In the past few days, stories about two different Steve Bannon film projects, one of which was never produced and the second, which was screened at this summer's Republican convention. The Washington Post reported on the first film, which Bannon was shopping around Hollywood in 2007. It was to be titled (somewhat awkwardly): Destroying the Great Satan: The … [Read more...]
Israeli Deputy Defense Minister on Tisha B’Av: “We’re not Ashamed. We Will Rebuild the Temple on the Temple Mount.”
Today was Tisha B'Av, one of the most solemn days of the year for observant Jews. It marks the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in 70 CE. It is the day on which the Book of Lamentations, which commemorates the fall of Jerusalem, is recited in every synagogue in the world. But in Israel, the firebrands of Israel's most … [Read more...]
Trump and the GOP: Words Will Kill
The NY Times published an op-ed yesterday by a medieval historian specializing in the Jewish life during this period. But the moral of her piece was anything but medieval. It was addressed squarely at Donald Trump and the GOP presidential candidates' stark Muslim-baiting: Do harsh words lead to violent acts? At a moment when hate speech seems to be … [Read more...]
Why “Reform” Islam?
With the world-wide fallout over the Paris attacks and ISIS' bloody role in them, pundits and journalists have been falling all over themselves opining on how we got here. There has been no end of breast-beating about Islam: what's wrong with Islam that it produced such monsters? Can Islam be reformed? I think the question is entirely wrong. How many … [Read more...]