6/30/2010

The Orthoprax Rabbi

This new blog seems promising, though I do not envy its author. I have very mixed feelings about his situation; even if I believe that it is wrong to remain in such a position, I do not claim that I would be able to withstand the pressures associated with the loss of financial stability (even though I went through that these past few years, as I transitioned from rabbi to writer).
Most of us presume to "believe in God" as a sort of catechism. These are the things you must profess - or at least not disavow - if you wish to remain in the fold. Whether or not we really believe is a totally separate question, and I would imagine that many people simply do not wish to see how deep the rabbit hole really goes. The Orthodox rabbinate has very little to do with theology, so ultimately the blogger is right, it is quite possible to do an adequate job as rabbi without believing in God. It is even possible to experience a calling to the pastoral aspects of the vocation. And if the congregation is happy with the rabbi, why not keep him? (It would be incredibly ironic, though, if he's the rabbi of a Young Israel: atheist rabbi - fine; woman president - chas ve-shalom)
In truth, the dilemmas that he poses crop up on a small scale all the time. Orthodox synagogues have plenty of atheist members. When one such member says a brakha it is null and void according to halakha. One may not be yotzei with such a person's kiddush. Yet it does not really hinder people at all.
Additionally, are rabbis not entitled to the occasional crisis of faith? Must the rabbi always have the answer, believe with complete and perfect faith? Why must we expect more of the rabbi than we do of the balabus on this matter - their obligations are equal. Rabbi is ultimately a job description.
If there's something that bugs me it's that he professes to not keep much halakha at all. Now we enter into Acher territory, the famous scenario where R. Elisha b. Avuya tells R. Meir that he is about to pass the techum Shabbat as he himself rides his horse right on past. Or, to use a more contemporary but crude example, it reminds us of Bertrand Russell.On some level, "do as I say and not as I do" fails.
In any case, I look forward to reading more of what he has to say.

6/28/2010

Roberted

If someone parses what you've wrote and criticizes it piece by piece, then you've been fisked. The term originated with Robert Fisk, who was an early victim of said process.

If your Supreme Court nomination was not confirmed because of an onslaught of media criticism, then you've been borked, like Robert Bork was in the 1980s (recently brought to the worlds attention as Bork attempts to bork Kagan).

So if someone criticizes you in an innovative way as to make an example of you to such a large degree that your name becomes synonymous with that process of criticism henceforth, have you been roberted?

6/23/2010

Welcome to Jack (Abramoff) N the (Tov Pizza) Box

If it's true that there's no such thing as bad publicity, then good 'ol Tov Pizza in Baltimore just got more PR than any kosher pizza place in history. Their new hire has made the news EVERYWHERE. I mean everywhere.
It reminds me of the following classic sketch about orders being taken by another famous Jack:






6/17/2010

From the Archives: The Antinomian Wife

On The Contrary: The Antinomian Wife
Just came across this 3 year old post.
So much current events in it: this past week's parsha, Gaza, and R. Mordechai Eliyahu.


6/09/2010

A Modern Day Korach?

