Martin J. Raffel and Gil Troy, at The Blogs

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Oct 9, 2013, 8:09 AM

5. Being Jewish at Christmastime

Being Jewish in America during Christmas season is a somewhat awkward experience given that the Christian holiday so heavily dominates the public square despite the First Amendment’s separation between church and state. How, for example, should we respond to well-meaning...

Oct 7, 2013, 7:24 AM

4. Going home…to the place where I belong

The lyrics of Chris Daughtry’s song “Home,” can surely speak to the millions of Jews who have immigrated to Israel from all four corners of the globe. “Well I'm going home, Back to the place where I belong,” Daughtry crooned...

Oct 2, 2013, 11:33 AM

3. Even nations need recognition, right?

We exist in the world as individual human beings without the need for any special acknowledgement. Yet if we want to participate as lawyers, doctors, teachers, etc., society requires that we fulfill certain academic/professional criteria in order to receive...

Sep 30, 2013, 10:10 AM

2. I’m a Zionist, are you?

The world is a strange place. The United States threatens to punish Syria for gassing its own citizens – and the Syrians and Iranians threaten the “Zionist regime.” Similarly, as Egypt staggers toward civil war – both sides blame...

Sep 23, 2013, 11:20 AM

1. Jewish, Christian, Italian: Which one doesn’t belong?

As many young Jews go off to college this month, they will find themselves struggling to answer an age-old question during “who are you” first conversations with non-Jewish friends. They might ask, politely, curiously, “are Jews part of a...

Sep 22, 2013, 12:20 AM

Israel: Jewish and Democratic

Long confined to the extreme margins, but, in recent times, beginning to seep into mainstream discourse, is the odious position that challenges Israel's legitimacy as both a Jewish and democratic state. In response, the Israel Action Network's Project Director (and...

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About Me

Martin J. Raffel is the senior vice president of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), where he has served as the lead professional on Israel, world Jewry and international human rights for the past twenty-five years. He also holds the position of project director for the Israel Action Network, a joint project of The Jewish Federations of North America in partnership with the JCPA, created to counter assaults made on Israel’s legitimacy; Gil Troy is a professor of history at McGill University. His latest book "Moynihan's Moment: America's Fight Against Zionism as Racism" was just published.