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  Of course. Haaretz recently published an opinion piece by Ithamar Handelman -Smith titled “ Some Say It’s the End of Zionism, and I Say That’s All Right .” And what impeccable timing: as Israel carries out a near-two-year campaign of siege, famine, and bombardment in Gaza — slaughtering families, burying aid workers with their ambulances, and literally starving children to death — someone in Israel finally whispers the unspeakable: maybe Zionism, that 20th-century project of “ Jewish salvation ,” has outlived its moral shelf life. Bravo. The house is burning, bodies are scattered in the street, and the philosopher shows up with a garden hose . Zionism: Success Story or Crime Scene? Handelman-Smith argues that Zionism achieved its success : a Jewish state, a safe haven, a fortress against the ghosts of Europe’s crimes . But like every “ success story ” drenched in other people’s blood , it didn’t age well. What began as refuge turned into domination; what was called “ ...

  In Tribute to Gaza’s Bravest Souls This is not just a ledger. It is a roll call of courage . The journalists who picked up their cameras even as bombs fell around them. The doctors who kept treating patients in collapsing hospitals until the very moment they were killed. The athletes who dreamed of lifting Palestine’s flag on the world stage, cut down before their prime. The poets, painters , and teachers who resisted not with weapons, but with words, colors, and ideas too powerful to silence. They are not collateral damage . They are the heartbeat of Gaza — the healers, the storytellers, the dreamers, the defenders of memory. Each name recorded here is a testament: that Gaza’s spirit cannot be erased, that dignity can outlive destruction, and that resistance sometimes looks like holding a camera, writing a poem, saving a child, or playing a game of football under siege. These were the bravest of souls . They resisted until their last breath — and in their sacrifice, they ...

  By Vivian Yee, The New York Times (Aug. 22, 2025) — Reflections and Analysis It is now official: Gaza City and its surrounding areas are in famine. Not “at risk of famine.” Not “approaching famine.” But famine itself — starvation, acute malnutrition, and death. At least half a million people in Gaza Governorate are enduring th e most extreme conditions that the world’s top hunger monitoring group — the U.N.-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (I.P.C.) — measures. With rare exceptions, the other two million residents of Gaza are also suffering severe hunger. The report is unambiguous: famine in Gaza is entirely man-made . It is not drought. It is not nature. It is the direct result of Israel’s blockade of food and aid, relentless bombardment, and the collapse of healthcare, water, and agriculture. “ The time for debate and hesitation has passed. Starvation is present and is rapidly spreading.” — I.P.C. Report By September, famine is expected to engul...

  So, Israel has a brand-new defense for bombing a hospital: there was a camera . Yes, you read that right. The Israel Defense Forces — the most “moral army in the world” (their words, not ours) — turned the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis into rubble because, allegedly, Hamas had placed an “observation camera” there. No proof, of course. Just a statement. And what did this surgical strike against a lens achieve? At least 20 people killed. Among them: five Palestinian journalists working for Reuters, AP, and Al Jazeera . Also hospital staff, patients, and rescue workers who rushed in after the first explosion — only to be hit again by Israel’s infamous “double tap” strike. But don’t worry, Israel assures us , six of the dead were militants . How convenient. How retroactively tidy. Never mind that one of those “terrorists” was Hussam al-Masri — a Reuters photojournalist livestreaming from the hospital staircase. His weapon? A tripod and a LiveU unit. In Israel’s eyes, that’...

  So, Emmanuel Macron has finally written a letter to Benjamin Netanyahu. In it, the French president commits the ultimate crime in today’s political theater: he suggests that recognizing a Palestinian state is not antisemitism . Yes, you heard correctly. Supporting Palestinian statehood , Macron says, is actually essential for Israel’s security and for Europe’s stability. Imagine that — peace as a security strategy. Revolutionary! Of course, Netanyahu wasted no time in dusting off his favorite script: everything critical of Israel = antisemitism . Macron’s letter is apparently “ pouring fuel on the antisemitic fire ,” because nothing says Jew-hatred like wanting Palestinians not to live in rubble and famine. Macron, to his credit, fires back with the obvious: the occupation, displacement, starvation, and annexation aren’t exactly breeding global goodwill. In fact, they are making Israel a pariah, emboldening real antisemitism , and placing Jewish communities worldwide at g...