Although Korach comes off as a wholly negative figure in the Torah, later works, especially works influenced by kabbalistic literature, take a far more ambivalent attitude toward him. Reb Tzadok especially maintains that Korach was a tzaddik and that the only reason that he was killed only as an acquiescence of God to Moshe's will (!).
There are numerous - too numerous - explanations of Korach's wrongdoing. In fact, one man's Korach can be the next man's Moshe. Nevertheless, we can rather safely say that Korach was anti-establishment even though, as a cousin of Moshe and a Kehatite, he was on the fringes of the establishment. Moshe's response of "rav lakhem benei Levi" may indicate that he felt that Korach's "rebellion" was insincere, merely a ploy to gain popular support. Chazal pick up on this by considering Korach's dissent "not for the sake of Heaven." Yet the critique may have in fact been a solid one - and if not in that generation, then in a later one.
Chazal view the prophet Shmuel as a descendant of Korach. Some read Shmuel as a tikkun for Korach because he established the monarchy and helped make plans for Jerusalem (I remember hearing such an idea from R. Kalman Baer of KBY). Yet Shmuel can also be read as a continuation of Korach's anti-establishment and populist revolt. He reforms the Israelite leadership and travels around Israel instead of remaining at a single holy site (I have four previous posts on Shmuel as the synthesis of Eli's establishment with Chana's rebellious streak: [here, here, here, and here]). Thus, even if we take a view of Korach that is wholly negative, we may still believe that his critique remains valid in a different context. His call for equal opportunity, an end to nepotism, a meritocracy, or transparency may have been a misguided political stunt, but that need not mean that such a critique is always irrelevant.
Which leads me to my modern-day Korach, Rabbi Benny Lau. As his name indicates, he is a "blue-blooded" rabbi, a nephew of former Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau and a cousin to several "rising stars" within the Rabbanut - including the rabbi of my own city of Modiin. Yet Rabbi Lau has consistently called for the reform - I have personally heard him call the Rabbanut "passe" and express a wish that it be totally shut down. He has written the following (HT and translation by: Menachem Mendel):
We have arrived at an ugly abyss of hanhagah haredit and our only option is to rebel against it: this is not our Torah, this is not our worldview, and these are not our sages. Our children need to hear us rising up against the violence and the silencing. We need to shout at the top of lungs: this is not the way of the Torah! We believe in God and His Torah and refuse to bow our heads before this evil papacy. We must strengthen one another in believing in God and His Torah and to strengthen our belief in the uprightness and goodness of all of our children.
[MM points to similar sentiments from R. Lau here as well].
These are clearly Korach-esque sentiments, coming from the very family of the hanhaga haredit that he calls for a rebellion against. Yet unlike the original Korach, the contemporary application is apropos and, from what I can gauge from the few times that I've met R. Benny, wholly for the sake of Heaven. 

6/07/2010

Ironic Orthodoxy

As is customary at the end of the end of the gap year, one of the seminaries where my wife teaches recently held a banquet at which individual students pay tribute to each teacher. My wife is always curious about these tributes as she likes to see whether the students really "get her."

This year, the student who spoke at the banquet recounted how she enetred the year as a skeptic, fairly well convinced that her critique of the halakha's attitude toward women would prevent her from adopting an Orthodox lifestyle. She described that my wife's "Women in Halakha" class changed that perception since she saw that it was possible to life with the questions and critiques. Another teacher later told my wife that she thought it was a misrepresentation - the student made it seem that my wife is somehow uncomfortable with Orthodoxy but has made an uneasy truce with it. The truth? Well, my wife and I are on the edge - or perhaps not so much on the edge - of what I've begun to call Ironic Orthodoxy.

The Ironic Orthodox generation is the generation that comes after the Great Post-1967 Orthodox Awakening. The Ironic Orthodox are largely day-school and yeshiva educated. With their grandparents they share a certain comfort in their own Orthodox skin; to them, Orthodoxy is familiar, natural, and organizes their lives. With their parents they share a familiarity with the world of Jewish learning and are even able to access that learning to a large degree.

