Jo-Ann Mort writes frequently about Israel and the Occupied Territories, most recently for The Washington Post opinion page and The New Republic about the current government.
Jo-Ann Mort
By Jo-Ann Mort
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Opinion On Jerusalem Day, what ‘united’ Jerusalem are people talking about?
The reality of Jerusalem is far more divided and inequitable than Jerusalem Day proponents would have you believe
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Culture New York Times Columnist Roger Cohen Opens Up in Family Memoir
The Girl from Human Street By Roger Cohen Knopf, 320 pages, $27.95 “The journalist moves in the opposite direction from the crowd, toward danger, often leaving the settled majority perplexed,” writes Roger Cohen in the opening pages of his deeply penetrating memoir about his mother. Cohen, a London-based New York Times columnist, is a former…
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Culture Beloved Israeli Director Shemi Zarhin Tries His Hand at Fiction
● Some Day By Shemi Zarhin, translated by Yardenne Greenspan New Vessel Press, 450 pages, $16.99 The director and writer of some of the most memorable and honored Israeli films, including “Bonjour Monsieur Shlomi,” “Aviva My Love” and “The World Is Funny,” Shemi Zarhin creates a world in his movies. And now, in his first…
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Life Babs Plays the Holy Land
It was Barbra Streisand’s 100th performance in 50 years and the first time she performed in Israel—and most likely her last—when she took to the stage inside Tel Aviv’s Bloomfield stadium last Saturday night. The 71- year-old doesn’t like performing, she revealed, while explaining the presence of a giant teleprompter which broadcasted both lyrics and…
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Culture On the Verge of a Nation’s Breakdown
A Woman in the Crossfire: Diaries of the Syrian Revolution By Samar Yazbek Translated from the Arabic by Max Weiss Haus Publishing, 256 pages, $18.95 Syrian journalist and novelist Samar Yazbek was born into privilege 42 years ago, a member of a well-connected, wealthy Alawite family and related by marriage to Osama bin Laden on…
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Culture Zionism and Its Discontents
Parting Ways: Jewishness and the Critique of Zionism By Judith Butler Columbia University Press, 256 pages, $27 Judith Butler is not anti-Semitic. I agree with her on that point, which she makes on her publisher’s website. Her new book, “Parting Ways,” represents her attempt to set the record straight regarding her controversial views on Zionism….
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Opinion The Dishonesty of Park Slope Coop’s BDS Debate
While I am not a member of the Park Slope Food Coop, I can’t help but be pulled into the controversy surrounding a prized neighborhood institution as it debates whether or not to take a position on boycotting Israeli food products. The coop will vote on March 27th on whether or not to hold a…
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Culture Jerusalem’s Three Unauthorized Portraits
Jerusalem: The Biography By Simon Sebag Montefiore Knopf, 688 pages, $35 Jerusalem, Jerusalem: How the Ancient City Ignited Our Modern World By James Carroll Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 432 pages, $28 Columbus and the Quest for Jerusalem By Carol Delaney Free Press, 336 pages, $26 A Google search for Jerusalem brings more than 13,000 news hits…
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Fast Forward ‘Rabbi rebellion’: 33 Orthodox rabbis endorse Harris
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Opinion I was a Bernie supporter. This year, I’m voting Trump. Here’s why liberal Jews like me made the switch
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Opinion Here’s why Orthodox Jews are loyal to Trump — even if they don’t love him
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FIRST PERSON As a rabbi, he helped others mourn. So why wouldn’t his daughter say kaddish for him?
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Fast Forward Many Israelis are celebrating Trump’s win, seeing him as more likely to back their country
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Fast Forward Eugene Vindman, whose Jewish immigrant story played a role in Trump’s impeachment, elected to Congress
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Fast Forward Anxiety, concern and hope: How swing-state rabbis, and their communities, are reacting to Trump’s win
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News For some Orthodox Jews, joy and a little schadenfreude as their candidate reclaims the White House
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