A poem “Far too many Palestinians have been killed in this war, says US top diplomat. “ So said the news the other day. “Far too many.” “Have been killed.” Less would have been ok, I gather. What number went too far, I wonder? Where did it cross the line? …

Why Are The Casualties in Gaza Morally Unacceptable? — Here are two interconnected thought experiments on Israel and Gaza. Most of the content here is mine, but I’ve been inspired by suggestions from some likeminded Jewish friends in a private FB group as well, who I am not naming here. The aim of these exercises is to clean out…

On Oct 11, Ha’aretz reports, a group of Israeli rioters affiliated with La Familia, a racist Israeli soccer club, stormed a hospital after hearing (baseless) rumors that it was treating terrorists injured on Oct 7. They roamed the corridors spitting on people and shouting ‘Death to Arabs!’ This is not…

Is freeing the hostages the priority? It has now been 25 days since Hamas breached the barriers between Israel and Gaza and went on a murderous rampage, taking approximately 240 Israelis hostage. …

And What It Has To Teach The World — As I write this Israel has been bombing Gaza, an area 365 square km large and housing 2.3 million precious human beings, for 23 days. Israeli bombs have killed, on average, 110 children a day. Palestinian mothers have begun writing the names of their children on their bodies so when…

Israel Is The Golem — Some time in the 16th or 17th centuries a legend developed about one of the greatest Rabbis in Jewish history, the Maharal of Prague, Judah Loew ben Bezalel (Hebrew: יהודה ליווא בן בצלאל; between 1512 and 1526–17 September 1609). The tale, which is well known, tells of how the Jewish…

The Israeli state’s long slide into the magnification of all of its worst features has become a downhill slalom of late. Granted, the militant nationalist Zionism that underlies the state was born in injustice and bad decisions and is founded on a betrayal of both Jewish tradition and the lessons…

What is an apple? A semi-circular, edible object, red or green, tastes sweet with a hint of tartness, sometimes sour, crispy and moist. Sextus Empiricus, in the 2nd century text Outlines of Pyrrhonism, asked if an apple actually possessed these qualities, or whether an apple just had one quality —…

“Dozens of Jewish settlers, some armed, set fire to houses and vehicles in the Palestinian West Bank town of Turmus Ayya on Wednesday, Israeli security sources said.” …