The Way It Looked in 2002

Sure he was obedient to orders But he went beyond mere duty The IDF soldier was all revved up With not a second to waste To do what needed to be done And to do…

Compromismo (Touching a Nerve)

On a summer day in 1944 My mother was herded from a cattle car Along with the rest of its human cargo Which had been transported from Belgrade To the concentration camp at Bergen-Belsen She…

The Way It Looked in 2010

When we define the struggle against foreign rule as nonviolent or violent, it’s as if we have asked the occupied to prove their resistance is kosher (or not). And to whom? The very foreign rulers…

The Way It Looked in 1923

Any native people (It’s all the same whether they are civilized or savage) Views their country as their national home Of which they will always be the complete masters They will not voluntarily allow Not…

The Way It Looked in 1973

In March 1973 Israel’s prime minister Golda Meir Paid a visit to Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger Politicians shmooze as easily as they breathe Meir was grateful for US support of Israel And urged the…

Episodes/2 (How to Sleep at Night)

During Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982 Diaspora moralist Elie Wiesel was of the opinion That given the dramatic sweep of thousands of years of Jewish history What was then taking place— The bombing of…

Reasons of State Or Reasons of Memory

First published in The Ecumenist, 1997.   Edward T. Linenthal, Preserving Memory:  The Struggle to Create America’s Holocaust Museum. New York:  Penguin USA, 1995. $27.95, U.S.A; $36.99, Canada.   Throughout this spring, there have been several…