Z Word Merges With The Propagandist

I’m delighted to announce that Z Word has joined forces with the dynamic online political magazine, The Propagandist, which, in brazenly bipartisan fashion, bills itself as a venue “for political junkies, thinking conservatives and the anti-fascist left.”

From now on, you can read this blog at our new home - so please redirect your browsers accordingly.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be moving the entire Z Word blog archive to The Propagandist, as well as the seminal essays which we published during 2008 and 2009. Once that’s done, visits to this URL will be redirected to The Propagandist, but in the meantime, keep coming here for material from the Z Word archive.

As this is the final post on this site, I want to take the opportunity to extend my heartfelt thanks to the wonderful group of individuals who have supported Z Word in becoming a key voice in that fractious, polarized corner of the internet which we inhabit. They’ve done so by contributing, cross-posting, forwarding, tweeting and promoting our content in myriad ways.

First and foremost, my co-writer Eamonn McDonagh. Eamonn is someone whom I am proud to call a friend - a brilliant, combative, unshakably principled writer who has never pulled punches and never will. Eamonn will make occasional appearances at our new home. You are also encouraged to follow Eamonn’s writings at his personal blog.

Other regular contributors to whom I owe a profound debt of gratitude include Karl Pfeifer, survivor of the Shoah, hero of Israel’s independence war, a monumental figure in post-war Jewish journalism and one of the most important analysts of contemporary antisemitism today. Thanks, also, to the prolific Canadian journalist Terry Glavin; the consistently insighful columnist Petra Marquardt-Bigman; the cultural critic David Adler; the tenacious fighter against the academic boycott of Israel, David Hirsh, and all his colleagues at Engage; David T, Habibi, Gene and all the writers over at the esteemed Harry’s Place, which has served almost as a second home for our material; the academic and blogger Jay Adler; Mark Gardner and Dave Rich at the Community Security Trust in the UK,  a vital defense body and trusted partner of Z Word’s sponsor, AJC; the Iranian-American writer and activist Sohrab Ahmari, aka ganselmi; the brave and witty bloggers at South African website, It’s Almost Supernatural; Anthony Julius, who honored us by choosing Z Word to publish advance sections of his titanic study of English antisemitism; Adam Holland, who authors the most important blog covering extremism in America today; Martin Solomon of the estimable Solomonia; Jonathon Narvey, editor of The Propagandist; Norman Geras, Eve Garrard, Bob from Brockley, Dan Tarman, Paul Berman, Michelle Sieff, Charles Small, Dan Yurman, Michael Weiss, Edwin Black, Grayson Levy at Pundicity, Rob and Gazelle at The Huffington Post, Modernity Blog, Lyn at Point of No Return, Samantha Karlin, Matthew Schwartz, Jim Schoenburg, Edward Joseph, Robin Shepherd, Rafal Pankowski, Elif Kayi, Anthony David, Julia Bertelsmann, Rhoda Kadalie and many, many, many more contributors, friends and supporters who linked our work or assisted us more generally.

Thanks, too, to our regular army of commenters, especially Fabian, Noga, J. Dyer, Lynn T, Boaz Tibon and Silke.

To my friends and colleagues at AJC, as this project enters its next stage of life with a new sponsor, I thank you for launching and supporting Z Word and for entrusting me with the role of editor. I am especially grateful to AJC’s Executive Director, David Harris; to Kenneth Bandler, AJC’s Director of Communications; to Kenneth Stern, Director of AJC’s Department on Antisemitism and Extremism; and to Shula Bahat, Doug Lieb, Yael Amit, Ellisa Sagore, Sarah Kupferberg, Alex Weininger, Kiersten Zweibaum, Harvey Belkin, Edward Rettig, Eliseo Neuman, Vicki Schonfeld, John Thomason, Rick Hyne, Rebecca Neuwirth, Lena Altman and Josh Siegel. Laura Anne Shay-Hupe, AJC’s webmaster and a major influence on our design and presentation, deserves special mention, as does Michael Geller, a dear friend who, with wonderfully understated panache, coined the name “Z Word” when we were wracking our collective brains for a title.

I want to close by recalling a sage piece of advice I once received from David Harris that I’ve flagrantly ignored here: if you are not one hundred per cent sure that you’ve thanked everyone by name, don’t thank anyone by name. If I omitted to mention you, please accept my humble apologies.

Perhaps the deepest expression of gratitude goes to you, our readers. We ask you to stay with Z Word as we transition to our new location. The battles we fight are not over. Neither are we.

Yours, as ever,

Ben Cohen

New Message from Hamas To Israelis: Leave Or Die

Hamas would not rest until Israel was ousted from Palestine, said Ahmed al-Jabari, leader of the Izz a-din al-Qassam Brigades, adding that Israel had two options - to leave Palestinian territories or face death. He said that Hamas resistance would continue as long as Zionists remained in Palestine.

Continue reading ‘New Message from Hamas To Israelis: Leave Or Die’

Bob From Brockley Goes One State

I am surprised and disappointed to see that Bob from Brockley - a normally sensible left-wing blogger  -  appears to have embraced the one state solution. The reasons he offers are the following:

Many of my friends on the anti-anti-Zionist left think that the one state solution is essentially equivalent to the genocidal destruction of the Jewish nation. They argue that the Arabs (who have demography on their side, and formidable military allies in the form of the Saudis, Iran and so on) have proven themselves unable to share space with Jews. I reject this fatalistic view, and having recently been in Northern Ireland am more confident than ever that we can forge our own futures if we unshackle our imaginations. It feels to me that the idea of the two state solution [I think this must be a typo and that he means “one state solution”. Otherwise the rest of the text makes no sense]  is steadily gaining ground, not just among the hardcore advocates of a “free Palestine”, but among younger Jews in both Israel and the diaspora. This slow awakening comes with a growing sense that another Zionism is possible, and a recovery of the memory of pre-1948 Zionism, the Zionism of Ahad Ha’am, Martin Buber, Gershom Scholem, Joseph Trumpledor, AD Gordon and Judah Magnes, which called for a “national home” for the Jews and not necessarily a nation-state. By the way, I have at various other times in my life called for a one state solution also for South Africa, Yugoslavia, Bosnia, Ireland and Cyprus.

