Tipping point coming?

July 9, 2020

Friends,

Yesterday was stunning. The internet is exploding with comment and counter-comments!  You should know about this.

Peter Beinart, leading US liberal Zionist writer and public intellectual, published an article in Jewish Currents in which he explained his longtime support for a Jewish state in Israel and why he has changed his.  It felt like an earthquake on social media, with snowballing support for him, as well as plenty of attacks too. It feels like an important moment in the conversation.

The NYTimes published a shorter version, entitled I No Longer Believe in a Jewish State. Social media has been buzzing with opinions about it, including those from journalists to ambassadors and many in between.

Chicago's own Rabbi Brant Rosen wrote a response to Beinart entitled, Peter Beinart Crosses Over: On Game Changers and Historic Injustices. Rosen writes supportively and critically, starting with this: "...[this] abandonment of the two-state solution, represents something of a milestone in American discourse on Israel-Palestine. As a well-known political thinker and commentator, Beinart’s ideas carry a great deal of weight in the liberal Jewish establishment."

Mondoweiss also covered it with an article by co-founder Phil Weiss, Beinart is latest liberal Zionist to abandon two-state solution, ending with this: "The organized Jewish community is plainly in flux on Israel and the left can take credit for driving this discussion. Beinart’s endorsement of Ali Abunimah [for One State with equal rights for all] shows that the Palestinian narrative of Zionism is now in the Jewish tent, and it’s never leaving."

You should register for two webinars on the topic:

• Tomorrow, Friday 7/10/2020, Peace Now is hosting Beinart in a talk entitled "My Case for Equality." Register here.
• Next week, Monday, July 13th, 11:00am – 12:30 EDT. The Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP) and Jewish Currents magazine host a conversation, Imagining Together a Shared, One-State Reality, featuring Peter Beinart & Yousef Munayyer, former Executive Director of US Campaign for Palestinian Rights.  Register here.