The sky over Jerusalem is beautifully blue this morning after a short night. News keeps arriving without pause: images of a destroyed building in Tel Aviv, an endless stream of commentary about what may come next. I do not know. And I cannot bring myself to say that this will inevitably end (1/2)

The relativization and marginalization of both the Holocaust and antisemitism are recurring phenomena across different countries and political milieus, in the past as well as today. Of course, Germany has its own history of subsuming distinct historical experiences under broader, (1/2) t.ly/fR4Lz

#Iran www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

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For those who are on Mount Scopus once in a while.

Germany has never lacked narratives about itself. One of the newest – shared by the domestic far right and by transnational activist milieus – is that Germany has become a country of censorship. Yet many of the same actors still seek institutional support. Everyone wants to be an underdog. (1/2)

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about this event on HaGalil (www.hagalil.com/2025/12/mich...). The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities has published a short reel today showing the beginning of Michael Walzer's talk. A full recording is available here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=urSB...

Interesting take, and a thought-provoking reflection by Len Gutkin in The Chronicle of Higher Education. www.chronicle.com/article/what...

Eine lesenswerte Intervention von @ronyaothmann.bsky.social, die der allzu euphorischen Begeisterung für die Damaskus-Buchmesse widerspricht. Sie kritisiert v.a. die romantisierende, orientalisierende Perspektive, mit der manche im Westen auf die Region blicken. www.faz.net/aktuell/feui...

The mobilization by the European Iranian diaspora in #Munich was genuinely impressive. It should not be interpreted as the glorification of one individual, nor as an attempt to restore a Shah-style monarchy, but rather as an effort to build effective forces both inside and outside #Iran. (1/2)

The nuclear program is secondary. “‘We are already in a war with our own government—there has been so much death,’ he said. ‘These people will take the hand of anyone offering to pull them from drowning. Literally anyone.’”

I've never thought about it this way, but even the cultural boycott seems to have had an unintended positive effect: as a recent Haaretz article noted, it pushed the Israel Museum to open up its storerooms. The result looks pretty amazing. www.imj.org.il/en/exhibitio...

A highly readable portrait of Yair Golan, one of the leading voices in Israel’s opposition to the current government.

“Whatever the final number proves to be, it may have carried out one of the worst state-sanctioned massacres of unarmed civilians anywhere in nearly a half century in order to survive.” www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/o...

What kind of deal can follow after a regime has killed up to 30,000 of its own civilians within just two days and continues to hold more than 40,000 people in prison, many of them facing execution? 😔 #Iran

An Arte report traces Iran’s renewed uprising since late 2025. Protesters speak of fear, repression of unprecedented brutality, and the hope that drove them into the streets. It ends with their gaze toward the sky—waiting for international support. www.arte.tv/de/videos/12...

I'm grateful to be included in this German-language edited volume, "Contested History: Interventions against the Reinterpretation of October 7," edited by Klaus Bittermann and Christoph Hesse, published by Edition Tiamat. My contribution is titled "In the Name of Morality. Academic Boycott Calls."

Grateful to contribute a short guest piece to the Wiener Library for the Study of the Nazi Era and the Holocaust (TAU) on Franz R. Bienenfeld's "The Religion of the Non-Religious Jews": from humanistic conviction to law, institutions, and Zionism after the Shoah. en-cenlib.tau.ac.il/wiener/archi...

At the Hebrew U, as elsewhere across the country, banners calling to bring the hostages home were taken down after the remains of the last hostage, Ran Gvili, were brought back to Israel. More than two years had passed. The cats are still there, walking through the hallways alongside the students.

On the occasion of the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, haGalil has published a slightly expanded version of my recent talk at the Wannsee Conference Memorial @wannseekonferenz.bsky.social, in both German and English. www.hagalil.com/2026/01/erin...

Ulrich Gutmair berichtet in der heutigen taz über die Veranstaltung "Erinnern als Staatsräson?" am 20. Januar an der Gedenkstätte @wannseekonferenz.bsky.social, bei der neben Jacob Eder, Ronen Steinke, Mascha Wilke und Christian Heldt auch ich gesprochen habe. taz.de/Achtung-Staa...

This coming Tuesday, an event marking the 84th anniversary of the Wannsee Conference will take place at the @wannseekonferenz.bsky.social. Simultaneous German–English translation will be provided. It would be lovely to see some of you there. #HausderWannseeKonferenz #Erinnerungskultur #Staatsräson

Seeing the shocking death toll in Iran, I understand why people in the diaspora call on Trump to intervene—despite the fears this entails. It echoes recent months in Israel: calling on a president who undermines democracy in his own country for help. The world is what it is.

Hillel Cohen's Army of Shadows will appear in German translation in spring 2026. It is a thought-provoking book. For readers seeking a concise entry into Cohen's argument, an interview with him from November 2024 is particularly illuminating and timely: blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-fantasy-...

