Mondoweiss

Mondoweiss
Type News website
Format Online
Editor-in-chief Philip Weiss
Adam Horowitz (co-editors)
Associate editor Allison Deger (assistant editor)
Staff writers Alex Kane (staff reporter)
Annie Robbins (writer-at-large)
Founded 2006
Political alignment Progressive,[1][2] anti-Zionist[1][3][4][5]
Language English
Headquarters United States
Website mondoweiss.net

Mondoweiss (2006–present) is a news website that is co-edited by journalists Philip Weiss and Adam Horowitz. It is a part of the Center for Economic Research and Social Change.[6] According to the editors, Mondoweiss is "a news website devoted to covering American foreign policy in the Middle East, chiefly from a progressive Jewish perspective". Its founder describes himself as progressive and anti-Zionist.[3]

Staff

Philip Weiss has written for The New York Times Magazine,[7] Harper's Magazine,[8] Esquire, and The New York Observer.[9][10] He is the author of Cock-a-Doodle-Doo (1996)[11] and American Taboo: A Murder In The Peace Corps (2004).[12]

Adam Horowitz received his master's degree in Near Eastern Studies from New York University.[13] He later served as the Director of the Israel/Palestine Program for the American Friends Service Committee[13] where he gained "extensive on-the-ground experience in Israel/Palestine".[14] In addition to Mondoweiss, Horowitz has written for The Nation, Alternet, The Huffington Post, and The Hill.com.[13][15] Horowitz wrote the foreword to Rabbi Brant Rosen's book Wrestling in the Daylight: A Rabbi's Path to Palestinian Solidarity.[16] He has spoken frequently on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on campuses and to organizations.[17][18]

Alex Kane, an assistant editor for Mondoweiss based in New York City, also is the World editor for AlterNet.[19] His work also has appeared in Salon, The Daily Beast, the Electronic Intifada, Extra! and Common Dreams.[20]

Development

In a 2010 interview with The Link, the magazine published by Americans for Middle East Understanding, Philip Weiss described the evolution of Mondoweiss:

In March 2006 I began writing a daily blog on The New York Observer website. My editor, Peter Kaplan, encouraged me to write what was on my mind and it was his idea to call it Mondoweiss. Increasingly what was on my mind were "Jewish issues": the Iraq disaster and my Jewishness, Zionism, neo-conservatism, Israel, Palestine. For many reasons that I detail in "Blogging about Israel and Jewish identity raises Observer hackles" in the spring of 2007 I re-launched my own blog on my own website. It became a collaborative effort a year ago when Adam Horowitz joined Mondoweiss.[21]

In The American Conservative, Weiss detailed his split from The Observer and wrote "Blogging about such matters sometimes made me feel wicked, as though I was betraying my tribe. Shouldn't some thoughts remain private? But I felt that the form demanded transparency about what I cared about, Jewish identity."[22]

Content

In 2008, after the arrest of Ben-Ami Kadish, who allegedly gave Israel stolen United States secrets on nuclear weapons, fighter jets and missiles in the 1980s, The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles quoted Mondoweiss as writing about an old Government Accountability Office report stating that Israel "conducts the most aggressive espionage operation against the United States of any U.S. ally".[23][24]

In 2010 James Wolcott wrote in Vanity Fair quoting Weiss in Mondoweiss regarding an Anti-Defamation League statement regarding the planned Park51 project, an Islamic Center near the World Trade Center site. Wolcott quoted Weiss who had written: "It's happened: the Anti-Defamation League has overplayed its hand (in this case, neoconservative Islamophobia) in such a glaring manner that it is being condemned at every quarter ..."[25][26]

In 2012 Tablet magazine asserted that the Associated Press had picked up a story about Israeli security asking a Palestinian-American to show them her email at Ben-Gurion Airport. The Tablet wrote that the point was "that more news stories—and this story is undoubtedly newsworthy—are going to come to the attention of non-niche journalists and thereby gain wider notice".[27][28]

In 2012 Mondoweiss revealed that United States Representative Joseph R. Pitts' office had mailed a letter calling on Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestine National Authority Chair Yasser Arafat to work toward peace in the Middle East. The blog pointed out that Sharon had been in a coma since 2006 and Arafat had died in 2004. The representative blamed accidental use of an old form letter.[29][30]

The Goldstone Report

Weiss and Horowitz, along with Lizzy Ratner, co-edited the 2011 book The Goldstone Report: The Legacy of the Landmark Investigation of the Gaza Conflict.[31] The Publishers Weekly review noted that the abridged version of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict ("the Goldstone Report"), included an introduction by Naomi Klein and an "eloquent" forward by Bishop Desmond Tutu. The review said the book was "enhanced" by oral testimonies which "inject a harrowing human element to counterbalance the report's dispassionate tone". The review called the book "An essential read for those concerned with accurate documentation of historical events and nations' accountability for their treatment of civilians living in war zones".[32] Kirkus Review called the book "An eye-opening document and an urgent call for accountability".[33]

