Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel » Philippe Assouline

Speaking power to truth in Gaza and the West Bank

Philippe Assouline — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 07:55:13 +0000

This post was co-written with Daniel Campos Putterman, founder of No Borders Israel, a non-profit organization dedicated to fighting xenophobia and religious intolerance through music, and to opposing violations of freedom of music and artistic speech everywhere. — I thought poetry could change everything… but now I think that poetry changes only the poet. – Palestinian poet [...]

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Dismissing Jewish refugees — a case of moral evasion

Philippe Assouline — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 12:29:11 +0000

I recently had the misfortune of reading Daniel Haboucha’s screed here at The Times of Israel against Israel’s new campaign to raise awareness of Jewish refugees from Arab countries. Haboucha’s piece dismisses as an exercise in cynicism Israel’s decision to bring attention to the plight of the 800,000-900,000 Jews that were expelled from Arab countries following the establishment of Israel in [...]

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A Palestinese Lexicon

Philippe Assouline — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 12:21:23 +0000

Palestinian official Jibril Rajoub recently thanked the International Olympic Committee for refusing to hold a minute of silence in memory of the 11 Israeli athletes murdered by PLO terrorists at the Munich Olympic games in 1972, saying that such a commemoration would have been “racism.” This confused me, as the refusal to honor those victims [...]

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Israelis face down Israel Apartheid Week at U.C. Berkeley

Philippe Assouline — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 09:35:40 +0000

“Can we at least agree that Jews and Palestinians both have the right to self-determination?” I asked an anti-Israel Jewish activist at UC Berkeley. “Well… No, actually,” came the answer to my rhetorical question. “I don’t think that Jews deserve their own country. They’re citizens of their countries in Europe and America… why should they [...]

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BDS against the BS

Philippe Assouline — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 14:39:18 +0000

“Boycotts, Divestment, Sanctions.” It’s the most recent assault in the Palestinians’ propaganda jihad on Israel, another tool in their ever-expanding arsenal. Boycott Israel, divest from companies friendly to it, and levy sanctions on the State. They hope to thereby accomplish what they couldn’t with bombs. This strategy has failed miserably so far (unless you consider [...]

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Fear and loathing on Pinkas Street

Philippe Assouline — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 12:30:54 +0000

“Eeeehhhhh… you should know, we pay very leettehl ‘ere. Veeery leettehl.” It seemed at the time like they’d all rehearsed the same disclaimers. As if the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption had given a course on how to lower olims’ expectations. Every interview I went to in the first few months following my aliyah ended with [...]

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