the definite article 22
Te-nehisi at his racist best, Sparta and Athens at theirs, headhunting as sport, and figuring out if you are a settler-colonialist
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2024/10/06/athens_sparta_and_israel_151736.html
Avi Shavit chooses Athens and Sparta as the metaphor of modern Israel - we are both at the same time. Maintaining a democracy and a war footing simultaneously puts a strain on the foundations of the country.
“One might take issue with any number of premises, observations, claims, judgments, and proposals that Shavit sets forth in his bold sketch of a new Israeli national security strategy. Such are the stakes, the complexities, and the contingencies that on any particular point some will decry him for going too far and others will condemn him for not going far enough. On the essential matter, though, Shavit has made a decisive case: To remain free, democratic, Jewish, and secure in the post-Oct. 7 world, Israel must surpass Athens and Sparta by blending the best in both.”
https://substack.com/home/post/p-149658798?source=queue
These are two articles that discuss Te-nihisi Coate’s new book, The Message. The first by Coleman Hugh’s is longer and more comprehensive. The second is by David Josef Volodzko, and features high typical incisive analysis and impeccable prose. You might want to follow these up by looking at The Free Press coverage on the CBS interview of Coates which has turned into a media issue.
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/headhunters-hamas
I have to vote this one as the article of the week. Alex Joffe looks at headhunting through the eyes of anthropology, and applies what he learns to the head-taking by Hamas on October 7, as well as the symbolic head-taking of those who tear down hostage posters.
A riveting article that recalls this past year through the eyes of a pathologist who tended to the bodies of the slaughtered, a soldier who against order traveled straight down to the war area to fight the terrorists, and the mother of a hostage.
https://jewishreviewofbooks.com/political-philosophy/17162/unsettling-ideology/
Michael Walzer, a professor and intellectual decidedly on the left, analyses the idea settler colonialism. It’s an interesting article, and I helpfully straighten him out on some misguided points in my letter of response.