Arkadi Mazin, at The Blogs

Oct 31, 2024, 9:29 PM

Jews Were Betrayed by the Left? It Goes Both Ways

On my flight back to Seattle from a work trip, I found myself sitting next to a man a few years older than me with an unmistakably Jewish exterior (many say the same applies to me). It turned out...

Jan 19, 2024, 8:45 PM

Is Israel a colonial state? We must simplify the answer

“I’m really scared by all this colonialism talk”, a post in an Israeli expat community I’m a member of went. “Calling Israel a colonial project implies that it should be ended, and the ‘settlers’ should return to their ‘countries...

Dec 29, 2022, 1:14 PM

What Shared Values? Most of Them Israel Has Never Had

The rise of the new government is making some of Israel’s longtime friends uneasy. Apparently, a cabinet that includes open racists, bigots, and homophobes in key positions is a tad too much. But of course, you cannot criticize Israel without...

Sep 22, 2021, 11:58 AM

Support for Settlements Is Hurting America’s Soul

When even supposedly liberal states, such as New Jersey, begin swinging their anti-BDS laws at Unilever over Ben & Jerry’s decision to stop sales in West Bank settlements, it is safe to say: the settlement project, after having corrupted...

Sep 2, 2021, 12:58 PM

Israel’s Failure at Nation-Building

A school in the supposedly liberal town of Herzliya did the unthinkable: it hired an Arab as a “homeroom teacher” for second graders, entrusting her with teaching a variety of subjects, including Hebrew and the Bible. This provoked the...

Jul 21, 2021, 1:25 PM

Jewish Majority or Racial Purity?

In his recent Knesset speech, Yair Lapid, Israel’s newly appointed foreign minister, did not mince words. This is how he justified the need to extend the law that prohibits the reunification of Israeli Palestinians with their spouses from the...

May 26, 2021, 10:32 AM

When Decades-Long Inequality Leads to Violence

The situation in Israel appears to have calmed down for now, but if we want to understand the origins of the recent bout of violence, especially the civil violence inside the country, we need to take a step back...

May 6, 2021, 1:10 PM

The Apartheid Comparison: Unreasonable or Inevitable?

Palestinians make their way through the Qalandia checkpoint by the separation wall between the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, as they head to the Al Aqsa mosque to take part in the third Friday prayers of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, on April 30, 2021. (Photo by ABBAS MOMANI / AFP) (Photo by ABBAS MOMANI/AFP via Getty Images)

The Human Rights Watch’s decision to label Israel’s actions in the West Bank as apartheid predictably triggered many people. But to be fair, the HRW was rather late to the party. During the last few years, many have taken notice...

Mar 17, 2021, 11:55 AM

Israelis do not think occupation is their problem

There is a peculiar if disheartening correlation in Israeli politics: Israelis only start paying attention to matters of war and peace when they are at war. It took the disastrous Yom Kippur war to jump-start the Israeli-Egyptian peace process that...

Feb 22, 2021, 10:55 PM

If Giving a Homeland to a People is Progressive, Give One to the Palestinians

In an interview with Bloomberg, NYC mayor Bill de Blasio laid out his views on Israel. This is what he said: "Israel is a fundamentally progressive concept. It is about having a homeland for a people who’ve been oppressed...

About Me

Arkadi Mazin began his career in journalism in the 1990s, joining the ranks of Vesti, the leading Israeli publication in Russian. As a freelancer, he collaborated with major Israeli media outlets, including Yedioth Aharonoth, Haaretz, and YNET. Today, he is a contributor to Re:Levant Israeli website in Russian and a staff science journalist at Lifespan.io, a leading source of news on longevity research.