The Beinart Notebook

Our call this week, for paid subscribers, will be at a special time: Wednesday at 11 AM Eastern.

Our guest will be the Gaza-born journalist Muhammad Shehada, whose writing has been indispensable over the last year. I cited him in a recent essay in The Guardian, which noted that some of the most prescient predictions about what would happen if Israel invaded Gaza came from Palestinian commentators whose views were almost totally ignored in the US media. Here’s a fascinating piece Muhammad wrote recently about the way people in Gaza think about October 7. And his thoughts on the toll the last year has taken on him personally.

Paid subscribers will get the link this Tuesday and the video the following week. They’ll also gain access to our library of past Zoom interviews with guests like Rashid Khalidi, Thomas Friedman, Ilhan Omar, Omar Barghouti, Benny Morris, Noam Chomsky, and Bret Stephens.

There will be no zoom call on the week of Monday, October 21.

My New Book

Click image to preorder now.

Knopf will publish my new book, Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza, on January 28 of next year. I hope the book will contribute, in some small way, to changing the conversation among Jews about what is being done in our name. But I’m keenly aware of two things: First, Jewish voices like mine usually get more attention in the US than do Palestinian ones. Second, while I’m publishing my book, Palestinians in Gaza— and beyond— are suffering in unspeakable ways.

So, while I hope you consider buying my book, I hope you also consider buying a book by a Palestinian author. As the weeks go by, I’ll offer different suggestions, but readers should feel free to email me their own. I’ve been deeply moved by Fida Jiryis, Stranger in My Own Land, which charts her family’s painful and surreal journey, from Mandatory Palestine to Lebanon to Israel. It’s a book I wish I could make required reading in all the places, in America, Israel, and beyond, where Palestinians are routinely dehumanized.

I also hope you’ll consider donating to a charity that works in Gaza. One good option is Medical Aid to Palestinians. If you have other suggestions, please send them.

Sources Cited in this Video

The Atlantic’s review of The Message.

A transcript of Ezra Klein’s interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates.

Jordan’s Foreign Minister refutes the claim that the Arab governments won’t accept Israel.

The Arab Peace Initiative, which was endorsed by the 57 members of states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and amended in 2013 to include land swaps.

The legislation calling for equality proposed in 2018 by Palestinian members of the Knesset.

Things to Read

(Maybe this should be obvious, but I link to articles and videos I find provocative and significant, not necessarily ones I entirely agree with.)

On the Jewish Currents (subscribe!) podcast, Noura Erakat, Fadi Quran, Dana El Kurd, Amjad Iraqi, and Ahmed Moor discuss the Palestinian liberation struggle.

What American doctors, nurses, and paramedics saw in Gaza.

Laura Kraftowitz on learning Arabic in Gaza.

After years covering his native Gaza, Mohammed Mhawish has launched a newsletter. Check it out.

I spoke recently to The Jewish Council of Australia, New York One and Slate.

Upcoming Talks

On October 29, I’ll be speaking at the University of Victoria.

See you on Thursday,

Peter

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

Hi. I want to say a couple last things about Ta-Nehisi Coates’ book, The Message, and all of the controversy that’s been associated with it in the book tour that he’s been on, a couple of things that I think have not gotten the attention they deserve. The first is that one of the things that Coates has been saying as he’s been promoting the book is a very clear affirmation of the value of international law and the value of nonviolence and, particularly, the importance of not using violence that violates international law against civilians, including in reference to what Hamas did on October 7th.

And he’s making a point that I think is really crucially important. This is from his interview with Ezra Klein. He says that he’s come to the feeling that ‘violence is corrupting, that the first thing you end up doing is folks end up killing each other,’ talking about people whose movements become accustomed to using violence against civilians, that that undermines the moral character of a liberation struggle and ultimately can lead to violence even against people on your own side. And he goes on to say ‘there was just no part of my politics at this point in my life that allows me to see a thousand people massacred and say, I don’t know, whatever the excuses are, I don’t have that. And I’m not saying that I really want to drill down on this. I feel like if you lose sight of the value of individual human life, you have lost something.’

