I would be curious to hear what Jstreet folks who watch this feel about Khalil’s inclusion of them in his brief aside about how more liberal Zionist orgs in the US “don’t really like us” meaning Palestinians. Having once traveled very much in IPF/JStreet circles myself, it’s very obvious to me that most people in that world are in that segment rather than the more mainstream, less “left” Zionist world because their commitment to Zionism *is significantly modified* by a genuine respect and affection for Palestinians. Sure, we can say it doesn’t get modified *enough*, and I would say that they are basically dreaming of a compatibility that doesn’t exist. The typical “divorce” style of two-state solution favored in those circles will probably lead to more suffering, and would generate severe problems of freedom of movement, land, etc., and would enable further hatred because of lack of coexistence. But they have this tension in their worldview because they have contrasting commitments that coexist with each other. They don’t go further left because they cannot let go of an exclusively Jewish state with a perpetual majority and unilateral right of return, but they don’t go further right because they see Palestinians and human being with human rights, and most of them even go farther and feel respect and affection for Palestinians and Palestinian culture, to the extent they encounter it personally. Khalil’s honest perception should give Jstreet and IPF folks pause—I hope they see that it’s possible for a rational actor in good faith like Khalil to come away with an impression that they really don’t like Palestinians. They should scramble to fix this.
Many of us non-Jews, non-Muslims, non-Christians - maybe we're called secular humanists...? - we see this problem w Zionists, whether they are "left" or "right." They just don't seem to see Palestinians as human. We also see their whining - that "everybody else" has their own nation-state except for Jews... What is that? That is not a rational, coherent assessment of Reality. There are lots of peoples with distinct ethnicities/cultures who do not have their own nation-state. This entire affair comes from such incredible ignorance and bigotry.
Mention of Israel's "negotiation" requires acknowledgment of Israel's cynical time wasting, followed by ignoring any commitments made - because the US NEVER requires Israel to comply to ANY commitment or concession. Israel wants all of Palestine. Period. The problem is not Israel alone. The problem is the United States of America, which requires nothing - not even simple honesty - of the invading Zionists.
"opposed Hamas" ? Hamas is the elected Palestinian opposition. The vote for Hamas occurred in Jan 2005 in an internationally supervised election - whose results were promptly rejected by Israel & the US, who sent PA fighters into Palestine to overturn Hamas. Thus effort failed. To ignore the election of Hamas is to adopt Israel's project to control all of Palestine and evict all the Palestinians. This has been the goal since before 1948. Hamas is the resistance.
A dialogue unlikely to influence US govt support for Israel which is based on one part anti-Arab racism, two parts $ to politicians + control of major media.
Starting 1 hour and 30 minutes in, he talks about an unnamed author that readers of this substack should be able to identify:
"There are many, many, many, many anti-Zionist Jews who have made careers off of this, and nothing wrong with writing and talking about these things, but the lack of humility is so atrocious. I can think of a certain, maybe now anti-Zionist author who was recently liberal Zionist, and before was religious Zionist, and supported the Iraq war and then didn't support the Iraq war, like, so people who are, like, consistently wrong in their careers who don't take a minute to pause and say, 'Wait, I've been wrong about so many things, maybe I should, you know ...' I'm just amazed by how many people in our world of advocacy don't have the word 'maybe' and 'perhaps' in their lexicon, don't know how to say, 'I think the case might be ...' There's just such an arrogance, and they lecture at us all the time, and they talk with so much moral authority. It's repulsive, you know. And there's a genocide happening in Gaza, and then they go write books about being Jewish during the times of genocide."
