Ira Chernus Blog

I invite you to visit my new blog, MythicAmerica.us.  It takes on a whole range of mythic foundations of U.S. political culture.

This blog contains only my writings on Israel, Palestine, and U.S. involvement in the Mideast conflict.

I’ve been a Jewish peace activist for over 30 years —  teaching, organizing, and writing about Israel, Palestine, U.S. foreign policy, and the American Jewish community.

•     READ HERE:  “THE MYTH OF ISRAEL’S INSECURITY,” a long essay about the underlying premises of Zionism in Israel and the US,  showing how those premises have kept Jews locked in conflict, and therefore insecure, since the beginning of the Zionist movement.  New perspectives on why Israel will not make peace and why so many American Jews support Israel’s self-destructive policies.

“NEWS FLASH“ gives you news and opinion items that are likely to be overlooked or under-reported in the American mass media .

Here are links to MY OWN RECENT ARTICLES

Obama’s Risky Mideast Fantasy, Tomdispatch, March 31, 2013

Why Are Right-Wingers So Crazy in Love With Israel?, Alternet, January 14, 2013

Can’t Bear to Read: “Our Harsh Logic,” Truthout, December 21, 2012

Are the U.S. and Israel Heading for a Showdown?, TomDispatch, December 20, 2012

Obama Has Power But Risks Republican Wrath Gaining Mideast Peace, Truthout, November 26, 2012

Reading Beinart and Lerner as Gaza Burns, ReligionDispatches, November 20, 2012

Obama Weaves Web of Deceit on Gaza War, Commondreams, November 19, 2012

The General’s Son Recounts Very Different Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, ReligionDispatches, October 12, 2012

Media May Give Hamas Extreme Makeover, Truthout, February 18, 2012

Why Would Israel Attack Iran, Really?, Huffington Post, February 9, 2012

New York Times Hypes Israeli Attack on Iran, Huffington Post, January 29, 2012

Gingrich on Palestine: Small Truths in a Big Lie, Commondreams, December 12, 2011

Israel May Ban Women Singing in Public, Truthout, December 8, 2011

Israel’s Defense Chief OK’s Hundreds of Israeli Deaths, Commondreams, November 11, 2011

Arab Blood on American Hands, Huffington Post, August 22, 2011

Obama May Support Palestine in UN, Huffington Post, June 8, 2011

Israel and the Palestinians Through the Looking-Glass, Tomdispatch, May 26, 2011

Itamar Murders: How the Israeli Narrative of Victimization is Fed, Truthout, April 30, 2011

Palestinians Waiting for Obama Peace Plan, Huffington Post, April 26, 2011

Obama’s Israel Policy: A Bad, Sad Joke, Huffington Post, April 21, 2011

Three Myths of Israel’s Insecurity, Tomdispatch, April 17, 2011

Why Not a No-Fly Zone for Gaza?, Commondreams, April 12, 2011

Obama’s Jerusalem Speech, Huffington Post, April 5, 2011

From Jerusalem to Washington, Myth Disguised as News, Antiwar, March 29, 2011

Public Support for Israel, Truthout, March 21, 2011

Israel’s “”Insecurity”: The Most Dangerous Myth, Commondreams, March 10, 2011

J Street’s Wrong Turn, Huffington Post, February 23, 2011

8 Most Commonly Held Misconceptions About the Israel-Palestine Conflict, Alternet, February 23, 2011

Obama Stood up to the Push by Israel and American Neocons to Stand with Mubarak in Egypt, Alternet, February 14, 2011

Jews’ Insecurity Blocking U.S. Mideast Peace Plan, Truthout, January 11, 2011

Israel’s Deadly Tear Gas Made in USA, Commondreams, January 5, 2011

Obama: Map Borders for Mideast Peace, Huffington Post, December 13, 2010

Hamas and Israel Trade Hanukkah Gifts, Huffington Post, December 1, 2010

Is Palestine America’s Next Vietnam?, Tomdispatch, November 9, 2010

Iranophobia: The Panic of the Hegemons, Tikkun, November, 2010

U.S. Can Put the Squeeze on Israel, Huffington Post, October 27, 2010

Netanyahu Tries to Scuttle Peace Talks Again, Antiwar, October 19, 2010

Deconstructing Israeli Media Distortions, Truth-out, October 15, 2010

J Street Weathers Another Cheap Attack from the Jewish Right Wing, Alternet, October 14, 2010

An Israeli Gandhi Seized at Sea, Commondreams, September 29, 2010

“Pro-Israel” Neocons Go Global, Truthout, September 28, 2010

This Yom Kippur, We Must Atone for the Sins of Israeli Policy, Alternet, September 16, 2010

Skeptics Could Doom Middle East Peace Talks to Fail, Commondreams, September 3, 2010