I think this is really important. Again, so much of the way his book is being discussed is this kind of like people on the left love him and pro-Israel folks are attacking him. But this message is a bit different than some of what you’re hearing on the kind of pro-Palestine left, or on the student left. Again, I want to be careful because often times people tend to kind of caricature the Palestine solidarity movement. But I think this clear repudiation of violence against civilians, and the statement that violence against civilians is corrupting of a liberation movement itself, is something that Coates is saying clearly that you don’t often hear as clearly from some of the voices in the Palestine solidarity movement and the protests and the rallies and the slogans and all those things that you’ve been seeing over the last year. And I think it’s really, really valuable. And I think it fits with his general humanism, his belief, as he said, in the preciousness of all life and his ability to center that even amidst even when it comes to a struggle that he deeply, deeply identifies with, as he should, which is the Palestinian struggle for freedom.

The second point I want to make about Coates in the debate is that if you look at his critics, famously in that CBS interview, but you just see it all over the place if you look at criticisms of his book. Again and again, people come down to the idea that he doesn’t recognize the complexity of the problem. So, for instance, this is from The Atlantic’s review about the book. It says, ‘his habitual unwillingness just to recognize conflicting perspectives and evidence, even if only to subject them to counterarguments undermines his case. Might it have been worth noting that Israel is surrounded by Arab states and populations committed to its annihilation. That to a great degree, Palestinian leadership, as well as many Palestinian people, share this eliminationist view, which might help explain the forbidding roads and onerous checkpoints.’

So, you see the move here in this Atlantic review, but you see all the time in response to Coates’ view, which is essentially a set of assertions, which basically are designed to say, yes, what Coates saw was bad, but Israel was justified in doing it because the Palestinians and the Arabs have acted so badly, or Iran has acted so badly, and they’re so menacing. And it’s true that Coates doesn’t respond in his book to these set of counterarguments. But what is crucial to remember is that in these set of statements about Coates’ lack of complexity, they very often themselves betray a real lack of understanding of the scholarly evidence and historical record themselves, right. In the guise of complexity, they’re actually offering very frequently a set of kind of propaganda points that actually aren’t very sophisticated and complex at all, right.

So, the claim that Israel is surrounded by Arab states and populations committed to its annihilation, right. This author in The Atlantic just kind of throws that out as if it’s a settled fact. Why doesn’t Coates respond to that? Well, actually, because it’s mostly really not true. First of all, the entire Arab League, endorsed by the Islamic Confere…

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Joshua Leifer is author of the new book, Tablets Shattered: The End of an American Jewish Century and the Future of Jewish Life. It’s the best history of American Jewish politics I’ve read and offers a provocative analysis of the American Jewish future. Josh’s launch event was cancelled the week of this discussion, when the bookstore that was hosting it objected because the moderator, Rabbi Andy Bachman, is a “Zionist.” We discussed that, and much more.

Audio Podcasts unlock after six weeks for free subscribers. To get them right away, and support my work, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit peterbeinart.substack.com/subscribe

Our call this week, for paid subscribers, will be at a special time: Thursday at 11 AM Eastern.

Our guest will be the award-winning author and journalist, Ta-Nehisi Coates. His new book, The Message, chronicles his trip to Palestine and Israel (alongside trips to Senegal and South Carolina) and meditates on why some people’s stories are told and others are erased. We’ll talk about how he came to write about Israel-Palestine, about how victims become victimizers, about the backlash he’s experienced since the book came out, and about the forces that keep Black writers from shaping public debate about America’s role in the world.

This conversation will be cosponsored with Jewish Currents and the Foundation for Middle East Peace.

Paid subscribers will get the link this Tuesday and the video the following week. They’ll also gain access to our library of past Zoom interviews with guests like Rashid Khalidi, Thomas Friedman, Ilhan Omar, Omar Barghouti, Benny Morris, Noam Chomsky, and Bret Stephens.