In a Democracy Now! interview Horowitz discussed Richard Goldstone's later correction of one item in his report, his saying "Civilians were not intentionally targeted [by Israel] as a matter of policy." Horowitz expressed that he views this as a minor issue and "Much larger was the issue of intentionally attacking the civilian infrastructure of Gaza, which he doesn't mention, and the idea of just disproportionate and indiscriminate violence, which he doesn't address and which affects civilians disproportionately."[34][35]

Reception

In March 2007, Gary Kamiya in an article for the Salon website wrote that Mondoweiss offered "informed and passionate discussions" of what Weiss states are "delicate and controversial matters surrounding American Jewish identity and Israel". Kamiya also states that Weiss, "routinely skewers attempts by mainstream Jewish organizations and pundits to lay down the law on what is acceptable discourse". He gave as an example Weiss exploring "off-limits" topics like dual loyalty, as in an incident regarding the American Jewish Committee. Weiss had written that a Committee piece accusing Jewish intellectuals who did not "toe the party line on Israel" of being "self-haters" only revealed the "anti-intellectual, vicious, omerta practices of the Jewish leadership".[36]

In 2009, Michael Massing, in an article titled "The News About the Internet" for The New York Review of Books, noted that "Weiss is one of several friends I've seen flourish online after enduring years of frustration writing for magazines. With its unrelenting criticism of Israel, his site [Mondoweiss] has angered even some of his fellow doves, but it has given voice to a strain of opinion that in the past had few chances of being heard."[37]

In November 2009 former United States Senator James G. Abourezk praised Weiss and Horowitz for their courage in taking on "what most believe is an unassailable, monolithic pro-Israel Lobby". He wrote that the blog "hits Israel's illegal occupation where it hurts—in the center of the American Jewish community. Mondoweiss is evidence that more and more American Jews are thinking twice about giving Israel their wholehearted, unquestioning support for the crimes it is committing in the territories it illegally occupies."[38]

In September 2010, James Wolcott of Vanity Fair argued that Mondoweiss "is one of the most invaluable sites in the blogosphere, a blast of sanity and moral suasion against the prevailing demonization of anything and anyone perceived as anti-Israel".[39]

In 2012 Arab News wrote that Weiss and Horowitz had "developed an interactive forum that brims with up-to-the-minute news and comment and makes brilliant attention-grabbing use of text and video material" and that "they bring to their work a moral and intellectual verve woefully missing from coverage of Palestine-Israel issues in even the more respected sections of the mainstream media".[40]

While Mondoweiss has received praise for its content, it's also been a frequent target for criticism, much of which has come from people and organizations with opposing views on the Israel-Palestine conflict. This criticism has often included allegations of antisemitism.

In 2010, Mondoweiss was criticized by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs for publishing a series of cartoons which they stated expressed "anti-Israelism, a more recent category of anti-Semitism".[41]

Between 2010 and 2011, Tablet magazine published three articles,[42][43][44] in which Mondoweiss, along with some other blogs, were thoroughly criticized. These articles characterized Weiss as a "Jew-baiter" and "intensely anti-Israel", saying his site is "obsessed with Israel and the machinations of the U.S. Israel lobby", and laden with "sweeping and unsubstantiated rhetoric".

Weiss responded to allegations in Tablet, by stating that the magazine had "smeared" him and several other bloggers as Jew-baiters.[45] Walt questioned the article's premise by stating that Smith's article contained "not a scintilla of evidence" that "Weiss, or I have written or said anything that is remotely anti-Semitic, much less that involves 'Jew-baiting'. There's an obvious reason for this omission: None of us has ever written or said anything that supports Smith's outrageous charges."[46]

In 2012, The Algemeiner Journal characterized Mondoweiss as "Purveyors of Anti-Semitic Material".[47] Also, Armin Rosen, a Media Fellow with The Atlantic, criticized Peter Beinart's blog, Open Zion (which appears in The Daily Beast) for publishing an article by Alex Kane because he is Mondoweiss's "Staff Reporter". Rosen wrote that "Mondoweiss often gives the appearance of an anti-Semitic enterprise."[48]

