Do women make peace in a different voice? Peter Coleman and I explore some essential peacebuilding lessons culled from the work of recent Noble Peace Prize recipient Leymah Gbowee. As always, if the spirit moves you, please share with your … Continue reading → . Read More »

My good friend Aziz Abu Sarah, regular columnist for 972, published a piece based on a drasha he gave in a synagogue for Rosh Hashana. Its an important sermon that is worth your time. I make a small cameo in … Continue reading → . Read More »

From The Observers. In the Hebrew Bible it is said that a time of universal peace will see swords turned into plowshares. One Israeli reserve solider, Dror Gomel (36), has decided to reverse the biblical sequence by turning his army … Continue reading → . Read More »

Protests are in the air and on the ground, and since protests are a social act, here are two pieces that I co-wrote/prepared dealing with recent social movements in Israel. The first is a collection of personal reactions from Israelis … Continue reading → . Read More »

From France 24′s The Observers (with my full interview below). “That a heavy metal band and a belly dancer perform together is unusual enough. When the band is Israeli and the dancer Lebanese, the performance raises quite a few eyebrows. … Continue reading → . Read More »

Over at The Forward my review of Peter Coleman’s The Five Percent: Finding Solutions To Seemingly Impossible Conflicts. Key quote: A central idea in Coleman’s research is that intractable conflicts are akin to complex systems, in which various parts are … Continue reading → . Read More »

Johanna Fakhry, the talented and courageous Lebanese dancer who joined Orphaned Land on stage, has penned a response to her inspiring and controversial artistic collaboration with the Israeli band. * I have slightly edited the letter for grammar and flow … Continue reading → . Read More »

. Read More »

Over at Unrest Magazine, Michael English provides a thoughtful response to our Conflict Resolution Commandos (CRCs) piece. Money quote: I am grateful to Ben-Yehuda and Bartoli for the opportunity to generate further discussion about what is a sorely under-discussed issue … Continue reading → . Read More »

Over at the NYT, Peter Catapano looks into the controversy surrounding the upcoming flotilla and asks: “Is it a “freedom” flotilla, a “peace” flotilla or, as some have called it, a “provocation” flotilla? Who has been telling the truth? And, … Continue reading → . Read More »

* The following article was co-written with Andrea Bartoli and set to be published in the next issue of Unrest Magazine. This month a new flotilla is scheduled to set sail to Gaza. As will be recalled, in May 2010 … Continue reading → . Read More »

One of my more successful blog posts is this critical deconstruction of the cartoon ‘The Smurfs’ (written in 2008). With Global Smurf Day and a 3D film around the corner, I figure it was time to rewrite and publish elsewhere. … Continue reading → . Read More »

Norton has played a duplicitous murderer (Primal Fear), neo-nazi (American History X), violent schizophrenic (Fight Club), and an angry green monster (Hulk): I’d say his perfect for the part.. Read More »

Music break. It’s a rainy June weekend in NYC and so naturally the wife and I decided to make a top-ten sacrosanct list. Ours is not just a top-ten list of cover songs that are better than the originals (that … Continue reading → . Read More »

A few days ago Israelis celebrated “Jerusalem Day” which commemorates the reunification of Jerusalem after the 1967 war. By now many have seen this disturbing video of religio-nationlist Jews marching in the Arab part of Jerusalem. They chant slogans such … Continue reading → . Read More »

My good friend Yossi Sassi, of Orphaned Land fame, joins the indomitable Marty Friedman on stage in Israel. A great moment for Israeli metal.. Read More »

Mohammad Darawshe, co-executive director of The Abraham Fund Initiatives, has written in the Jerusalem Post an open-letter to PM Netanyahu’s in response to his claims concerning the equal rights and freedoms enjoyed by Israel’s Arab citizens. “Dear Prime Minister, I … Continue reading → . Read More »

Over at Tablet, Joseph Dana writes an important piece on Israel’s problematic relationship with the Nakba narrative – i.e. Palestinian account of their 1948 expulsion and dislocation – and the imperative of integrating this narrative into Israel’s public discourse. He … Continue reading → . Read More »

It was all leading to this – the youth spent in the US, the education at MIT, the years honed as Israel’s top diplomat – speaking before the United States Congress, Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu finally experienced his moment in the … Continue reading → . Read More »

President Obama’s speech on the Middle East has inspired a lot of ridicules responses. But few trump Kiss co-frontman Gene Simmons’ confused tirade and GOP candidate Herman Cain’s embarrassingly ignorant “doctrine”. Roll tape! Gene makes a good point, people who … Continue reading → . Read More »