Episode Details

Note: Apologies for the poor video quality here. I’m making do with spotty WiFi.

A list of ways to help Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

There will be no Zoom call this week. We’ll return next week.

Things to Read

(Maybe this should be obvious, but I link to articles and videos I find provocative and significant, not necessarily ones I entirely agree with.)

In Jewish Currents (subscribe!), Maya Rosen reports on efforts by Israeli universities to lure American Jewish students alienated by pro-Palestinian activism on American campuses.

Last week, I spoke on a panel at B’nai Jeshurun Synagogue in New York.

On January 19, I’ll be speaking at the Free University of Brussels.

On January 26, I’ll be speaking with Carolina Jews for Justice in Asheville, North Carolina.

On January 27, I’ll be hosting a fundraiser near Asheville for the Gaza Soup Kitchen, a grassroots initiative, led by the people of Gaza, which serves hot meals to thousands daily across ten kitchen sites. Ninety-nine percent of funds raised go directly to feeding and supporting the people of Gaza. Register here: https://givebutter.com/FairviewNC (donation amount is $100 and address to be provided after registration).

See you next week,

Peter

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

So, there are really remarkable protests taking place in Iran, and I think the first thing to say about them is that they deserve the support of progressives because progressives should care about human rights.

And there are pro-American regimes that can commit horrific violations of human rights, and there are anti-American regimes that can commit horrific violations of human rights. This is not a new story. You can go back to Joseph Stalin to realize that’s the case, and also to see that there have been times historically, where some progressives have forgotten that, and judged regimes less on the way they treat their people than how they treat the United States. And that seems to me, it’s as wrong to give countries a pass when they brutally violate human rights because they’re anti-American, as it is to give them a pass when they brutally violate human rights, because they’re pro-American, if you’re someone who cares and believes in the universality of human rights.

But saying that the Iranian protesters were protesting against this really, really autocratic and brutal regime deserve the support of progressives around the world—all people around the world—doesn’t answer the question of w