October 7 Reflections: Where I Stand

Journal of museum education/˜The œjournal of museum education, 2024

Journal of Palestine Studies, 2001

This article was written in response to the violence that took place in Israel during the first two weeks of October 2000. The first phase of these events, from 1 to 6 October, was marked by massive demonstrations in Arab localities throughout Israel in sympathy with the second intifada; in the course of these demonstrations, thirteen unarmed Arab citizens were shot dead by Israeli security forces, a thousand were wounded, and hundreds were arrested. The second phase, from 7 to 15 October, involved vigilante actions by Jewish citizens against Arab citizens, including attacks on mosques, clinics, stores, and homes.

Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, 2024

This article is my critical response to the Fall, 2023 (41.2) issue of Shofar, called -Zionism and its Jewish Critic— and edited by Shaul Magid. From the conclusion: In this short essay, I have argued that reading Jewish history “backward” from a definitionally-unique and self-congratulatory modernist perspective serves to reinforce the uniqueness of the present, and hence the foreignness of previous epics. When history is read in the other direction, however, from antiquity “forward” toward the present, the picture becomes more nuanced. Continuities over time become more evident— and the “new” somehow doesn’t appear quite so new. Reading Zionism this way, the stark discontinuities identified by its malcontents become far less discontinuous. …Yes, the conflict between Jewish nationalism and Palestinian nationalism is intractable. To the surprise of all, the Jews won the wars. The Hamas pogrom of October 7, 2023 and the Israeli response are the most recent manifestation of the conflict, and at this moment, color all discussions. The publication of this deeply controversial— and often one sided—volume of Shofar just as the attack was happening certainly sharpened the sting— and occasioned my own response. That said, without a workable arrangement that allows dignity for all-- without tunnels, programmatic rape, apocalyptic nihilism, and calls for the end of Israel as the Jewish nation-state-- the future looks grim. As I said nearly three decades ago, and still believe, “I don’t want your children dead, and I don’t want our children dead. So, until the end of days when this gets sorted out, you take Hebron, and we will take Tel Aviv-- and let’s live together in peace.” Am I naive? Perhaps, but so was Herzl. Footnotes and images are not included in this version,

2012

10.13140/RG.2.2.21364.73604, 2023

One of the most significant fallouts after the October 7 Hamas’ attack on Israel was the rise of antisemitism in the Diaspora. The situation on university campuses became political and militant, bringing a spotlight to a long-ignored issue.

Unpublished, 2023

October Reflections: Antisemitism, Antizionism and the Jewish Question Abstract This presentation tries to make some sense of the aftermath of the events of 7 October in which approximately 1200 Israeli and non-Israelis were raped, tortured, kidnapped and slaughtered by the terror group Hamas. My argument is that we can try and make sense of this aftermath through three interrelated thoughts. The first is an understanding of the irrationality of the Jewish question as the doppelgänger or ‘evil twin’ of the rationality of Jewish emancipation. The second is the idea that antizionism has come to supplant, or, at the least is coming to supplant antisemitism as the latest iteration of this so-called ‘question’; and third, is the combined effect of these two ideas on the meaning of Jewish emancipation today.

Qualitative sociology, 2001

Based on an analysis of ceremonies in thirty Israeli schools, this article focuses on the way in which the Israeli educational system grappled with the problematic narrative of Yitzhak Rabin's assassination, a narrative that challenged the system's basic assumptions about commemorative logic. The challenge was met by playing with the narrative's multiple frames of meaning (protagonist, act, and context). Rabin's image and biography were elevated and nearly sanctified, while the assassination itself was individualized and the context in which it occurred was de-politicized and virtually bypassed. Thus, the commemoration of even a problematic narrative of political violence could be held on school premises, where it could meet the challenge of enhancing unity and proud national identity. Even events that are not heroic, even shameful, and which do not enjoy a consensus can be reframed in a consensual manner.

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/on-jewish-unity-in-the-aftermath-of-the-pittsburgh-synagogue-massacre/ A discussion of the controversy over remarks by the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel in the aftermath of the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre, in which he refused to call the synagogue a "synagogue;" on calls to focus only on "unity" rather than on the problem manifested in the rabbi's stance; and on the uses of calls to "unity" as a tactic to silence selected discourse.

2023

The situation in Canada has become dire in the last few weeks. Antisemitism is on the rise in Montreal, where two months after the attack, there have been over 300 hate crimes, and other similar events have been reported to the police. The community is afraid—afraid to show they are Jewish, afraid even to have their mezuzahs on their house. The police are constantly driving through predominantly Jewish neighborhoods. The Montreal Jewish community is in a panic for good reason, as firebombings and shootings of schools, synagogues, and community organizations have become everyday occurrences. Parents of Jewish children are afraid to send them to school; rabbis want armed police to protect Jewish buildings. Two Jewish schools were shot at, and one of the schools was targeted on two separate occasions. Bullying is prevalent among schoolchildren, workers face harassment from their colleagues, and university students are targeted based on their pro-Israel stance. Additionally, businesses owned by individuals of Jewish descent were subjected to acts of vandalism as well as online harassment and provocation. Police in Montreal say they have control, but only one person and only twenty people in Canada have been charged. The university administrators' tepid responses have forced students and faculty to go to the courts to seek protection and resolutions. 7 There have been several intense protests directed towards Israel, which a surge in antisemitic sentiment has accompanied. Almost every other weekend, the city is witnessing protests against Israel, calling Israel's actions "genocide" and chanting "From the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free," to obliterate Israel's existence. One extremist imam called upon Allah to address the "Zionist aggressors" and eliminate the "enemies of the people of Gaza.