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Matt Berkman
Philadelphia, PA
Matt Berkman is a researcher for a Middle East policy institute in New York. He holds a master's degree from New York University in Near Eastern Studies.
Recent Activity
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Matt commented on the article |According to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics, 70% of Israeli Jews were born in Israel, and thus don't "come from" anywhere--which is part of the reason why Thomas's remarks were unacceptable.
Of the remaining 30%, who immigrated to the country, 70% of that smaller fraction came from Europe/the U.S. and only 30% from the Arab/Muslim world. So of the total, 20% of Israeli Jews are European/American immigrants, and 9.5% are from the Arab/Muslim world.
http://www.cbs.gov.il/reader/shnaton/templ_shnaton_e.html?num_tab=st02_24x&CYear=2009
I agree with your other statement, though, that many Jews were ethnically cleansed from Arab countries, just as nearly one million Arabs were ethnically cleansed from Israel. All instances of ethnic cleansing are tragic.
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Matt commented on the article |
Why, thank you! I've never been anyone's hero before. And it means all the more coming from a fellow NYU alum.
Stay true to your basic moral convictions, and you really can't go wrong.
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Matt commented on the article |
I have no interest in arguing, really, since I know how these conversations go. But let me say that I never claimed Arabs and Palestinians don't also hold rallies during which egregious statements are chanted. I claimed that, when those rallies take place, we see them on TV. Yet, when racist incitement is spewed by Israelis--as it routinely is, if we can take Israel's own press at its word--it's not reported in the U.S. And this reflects a power imbalance, plain and simple. Also, I'd question your belief that the individuals promoting "transfer" or similarly disturbing policies are an insignificant minority. After all, if Hillary Clinton's platform in the Democratic primary called for the ethnic cleansing of Jews, I would be deeply troubled by her selection as Secretary of State. And this is not to mention the recent spate of articles documenting, statistically, the increase in bald anti-Arab racism in Israel. Here's just one example: http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/poll-half-of-israeli-high-schoolers-oppose-equal-rights-for-arabs-1.264564
My point is not that all Israelis are racists. Clearly, that is untrue. But if you're Jewish--and I am--I would be concerned about these things, and do something to try and change them (raising awareness is one tactic), rather than mounting a knee-jerk defense.
As for your desire to absolve Israel of its responsibilities to the Palestinians it occupies, I will not be able to convince you that you're mistaken, in all likelihood. So I won't try. But I think that I do agree with you on one point, which is that, no, we cannot expect Israel to "fix" the problem itself. Israelis are deeply traumatized--traumatized by their experience of terrorism, by their collective memories of the Holocaust, and by their own leaders' cynical manipulations of fear. They will not be able to fix anything on their own. The responsibility falls with the United States and the international community, first and foremost.
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Matt commented on the article |What do you mean, the "other side of the story"? This article is not about Israel's raid on the Flotilla. It was written before that incident occurred. And in the single paragraph I inserted after-the fact, in which I acknowledged the raid, I balanced Al-Jazeera's reporting with statements by the Israeli government. So there is no "side of the story" for you to be "refuting." Which leads me to believe that you didn't read the article, and are instead engaged in blindly disseminating hasbara whether it's relevant or not. Perhaps you should take a break and think critically about the issues.
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Matt commented on the article |But what about the darker side of Elton's Middle East entanglements?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HSClZbhB5g
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Matt commented on the article |Thanks for responding. Soft democracy promotion (conditioning US aid on political reform) is, I agree, important--and it's something the Obama administration has backed off on, to its discredit. Both "linkages" should be pressed. But there's an important difference, which is this: by pushing democratic reform in Arab countries, the U.S. is attempting to modify the internal character of the state, and there are issues of sovereignty to consider; whereas, in the case of Israel-Palestine, we have a sovereign country, Israel, occupying, colonizing, and in the case of Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, annexing territory that no other country on earth, including the U.S., recognizes as part of Israel. There is an international component, and thus the international community--of which the U.S. is the de facto leader--has a greater interest in seeing the conflict resolved.