  Thomas L. Friedman, the perennial high priest of “both-sides-ism, ” has returned with his latest sermon: Israel’s Gaza Campaign Is Making It a Pariah State (Aug. 25, 2025). And what a revelation! Friedman has finally discovered— after nearly a year of livestreamed slaughter —that Israel might just be isolating itself by dropping bombs on hospitals, torching refugee camps, and turning starvation into policy . Bravo, Tom. Pulitzer number four incoming? But let’s not get too carried away. Friedman, as always, performs his trademark balancing act: “I will leave it to historians to debate whether Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.” Translation : I see genocide, you see genocide, but let’s kick the can down the road to the PhD crowd so I can keep my column slot tidy . It’s not denial — it’s the art of avoiding clarity when clarity might cost cocktail party invitations in Tel Aviv or D.C The “Tragic Mishap” Industry Friedman was “struck” (his word) by the Israeli strike o...

  Two Israeli airstrikes hit Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on Monday. One strike on the fourth floor . A second — the infamous “ double tap ” — as rescue crews rushed in. Result: at least 20 dead , including five journalists , medical staff, patients, and rescue workers. And Israel’s response? You already know the script. “ We regret any harm to uninvolved individuals.” “An immediate inquiry has been ordered.” “We do not target journalists as such.” Ah yes, the greatest hits. A playlist on repeat for two years and counting. Regret as Policy Let’s pause for a moment. Because Israel’s regret machine is working overtime. 188 journalists already killed in Gaza before this strike. Every time: regret, inquiry, silence, repeat. World Central Kitchen convoy slaughtered ? Netanyahu’s war machine offered regret. Then inquiry . Then buried the outrage until Jake Wood, the CEO himself, publicly exploded. The Flour Massacre ? Hundreds starved Palestinians gunned down in c...

  August 18, 2025 — Guest column by Yossi Alpher Welcome to the Gaza “peace process,” that never-ending circus where everybody’s a mediator and nobody’s making progress. Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, the U.S. — all ladling soup into a pot that’s already boiling over. And yet, somehow, dinner is never served. 🎭 Another Offensive, Because Why Not? Israel’s brilliant plan? Another Gaza offensive. Scheduled for October, as if wars now come with calendar reminders. Supposedly this is “leverage” to make Hamas flexible. Problem: the IDF has spent two years proving it doesn’t understand Hamas at all. Chief of Staff Zamir actually admits as much. He’d rather talk than march, which makes him sound more rational than half the government — a dangerous quality in today’s Israel. Meanwhile, protesters fill the streets screaming what should be obvious: the war is spent, the hostages are dying, and Israel looks like the villain in a bad historical remake. 🍲 Too Many Cooks, Zero Soup Let’s cou...

  By Malik Mukhtar | August 25, 2025 There is a cruelty worse than killing people . It is the killing of memory — the deliberate erasure of history, culture , and identity , so that even the dead have no place to rest . This is what Israel is doing to Gaza. Yes, the war is ethnic cleansing. Yes, it is genocide. But it is also something more sinister: the annihilation of a people’s existence in time itself. Gaza City, one of the oldest cities on earth, is being bulldozed into dust. Ancient fortresses, centuries-old mosques, Ottoman harbors, cemeteries of Roman and British soldiers — all are gone. Cafes where friends once argued politics, boarding houses where refugees rebuilt a fragile life, archives where scholars preserved memory — flattened, erased, disappeared. To destroy Gaza is to destroy the evidence that Palestinians were ever here at all. The parallels are not accidental. Chris Hedges reminds us of Warsaw, 1944 — when Nazi General Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski turned ...