Dan Fleshler

A new report from Peace Now’s Settlement Watch program reveals very troubling data on settlement developments, settler violence and annexation moves by Netanyahu’s government. If you’re willing to grit your teeth and face some grim truths, check it out. thirdnarrative.org/new-report-pea…

@Ron_Skolnik I won't find the Labor-Meretz merger "riveting." It will just make me a little less sleepy

Well, it was entirely sleepy after all. Yair Golan wins with a 95% (yes, ninety-five percent) majority. Hopefully the merger he plans with Meretz will produce something riveting, but there's room for skepticism. jpost.com/breaking-news/…

I'm disappointed & frustrated with the statement by Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine (who blocked me despite having never interacted with them). In it, they reaffirm the right of armed resistance, an explicit endorsement of Hamas and October 7 & the “all means necessary” narrative, reject the Two State Solution, and attack "normalizers" or anyone who's willing to talk to Israelis and engage in promoting pragmatic solutions to achieve coexistence and peace. They talk about Thawabit or redlines as if they’re a Palestinian “faction” instead of rational Westerners who are supposed to advance the cause and not cosplay as revolutionaries. This is what losing the plot looks like: at a time of rising empathy & solidarity with the Palestinian cause, these students, heavily involved in the Columbia protests, decided that the best thing to do is take an extremist, maximalist, inflammatory, unreasonable, and totally illogical approach which is harmful to the pro-Palestinian cause. They brag about their extremist rhetoric and think it’s bad to expect that they work on improving messaging. There is nothing inspiring about their message or efforts, only rejections, calls for “escalations,” and attacks against anyone who doesn’t toe the party line. And not a word about Hamas and the deadly impact that the Islamist group’s program and decisions have had on the Palestinian people in Gaza. What have 75 years of armed resistance achieved for the Palestinian people? Nasser’s Pan-Arabism, the PLO/PFLP, and now Hamas have all talked about “red lines” or “Thawabit,” which have not only failed to achieve self-determination & freedom but have gotten more Palestinians killed and more lands stolen. Of course, there needs to be organized efforts to speak out against the war in Gaza, support real solutions to the unfolding horrors, and confront/challenge the military occupation of the West Bank. Without a doubt, there needs to be advocacy for Palestinians’ right to self-determination, independence, and sovereignty. But rejecting anything pragmatic that will actually help the Palestinian people or thinking that underinformed college students are going to dismantle Israel and eradicate it from existence is the height of pompous and vain “feel-good” activism that’s never going to do a thing for the just and urgent Palestinian cause. Working towards a just and equitable resolution of the military occupation and the injustices facing the Palestinian people should entail a wide variety of audiences, especially Israelis, diaspora Jews, and those who identify as Zionists – yes, there you have it, Zionists must be engaged. Set a realistic goal using the Two State Solution framework for the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem. You will have a significant chance of building a massive coalition that will create concerted political, diplomatic, academic, and geostrategic pressure to obtain and establish a prosperous and free Palestine, living side by side with Israel. Stop wasting your time, embarrassing the pro-Palestine movement, and alienating desperately needed allies from supporting the cause.

@Abiola8Lekan @AlanFJr @tenphihik @gershonbaskin Israel does so because of the ongoing threat from Hamas and Islamic Jihad. They don't benefit in any other way from this tight control. The policy has obviously done more harm than good, but only a small fraction of right wing Israelis want to annex Gaza

@AlanFJr @tenphihik @gershonbaskin If Gaza is not Israeli territory, then why does Israel insist on controlling everything that goes in or out, determining its water and electricity supplies, deciding who can leave or enter the strip?

From the beginning I said and wrote that Hamas says what it means and means what it says. What is surprising or delusional about Hamas demanding the end of the war? Hamas is holding the Israeli hostages and does not intend to release them without an Israeli commitment to end the war. I will be very surprised if Egypt manages to convince Hamas to release hostages without an Israeli commitment to end the war. What is Israel's alternative? Attacking Rafah. Yes. Right. This is the Israeli alternative against the will of USA, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, but Netanyahu said that Israel will enter Rafah. It's probably the surest way to kill more hostages.

My latest piece in The Third Narrative addresses the distressing fact that sending more humanitarian aid to Gaza is politically unpopular in Israel. thirdnarrative.org/why-dont-more-…

@_ZachFoster In other words, you will help condemn the U..S. to a facist autocracy led by a very evil, clownish fool. Don't think that's wise.

Dear Joe Biden, I was going to vote for you in 2024. Not anymore. You have dehumanized Palestinians by assuming their death counts are false. You are supporting what genocide scholars (e.g. Raz Segal) have called "a textbook case of genocide." Am I the only one? Comment ⤵️

Some equate Zionism, since its inception, with "European settler colonialism." Sam Fleischacker shows that while there are similarities, there are also key differences.thirdnarrative.org/does-zionismse…

@LaraFriedmanDC Agree that this is unsurprising. I'm not sure "thin veneer of ambiguity" about support for the settlements sums it up. How about "carefully disguised, miniscule veneer."?

Recognizing that settlements aren’t popular with most Jewish American it claims to represent, for years AIPAC maintained at least a thin veneer of ambiguity when it came to whether it supported settlements. Now it doesn’t even bother.

Post from The Third Narrative on the Right of Return: thirdnarrative.org/new-approaches…

I confess I had to look up "supersessionism" to follow a discussion in The Third Narrative community about the role of Christian theology in antisemitism. It's not all about Israel! thirdnarrative.org/christian-supe…

"Has the working definition of antisemitism of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance actually reduced antisemitism anywhere?" Good one from Steve Sheffey in The Third Narrative. thirdnarrative.org/against-overus…

J Street U's Ronnie Shashoua on obstacles to "change-making discourse" on campus about Israel-Palestine, and how to overcome them. It's in the new website of The Third Narrative. @jstreetu thirdnarrative.org/on-promoting-p…

Israelis are battling to salvage their democracy, What will it take for them to support democratic rights for Palestinians on both sides of the Green Line? My post on The Third Narrative: thirdnarrative.org/democracy-or-d…

@alexspeier @BostonGlobe My comment in the Globe: "AS describes Houck's `itinerant residence in the strike zone.' About once a week, he finds an original phrase, a new formulation, to describe familiar baseball actions or circumstances or abilities....I admire his prose."

Kenley Jansen spent the winter watching video of his younger self, determined to turn back the clock. I’m Friday, he continued to do just that in the Red Sox’ win over the Angels bostonglobe.com/2023/04/14/spo… via @BostonGlobe

@byJulianMack Yay!

No surgery for Duvall.

“Hitler was right” was posted online over 70,000 times last year. So don’t look away from online hate. No matter who is sharing it. #StandUpToJewishHate #🟦

🇮🇱/🇵🇸 "Invest in people, not politics." @ALLMEP's @JohnLyndon_, speaking to F24, following clashes at #Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque, comparing the Good Friday Agreement with the Oslo Accords. Watch the full conversation 📺➡️ fmm.io/11MR.t

I'm starting to think that the Israelis are not the best choice of people to attempt a coup against

Beautiful half-minute. Hard to be in a bad mood after watching this...