The Ironic Orthodox generation does not buy into the apologetics: not about the status of women, not about the integrity of the transmission of the Oral Law, not about the "timelessness" of obviously time-bound religious laws, customs, and ideas, etc. This generation is hard to inspire; its demeanor is skeptical and ironic, somewhat aloof and dispassionate. Their irony is not a dramatic irony - like Statler and Waldorf observing the and criticizing the show yet remaining very much a part of it - but a jocular or sarcastic attitude or perhaps even a post-irony that simultaneously adheres to and mocks traditional religious structures. Yet it's not a bitter or angry mocking. It seems to be more of a taking-for-granted of life's absurdities and of the failure of ideology to explain or animate the full gamut of practice. It does not necessarily advocate or seek change.
The acclaimed Israeli TV show "Srugim" is an example of Ironic Orthodoxy - from the camera lens's perspective, even if it does not necessarily describe any character in particular. The lens captures both the familiarity and the absurdity of contemporary Orthodox living. In an odd way, despite the fact that, as Shai points out, the only "normal" character in the show is hiloni, its portrait of contemporary Orthodox life is far from unsympathetic. Blogs, especially those that combine deep literacy, adherence, and irreverence - are examples as well.
Another, lesser known example might be the new Orthodox reality show "In Over Our Heads." It's too early to tell where this is going to go, but it seems to take Ironic Orthodoxy as a starting point. Its second episode is most poignant in this regard: a woman who had never really practiced taharat ha-mishpacha learns about the laws and also gets a dose of ideology to boot. The ideology is ridiculed throughout, as are some of the practices - particularly harchakot - yet when it comes time for the actual dunking to take place, it turns out to be much more meaningful than the woman had anticipated.

I do not have an explanation or justification for this, though I tend to regard it as a generally positive phenomenon. When it devolves into anger and bitterness, it can get ugly. Moreover, I'm skeptical of attempts - Yoav Sorek and Elchanan Shilo come to mind - of attempts to turn this post-ideological phenomenon into a new ideology. I have some additional thoughts along these lines, but wish to restrict myself to observations at this point.

6/04/2010

Flotilla Megilla

OK, it's time for me to put in my own $.02. I'll try to stay away from what has already been beaten to death.
  • Shockingly, Israel has yet to be condemned by Haiti.
  • There have been a bunch of comparisons between the flotilla and the Exodus, pointing out that the roles were reversed 63 years ago, with Jews running a British blockade of Mandatory Palestine. Interestingly, not (yet) much discussion of Turkey's ongoing - for almost 20 years now - blockade of Armenia (it's not a naval blockade as Armenia is landlocked). Without justifying or vilifying Israel's current actions, I think we can agree that Israel has a long, long way to go before it even gets into the same league as the Brits in the 1940s. Their blockade caused the death of 1,600 Jewish Holocaust refugees and the deportation of over 50,000 to prison camps. A small minority of Jews trying to enter Palestine illegally actually made it. And the UN (UNSCOP) watched it all happen.
  • There are 2 distinct but related issues, as many are beginning to note: the blockade in general and the handling of the flotilla in particular. Someone who thinks that the blockade is illegal and/or idiotic obviously will have a very negative reaction to the flotilla business. Obviously, a good many people around the globe were strongly opposed to the blockade for various reasons. Those who explicitly or implicitly recognized the legitimacy of the blockade - and this includes the US, the EU, and Egypt, inter alia - can take a much wider variety of positions. I am in favor of the blockade for the same reason that VP Joe Biden is - it allows Israel to inhibit the flow of arms into Gaza.
  • This would have looked very different before the Disengagement, when Israel could inspect cargoes after they docked. 
  • It is definitely ironic that both the flotilla fiasco and Cast Lead, the two issues for which Israel has faced unprecedented criticism, are the direct result of the Disengagement, which was essentially a PR move to improve Israel's international standing.
  • In hindsight, Israel's best course of action - in my opinion - would have been to let one boat through as a "goodwill gesture" - not the Mavi Marmara - and force the others to Ashdod for offloading. There's a reason it's called "hindsight," though.
  • There's a certain disrespect to the Gaza boat people when we focus on what Israel did wrong. They won. They beat us. Given the cards dealt, they played their hand much better than we played ours, lulling Israel into thinking that the boat was populated by peaceniks and then putting Israel in a situation where it would be forced to open fire (the fact that the body count was in Israel's favor is due, in my opinion, to superior training, not superior weaponry). I agree that it's a bit disingenuous for Israel to say that they were "ambushed," but the soldiers were completely surprised, taken off guard, and unprepared. Let's tip our hats to the Turks here and say, you beat us. I don't like it when the favored team says at the post game press conference "we beat ourselves." In this case, the underdog visiting team clearly outprepared and outplayed the home team. So Israel should stop acting like the Yankees.
  • That said, it seems that Israel is really starting to understand the power of YouTube. Several videos have gone viral in a big, big way, each generating over a million views. That has been lacking in the past.
On to today's Flotilla Megilla:
Janine Zacharia on the complex reality in Gaza – lots of amenities, no infrastructure.

