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Charles Lenchner
Brooklyn, NY
I work helping progressive nonprofits harness the internet for social change. Grew up in Israel mostly, but haven't left the US for 6 years. Wow, has it been that long? Zeke and Esther keep me strong, and I'm looking forward to the resolution of all contradictions.
Recent Activity
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Charles commented on the article |All this talk about 'good employees' and 'excellence' is off-putting. We are not a Lake Woebegone community where everyone is above average. Jobs are jobs, even nonprofit idealistic jobs. Designed properly, managed well, work will produce excellent outcomes even with average people. Designed poorly, work will produce awful outcomes even with excellent people.
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Charles commented on the article |
Lyn, I'm grateful to you for making that search! I think some of the things you discovered came up after my own search. I do remember looking at the IMEMC site (a good one!) and not finding the quote that is there right now.
I also agree that because Israel is the main perpetrator and holds most of the power, that peace loving peoples of all religions should work to pressure Israel. BUT: why would anyone think of 'Muslims' or 'Christians' as being in a kind of monolithic catagory? The idea that members of one faith group should or could unite for or against various things feels a bit dated. Are peace loving Jews belonging to a seperate catagory?
The underlying sentiment is that 'everyone should be with us against them.' And that sentiment, of us versus them, is what I'm attacking. The 'Muslims' include everyone from Al-Qaida to Ahmadiyya. The 'Christians' include everyone from right wing supporters of Armageddon to the pacifists of the CPT in Hebron.
The Mufti is guilty of coming across as an immature extremist who doesn't think about religion and faith communities in a manner appropriate for the 21st Century. The Pope, on the other hand, has done a good job standing up for basic principles, and the Palestinians, without alienating most of the Israeli public. In the kerfuffle between the Mufti and the Pope, the Pope is more worthy of support. -
Charles commented on the article |
The Mufti's words aren't in doubt - nothing he did or said appears to be out of character. Sometimes the press reports things misleadingly, but this isn't one of those times.
Again, what's interesting is that the Palestinian news sources I looked at were not doing a good job of providing the text of his words in a clean way. Had there been a way of showing that the NYT was mistranslating or something, I would have included it in my story. -
Charles commented on the article |
Just FYI: Many of MR's posts were deleted. It's possible he will be blocked. This community is for people who support peace and reconciliation. Otherwise - what is the point?
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Charles commented on the article |
The main thing is to recognize that peoples get to determine these things for themselves. Jews and Palestinians (it seems) feel quite separate from each other; some of them feel superior to the other. I'm opposed to notions of superiority, but national identity is enshrined in international human rights law. Not sure opposing it for Jews, Israelis, Arabs or Palestinians makes any sense.
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Charles commented on the article |
Lyn, what exactly are you saying? Did someone in the original article by Nadia Hijab, or my comments about it, suggest that Jews and Israelis are the same thing?
Nadia Hijab is pretty clear that the 'Jewish wing' of which she speaks is made up of Israeli Jews and Jews living outside of Israel. Is this something you disagree with? -
Charles commented on the article |
@Lyn:
A few things. First, in Israel, the words 'Jewish' and 'Israel' are conflated all the time, by Jews, Israelis, Palestinians, and nearly everyone else. It may be unfortunate, but there you have it. In fact, if you visit the West Bank, you'll find that the word 'yahud' spoken in Arabic, refers to Jews, the settlers, Israelis, the whole bunch. These distinctions we make when writing about it are far less important on the ground.
On the other hand, you have Jews who say 'Arabs' and they mean Palestinians in Israel and in the OT, in Jordan and Egypt, with no awareness of how diverse and divided the Arab world actually is. It's like an American settler looking west and thinking 'Indians' without any sense of the Apache being distinct from the Navajo in a meaningful way.
I see the Hadash party as being very special - the only organization with a mass membership that includes both Jews and Arabs as leaders, both accepting that the other nationality is what makes them essential on the political landscape. If a two-state popular movement among Palestinians in the Palestinian Authority ever wanted to have 'a Jewish wing' they would find the Jews in Hadash to be willing partners.
Unfortunately, there is nothing like this. (One Voice appears to be a collection of paid staff with a pile of signatures - not a grassroots movement. I'm willing to be proven wrong though.) -
Charles commented on the article |Canaanism is a losing ideology. A sign of desperation. If real estate history from thousands of years ago is valid today, then all nations with a historic record in some other area can demand to return, no?
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Charles commented on the article |
Prophecies are valuable in many ways, just not for predicting the future....
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Charles signed the petition |
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