Someone needs to translate this April 30 piece from former PM Ehud Olmert into English.

He lays the current crisis at Bibi’s feet (he’s terrified of going to prison and needs to galvanize the (far) right, who in turn are just using him+

maariv.co.il/journalists/Ar…
to support their campaign of terrorizing and chasing Palestinians off their land)

And he predicts much of how the last two weeks would unfold:

“A wave of terror is what Bibi needs in order to give the appearance of an extreme emergency, which would necessitate firming a+
nationalist government with him at the helm encompassing all the right wing parties... He won’t light the match-that’s what the men of Lehava (Kahanists who Bibi helped get in the Knesset- EZS) will do. But he’ll give the matches to them. He wants a crisis. Jerusalem would be+
preferable- because that’s the place around which he can mobilize more solidarity and agreement among the right wing factions and the ‘national camp.’”

(Note: The last point exactly expresses Hamas’s strategy as well)

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More from @ewzucker

26 Feb
There’s actually a fascinatingly eerie, deep connection between CPAC’s #GoldenCalf & today’s holiday of #Purim.

<Short thread>
The Purim story is driven by an act of resistance: Mordecai’s refusal to bow to the authoritarian vizier Haman.

This simple defiance infuriates Haman, leading to the genocidal decree. ImageImage
But it’s unclear why Mordecai refused to bow to Haman as this would seemingly have been standard protocol given Haman’s status. Two complementary explanations are:
Read 11 tweets
28 Jan
OK, if you're Shabbat-observant (& perhaps even if you're not), here's a take on this week's Torah portion (the story of the first Shabbat) that's guaranteed to put a big smile on your face!

<THREAD n=25>
OK, here's a description of a biblical moment that's notoriously challenging to understand. When the people discovered the flaky, frost-like substance on the ground, they were bewildered.

They turned to one another and said:

"Mān hu"

What does this mean?
"Hu" is straightforward: "it is" or "is it"

The problem is "mān."

It doesn't mean anything. It eventually becomes the name for this mysterious food. But at this point in the story, it means nothing. It's not a word!
Read 26 tweets
22 Nov 20
"Biblical" huh?

Would you like to know what the Bible actually says about Trumpism?

Because it has a lot to say that's amazingly contemporary, both about populist uprisings & elite response to them.

The parallels with Trump/@GOP are eerie.

<THREAD>
Consider the Sin of the Golden Calf (sefaria.org/Exodus.32?lang…)

The story is astounding:

How could people who'd communed with God at Sinai worship an idol just weeks after they'd accepted the 3rd commandment?

And why advertise how Israel behaves so badly, even on its own terms?
As in the Hebrew Bible generally, the point of showing the heroes in their all-too-human fallibility is to teach us a relatable lesson.

But what's the lesson?
Read 62 tweets
11 Nov 20
Here's a quick sociological take on why it's an understandable mistake for well-meaning people to be uncomfortable with "Jew," & why this is not inconsistent with the idea that one should not call someone "Black"

<THREAD>
Race is ultimately an act of social violence, a caste system foisted on people in order to dominate those at the bottom. @Isabelwilkerson's essay (haven't read the book yet, alas) captures this as well as anything I've read by sociologists & others:

nytimes.com/2020/07/01/mag…
One of the many challenges the legacy of our racial caste system raises is: How to eliminate the stigma?

One idea is to eliminate race entirely.

But not only is that infeasible in the short term, it's undesirable for various reasons. In particular, the identity is+
Read 12 tweets
21 Jun 20
A story for Father’s Day about learning from my late father

As noted below, my dad was a political scientist & among his lines of work was some of the earliest social science analysis of the Holocaust.
My dad’s approach was to consider all the people involved- Jews, Germans, Poles, Ukrainians, French, etc as human beings & to try to understand how ordinary people could end up perpetuating such inhumanity & to grapple with the impossible dilemmas the victims faced.
Growing up when this was one of my dad’s interests & in the Orthodox (& broader) Jewish community, both in the US & (for long visits of various kinds) in Israel, exposed me to many survivors & to leading Holocaust scholars & scholarship. All incredible gifts from my dad (& mom)
Read 16 tweets
15 May 20
Faculty member?

Want to talk with your dean/chair about how we can be in-person in the fall?

Here are my rules of engagement:
1. I need to hear your assumptions about how public bathrooms (& spaces more generally; but bathrooms are key) would be used. If you haven’t thought about this, you’re not serious.
2. I need to hear your assumptions about whether there would be hybrid (some students online & some inperson) classes. If you haven’t thought this through with pros & cons (research on the topic, anyone?!), you’re not serious.
Read 9 tweets

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