Stories by Ira Chernus
Ira Chernus is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Read more of his writing on Israel, Palestine, and American Jews on his blog: http://chernus.wordpress.com.
The old narrative of Israel as the innocent victim is losing its grip on Americans. This is necessary if we are to be even-handed brokers.
Posted on Jun 26, 2009
Israel would rather go down fighting than survive with a damaged sense of national pride. What would happen if concessions weren't so symbolic?
Posted on Jun 11, 2009
Those who want peace in the Middle East must find the right words to help move American Jews towards a more balanced view of the conflict.
Posted on May 27, 2009
Hamas has long endorsed a two-state solution, but when the NY Times reported it, kooky neocon Charles Krauthammer went unhinged.
Posted on May 13, 2009
Why would Israeli pols take a hard-line stance against Hamas, even as the group pushes for an extended pause in fighting?
Posted on Feb 2, 2009
Obama's speech shows that there's no reason to let the right monopolize the powerful language of traditional American values.
Posted on Jan 21, 2009
Israeli intelligence concluded after Camp David that Yassir Arafat was willing to follow the Oslo process -- but that's not what they told lawmakers.
Posted on Jan 14, 2009
Israelis keep saying they only want security, while they go on electing leaders whose policies make them less secure.
Posted on Jan 2, 2009
War and terrorism have replaced social issues in the conservative culture wars.
Posted on Jul 31, 2008
Conservative cultural critics have been lamenting the decline of heroism in America for years. Now Obama is challenging their narrative.
Posted on Jul 30, 2008
Republicans do not own the rights to this word. Obama has an opportunity to change how we think about patriotism. Will he take it?
Posted on Jun 20, 2008
Obama must realize he is an appealing symbol of a traditional patriotism and that symbols can connect with Americans who are full of hope.
Posted on May 20, 2008
If the U.S. or Israel were to accept Hamas' willingness to negotiate, they would tacitly acknowledge that Hamas is a player in the game.
Posted on Apr 28, 2008
The Petraeus hearings trapped Democrats into talking about whether the 'surge' is working, not that the U.S. has no right to be there.
Posted on Apr 10, 2008
The strange nature of McCain's appeal is directly tied to the distractions of the unwinnable Iraq occupation and the "War on Drugs."
Posted on Apr 2, 2008
Republicans may have already found a way to control the terms of the fall debate.
Posted on Mar 12, 2008
Mitt Romney showed us which way McCain will go this fall.
Posted on Feb 10, 2008
Voters should have flocked to a populist champion, a scrappy man of the people, but something went wrong along the way.
Posted on Feb 1, 2008
We've got to find a way to take the conservative symbolic message of faith talk out of American politics.
Posted on Jan 16, 2008
American foreign policy -- both good and bad -- has always been deeply influenced by Christian theology.
Posted on Nov 7, 2007
Every war is experienced as dramatic spectacle -- the more mythic the better. It's no coincidence that the military refers to a battle zone as a "theater."
Posted on Sep 25, 2007
A careful look at the leading Democratic candidates for president raises serious questions about the nature of the positions they are taking on the Iraq War.
Posted on Jul 27, 2007
True, the body count may turn people into abstract numbers. But it also requires soldiers to say to the world, "I killed human beings today."
Posted on Apr 3, 2003