Spencer Ackerman – Israel is alienating everyone but Evangelicals and technophiles.

Those troublesome Jews - Washington Post


Eric Posner: The Gaza Blockade and International Law - WSJ


Yossi Klein Halevi: Israelis Wonder: Has the World Lost Its Mind? - WSJ


Nudging Israel on a Gaza fix - Washington Post – Ignatius

 

Look what Israel John Podhoretz, NY Post

 

Israel’s naval blockade pitches and rolls with the Law of the Sea Ed Morgan, Globe and Mail (impartial analysis of the legal issues)

 

Israel From 10,000 Feet Joe Conasson, RealClearPolitics

 

Singling Out Israel is Nothing New David Warren, RealClearPolitics

 

Why Did Israel Commit the Crime? Asharq Alawsat

 

Don’t Save Israel this Time! Asharq Alawsat

 

Israel's action Miami Herald (pro-Israel)

 

The Rush to Judge Israel David Hasaranyi, RealClearPolitics

 

The Sinking Feeling Off Gaza David Ignatius, RealClearPolitics

 

Theater of War Mona Charen, RealClearPolitics

 

Is it a Coincidence? Asharq Alawsat on why this happens whenever there are peace talks

 

Disproportionate force feeds propaganda against Israel

Globe and Mail

 

End the Gaza blockade? If only it were that simple | Toby Greene Guardian

 

Gaza flotilla: What should Obama do? | Michael Tomasky Guardian

 

Why Iran is quiet on the flotilla | Meir Javedanfar Guardian

 

Gaza flotilla: Sarah Colborne's account - Guardian

 

Carlo Strenger: Israel's Bunker Mentality HuffPost

 

Heather Robinson: War and "Peace," Gaza-Style HuffPost

 

Alon Ben-Meir: When Reason is Forsaken HuffPost

 

Shayan Ghajar: Israel's Gift to Iran: The Flotilla Disaster HuffPost

 

Robert Koehler: David's Slingshot HuffPost

 

Success through nonviolence - Al-Arabiya

 

Dangerous and endangering - Jordan Times

 

Israel's 'mad dog' diplomacy doesn't make it more secure - Al-Arabiya

 

Jerome Slater: The Irresponsibiity of the New York Times, Exhibit Who Knows How Many? HuffPost

 

Danna Harman: Dispatch From an Israeli Journalist in Turkey HuffPost

 

Flotilla raid could be fatal blow to Turkey-Israel friendship - Globe and Mail

 

Israel's only friend - Los Angeles Times

 

Surprise!!!! American Jewish "Leaders" Leap to Defend Israel - Huffington Post Warren Goldstein

 

Israel: The Truth is Coming - Huffington Post Jodie Evans

 

From talk to action - Economist

 

Henninger: Beating Up on Israel - Wall Street Journal

 

Turkey's Calculated Concern - Forbes

 

NATO & Israel - The National Interest Online

 

The Israeli Raid and Questions About Israel's Continued Statehood - Huffington Post Sam Sedaei

 

US Plays Counselor With Turkey, Israel - Wall Street Journal

 

When Israel Goes Rogue - Newsweek

 

Hamas, Israel, and the Gaza flotilla: seven facts you need to know - Christian Science Monitor

 

Not quite as it was - Economist

 

Israel, disarmed - Washington Post - Krauthammer

 

Is Israel playing American Jews for saps? - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

 

The Jewish State Under Siege - Intellectual Conservative

 

The Middle East does not make sense and never will - Crikey

 

