The New Republic

I am sure some of you aren't interested in this, maybe even thinking it's detritus.  I found it fascinating, especially given that it came out in Ha'aretz on the 60th anniversary of the U.N. Partition Plan for Palestine.  An Israeli historian has discovered in U.N. READ MORE >>

Earlier I alluded to David Samuels' dreadful profile of Condoleezza Rice in The Atlantic last year, but now it seems that Samuels has topped himself with a disgraceful and incoherent piece on the state of American Jewry. After classily READ MORE >>

There was an inadvertent debate this morning between two op-ed pieces: one in the New York Times by Roger Cohen (he, of the priestly caste among the Jews); the other in the Wall Street Journal by Bernard Lewis (a scholar of titanic stature but a Jew as ordinary as the rest of us Israelites).  The two essays of roughly a thousand words each appear to be addressed to the outcome of tomorrow's conference at Annapolis.  They are not.  They are different ways of reading history...or, of one of them, not reading history at all. READ MORE >>

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When Pope John Paul II designated Sean P. O'Malley as archbishop of Boston, there was a certain serene joy that enveloped the world of liberal Catholics and of liberal non-Catholics, as well. O'Malley was a Franciscan, named for St. Francis of Assisi, the priest of the poor.  The new cardinal dressed in a simple rough brown linen robe with, if I recall rightly, a brown beret, a white rope belt and sandals.  Now, notice: he was also not appointed cardinal, as usually happens when Boston's archbishop is named. READ MORE >>

 "Professor J.L. Matory will move:That the Faculty commits itself to fostering civil dialogue in which people with a broad range of perspectives feel safe and are encouraged to express their reasoned and evidence-based ideas."This is docket item VII.2. READ MORE >>

"Fruitless Conversations" was what I dubbed the round of talks Condi Rice was having -- pre-Annapolis -- with various folk who'd had experience navigating the shoals between Israel and the Palestinians.  It was not an impressive calendar.  Bill Clinton talked to her on the phone.  Henry Kissinger, James Baker and Mrs. READ MORE >>

Marty's post on Desmond Tutu's speech in Boston last week, in which the former Archbishop of Cape Town collectively blamed Jews (ironic, considering how often Israel's critics -- including Tutu -- bash the Jewish state for its supposed "collective punishment" of the Palestinians) for all the miseries of the Arab-Israeli conflict is raising som READ MORE >>

We have been engaged in a long-term study of judicial voting patterns, and we  recently published an oped in the Los Angeles Times, in which we gave “awards” to Supreme Court justices, based on a statistical study of their votes. The Judicial Neutrality Award went to Justice Anthony Kennedy. The Judicial Restraint award went to Justice Stephen Breyer. The less coveted Partisan Voting Award went to Justice Clarence Thomas. Justice Antonin Scalia received the Judicial Activism Award. READ MORE >>

Archbishop Desmond Tutu preached in Boston on Saturday "in a lengthy and emotional address to a packed Old South Church," according to Sunday's Globe. And what did he preach about? The same topic he's always preaching about these days: the evil the Jews are inflicting on the Palestinians. You wonder why a South African cleric of the Anglican Church is fixated on Israel, or at least I wonder. READ MORE >>