Isaiah B Google Group

The campaign against Columbia continues

2005-04-21T22:03:39Z

Campus Watch has just released a bulletin
([link]) claiming that
Columbia's Middle East Institute "sent out invititations" to an event
honoring Amir Baraka,
a well-known antisemite. Invitations are normally assumed to be sent by
sponsors, and so it is implied here that the Middle East Institute

Saul Bellow o"h

2005-04-06T19:20:50Z

Saul Bellow was in no sense whatever a Jewish pope but I suspect that his
death is felt in a special way by every Jew who reads. This is doubly
interesting because Bellow famously didn't want to be thought of as a
Jewish writer. But what constitutes that "special way"? In my own case
it's partly because Moses Herzog, perhaps even more than Malamud's Arthur

The Peace Prize

2005-03-20T21:43:53Z

I note that Thomas Friedman of the Times wants to give the Nobel Peace
Prize to Ayatollah Sistani for bringing about the possibility of a peaceful
society in Iraq. Maybe so. Certainly, our feelings about Bush's war to
one side, we all hope for such an outcome. But we're still very far from

verbal violence in Israel

2005-03-12T21:04:07Z

I have been thinking a lot about the alarming level of verbal violence in Israel. Nehemia Strasler wrote very pointedly on this subject in his recent HaAretz piece (the URL of the English version is
[link]) and I thought I would bring it to the attention of "Isaiah Forum" readers. The poisonous talk has come from the right (see Strasler's article) and the left. Not too long ago Jews started calling other Jews "Nazis" -- a contemptible comparison, no less a light than Leibovitz inventing "Judo-Nazi". These malice-packed names are in the courts now with all kinds of people suing one another. My general position is let them all rave unless there is proven incitement to real violence -- but there may be holes in that stance in specific instances. Legal minds need to go to work here.

Re: By way of introduction

2005-03-08T20:28:50Z

It might be helpful to explain how one can reply to posts or write on
fresh topics.
Assuming that you're reading this on a mail client (Outlook Express,
etc.), you can reply or comment as you normally reply to email.
To write something to the group, the address is
isaiah-b@googlegroups.com
Of course, you can do either of these on Isaiah-B's web page as well.

A splintered right?

2005-03-08T17:56:51Z

Talking of holocaust-denying, the Zionist Organization of America is
running a fiery denunciation of Mahmoud Abbas by its president, Morton
Klein and Neil Sher. [link]

The real aim of the article is to disparage any sort of rapprochement
between the Sharon government and that of the PLO. But it's also clear

Re: An Accidental Revisionist?

2005-03-07T22:57:26Z

I intended to post a few observations about the topic raised by Antin
(the decision not to bomb Auschwitz), not to review all its aspects.
Citing the McCloy letter was not done to "leave the last word to
McCloy," but to point readers to a location where various documents on
the subject can be found, including McCloy's official explanation. I

Re: An Accidental Revisionist?

2005-03-07T17:58:21Z

John McCloy's icy letter was extremely interesting bull shit
considering that by 1944 the allies had control of the air over
Germany, with anti aircraft guns being the only real threat. Indeed,
he appears to be annoyed that he is "being pressed from other
quarters" to bomb the camps, while congratulating Mr. Pehle of the

Re: An Accidental Revisionist?

2005-03-07T15:38:16Z

I was interested to see that despite your admonition ("...you can't
comment"), you were able to make a number of relevant and provocative
comments on my posting before introducing another question, i.e., why
were Auschwitz and the railroad tracks leading to it not bombed?

Perhaps others will react to my posting with comments on reflex

Re: An Accidental Revisionist?

2005-03-07T01:23:11Z

Hey Robert Berkovitz, get real! you can't comment on what somebody
said from disconnected comments in the press, especially from a right
wing paper with an axe to grind, and subsequently from a bunch of
hysterical people trying to be important. With friends like Paul
Speigel, who needs enemies? Before the Germans would even admit

An Accidental Revisionist?

2005-03-06T22:50:30Z

Rolf Hochhuth is a German author, probably best known for his 1963
play, "The Deputy." In the play, Hochhuth proposes that Pope Pius
XII, by barely protesting the extermination of Jews by Nazi Germany,
was complicit in the holocaust.

About two weeks ago, Hochhuth, now 74, was interviewed by a minor

By way of introduction

2005-03-06T17:16:40Z

Thanks for joining Isaiah B. I hope we'll learn much from one another.
Given the state of affairs out there, by definition never good, and our
normal Jewish contentiousness we will surely have enough to keep our
juices flowing.

Where many lists have elaborate ground rules, I'd like to begin with a