When doing what you need to do goes badly - Belleville News Democrat

 

When Israel Trusts Others to Stop Arms Going to Terrorists Barry Rubin

 

Prime Minister Netanyahu's Speech on the Gaza Flotilla Issue

 

Why Israel is unlikely to get a fair press in Europe Miriam Shaviv, The JC

 

No Direction Home Tablet

 

The question Israel's accusers have failed to answer Miriam Shaviv, The JC

 

Islamist Extremists Hit Israeli Soldiers with Iron Bars, West Surrenders? Barry Rubin

 

Operation Make the World Hate Us, Leon Wieseltier, The New Republic

 

http://forward.com/articles/128501/ Erdogan’s Turkey is Not a Friend, Michael Rubin


 
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3897639,00.html A new approach to Gaza - Giora Eiland
 
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=177310 Candidly speaking: time to get our act together - Isi Leibler

http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=177312 Blundering into harm's way - D. Bloomfield

Rattling the cage: I blame my country - Larry Derfner

http://cgis.jpost.com/Blogs/Sharkansky/entry/for_shame_posted_by_ira Window on Israel: for shame - Ira Sharkansky
http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=177334 'Don't submit to outside probe of raid' - Ilan Evyatar and Yaakov Katz

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/who-s-really-under-siege-1.294147 Anat Lapidot-Firilla


http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/exit-strategy-lifting-the-gaza-blockade-1.293883 Ha'aretz editorial


http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/a-just-decision-badly-executed-1.293882 Yehuda Ben Meir



6/03/2010

More Media Flotillarhea


Another day worth. It seems to be slowing down - less than 90 items today. The order and quality are indiscriminate:
Op-Ed Columnist - When America’s Friends Fall Out - NYTimes.com - Tom Friedman



Jon Snow Asks: 'Is Gaza Our Fault' Er ... No. - Wall Street Journal (blog)


Exclusive: Interview with Senior Israeli Official from COGAT – Jameel @ the Muqata


Time for Israeli Ingenuity - Forward


Let the Turks rage - Jpost


Liberal Zionists’ must choose: Hamas or Israel? - Jpost


I’d like to send a book to Gilad - Jpost


A view from the Left - Ynet


The Gaza Flotilla Issue: Logic, Truth, and Videotape – Barry Rubin


A very well-done bit of satire.

Etgar Keret on being an impromptu diplomatic correspondent.

Frum on the Oz op-ed

Oz's op-ed

Fred Kaplan – anatomy of a botch

The Vatican and the 3 Ds - Jpost


Bad Moon Rising - Lee Smith, Tablet

The ship of horrors - Ynet


Passengers, Backers Spanned Globe – Allison Hoffman, Tablet


The price of Arab lies - Ynet


Turkey and Israel close to brink - Debkafile


Diplomatic Entebbe – Yaakov Lozowick


Angry Israeli Street – Yaakov Lozowick


Turkey, Israel near clash after terror cell exposed on flotilla. Israel flies embassy families out

Debkafile

http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4265.htm – MEMRI profiles terror-linked flotilla participants.

The Freedom Flotilla massacre: Israel blockades itself - Al-Arabiya


Why did Israel commit the crime? - Al-Arabiya


Eclipsed by madness - Al-Arabiya


Israel Turns to YouTube, Twitter After Flotilla Fiasco - Wired News


A turning point for Turkey - Jerusalem Post


Perpetual bad guys - Edmonton Sun


The silent Jewish majority - Aljazeera.net


Free Gaza — from its Arab oppressors - Torrington Register Citizen


It is not just Jews who are beginning to despair at Israels actions - Scotsman


Remainders: Flotilla - Politico (blog)


This Israeli Government Has Gone Too Far - International Herald Tribune


The Jewish State Under Siege - Intellectual Conservative


Why is Gaza under blockade? What's the impact? - Reuters


Will Our Peace Prizewinner Lead Us Into a New War? - Huffington Post (blog)


