Share this page!

Enter URL or ID to Unroll

You can paste full URL like: https://x.com/threadreaderapp/status/1644127596119195649
or just the ID like: 1644127596119195649

How to get URL link on X (Twitter) App

  1. On the Twitter thread, click on or icon on the bottom
  2. Click again on or Share Via icon
  3. Click on Copy Link to Tweet
  4. Paste it above and click "Unroll Thread"!
  5. More info at Twitter Help
Alex גדעון בן װעלװל Profile picture
Alex גדעון בן װעלװל
@JewishWonk
Columnist @JDForward. U.S. Foreign Policy and Jewish communal concerns. Bylines in @TheAtlantic, @WashingtonPost, @TabletMag. All bad takes are mine alone.
Jodi Smart Profile picture Joshua Cypess Profile picture Mark Profile picture 4 subscribed
Jun 26 • 22 tweets • 5 min read
News sites are beginning to call the primary for Latimer. I made a thread tracking this primary going back to January. Some thoughts on the Bowman v Latimer primary in a thread 1) There's going to be a great deal of spin in all directions because this involved a member of an outspoken leftist faction in Congress. Fans of Bowman's will decry the outside money. Fans of Latimer will point to local focus of his campaign.
Jun 25 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
This fight was there in 2018. The DSA, Justice Democrats, and most famously the Women's March leadership were already hostile to liberal Jews. The difference between then and now is the relative salience for everyone else. Linda Sarsour, then one of the faces of the Women's March, began openly demanding litmus tests for Jews on Israel questions. She declared Zionism and Feminism are incapatable.
haaretz.com/us-news/2017-0…
Jun 25 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Political traditions express themselves in different ways. For my wife, who is a native-born American Jew from a family with strong civic values, it means showing up to vote no matter the level of office or feeling. She insisted we do research and we go. So we did. Before I knew my wife my voting was limited to midterm elections and presidential elections. Even the midterm election voting made me a bit of an outlier among many Russian-speaking Jews I knew. Ours is a political tradition of distinguishing between the people and the gov.
Jun 9 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
Couple of quick reactions in a thread 1) Gantz is a more pragmatic and less politically ruthless player than Netanyahu.

In the short term, it means that the far right will have more influence over Israeli policy, simply because Netanyahu has no one else to turn to.
Jun 7 • 19 tweets • 4 min read
There's a heated disagreement among liberal Jews on how to approach left wing movements when goals are shared on the environment and economy but not on what is antisemitism and fair criticism of Israel.

Since 10/7 my policy goals remain the same, but my approach has changed. 🧵 1) It's important to make some distinctions. Words like "liberal," "progressive," and "leftist" are used interchangeably by many, particularly on the right.

These are not interchangeable terms, even though the boundaries are fuzzy.
May 31 • 22 tweets • 5 min read
I've been sick (covid) and dealing with some personal challenges, so have been offline. It's given me some time to reflect without the urgency social media encourages. A thread on the far-left, Biden, Trump, and Jewish voting. 1) I live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. I'm a normie for this place. Politically liberal. Observant Jew. Strong ties to Israel. My preferred policies haven't changed since 10/7, but I've observed many Jews come to harden their opinions, particularly about the left.
May 14 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
My favorite Yom Ha'atzmaut story is about the Jews of Rome. A quick thread. For the unfamiliar, the Romans conquered Judea, killed many Jews, and enslaved even more. They sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple. In Rome, there is a commemoration for this conquest called the Arch of Titus, likely built by Jewish slaves.
May 13 • 22 tweets • 4 min read
Israel is transitioning from Yom HaZikaron, Memorial Day, to Yom Ha'atzmaut, Independence day. A few thoughts from your annoying American brethren. 1) This is the most difficult time during these holidays since I've been alive. Unlike many American Jews, I spent my summers in Israel during the Second Intifada. I remember the fear. I remember the violence.