Premium Membership

We’ve added a new membership category, Premium Member, which is $179 per year (or higher, if you want to give more). In addition to our weekly Zoom interviews, Premium Members get access to a monthly live “ask me anything” zoom call and the video of that call the following week.

Our next “ask me anything” will be this Wednesday, October 9 at 11 AM Eastern.

If you’re interested in becoming a premium or regular member, hit the subscriber button below or email us with any questions.

My New Book

Knopf will publish my new book, Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza, on January 28 of next year. I hope the book will contribute, in some small way, to changing the conversation among Jews about what is being done in our name. But I’m keenly aware of two things: First, Jewish voices like mine usually get more attention in the US than do Palestinian ones. Second, while I’m publishing my book, Palestinians in Gaza— and beyond— are suffering in unspeakable ways.

So, while I hope you consider buying my book, I hope you also consider buying a book by a Palestinian author. As the weeks go by, I’ll offer different suggestions, but readers should feel free to email me their own. I’ve been deeply moved by Fida Jiryis’ Stranger in My Own Land, which charts her family’s painful and surreal journey, from Mandatory Palestine to Lebanon to Israel. It’s a book I wish I could make required reading in all the places, in America, Israel and beyond, where Palestinians are routinely dehumanized.

I also hope you’ll consider donating to a charity that works in Gaza. One good option is Medical Aid to Palestinians. If you have other suggestions, please send them.

Sources Cited in this Video

Noam Chomsky’s American Power and the New Mandarins.

Things to Read

(Maybe this should be obvious, but I link to articles and videos I find provocative and significant, not necessarily ones I entirely agree with.)

In Jewish Currents (subscribe!), Seth Anziska reflects on the lessons of past Israeli invasions of Lebanon for the one unfolding now.

Al Jazeera’s powerful new documentary, Starving Gaza.

Shane Burley details the purge of anti-Zionist staffers from American Jewish institutions since October 7.

An October 7 reading list.

Upcoming Talks

On October 29, I’ll be speaking at the University of Victoria.

See you on Thursday,

Peter

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

Hi. So, as it happens, the anniversary of October 7th falls in between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, in this period of time when Jews are expected to look inward and ask other people for forgiveness for the sins they’ve committed; and then, after doing that, then turn to G-d, and ask G-d for forgiveness for the sins that we’ve committed against G-d. And, famously in the al chet prayer, which appears ten times in the Yom Kippur liturgy, the confession of our sins is in the plural. So, for instance: for the sin which we have committed before you, openly or secretly; for the sin which we have committed before you, under duress or willingly. And I think there’s a tremendous power in the idea of a communal confession, that we are all responsible for each other’s misdeeds. But if you are a kind of critic of the American Jewish establishment and the Israeli government like me, there’s always also a danger, I think, that in the sense that you focus so much on the critiques of the community writ large, and its established leaders, and it’s easier to do that sometimes than to focus on one’s own misdeeds, one’s own sins.

And as I look back on this October 7th for the past year, I feel both a sense of a need to repent and ask for forgiveness in very, very different, and sometimes, I feel like, dichotomous ways. On the one hand, I feel a tremendous sense of guilt that I did not reach out more regularly, and with deeper concern and deeper urgency, to Israelis that I knew immediately after October 7th. I think that one of the things that this year has done is that it has created, I would say, a kind of a chasm between Israeli Jews and American Jews, or a kind of a greater degree of hierarchy than I think I’ve ever felt before. Because I think that the degree to which American Jews are just much safer than Israeli Jews, notwithstanding all of the stuff about how antisemitism makes American Jews unsafe—in reality, American Jews are far, far safer than Israeli Jews. And I’ve never felt that dichotomy as powerfully as I did after October 7th.

And I think there’s one Israeli friend, in particular, who I did not reach out to after October 7th because, honestly, I was too afraid of how angry they would be at me for my political position of opposing the war. And so, in a kind of a cowardly action, I didn’t reach out to them because I was afraid of the political conversation we would have. And that was a real, tremendous failure, and has really haunted me since then. And, at various points, I felt that I have simply not done enough to be in solidarity with Israeli Jews, in their period of terrible fear and agony, have been too caught up in things happening in the United States.