The Best Analysis Yet - The Atlantic (blog) referring to Noah Millman: http://theamericanscene.com/2010/06/02/eyeless-in-gaza


A crime against Israel - Arab News


Israel's war is the West's too - Telegraph.co.uk (blog)


You call that Humanitarian Aid!? Jameel @ the Muqata – Interesting photos


In Israel Fight, Turkey Spurns West


Treat Israel Like Iran


Israel after the debacle, Dov Fischer


Israel's Isolation Deepens



Against ideas, Israel's force is impotent | Amos Oz


Israel: remember 1947 and the Exodus ship | Richard Irvine


Erdogan and the Decline of the Turks - Wall Street Journal


Saving Israel From Itself - New York Times


Editorial: Israel and the Gaza Blockade


The collateral damage from Israel's raid - Washington Post


The Nation: A New Opening For Hamas


Was Israel's raid on Gaza Freedom Flotilla legal? - Christian Science Monitor


Analysis: Erdogan tests Turkey's role as bridge - Washington Post


The Shock Heard Round the World - New York Times (blog)


Israel's self-inflicted wound - Los Angeles Times


'Freedom Flotilla' only a subterfuge – Washington Times


With friends like these … - Washington Times


Flotilla 'activists' care about politics, not aid – Washington Times


Daniel Henninger: Beating Up on Israel - Wall Street Journal


Op-Ed Contributor: An Assault on Israel, Cloaked in Peace – NYT, Michael Oren


Op-Ed Contributor: A Botched Raid, a Vital Embargo – NYT, Daniel Gordis


The larger threat – NY Post


Turning against – NY Post


Opening Rafah crossing as lifeline for Gaza poses dilemma for Egypt


Gaza flotilla raid: Joe Biden asks 'So what's the big deal here?' | Richard Adams


Adrian Hamilton: Israel had few enough friends to start with



If Gaza's relief is a step closer they won't have died in vain | Seumas Milne


Michael Wolff: Is the Flotilla Attack a Game Changer? - HuffPost


Howard Schweber: The IDF's Epic Tactical Fail HuffPost


Matthew Duss: Elliot Abrams Giving Advice On The Middle East Is Like BP Giving Advice On Capping Oil Wells HuffPost


Israel's Courageous Restraint – Joel Pollak

Amb. Marc Ginsberg: Flotsam & Jetsam – HuffPost


Judge H. Lee Sarokin: Is There a Double Standard in the World When It Comes to Demonstrations Over the Killing of Innocent People? - HuffPost


Paul Abrams: Flotilla-Gate - HuffPost


The Hypocritical Condemnation of Israel – Andrew Roberts, Daily Beast


Shan Wells: Sowing the Seeds of Jihad HuffPost

6/02/2010

Flotillapalooza (or: Flotillarrhea)

Maybe I'll post my own thoughts later, but first I want to link to a couple of opinion pieces that appeared yesterday or early this morning. In my work for JID I see a lot of the Jewish opinion articles that appear on the Web. These all appeared during the c. 36 hours between late Monday night and Wednesday morning, Israel time. It doesn't even include blogs and some of the nuttier media outlets. Needless to say, this is quite atypical. And no, I did not read them all:






Israel's link to apartheid is more than an analogy - Al-Arabiya


Israel itself may be among the victims of its pathology - Al-Arabiya


Israeli PR disaster, again - Ynet


A failure any way you slice it - Haaretz


Only a judicial commission of inquiry - Haaretz


Sympathy for the Devil and the Gaza Sea Confrontation: How Can Helping a Repressive Fascist, Genocide-Intending Hamas Regime be Innocent? Rubin reports


The rush to judgment- Jpost


The Flotilla Was a Killer - Forward


Time to get our act together Posted by Isi Leibler – Jpost blogs


The truth? Who cares? - Jpost blogs



Rabbi Shmuley Boteach: The Provocative 'Peace' Flotilla That Ended in Tragedy - huffPost