Robert Wright, a Senior Editor at The Atlantic, responded to Rosen's article, writing "This tarring of Kane by virtue of his association with Mondoweiss would be lamentable even if Rosen produced a convincing indictment of Mondoweiss, showing that it indeed evinces anti-Semitism."[49] James Fallows, a national correspondent for The Atlantic concurred with Wright's response to Rosen.[50] Alex Kane, Adam Horowitz, and Philip Weiss responded in Mondoweiss arguing that Rosen's article, "is about nothing more than policing the discourse on Israel".[51]

Later that year, The Algemeiner Journal published another article decrying Mondoweiss for its associations with Judith Butler, in light of her recent comments describing Islamist movements, even those of the militant variety, like Hamas and Hezbollah, as "social movements that are progressive, that are on the Left, that are part of a global Left".[52]

In 2013, Peter Beinart, writing for The Daily Beast, accused Mondoweiss of "ignoring human rights abuse unless it can be linked to America or capitalism or the West", and said that "By admitting that they're more interested in human rights violations when Israel commits them than when Hamas does, Horowitz and Roth are implying that they don't really see human rights as universal".[53] Later in the year Commentary magazine accused Mondoweiss of being complicit in an "effort to delegitimize Jewish rights".[54]

Journalist Bradley Burston, writing for Haaretz, described Mondoweiss as "avowedly anti-Israel" in reference to its coverage of the 2014 kidnapping and murder of Israeli teenagers.[55] Haaretz itself has described Mondoweiss as a "progressive Jewish website".[56]

In 2015, David Bernstein, writing for The Washington Post, called the website a "hate site", and listed quotes from Weiss that he asserted were anti-Semitic. This included Weiss' claim that "the Israel lobby ... reflected a contract the American establishment had made with Jews to drive the economy in the 1970s",[57] which Bernstein likened to a belief in an "Elders of Zion type group".

According to Elliot Kaufman, the Vice President of Cardinal for Israel, a Stanford University group, writing in The Stanford Review, Mondoweiss "often publishes astonishingly anti-Semitic material, using classic anti-Semitic imagery such as depicting Jews as spider, cockroaches, or octopuses with tentacles controlling others, and Holocaust inversion. Its hatred of Israel is as deep as it is vicious."[58]

