Philosophers on the Israeli – Palestinian Conflict
Jason Stanley (Yale) has a piece in today’s Frankfurter Allgemeine, a German newspaper. It is entitled “An Open Letter to the Protestors on the streets of Berlin chanting ‘Jude, Jude, feiges Schwein, komm heraus und kämpf allein’ [Jew, Jew, cowardly pigs, come out and fight]”” which looks at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and reactions to it, as well as the ideas of democracy and pluralism, through the lens of Stanley’s family ties to Germany. The piece is in German; a version in English is expected to be published elsewhere soon. UPDATE: it has now been published in English in the Boston Review.
Stanley’s is the latest in a series of articles by philosophers on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, some of which have already been mentioned here at Daily Nous. They include:
- Peter Singer (Princeton), “Ethics in Gaza” at Project Syndicate.
- Michael Walzer (IAS), “Israel Must Defeat Hamas, but also Must Do More to Limit Civilian Deaths” at New Republic.
- Frances Kamm (Harvard), “Taking Just War Seriously in Gaza” in the Boston Review.
- David Enoch (Hebrew), “Amid Gaza’s Horrors, It’s not enough for Israeli’s to Ask: So What Do You Propose?” in Haaretz (alt. link).
Additionally, the NPR show “On Point” will be hosting a discussion this afternoon at 3pm EST about moral issues in the recent conflict in Gaza with Walzer, Lionel McPherson (Tufts), and Michael Newton (Vanderbilt). (via Dirk Felleman)
Please add links to other recent related writings by philosophers, political theorists, etc., in the comments.
Samir Chopra (Brooklyn College / CUNY), “Protesting for Gaza: A Day in Gaol,” at his blog.
Assaf Sharon (Tel Aviv University), “The Moral Siege: The Militarization of Jewish Supremacism in Israel,” at Boston Review.
Daniel Levine (Maryland), “Are Attacks on U.N. Refugee Facilities in Gaza the United Nations’ Fault?“, Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM) Policy Brief.
Bonnie Honig (Brown), “Diasporic Politics Boomerang,” at The Contemporary Condition blog.
Noam Chomsky (MIT), “Nightmare in Gaza,” at Truthout. (via Michaela McSweeney)
Jeff McMahan (Oxford/Rutgers), “Gaza: Is Israel Fighting a Just War?”
http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/philosophy/gaza-is-israel-and-hamass-conflict-a-just-war
Curtis Franks (Notre Dame) “An open letter on Israel and Gaza” at Leiter Reports.
Seth Lazar (ANU), “On Human Shields,” in the Boston Review.
Eric Schliesser, “On Being Silent on Gaza” at Digressions & Impressions
Noah Efron, “Israel’s moral bad luck in Gaza,” in The Times of Israel.
I have commented myself on the ethics of human shields in war. While not specifically referring to Israel or Hamas, it is clearly what I had in mind. Combatants and human shields: some inchoate thoughts on the ethics of war.
Sam Harris, “Why Don’t I Criticize Israel?”: http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/why-dont-i-criticize-israel
He’s not exactly a philosopher, but Amos Oz makes an important distinction here that is often inadequately appreciated: http://www.thenation.com/article/two-middle-east-wars. The article is from 2002 but still relevant. Oz discusses the current violence in Gaza here: http://www.dw.de/oz-lose-lose-situation-for-israel/a-17822511.
Political scientist Jerome Slater’s criticism of the Michael Walzer piece: http://mondoweiss.net/2014/08/the-walzer-problem.html
Daniel Weinstock (McGill), “On Israel, Gaza, and Double Standards” at In Due Course.