All Esther Koontz wanted to do was train fellow Kansas math teachers to be more effective in the classroom. Everything was set: She had completed the special training program. She had signed up to help schools in need of assistance. She’d even gotten requests from several schools via the state Department of Education and had…
Earlier this month, registration for Birthright Israel’s winter programs opened, inviting thousands of Jewish young people to accept a gift that seems too good to be true: a completely free trip to Israel. Many of these young people will be excited to experience firsthand the country that they have been taught to consider their own…
Yom Kippur is Judaism’s — and my own — holiest day. It is a day of both repentance and possibility, where we are called to reflect on who we are and who we aspire to be. As I have gotten older, I have found myself reflecting not only on myself, but also on my community….
In early September 2017, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to thousands of settlers in the northern West Bank settlement of Barkan at an anniversary celebration for 50 years of Israeli West Bank settlement. “We will not evacuate any more settlements in Judea and Samaria… We are here to stay forever,” he said. The following…
IfNotNow is sharing stories on social media from members who say Jewish institutions never taught them the reality of Isrel’s conflict with the Palestinians. Many of the Jewish institutions in which we grew up ignored the Occupation. Now we’re speaking out: https://t.co/7svCSpCqcp #YouNeverToldMe pic.twitter.com/6msfKoAShD — IfNotNow (@IfNotNowOrg) September 8, 2017 The campaign, being promoted on…
I was born in the ancient Palestinian city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank in a home around the corner from the entrance to Shuhada Street, the main thoroughfare and marketplace in the city. The name of our neighborhood was Bab el-Khan. Today, hanging on the stone walls of my old Bab el-Khan neighborhood…
For decades, certainly since the Six Day War fifty years ago, Israel has been the one subject committed Jews could not avoid when they got together. Nor did they want to. First there was the 1967 victory which, at the time, seemed like a glorious turn in Jewish fortunes. For once, the Jews prevailed and…
Recently, Mikhael Manekin wrote an article for Haaretz critiquing the role of diaspora Jews in anti-occupation work. Manekin accuses American Jewish activists of not working together with local forces on the ground in Israel and Palestine. However, both actions he criticizes, the rebuilding of a Palestinian village in the South Hebron hills and the disruption…
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