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A willed desire not to know
At various points over the years of this blog, I’ve asked whether Israel has the internal resources – psychological, ethical, social, spiritual – to take a critical view of itself, and its founding ideology, Zionism. Thus far, it has not developed such a capacity. In a way, this is not surprising, for so pervasive is Continue reading
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The curtailment of truth-telling: Palestine Action and the assault on freedom
Evil-doers abhor truth. Therefore it must be smothered, distorted, silenced, concealed. That is what thematically connects the British Government’s intention to proscribe Palestinian Action with the Israeli government’s decision to close access to Israeli state archives. The Israeli state archives are the source material upon which Israel’s ‘new historians’ – for example Avi Shlaim and Continue reading
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The Board of Deputies of British Jews: Time’s up?
Mainstream, establishment Jewish opinion on Israel and Palestine, as promulgated and vigorously promoted by the Board of Deputies of British Jews (BoD), is facing a challenge. A challenge from within the depth of the body itself. In a statement to the Financial Times (16 April), thirty-six – out of over 300 – Deputies signed a Continue reading
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Apposite comparison? Nazi attitudes and behaviour, and Israel?
In our daily talk, but also when addressing more specialist areas of endeavour, we deploy the tools of analogy and comparison, comparing one thing or behaviour with another, as aids to understanding and insight. And, sometimes, to remind ourselves of the standards we would like to uphold. In this noticing of similarities, we do not Continue reading
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Is Israel in descent?
Is it too far out of left field to suggest that Israel is crumbling? That the manifestations of its seeming military prowess’ now yet again being visited on Gaza, but also in the West Bank, are actually the gasps of a wounded and failing entity? When a country goes to war, it’s generally expected that Continue reading
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Zionism and the Jewish Establishment
For some, the stories told in foundational texts – Old and New Testaments, the Mahabharata and so forth – are parables and myths illuminating paths to right conduct. For others of a more literalist bent, what is written is hardcore objective historical fact, pointing, in a no-nonsense way, to what has happened in the past, Continue reading
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Palestine/Israel: Gramsci has something to say to us
At time of writing, the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel is nominally agreed. ‘Nominally’: Israel, as ever, has conjured pretexts that call into question what was but moments ago cause for cautious, celebratory feelings among both the Palestinians of Gaza and the families and friends of the Israeli hostages – achievement of a ceasefire agreement Continue reading
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Gaza, Lebanon, Syria: the moral abasement of the UK’s political and mainstream media caste
Has the moral abasement of our political class, along with the bulk of mainstream media, including the public-funded – that’s you and me – BBC reached its nadir, or will it descend still further into an ethic-less abyss of its own creation? How comes it that this coterie of comfort and ignominy so tenaciously cleaves Continue reading
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The end of the Israeli state?
It is not possible to be certain of the duration of its decline, it is only possible to be certain of the conclusion: the end of the Israeli state. A state that has debased itself more than anyone could have imagined possible. Israel, in common with any other state, has no inherent right to exist. Continue reading
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Perhaps. Just perhaps…the boundaries of what can be thought and said about Israel are shifting
Perhaps. Just perhaps…Israel, in unleashing its genocidal fury on Gaza, and now on Lebanon, has, unwittingly, fostered and spread the corrosive agents that are eating away at its legitimacy as a specifically Jewish, Zionist state. This is happening at the fundamental level of ideas, of ideologies, of ethics and of morality. Of what can be Continue reading
About Me
This is Bernard Spiegal’s blog.
I write mainly about Palestine/Israel and related issues; sometimes other stuff too
Bernard Spiegal 