Like Khalil, who is a wonderful person, I also am deeply sorry for Mohammed's suffering and am ashamed that my fellow Jews perpetrated it. But objectively, el-Kurd's attitude is morally-wrong and practically-unhelpful. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all agree that when someone who has resisted thinking or doing the right thing for a while and then pivots, apologizes, and attempts to make things right to the greatest extent possible, we should rejoice. And we should welcome them and be happy they changed, rather than punish them for not having changed much sooner. We can be sad and disturbed that it took so long, and wonder why it took so long, but we must temper that with joy and relief that they finally came around. And in Peter's case, he had a pre-existing pulpit that has enabled him to bring others along for a similar journey, at varying speeds and to varying extents. Resentment for people like him is deeply-misguided, even if we shouldn't judge people like el-Kurd on a personal level because of the horrors and traumas they've endured.
Jordan, I think Mohammed el-Kurd's main point in his words that I quoted from last year was not to express resentment at how long it has taken Peter to come around, but rather, the moral authority he has claimed to speak with in the past, and *continues* to speak with today. I'm not sure I agree with that take, but that is Mohammed's view. As he says, talking about Peter and "many anti-Zionist Jews who have made careers off of this": "There's just such an arrogance, and they lecture at us all the time, and they talk with so much moral authority."
He is a Christian. He is willing to compromise and supports the 2 state solution. Its only the radical Islamists that can not compromise and make peace. Peter should take notes
"radical Islamists" - so here's another belittling, invented, demeaning tag , guaranteed to contribute nothing - "radical Christianists" - rolls right off the tongue . . .
Over at Gary Kasparov’s Substack channel Next Move Gary shares his past experiences with what he learned in doing peaceful Mahatma Ghandhi/MLK like protests in Putin’s Russia He briefly points out the guardrails that one needs to follow individually but puts a spin on how the Democratic Party needs to step up as an institution to combat the Orange Cheeto’s Nazi party takeover of the country Gary Kasparov the Russian chess player now living in the US has a Substack channel He was one of many leading the Putin resistance movement and has great advice about peaceful protests and what role the Democratic party should play https://bit.ly/45nGSo9
So appreciate Peter amplifying Palestinian voices. Thank you, more please!
I would be curious to hear what Jstreet folks who watch this feel about Khalil’s inclusion of them in his brief aside about how more liberal Zionist orgs in the US “don’t really like us” meaning Palestinians. Having once traveled very much in IPF/JStreet circles myself, it’s very obvious to me that most people in that world are in that segment rather than the more mainstream, less “left” Zionist world because their commitment to Zionism *is significantly modified* by a genuine respect and affection for Palestinians. Sure, we can say it doesn’t get modified *enough*, and I would say that they are basically dreaming of a compatibility that doesn’t exist. The typical “divorce” style of two-state solution favored in those circles will probably lead to more suffering, and would generate severe problems of freedom of movement, land, etc., and would enable further hatred because of lack of coexistence. But they have this tension in their worldview because they have contrasting commitments that coexist with each other. They don’t go further left because they cannot let go of an exclusively Jewish state with a perpetual majority and unilateral right of return, but they don’t go further right because they see Palestinians and human being with human rights, and most of them even go farther and feel respect and affection for Palestinians and Palestinian culture, to the extent they encounter it personally. Khalil’s honest perception should give Jstreet and IPF folks pause—I hope they see that it’s possible for a rational actor in good faith like Khalil to come away with an impression that they really don’t like Palestinians. They should scramble to fix this.
Many of us non-Jews, non-Muslims, non-Christians - maybe we're called secular humanists...? - we see this problem w Zionists, whether they are "left" or "right." They just don't seem to see Palestinians as human. We also see their whining - that "everybody else" has their own nation-state except for Jews... What is that? That is not a rational, coherent assessment of Reality. There are lots of peoples with distinct ethnicities/cultures who do not have their own nation-state. This entire affair comes from such incredible ignorance and bigotry.
The kind of people who engage in the kind of "whining" you're talking about would, by definition, not be a "left" flavor of zionist.
Mention of Israel's "negotiation" requires acknowledgment of Israel's cynical time wasting, followed by ignoring any commitments made - because the US NEVER requires Israel to comply to ANY commitment or concession. Israel wants all of Palestine. Period. The problem is not Israel alone. The problem is the United States of America, which requires nothing - not even simple honesty - of the invading Zionists.