Warren Goldstein: What Will Israel Not Do? HuffPost


Stop the hypocrisy about Israel - CNN


How did we get so dumb? - ynet


In the Past - Tablet


Egypt Lifts the Blockade, ‘9/11 for Turkey’ - Tablet


Massacring the truth – Ynet


Lynch’ Mob - Tablet



Ralph Peters






A turning point for Turkey - Jpost


The Gaza convoy takeover: An effective ‘casus bellum’? - Jpost


From friend to (almost certainly) foe - Jpost


Thank you, 1st sergeant A. - ynet


Is there another option? - Haaretz


It's time for real disengagement - Haaretz


Shalit's a prisoner of a single line of thinking – Haaretz


The collateral damage from Israel's raid - Washington Post


The Non-Violent Murder of Jews - Before It's News


Mavi Marmara and the Exodus - New York Sun


Echoes of Raid on 'Exodus' Ship in 1947 - New York Times (blog)


The Lynching of Israel: The Global Propaganda Wars Gather Force - Pajamas Media (blog)


Emily Soloff: Judaism permits self defense - Chicago Tribune (blog)


Israel's Unjustifiable, No-Win Move - The Atlantic (blog)


Turkey and Israel: a deepening chill - The Guardian


Analysis: Israeli raid puts Obama on the spot - Washington Post


Israel's Raid on the Gaza Flotilla: What is President Obama To Do To Succeed ... - Huffington Post (blog) Stephen P. Cohen


Why Israel's Attack on An Aid Flotilla Won't Be a "Tipping Point" – Newsweek


Israel, stop apologizing - Ynetnews


Strutting from Tehran to Damascus, from Beirut to Gaza - Huffington Post (blog) David Harris


Bradley Burston: The Second Gaza War: Israel Lost at Sea – HuffPost


Alan Dershowitz: Israel's Actions Were Entirely Lawful Though Probably Unwise


Robert Mackey: A Former Military Planner's View, or How Israel Lost


Leon T. Hadar: The Raid on the Gaza Flotilla: "Worse than a Crime, it's a Mistake"


James Zogby: Time to Call Out Israel's Bad Behavior


Mickey Bergman: The IDF Soldiers Were Sent on a Mission That Defies Logic


Steve Sheffey: Israel Justified in Gaza Action


David Suissa: Bibi Should Have Gone to Washington


Leading article: Hamas holds the key to aid for Gaza - Independent


Louise Arbour: Good may yet come of this tragedy for Gaza - Independent


US and the Middle East: Holed below the water line | Editorial - Guardian


Turkey and Israel: a deepening chill | Fadi Hakura – Guardian


The Gaza flotilla attack shows how far Israel has declined | David Grossman – Guardian


Israel had no choice over Gaza flotilla | Seth Freedman– Guardia


Leading article: A costly misjudgement by Israel Independent


Israel reveals its true face | Ahdaf Soueif Guardian


Max Boot: Israel's Gaza Flotilla Fiasco - WSJ.com


Review & Outlook: Israel's Gaza Choices - WSJ.com


Flotilla raid offers Israel a learning opportunity David Ignatius, WashPost


Terrorists at the helm NY Post


The war flotilla – NY Post


A Brief History of the Gaza Folly American Prospect


Foreign Policy: The Gaza Breakdown – NPR


Obama, Netanyahu and the Free Gaza flotilla - Washington Post (blog)


Jon Snow Asks: 'Is Gaza Our Fault' Er ... No. - Wall Street Journal (blog)


Israeli raid: Should Israel continue its Gaza blockade? - Christian Science Monitor (blog)


Jenin on the high seas - NPL


Thomas: A rerun of the same old script - ChiTrib




US torn between allies

Israel can't afford unforced errors

Max Boot – Israel wins battle, loses war

John Pohoretz – maybe there was no other way

Asia Times – no good deed goes unpunished

David Hornick

Tobin – America must support Israel as everyone condemns