I also remember the resilience. That is still very much alive.
May 13 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Jerry Seinfeld gave a commencement speech at Duke University. No discussion of Israel in the speech. The kids suffering from main character syndrome began chants of Free Palestine and marched out. A few comments
vanityfair.com/style/story/je… 1) Younger folks won't remember this, but there was a point in time where you could use Seinfeld's show as a short hand for a certain kind of assimilated Jew. Lox, bagels, Seinfeld. It's interesting that the man himself does not fit into the stereotype.
May 12 • 16 tweets • 3 min read
The most upsetting part of the UJA survey of New York Jews for me was this. A thread incoming. You are encouraged to mute. Image 1) The reason why there are 2 million Jews around the planet who speak Russian is because of state-sponsored cultural genocide that began under the Tzarist regime and was expanded by Stalin.
May 12 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
What if I told you that the birthrates of Orthodox Jews will play a bigger role in the future of Jewish identity than assertions in publications that most Jews don't read Image Here's recent findings from @UJAfedNY on the largest Jewish community in America. Image
May 7 • 22 tweets • 5 min read
How I am thinking about the Israel-Hamas war as of now, a thread. 1) What is known.

-The majority of Hamas's remaining fighters are still believed to be in the southern Gaza city of Rafah
-Hamas will not or cannot confirm how many Israeli hostages are alive
-Biden admin opposes a full ground op in Rafah
Apr 26 • 10 tweets • 2 min read
I'm so sick of this crap about "asking tough questions" to sanitize a movement of Hamas fellow travelers. Here's my tough questions, a thread 1) Why did Hamas throw Fatah members off roofs to violently and undemocratically take control of Gaza?
nbcnews.com/id/wbna19168118
Apr 26 • 18 tweets • 4 min read
Feels like a good time to tell a somewhat forgotten story.

Let's talk about the "German Colony" you can find in Jerusalem and other Israeli cities, a thread. 1) Before the unification of Germany under Bismarck, there was a quirky religious movement of protestants in what is today southwest Germany. They had a particular interpretation of Christianity which was very communal in nature.
Apr 25 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
If Jews were on campus waving flags associated with hilltop settlers, harassing Muslims students, calling for a "solution" to Palestinians, I would condemn that, because I wouldn't want anyone to associate that toxic politics with what I advocate for. I'd spend time trying to marginalize such people, not policing those who are horrified by the islamophobia these hypothetical students are advocating for. When I argue that antisemitism is occurring among campus movements today, I mean that it is occurring among campus movements today, not a subtext for "I'm glad the cops are being called on these students."

I'm not glad the cops are there. I don't think the options are "do nothing" and "send in the goon squad."
Apr 25 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
Some thoughts on the "go back to Poland" slogan hurled at Jews, a thread 1) The majority of Jews in Israel are not descendants of Jews from Poland. There are two major reasons for this.

a) 50%+ are Jews whose families fled from Middle Eastern and North African countries
b) 3 million people - 90% of Polish Jews - were murdered in the Holocaust
Apr 25 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Most years Pesach is a festive affair. Like many Jews around the world, I experienced the Seders quite differently this year. 🧵 The company I keep doesn't just have ideological ties to Israel, but personal ones. Several attendees had traveled to Israel since 10/7 to do volunteer work, speak with survivors, meet with families of hostages, etc...

They recounted what they had seen and heard.
Apr 17 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
Experiences I have had as an Ashkenazi, but Soviet, Jew in the so-called "Ashkenormative" American Jewish institutions, a quick thread. 1) Hostility towards the customs of my Ashkenazi (Soviet) community.

e.g., Any Soviet Jew who has been subjected to American Jewish institutions has faced pressure to abandon things like the Novi God yolka. Because they associate it with Christmas.
Apr 17 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
I'm happy to answer this one. I am a refugee from the Soviet Union, which was "anti-Zionist." I believe this politics represents a threat to my personal well being, not that of the state of Israel. A quick thread. 1) In the name of fighting "counterrevolutionary force" the Soviet Union systematically killed our communal leadership and dismantled our communal institutions.

Rabbis, Yiddish poets, intellectuals, bundists, and Zionists, all were persecuted and killed.
Apr 12 • 15 tweets • 4 min read
Some thoughts on the chatter about coming Iranian attacks against Israel and possibly American forces, a thread. 1) The Iranian regime's security strategy has been defined by using proxies abroad to carry out its foreign policy. There's a number of benefits to this. You can control a polity without directly occupying it. You can attack your enemies with less risk to the homeland and regime.
Apr 4 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
On Biden's new Israel posture and the Jewish vote, a thread. 1) ICYMI: In a 1:1 conversation with Netanyahu, Biden called for a ceasefire and did not explicitly tie it to the release of hostages, though he does speak of them. Image