Vielen Dank an @wannseekonferenz.bsky.social für die Einladung zur Teilnahme an der Veranstaltung zum Jahrestag der Wannsee-Konferenz. Ich freue mich auf das Gespräch mit den anderen Teilnehmenden und dem Publikum unter anderem über Staatsräson – einen der derzeit wohl umstrittensten Begriffe.

Theater als Recherchekunst, Therapie, Mittel zum Comic Relief – es gehört in Israel (wieder) zum Alltag und sucht den internationalen Austausch, den Europa leider gerade meidet. Am härtesten treffen die Boykotte regierungskritische Künstler*innen.

A small and quiet Chag Sameach while waiting for the rain to stop.

I read a nice interview with Volker Weidermann about his new book on Mascha Kaléko's difficult return to Germany in the 1950s. It led me back to her poems, and it brought to mind this one, which feels perfectly attuned to this moment in my day. www.juedische-allgemeine.de/kultur/masch...

Yesterday, Michael Walzer spoke at the Van Leer Institute for his 90th birthday. Among the well-wishers was @faniaoz-salzberger.bsky.social. He remains an important American voice—and someone who will not apologize for speaking in Jerusalem. I wrote a note about it. www.hagalil.com/2025/12/mich...

It is almost painful to read Peter Beinart's public statement on X in which he apologizes for having given a talk at Tel Aviv University. The degree to which one can submit oneself to humiliation—what a friend aptly described as a Stalinist-style exercise in self-criticism (1/3)

All the luck to them! "In Jerusalem, there are people whose pub is their synagogue. They are familiar with it, they have been drinking there for 15 years." www.haaretz.com/life/2025-10...

Impressive collection of Israeliana at Harvard. But there is also truth in how the article ends: "'In the present atmosphere, the thought that material like this is also in the hands of a foreign university, which completely controls its exposure and use, is somewhat disturbing.'" t.ly/HrFnW

Sometimes all it takes is one person who refuses to join a boycott. Yesterday, the American Archive of Public Broadcasting posted part of a November 14, 1997 interview with Ruby Bridges, in which she recalled how white parents boycotted the school when she became the first Black child (1/2)

This is good news: The Max Planck Center for Democracy, Security and Human Rights is being established at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem — joining the network of only 19 such Centers worldwide. @maxplanck.de

“Did you stop to ask yourselves what change your decision has truly achieved?” www.nytimes.com/2025/11/09/w...

In his talk, Dan Diner exemplified much needed restraint—avoiding hasty analogies—through Camus’ unfinished Der erste Mensch. He saw it as a masterly reflection on the tension between moral universalism and particular belonging. A novel that teaches without prophesying. www.faz.net/aktuell/feui...

Breaking the rule of law in the name of the rule of law. Recommend this Haaretz podcast with Eran Shamir-Borer — for over 20 years in the IDF’s International Law Dept, now heads the Center for National Security and Democracy at the Israel Democracy Institute. www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...

In Haaretz, Steven Levitsky notes that while authoritarian shifts are unfolding in Israel, the situation remains reversible — in fact, more encouraging than in the U.S., where democracy eroded faster and pushback has been weak. Even in wartime, Israel can rely on a strong civil society. t.ly/JmKoX

„Niemand ist so am Frieden interessiert wie die #Ukraine“ „Im Gespräch” mit dem Historiker Karl Schlögel, der Meister der Vororterkundung www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/archaeologe-...

An interesting read while stuck in traffic. "But there are also countries in regression, like the United States, where Trump has dismantled many systems. And there's Israel." www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...

While Trump this week portrayed Hamas at one moment as some kind of security force—and the usual groups were quick to highlight Israel's alleged breaches of agreements without mentioning Hamas's failure to honor its own—I came across grassroots street installations in Jerusalem this morning (1/2)

Over the last two years, while listening to comments — mainly from people in the academia and art world, and most recently at some GSA panels in Arlington — I began to wonder whether a new spectre is haunting Europe, this time bearing the name "antideutsch." (1/3)

Leaving this cute city of Madison. Big thanks again to Chad Goldberg for inviting me to the seminar “Politics, Culture, and Society”. I am also very grateful to the institutions that supported the event, and to everyone who attended and asked such thoughtful questions.

I wonder what it says about professors who, from their still safe havens in Europe and Canada, respond to their American colleagues only by calling for their institutions to be boycotted now. For me, solidarity looks different–not only because (1/2) www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/u...

Whilst the BUF did not become a mass political party, their existence demonstrates the popularity of fascism across Europe at the time. Our online exhibition explores the individuals and organisations that have fought back against antisemitism in France, Britain and Germany buff.ly/iBFECQJ

As the saying goes, all good things come in threes—my third comment on the boycott topic today, this time from Germany. This appears to be another attempt to explain calls to boycott Israeli colleagues. Good luck in their efforts to foster constructive dialogue with supporters of the BDS movement.

Just following up on my boycott comment from this morning — in this case, a boycott would have made total sense.

When boycott calls have made sense.

These are indeed very important voices from Gaza. I hope they will be heard and taken seriously. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/w...

Sad that this still needs repeating. #antisemitism #Manchester @faniaoz-salzberger.bsky.social