@emilyctamkin
Writer, reporter, editor, all-around delight. Work lots of places. Author of THE INFLUENCE OF SOROS and BAD JEWS. Working on new book on Holocaust remembrance. Don’t yell at me. emilyctamkin@gmail.com. emilyctamkin.substack.com.
nyt website currently resembles one of those mock covers people made before 2016 election: economy floundering, war in the middle east, scandal-plagued cabinet sec, brazen corruption....
NEW: U.S. military investigators believe it is likely that U.S. forces were responsible for the strike on an Iranian girls' school that killed scores of children but have not yet reached a final conclusion, two U.S. officials tell Reuters
"Democratic voters...are insisting that the party break its cognitive dissonance around Israel. Which means that the future of US Jews in the Party...also depends on whether US Jews are willing to admit this dissonance to ourselves."
forward.com/opinion/8103...
I continue to be gobsmacked at 1) how common this formulation is 2) how antisemitic and generally bigoted it is 3) and how for all the talk of anti-semitism this is never cited as an example even though it’s quite literally the original incarnation.
"Politicians understand that uncritical support for Israel is no longer compatible with the Democratic mainstream" — @emilyctamkin.bsky.social on Gavin Newsom's "sort of an apartheid state" watershed moment.
I wrote about how Democratic voters are forcing their party into resolving cognitive dissonance on Israel and what it means for American Jewish voters for @forward.com
forward.com/opinion/8103...
Agreed!
I often feel that we are too far gone on this in every direction and so everything I say on it is a waste of virtual breath but, you know, one must imagine Jewish Sisyphus happy.
There are a lot of legitimate questions to ask about Israel's role in lobbying the US to fight this war in Iran, and also a lot of antisemitic conspiracies about the "Zionist-occupied government" going around. I wrote about sorting through those fuzzy lines here: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
I understand that claims of antisemitism are often weaponized and at the same time think it is very easy to speak out against this war for many excellent reasons without alleging that the US is doing a Jewish holy war
Good thread
the "gradually and then all at once" structure of public opinion moves is a wild thing, and one way you know it's happened is when politicians of the moderate / poll-driven / cynical type jump in with takes that just recently were seen as provocatively ideological www.politico.com/news/2026/03...
A Toronto synagogue was damaged by gunfire on Monday night, the beginning of the Jewish holiday Purim, the police said. No one was hurt. A vehicle was reportedly seen leaving the area after the shots, but there is no description of any suspect, the police said. nyti.ms/4bqWI2L
Journalist and Nexus Fellow, @emilyctamkin.bsky.social, discusses the importance of weighing context, impact, and intent when assessing whether language is antisemitic or not.
Instead of rushing to punishment, seek understanding.
📺: @jstreetdotorg.bsky.social's Convention in Washington, D.C.
It happened at a time of his choosing
Self interest is short sighted. Chag Sameach.
bsky.app/profile/bcfi...
Feel like I am losing my mind with “Israel made him do it.” Is he the president of the US - and specifically the guy who said he is ruthless and beholden to no one - or is he a tiny lil bean 🫘
More niche than "general Wasian" but www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/nebraska/978...
you know, this is why you should not elect people who have never once learned anything about anything
It goes right justified might to might makes right to might makes …might.
This was not meant to be aggressive or an attack! I continue to think it was silly for people to ever defend that tattoo etc.
bsky.app/profile/emil...
You did not ask but what I see as the bigger issue here is I am not sure he is demonstrating care around this issue and maybe the lesson the non Jewish left takes is that everything is called antisemitism anyway so let’s just keep moving.
Yeah I just think - those people exist already! Platner wouldn’t be the first. So I do not really see him as creating a problem. bsky.app/profile/emil...
It’s only a massive problem if we say that the only way for criticism of Israel to not be antisemitic is if no antisemites criticize Israel, which would not make sense, or if we stopped calling out antisemitism because we are criticizing Israel, which also would not make sense.
I respectfully disagree with this. Leaving Platner aside: That there are people who are antisemitic and criticize Israel doesn’t make criticism of Israel inherently antisemitic.
The word "Purim" comes from "pur," or "lot." Haman drew lots to decide when he would kill the Jews. Esther cast her lot with the Jewish people. This Purim, we are being asked how we'll choose to cast ours. At Nexus, our answer is with Jews and all who are on the side of democracy.
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