"opposed Hamas" ? Hamas is the elected Palestinian opposition. The vote for Hamas occurred in Jan 2005 in an internationally supervised election - whose results were promptly rejected by Israel & the US, who sent PA fighters into Palestine to overturn Hamas. Thus effort failed. To ignore the election of Hamas is to adopt Israel's project to control all of Palestine and evict all the Palestinians. This has been the goal since before 1948. Hamas is the resistance.
A dialogue unlikely to influence US govt support for Israel which is based on one part anti-Arab racism, two parts $ to politicians + control of major media.
Mohammed el-Kurd was mentioned in this conversation. He was a guest on the Bad Hasbara podcast last week:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8PozI4nSTw
Starting 1 hour and 30 minutes in, he talks about an unnamed author that readers of this substack should be able to identify:
"There are many, many, many, many anti-Zionist Jews who have made careers off of this, and nothing wrong with writing and talking about these things, but the lack of humility is so atrocious. I can think of a certain, maybe now anti-Zionist author who was recently liberal Zionist, and before was religious Zionist, and supported the Iraq war and then didn't support the Iraq war, like, so people who are, like, consistently wrong in their careers who don't take a minute to pause and say, 'Wait, I've been wrong about so many things, maybe I should, you know ...' I'm just amazed by how many people in our world of advocacy don't have the word 'maybe' and 'perhaps' in their lexicon, don't know how to say, 'I think the case might be ...' There's just such an arrogance, and they lecture at us all the time, and they talk with so much moral authority. It's repulsive, you know. And there's a genocide happening in Gaza, and then they go write books about being Jewish during the times of genocide."
Like Khalil, who is a wonderful person, I also am deeply sorry for Mohammed's suffering and am ashamed that my fellow Jews perpetrated it. But objectively, el-Kurd's attitude is morally-wrong and practically-unhelpful. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all agree that when someone who has resisted thinking or doing the right thing for a while and then pivots, apologizes, and attempts to make things right to the greatest extent possible, we should rejoice. And we should welcome them and be happy they changed, rather than punish them for not having changed much sooner. We can be sad and disturbed that it took so long, and wonder why it took so long, but we must temper that with joy and relief that they finally came around. And in Peter's case, he had a pre-existing pulpit that has enabled him to bring others along for a similar journey, at varying speeds and to varying extents. Resentment for people like him is deeply-misguided, even if we shouldn't judge people like el-Kurd on a personal level because of the horrors and traumas they've endured.
Jordan, I think Mohammed el-Kurd's main point in his words that I quoted from last year was not to express resentment at how long it has taken Peter to come around, but rather, the moral authority he has claimed to speak with in the past, and *continues* to speak with today. I'm not sure I agree with that take, but that is Mohammed's view. As he says, talking about Peter and "many anti-Zionist Jews who have made careers off of this": "There's just such an arrogance, and they lecture at us all the time, and they talk with so much moral authority."
Just seeing this. Thank you Peter!
That was really superb. Thank you, Peter.
He is a Christian. He is willing to compromise and supports the 2 state solution. Its only the radical Islamists that can not compromise and make peace. Peter should take notes
"radical Islamists" - so here's another belittling, invented, demeaning tag , guaranteed to contribute nothing - "radical Christianists" - rolls right off the tongue . . .
Protests Here and In Russia
Over at Gary Kasparov’s Substack channel Next Move Gary shares his past experiences with what he learned in doing peaceful Mahatma Ghandhi/MLK like protests in Putin’s Russia He briefly points out the guardrails that one needs to follow individually but puts a spin on how the Democratic Party needs to step up as an institution to combat the Orange Cheeto’s Nazi party takeover of the country Gary Kasparov the Russian chess player now living in the US has a Substack channel He was one of many leading the Putin resistance movement and has great advice about peaceful protests and what role the Democratic party should play https://bit.ly/45nGSo9