And I’ve also felt that I haven’t done enough for the hostages. I mean, obviously not that there’s that much I could do, but just I, you know, I decided not to wear a dog tag with their name on them because I felt like maybe I was afraid that people would think I was pro-war. Or maybe I was afraid people would think I was a poser because since I was against the war, you know, no one would believe me that I actually cared enough about the hostages that I was wanting to remind myself of them every day. But, you know, there were many, many events for the hostages. Some of them I did go, and I spoke at a few. But there were many, many more that I could have gone to that I didn’t because I was just going about my life, you know, and I wasn’t living daily with their sense of agony. And I know there were people here in New York who were—daily—living and reminding themselves daily of the agony of the hostages, bringing it to their attention every single day. And I feel a sense of shame that I didn’t do that more.

And yet, strangely, I also feel another kind of shame. You know, this first kind of shame maybe suggests that I don’t feel like I fully lived up to this famous injunction, you know, Talmudic injunction, kol yisrael arevim zeh bazeh, that all Jews are responsible for one another. And yet, that’s only one part of Judaism’s voice. Another part of the Judaism’s voice comes for me very powerfully in this notion, also in the Talmud, that G-d created Adam, who is not of any race or religion. Judaism does not believe that Adam and Eve were Jews. They were universal human beings before G-d creates a covenant with Abraham. And the Talmud says that one of the reasons that there was one singular person created by G-d was that so nobody could say that my father is greater than your father, which is to say that my lineage, my tribe, my race, whatever, is greater; that we are all descended from fundamentally the same people, and t…

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Abdullah Hammoud is the mayor of Dearborn, Michigan, the largest city with an Arab-American majority in the United States. We talked about how residents of Dearborn have reacted to the war in Gaza and whether Kamala Harris is doing enough to win their votes.

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After Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the presidential race, we talked to two Democratic strategists about what happens now, and what impact it could have on US policy towards the Gaza War. Rania Batrice is a Palestinian-American political consultant. She served as deputy campaign manager for Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign and this year has been the media consultant for the Uncommitted campaign. Matt Duss is executive vice-president of the Center for International Policy and served as foreign policy advisor to Bernie Sanders from 2017-2022.

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I know why Israelis are happy Nasrallah is dead, but this war will make everyone less safe.

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Given the growing chance of a regional war in the Middle East, our guest will be one of the best analysts of Palestinian and Middle Eastern politics, Mouin Rabbani, Co-Editor of Jadaliyya, a publication of the Arab Studies Institute, and a Non-Resident Fellow at the Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies. We’ll talk about the attack in Majdal Shams, the spate of recent Israeli assassinations and the potential for a conflict that envelopes the entire region.

If you know anyone who might enjoy these conversations, please encourage them to subscribe. (Or buy them a gift subscription.)

Audio Podcasts unlock after six weeks for free subscribers. To get them right away and support my work, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription.

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Laila Al-Arian is an investigative journalist and executive producer of Fault Lines, an Emmy and Peabody award-winning show on Al Jazeera English. She’s also the executive producer of “The Night Won’t End,” an extraordinarily powerful documentary about three families in Gaza during this war. We talk about how the documentary was made, what it reveals about how Israel is waging this war and about how the media is covering it. 

If you know anyone who might enjoy these conversations, please encourage them to subscribe. (Or buy them a gift subscription.)

Audio Podcasts unlock after six weeks for free subscribers. To get them right away and support my work, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription.

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Among Other Things, Israel’s War in Lebanon Could Help Elect Trump

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James Zogby is founder of the Arab American Institute, and a longtime member of the Democratic National Committee. He recently offered a proposal for how to replace President Biden as the Democratic Party’s nominee. We’ll talk about the pressure inside the party on Biden to bow out, and what might happen if he does.

Interview co-sponsored with Jewish Currents.

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