Further reading

References

  1. 1 2 "About: Mondowiess"
  2. ↑ "Two perspectives on the Palestinian bid for statehood", WBEZ, September 23, 2011.
  3. 1 2 Weiss, Phillip. "I'm gonna wave my freak flag high (why I say I'm an 'Anti-Zionist,' not a 'Post-Zionist')", Mondoweiss blog, January 10, 2009.
  4. ↑ Weiss, Phillip. "It's time for the media to talk about Zionism", Mondoweiss, December 4, 2012.
  5. ↑ Weiss, Phillip, "'Anti-Zionist chic'" Mondoweiss, January 17, 2013.
  6. ↑ "CERSC - Projects"
  7. ↑ "Philip Weiss" at New York Magazine.
  8. ↑ "Philip Weiss" at Harper's Magazine.
  9. ↑ "Biography from Harper Collins"
  10. ↑ "Philip Weiss at New York Observer
  11. ↑ Philip Weiss, Cock-a-Doodle-Doo, St. Martin's Press, March 1996, ISBN 0312141009, ISBN 978-0312141004.
  12. ↑ Publisher Harper Collins web page on Philip Weiss, American Taboo: A Murder In The Peace Corps, 2004.
  13. 1 2 3 Biography in "Peacebuilders delegation to Israel Palestine May & June 2011", Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota, March 3, 2011.
  14. ↑ The New Media & the Palestine Question: Blogging Out of Conflict 2010 event, biography of Adam Horowitz, The Jerusalem Fund website.
  15. ↑
  16. ↑ Adam Horowitz (Foreword), Brant Rosen (Author), Wrestling in the Daylight: A Rabbi's Path to Palestinian Solidarity, Just World Books, 2012, AmazonBooks.com link.
  17. ↑ Adam Horowitz, "'Mr. Horowitz, tell us what you think of the two-state solution'", Mondoweiss, March 15, 2009.
  18. ↑ The following events all accessed January 19, 2013.
  19. ↑ Alex Kane Stories listing, AlterNet, accessed April 18, 2013.
  20. ↑ Alex Kane, "It's official: Israel has gotten away with it — again", Salon, July 9, 2010.
  21. ↑ Philip Weiss, "Blogging about Israel and Jewish identity raises Observer hackles", The American Conservative, June 4, 2007.
  22. ↑ Brad A. Greenberg, "Bad news for Jews: American accused of spying for Israel in '80s", The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, April 22, 2008.
  23. ↑ Philip Weiss, "I Swear My Mama Doesn't Spy for Israel. Now, My Daddy–", Mondoweiss, April 22, 2008.
  24. ↑ James Wolcott, Foxman Agonistes (Updated), Vanity Fair, July 31, 2010, accessed February 20, 2013.
  25. ↑ Philip Weiss, "'ADL' statement rationalizing bigotry draws wide scorn", Mondoweiss, July 30, 2010.
  26. ↑ Marc Tracy, "Israeli Airport Security Now Checking Emails: Associated Press picks up story from advocacy blog Mondoweiss", Tablet, June 5, 2012.
  27. ↑ Najwa Doughman and Sasha Al-Sarabi, "'Do you feel more Arab or more American?': Two women's story of being detained and interrogated at Ben Gurion", Mondoweiss, June 2, 2012.
  28. ↑ "On Middle East, Pitts Lives In Past; Bloggers Have Field Day After Legislator's Letter Invokes Yasir Arafat, Who Died In 2004, And Ariel Sharon, In Coma Since 2006", Intelligencer Journal, May 16, 2012, via Highbeam.
  29. ↑ Adam Horowitz, "Rep. Pitts in damage control mode following call for Arafat-Sharon negotiations", Mondoweiss, May 16, 2012.
  30. ↑ Adam Horowitz, Lizzy Ratner and Philip Weiss, "The Goldstone Affair", The Nation, April 14, 2011.
  31. ↑ Review of The Goldstone Report: The Legacy of the Landmark Investigation of the Gaza Conflict, Publishers Weekly, February 14, 2011.
  32. ↑ Review of The Goldstone Report, Kirkus Review, published online October 26, 2010.
  33. ↑ "Judge Goldstone Retracts Part of His Report on Israeli Assault on Gaza, Leaves Rest Intact", Democracy Now!, April 4, 2011.
  34. ↑ Lawrence Davidson, "Judge Goldstone alters his verdict", Ma'an News Agency, July 4, 2011, updated November 4, 2011.
  35. ↑ Gary Kamiya, "Can American Jews unplug the Israel lobby?" Salon.com, March 20, 2007.
  36. ↑ Michael Massing, "The News About the Internet", The New York Review of Books, March 13, 2009.
  37. ↑ James G. Abourezk, "Mondoweiss: A Profile in Courage", Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, November 2009.
  38. ↑ James Wolcott, "Mondo Narco", Vanity Fair, September 22, 2010.
  39. ↑ "Sidelining of mainstream media in Israel-Palestine debate", Arab News, September 30, 2012, via Highbeam.
  40. ↑ Levick, Adam, "Anti-Semitic Cartoons on Progressive Blogs", JCPA, September 2, 2010.
  41. ↑ Smith, Lee. "Mainstreaming Hate" Tablet, July 21, 2010.
  42. ↑ Smith, Lee. "Playing With Fire" Tablet, July 29, 2010.
  43. ↑ Goldberg, Michelle. "Mondo Weiss" Tablet, January 20, 2011.
  44. ↑ Philip Weiss, "'Tablet' is mobbed up with neocons", July 22, 2010, Mondoweiss.
  45. ↑ Stephen Walt, "The problem with judging a blog by its commenters (updated)", Foreign Policy, July 21, 2010.
  46. ↑ Algemeiner Staff. "Salon.com Partners With Purveyor of Anti-Semitic Material Mondoweiss", July 23, 2012.
  47. ↑ Armin Rosen, "A Reminder That Anti-Semitism Has No Place in Debates Over Israel", The Atlantic, July 14, 2012.
  48. ↑ Robert Wright, "Neo-McCarthyism", The Atlantic, July 15, 2012.
  49. ↑ "In-House Items: Mayer and Yahoo", Mondoweiss.
  50. ↑ Responding to The Atlantic smear on Mondoweiss.
  51. ↑ Petra Marquardt-Bigman, "Defending Judith Butler in The Ivory Tower", The Algemeiner Journal, September 7, 2012.
  52. ↑ Peter Beinart, "Why Not Criticize Hamas's Rights Violations?" The Daily Beast, March 13, 2013.
  53. ↑ Tobin, Jonathan S. "Anti-Semitic Hate for Kids ... and Adults", Commentary, July 8, 2013.
  54. ↑ Burston, Bradley (July 1, 2014). "Kidnap Denial: Blaming the victim of tragedy". Haaretz. Retrieved July 2, 2014.
  55. ↑ "Mock funding drive launched to send Bibi to Mandela service" Haaretz December 10, 2013.
  56. ↑ http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/05/04/mondoweiss-is-a-hate-site/
  57. ↑ Kaufman, Eliot (12 April 2016). "Stanford’s Most Radical Professor Strikes Again". The Stanford Review. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
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