What to Watch Next: A (Jewish) Irish Rebel

Even as pandemic lockdowns are eased in some respects and locales, we’re likely to need home screen and streaming content for at least a while longer, especially those of us in compromised categories. In recent months I’ve reviewed streaming series with central or prominent supporting Jewish characters in shows such as A Place to Call Home, set in post-WWII Australia, and The Restaurant, set during the same period in Sweden. In our streaming tour of the far corners of the diaspora, the next stop is WWI-era Ireland. Four years ago, RTE, the Irish government broadcasting company, together with Netflix, produced a big-budget, two-season series to mark the 59th anniversary of the Easter 1916 Rising. It was produced with great attention to historical detail and with a large cast. The armed upheaval set in motion the successful drive for an...

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George Mitchell: Good for the Jews?

By Jeremy Gillick Yes, it's true. Barack Obama has ordered Guantanamo closed. That's big news, at least symbolically. But the bigger news, the decision that could really change things in the Middle East, is his selection of George Mitchell as special envoy for the Middle East. Unlike the other candidates for the position-Dennis Ross and fellow Clintonites like Martin Indyk, Aaron David Miller, and Dan Kurtzer-Mitchell's resume includes making peace in addition to policy. And critics of the Mitchell appointment (lefties: the special envoy doesn't matter anyway, righties: Mitchell is too "fair") are not very convincing. Perhaps the most fascinating tidbit I stumbled on while parsing through old magazine articles about Mitchell was a piece by Atlantic Editor Andrew Sullivan titled "Fighting Irish" from the New Republic's August, 2001 issue. Sullivan argues that Mitchell, among others, was...

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