Sheldon Richman

Civilization, in fact, grows more and more maudlin and hysterical; especially under democracy it tends to degenerate into a mere combat of crazes; the whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary. ― H. … Continue reading “The Russians Are Coming? The Russians Are Coming?”

People go on quite a bit about self-determination these days. Some decry the denial of self-determination to “the Palestinians.” Others insist that only “the Jewish people” can have the right to self-determination between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Israel passed a law declaring that principle in 2018. Unfortunately, I see too little thought … Continue reading “What Is Self-Determination?”

I’ve been watching and thinking about the nationwide campus antiwar demonstrations in support of the suffering Palestinians of Gaza, and the appalling reaction to and “coverage” of those events. Something important needs to be addressed. I won’t be concerned here with the violence committed by anyone, including the police, or by lesser misconduct, such as … Continue reading “Another Bogus Antisemitism Scare”

To more fully understand the ferocity of Israel’s massacre of the people of the Gaza Strip, it’s perhaps worth considering that on October 7, 2023, the reputedly invincible Israeli Defence Forces and intelligence services were made to look like fools caught sleeping on guard duty. While Hamas’s murder, assault, and kidnapping of noncombatants must be … Continue reading “Israel Was Humiliated on October 7”

This is America, last I checked. Surely, the government would not force the sale of a social-media company or ban its app from the Google and Apple stores. Would it? Well, yes, it would,  could (perhaps), and might. A bill in Congress, backed by the government’s nominal chief executive, could become law. The House of … Continue reading “Leave TikTok Alone”

Has Israel gone mad? Or has it always been mad? What is the country thinking? The collective nouns seem reasonable in light of the widespread support in that country for the Israeli government’s appalling military assault on the people of the Gaza Strip for the last five months. How can Israel — and its outside … Continue reading “Is Israel Mad?”

This article was posted shortly before the International Court of Justice ruled provisionally that Israel’s Gaza military operation can plausibly be described as acts outlawed by the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The ICJ ordered Israel to take all actions possible to prevent the acts forbidden by the … Continue reading “Without the State, Who’d Drag Us Into Other People’s Wars?”

If it looks like genocide, sounds like genocide, and smells like genocide, chances are it’s genocide. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) will rule provisionally on whether that is what Israel is committing against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. The Republic of South Africa filed the complaint, which is ironic because Israel was … Continue reading “Smells Like Genocide”

The unspeakable violence that plagues Israel and Palestine daily relates in part to the assertion of an ancient, ancestral, and even divinely bestowed property right to a parcel of land, which is often called “holy” and “promised.” For background, here are a few influential – which is not to say factual – passages from a … Continue reading “Inspiration for the Nakba?”

In the fateful year 1917 the British cabinet had one Jewish member: Edwin Montagu. He was also the only cabinet member to oppose the Balfour Declaration of that year, which paved the way for the self-declared creation of the state of Israel, the so-called Jewish State, 31 tumultuous years later. The declaration was a brief … Continue reading “Jewish Dissent on the Balfour Declaration”