I have heard several accounts recently of Zionists who tried to open dialogue with anti-Zionists in different ways only to be rebuffed. The most shocking was a Jewish professor at Rutgers University who stood up during the Q&A part of a pro-Palestinian teach-in (or similar) to say he was willing to start a dialogue only to be shouted down and for students present to complain to university authorities that this was "violence" that should not have been allowed (because it made them feel "unsafe," naturally).
I have to say that I feel that justice or any other virtue is destructive in excess and that a moral person or movement has a balance of virtues, not one carried to an extreme.
By the way, would you prefer comments here or on TOI? I comment here because I don't always read comments on my TOI blog because the threads can get taken over by trolls. (Admittedly I have a safeguard in that my wife often reads the threads and tells me if there's something worth reading or responding to.)
Thanks, Daniel. These accounts are disturbing. It seems that some anti-Israel activists have internalized demonized notions about Israel that are not well informed and and are unwilling to engage with anything that might challenge their convictions. I agree about the importance of avoiding excess; this value seems important for liberty. Thanks for asking about where to post comments. I appreciate your comments very much and suggest that you post them wherever is more convenient for you. In principle, this blog (oldwildhorses) is also about issues not directly related only to Israel--but I also share on it links to Times of Israel posts. In practice, since October 7, all my posts have been about Israel and Jew hate--but I am hoping to have some posts about other issues on oldwildhorses in the future.
I have heard several accounts recently of Zionists who tried to open dialogue with anti-Zionists in different ways only to be rebuffed. The most shocking was a Jewish professor at Rutgers University who stood up during the Q&A part of a pro-Palestinian teach-in (or similar) to say he was willing to start a dialogue only to be shouted down and for students present to complain to university authorities that this was "violence" that should not have been allowed (because it made them feel "unsafe," naturally).
I have to say that I feel that justice or any other virtue is destructive in excess and that a moral person or movement has a balance of virtues, not one carried to an extreme.
By the way, would you prefer comments here or on TOI? I comment here because I don't always read comments on my TOI blog because the threads can get taken over by trolls. (Admittedly I have a safeguard in that my wife often reads the threads and tells me if there's something worth reading or responding to.)
Thanks, Daniel. These accounts are disturbing. It seems that some anti-Israel activists have internalized demonized notions about Israel that are not well informed and and are unwilling to engage with anything that might challenge their convictions. I agree about the importance of avoiding excess; this value seems important for liberty. Thanks for asking about where to post comments. I appreciate your comments very much and suggest that you post them wherever is more convenient for you. In principle, this blog (oldwildhorses) is also about issues not directly related only to Israel--but I also share on it links to Times of Israel posts. In practice, since October 7, all my posts have been about Israel and Jew hate--but I am hoping to have some posts about other issues on oldwildhorses in the future.