewish discussions over the NFL protests cover some extra ground. What’s the significance of kneeling, anyway?
The news last month that four Arab states had cut ties with Qatar, sparking a possible regional crisis, surprised many Americans who know little about this part of the Middle East or America’s interests there.
INDEPENDENT: Time is an invitation. Both words share the same root: z’mahn. It is written: “The life of man is like a breath exhaling; his days are like a passing shadow” (Psalms 144:4).
