“Dear Chief Rabbi…” The Knife Intifada sermon that failed the test of moral and communal leadership

My latest blog post is published at Patheos

Britain's Chief Rabbi Ephriam Mirvis, gave a sermon last Sunday (18 October 2015) concerning the latest violence taking place on the streets of Israel and the West Bank. It was disappointing to say the least.

I've written an open letter to the Rabbi to explain why I feel he is letting down the Jewish community in Britain.

Here's an extract:

The key sentiments you expressed in your talk were commendable. There is indeed “an urgent need for communication” and “the healing of relationships”. But if that’s what you really believe then the rest of your sermon was an object lesson in how not to achieve either “communication” or “healing”.

Read the full letter here.

Holocaust deniers, Kafka’s sisters and how anti-Semitism can kill global Palestinian support

My latest post is published at Patheos

Here's an extract:

...soon after I started writing something else began to happen that I’ve found far more difficult to tolerate. I’ve found myself attracting a different form of commentary on my writing, one that uses my words as the jumping off point for incitement to genocide and, of late, Holocaust denial.

For some people, only spilling Jewish blood is the answer. For some people, only dead Arabs are acceptable.

It turns out that there is no shortage of hatred in the world and a considerable number of people who are firmly of the opinion there is little that can’t be solved (certainly in the Middle East) through a timely massacre of ‘the guilty’.

Read the full post here.

Micah meets...Jeff Halper

Palestinian pacification, Franz Kafka, the global arms trade and why the Boycott movement needs to change its strategy - my interview with leading Jewish Israeli peace activist Jeff Halper is now available at my Patheos page.


Here's a couple of quotes from the piece:

“It seemed to me there was an elephant in the room that we’re not seeing. And, casting around, I think that it’s the military security connection.”

“You can’t explain why Israel would be close to Saudi Arabia. They’re very close, in all kinds of ways; politically, and militarily; and they co-operate. It seems counter-intuitive if you take normal international relations. There’s nothing in common, and they’d be enemies if you talk about the Arab/Israeli conflict.”

Read more at Writing from the Edge at Patheos.