Hypocrisy of Preaching Nonviolence to Palestinians, Commondreams, July 12, 2010

U.S. Navy Heading Toward Iran: Update, Alternet, June 22, 2010

Are U.S. Warships Gearing Up for Confrontation with Iranian Aid Flotilla to Gaza?, Alternet, June 21, 2010

U.S. Stands, and Lies, with Israel, Truthout, June 19, 2010

Zionist Joke: What Have We Ever Done To Them?, Antiwar, June 8, 2010

Israel Raises Nuke Threat to Iran, Commondreams, June 3, 2010

Activists on the Ship “Rachel Corrie” Challenge Israel’s Unjust Blockade and Zionist Myths, Alternet, June 3, 2010

Obama Must Ask Netanyahu the Right Questions, Truthout, June 2, 20101

Gaza Flotilla: This is What Smart Strategy Looks Like, Commondreams, May 28, 2010

How Many U.S. Progressives Please the Right-Wing Israel Lobby, Commondreams, May 17, 2010

Israel Provocation Gives U.S. Leaders a Chance to Be Strong and Right, Commondreams, May 13, 2010

Blood or Treasure? Obama’s Crucial Choice, Tomdispatch, May 6, 20101

Why Does the U.S. Let Israel Get Away With Having a Nuclear Arsenal, Alternet, April 12, 2010

Whose Freedom?, Truthout, March 31, 2010

Why AIPAC Feels “Like Shit,” Commondreams, March 24, 2010

The Timing Is Ripe for Obama to Make Demands on Israel to Settle for Peace, Alternet, March 19, 2010

Your Friend, the Pentagon, Truthout, March 18, 2010

Pentagon Tells Obama to Press Israel for Peace, Commondreams, March 16, 2010

Netanyahu Derailing Peace Effort Using Heritage Sites, Truthout, February 28, 2010

Israeli Women Soldiers Break the Silence, Commondreams, February 1, 2010

Israel Finds a New Way to Play the Victim, Antiwar, January 21, 2010

Martin Luther King’s Legacy and Israel’s Future, TomDispatch, January 17, 2010

Israeli Threats Against Gaza Grow, Truthout, January 14, 2010

Israel Giving Gas Masks to Babies, Commondreams, January 11, 2010

What Planet are Netanyahu and Obama Living On?, Truthout, December 16, 2009

Israel’s “Pathology,” Truthout, November 14, 2009

US Words Thwart Middle East Peace, Commondreams, November 2, 2009

Politics Sparks Religious Conflict in Jerusalem, Commondreams, October 27, 2009

What’s Obama’s Score on Mideast Peace?, Truthout, October 16, 2009

Obama Trapped Behind Wall of Mideast Containment, Tomdispatch, October 6, 2009

Israel’s Supporters Ask, “What Sin?”, Truthout, September 23, 2009

Zionism Vs. Zionism, Truthout, September 18, 2009

Obama’s Israel-Palestine Gamble, Foreign Policy in Focus, September 16, 2009

Why Is Jane Fonda Being Accused Of An “Attack On The Heart and Soul Of Israel”? Alternet, September 10, 2009

Holocaust Still a Political Football, Truthout, September 5, 2009

“Socialized Medicine” and Hamas: Big Lies Thrive, Commondreams, August 27, 2009

Israel Not as Powerful as You May Think, Commondreams, August 20, 2009

“What do Palestinians Want?” is the Wrong Question, Truthout, August 16, 2009

Inching Toward Compromise in the Middle East, Foreign Policy in Focus, August 10, 2009

Tel Aviv Murder Reflects Israeli Fears, Commondreams, August 4, 2009

Diplomatic Suckerhood: Why Israel Is Fighting Toward its Own Demise, ReligionDispatches, July 16, 2009

Hamas Getting on Board Peace Train, Commondreams, July 7, 2009

Forbidden Israel: Sex and the Settlers, Alternet, July 7, 2009

Charge of Anti-Semitism, Truthout, June 30, 2009

Palestinian Violence Overstated, Jewish Violence Understated, Tomdisptach, June 25, 2009

Israeli Leader Reveals Why Israeli Shuns Negotiation, Commmondreams, June 23, 2009

Time for Jews to Abandon the Old Foundation Myth of Israel?, ReligionDispatches, June 17, 2009

“Palestinians” without “Palestine”, Foreign Policy in Focus, June 16, 2009

Is Israel’s Aggression a Question of Pride?, Alternet, June 11, 2009

AIPAC Wall Beginning to Crack, Truthout, June 9, 2009

Game-Changer? American Jews Reaching a Tipping Point on Israel,  Alternet, May 27, 2009

CIA Briefs Obama for Talk with Netanyahu, Commondreams, May 18, 2009

For articles that I’ve written before May, 2009  (and there are a lot of them),  click on this link:   “ISRAEL, PALESTINE, AND THE MIDDLE EAST”