Speech

(Videos recorded by Rachel Tabachnick; more videos coming shortly.)

One of the most common slogans used by Israeli left-wingers is "the occupation corrupts." Meaning, it corrupts Israeli society -- and even more importantly, it corrupts Israeli democracy.

But the damage that Benjamin Netanyahu's government has done in its first year is so overwhelming, one can only wonder what will happen if he's lucky enough to stay in power for a full four-year term.

Every year at about this time, radical Islamic students--aided by radical anti-Israel professors--hold an event they call "Israel Apartheid Week." During this week, they try to persuade students on campuses around the world to demonize Israel as an apartheid regime. Most students seem to ignore the rantings of these extremists, but some naïve students seem to take them seriously. Some pro-Israel and Jewish students claim that they are intimidated when they try to respond to these untruths.

I logged onto Facebook today and saw my mother's status: "This is serious and my son and I have differences of opinion: The New Israel Fund and The Next War" What a world we live in, right? We're all more connected to each other and our communities than ever before...who would have thought our moms and dads would be hanging on Facebook when we joined it half a decade ago?

The outburst by eleven UC students against Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren has generated a firestorm of condemnation of their actions, including from UCI Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, whose credentials as a defender of free speech rights are unassailable.

In his latest column for the Jerusalem Post, Daniel Gordis -- a rightly admired Jewish thinker of the conservative ilk -- wades into the war of words between the left-leaning New Israel Fund and the right-leaning campus organization Im Tirzu.

Last week, Im Tirtzu ("If you will it"), a relatively new purportedly-Zionist group, organized a brutal campaign against the New Israel Fund (NIF), an organization committed to democratic change and social justice in Israel, which has - in the last three decades - supported more than 800 cutting-edge civil society organizations.

So what happens when Islamic world private, public and civic leaders spend three days with their counterparts from the U.S.? A veritable avalanche of frank dialogue, realistic proposals and the incubation of new ties that will surely facilitate greater U.S - Islamic understanding and cooperation.

In Qatar, the Brookings Institution's Saban Center for Middle East Policy convened its 7th U.S.-Islamic World Forum - which brought together through this afternoon over 1000 U.S and Islamic attendees.

Deputy Minister Ayalon is on the offensive against anti-Semitism and may sue a British protestor who yelled “slaughter the Jews” during his speech.

A campaign against the New Israel Fund -- a U.S.-based organization that funds civil society activists in Israel -- has sparked a fierce debate over the limits of free speech, the financing of NGOs, the dictates of loyalty to the state and, ultimately, over the fundamental values of Israel's Zionist democracy.