Continue reading ‘Bob From Brockley Goes One State’

American Human Shields In Korea

1. Readers will be familiar with the frequently rehearsed notion that the close alliance between Israel and the United States  combined with the emotions aroused by the existence  and deeds of the former country  in the Arab and Muslim worlds puts the lives of members of the American armed forces  in greater danger than they would otherwise be.

Continue reading ‘American Human Shields In Korea’

Gurvitz The Progressive Blogger

I learn here that the Israeli edition of Time Out has named Yossi Gurvitz as Israel’s best progressive blogger. Among Gurvitz’s opinions are the following:

1. The trial of Adolf Eichmann was, in part, a show trial.

2. Antisemitism is a response to the behavior of Jews.

3. Israeli settlers are Judeo-Nazis.

4. Most Israelis are fascists and the ones who say they are not are liars.

Mercosur and Another Confusing Recognition

The South American Mercosur trade bloc has announced its intention to negotiate a free trade agreement with the Palestinian territories.  There follows my translation of Fernando Gimenez’s analysis of the move.

Continue reading ‘Mercosur and Another Confusing Recognition’

The PA’s Choice: Palestinian State or Palestinian Cause

Here’s my latest on The Huffington Post.

In 1716, Francois de Callieres, an emissary of King Louis XVI, made this pithy observation about powers great and small in one of the foundational texts of modern diplomacy, On the Manner of Dealing with Princes:

The blunder of the smallest of sovereigns may indeed cast an apple of discord among all the greatest powers, because there is no state so great which does not find it useful to have relations with the lesser states.

Continue reading ‘The PA’s Choice: Palestinian State or Palestinian Cause’

Assange and Shamir

This photo is briskly doing the rounds, but we are nonetheless obliged to reproduce it here.

More from Jennifer Lipman at the Jewish Chronicle, as well as this excellent piece by Reason’s Michael Moynihan.

Does Julian Assange’s association with a Holocaust denier make him even less palatable than he already is? Will his relationship with Israel Shamir - the Borat lookalike standing, in proper Satanic fashion, behind the flaxen-haired crusader - lead the Jemima Khans and Bianca Jaggers and Vaughn Smiths of the concerned celebs coterie to rethink their support for Assange? I’m skeptical. And if they turn to another prominent Assange supporter, Ken Loach, for advice, he’ll just tell them antisemitism is “understandable” anyway.

Iranian Revolution: Lessons Learnt?

This is a crosspost by Mark Gardner from the CST blog in the UK.

A previously confidential Foreign and Commonwealth Office report (large pdf, here), officially released on 15 December by the FCO, suggests some foundational answers to the commonly asked questions regarding Britain’s apparent tolerance and accommodation of Islamist groups of varying extremes throughout the 1990s. In other words, what is sometimes termed the ”Londonistan” phenomenon of that time. (The report is 79 pages long and covers far more ground than merely these aspects covered below.)

Continue reading ‘Iranian Revolution: Lessons Learnt?’

Gideon Levy And The Dog That Doesn’t Bark

Gideon Levy says that

1. The deficiencies in Israel’s firefighting capacity shown up by the Mount Carmel fire are firm evidence that Israel has no military option against Iran.

Continue reading ‘Gideon Levy And The Dog That Doesn’t Bark’

Yoani Sanchez on Wikileaks

What happened in recent days will significantly change how governments manage information and also the ways through which we citizens get a hold of it. But also — let’s not fool ourselves — those regimes that are based on silence and the lack of transparency, will reinforce the protection of their secrets, or avoid putting them in writing. Meanwhile, the exposure of the cables, memorandums and correspondence between diplomats and departments of state is being noted by authoritarians everywhere, and they are learning not to leave written evidence of their orders to silence, suppress or kill.

Read the brilliant Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez’s take on Wikileaks here.

Brazil, Argentina And Their Rushed And Sloppy Recognitions

Fernando Gimenez has some interesting technical analysis here of the recent statements from Brazil and Argentina recognizing an independent Palestinian state. There follows my translation of part of it.

Continue reading ‘Brazil, Argentina And Their Rushed And Sloppy Recognitions’

Palestinian Authority Disgrace

No accusation is apparently too low for the PA. After 40 Israelis died rushing to rescue Palestinian inmates of the Damon Prison from the forest fire engulfing the north of the country, a PA Minister made the following remarks on PA TV:

they created a lag and our [Palestinian] prisoners were endangered. Had there not been Israeli criminals or Jewish prisoners in this particular prison, it would have been even slower…

More - if you can bear it - at the invaluable Palestinian Media Watch.

Argentina Recognizes Palestinian State

Argentina has today followed Brazil’s lead and recognized Palestine as a state.  That, in principle, is grand. Just  one  doubt:

Read the rest here

BBC World Service on Antisemitism

This BBC World Service documentary about the persistence of the longest hatred comes highly recommended. Many friends of (and occasional contributors to) this blog are featured, among them Anthony Julius, Mark Gardner and David Hirsh.