Lessons in self-defense

For decades politicians have struggled with elusive Middle East peace. But we now have the clear solution. The Abraham Accords. The uniqueness of this approach was its recognition that in order to achieve real peace, it's not about divorcing from each other. It's about cultural exchange and truly getting to know each other. Celebrating each other. It's really the answer to most of our human divisiveness. This piece breaks it down.

This essay delves into the definition of Zionism and the historical and indigenous connection of the Jewish people to Israel. ​Zionism isn’t what you think it is. It’s simply the ideology that the Jews have a right to return to their original home. The birthplace of the Jewish people. The land from which they were exiled multiple times. Before Jews ultimately spread to every corner of the world (places like Morocco, Yemen, Iraq, Russia, Germany, Poland, Spain, Brazil, Portugal), Jews were living in the land of Israel under numerous Jewish kings and other rulers.

Israelis and Palestinians have been at each other's throats for the better part of a century. For Jews, Israel is their eternal homeland. It's the place they returned to after so many years of exile. For the Palestinians, it's the place they lived and were expelled from by the returning Jews. The problem is that Israelis reject the Palestinian love and longing for their home, and Palestinians reject the Jewish connection to the same land. This essay explores how mutual recognition is the only path for peace. 

​Lovers of peace and justice have a tough time assigning anything good to Donald Trump. By any standard, he stoked the flames of hatred, gave renewed voice to white supremacists and disrespected so many groups it was hard to keep track. From Charlottesville good people on both sides to Mexican rapists, nobody fighting for social justice respects Trump. So when 45 helped procure multiple peace agreements in the Middle East, many on the left remained silent. Author and activist Jeffrey Kass reminds us in this essay that the peace agreements he helped secure among Israel, UAE, Dubai and Morocco are good, regardless of the wrapping paper they came in. That anytime you bring former enemies to peace and normalization it’s a good thing.

This essay is a must read for people wanting intellectual honesty. Lovers of peace and justice have a tough time assigning anything good to Donald Trump. By any standard, he stoked the flames of hatred, gave renewed voice to white supremacists and disrespected so many groups it was hard to keep track. From Charlottesville good people on both sides to Mexican rapists, nobody fighting for social justice respects Trump. So when 45 helped procure multiple peace agreements in the Middle East, many on the left remained silent.

​Author and activist Jeffrey Kass reminds us in this essay that the peace agreements he helped secure among Israel, UAE, Dubai and Morocco are good, regardless of the wrapping paper they came in. That anytime you bring former enemies to peace and normalization it’s a good thing. This essay is a must read for people wanting intellectual honesty. 

Too often people, particularly on the far left, are so quick to lump the Jews and Israel in with every colonial conquest the world has seen. They do this in the stated name of advocating for Palestinians. This essay dives into why this is counter-productive and actually doesn’t help the Palestinian cause. Author and activist Jeffrey Kass reminds us that the Jews have a 3,000 year connection to the land of Israel and didn’t colonialize anything. Recognizing rather than canceling the Jewish indigenous connection to that land will allow us to practice intellectual honesty and then actually address where the Jewish state has failed the Palestinians. ​

​Conspiracy theories have always been around, but they seem to have increased each year since the Internet. The Jews did it, or the Jews are controlling the world ones seem to have spread like wildfire. Jeffrey Kass uses the backdrop of these absurd theories to remind people that the negative acts of individuals, from any ethnic or ethno-religious group, shouldn’t be used as a reflection of the whole. Enough of the Jewish Rothschild Family already.