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Sunday Reads: Putin vs. Hillary, Pride in Jerusalem, Erdogan’s witch hunt

[additional-authors]
July 24, 2016

US

Jeffrey Goldberg argues that a President Trump would advance Vladimir Putin’s agenda in the White House:

I am not suggesting that Donald Trump is employed by Putin… I am arguing that Trump’s understanding of America’s role in the world aligns with Russia’s geostrategic interests; that his critique of American democracy is in accord with the Kremlin’s critique of American democracy; and that he shares numerous ideological and dispositional proclivities with Putin—for one thing, an obsession with the sort of “strength” often associated with dictators. Trump is making it clear that, as president, he would allow Russia to advance its hegemonic interests across Europe and the Middle East. His election would immediately trigger a wave of global instability—much worse than anything we are seeing today—because America’s allies understand that Trump would likely dismantle the post-World War II U.S.-created international order. Many of these countries, feeling abandoned, would likely pursue nuclear weapons programs on their own, leading to a nightmare of proliferation.

Mary Dudziak believes that Donald Trump is undermining the idea of America’s moral authority in the world:

This argument — that the United States could not be a model because of its domestic problems — was made during the early years of the Cold War, when racial segregation and violence against civil rights demonstrators generated international criticism. But this case was made by Soviet propagandists, not American presidential candidates.

Israel

Ben Dror Yemini thinks that the Israel Rabbi who recently made high-profile homophobic remarks should actually be thanked by the Israeli mainstream:

Yigal Levinstein, who I will refer to as Rabbi, deserves a big “thank you.” His recent comments referring to members of the gay community as “perverts” has started a public debate about what is already an ongoing battle within the religious Zionist community, between its more radicalized sector that is increasingly becoming more nationalistic and Haredi, to its more moderate sector made up of lenient Beit Hillel rabbis and some of the more progressive Tzohar rabbis. While the former group are more messianic and abide by such texts as “Torat Hamelech” (which details in what cases Jews are allowed to kill non-Jews during times of war), there are rabbis who do not fear modern progress, and who combine Judaism with the love of man, denouncing racist interpretations offered up by extremists.

Mazal Mualem sees the Jerusalem Pride Parade as a moment of triumph for Israeli liberalism:

Some 25,000 Israelis, including dozens of Knesset members, marched in Jerusalem’s Gay Pride Parade on July 21. They were taking part in much more than a heart-warming show of strength by the LGBTQ community. More than ever, it was a demonstration of enlightened liberalism. At the largest gay pride parade that Jerusalem has ever seen, it was a comforting final note after a very harsh week for the LGBTQ community.

Middle East

Marina Ottaway believes that the US will continue to be forced into problematic alliances in the Middle East:

Unfortunately, such inconvenient alliances are not the result of poor but reversible decisions by the Obama administration, but of the complexity of the situation in the region, which the United States cannot orchestrate to its own liking. Washington is simply not in a position to build the Middle East it would prefer, and is being forced as a result to accept difficult compromises and enact contradictory policies. Far from being a temporary aberration, this is probably the shape of things to come in the region.

According to journalist Can Dundar, we are now witnessing the worst witch hunt in the history of the Turkish Republic:

So last week’s attempted coup is only the latest example of a centuries-old oscillation. But it is also shaping up to be one of the worst. During the attempt on 15 July, crowds answered hourly calls from mosques. They yelled “Allahu Akbar” while lynching soldiers; they flew Turkish flags and the green flags of Islam, and shouted: “We want executions!”

Lists of all sorts of “dissenters”, not just journalists, circulated immediately. Nearly 60,000 people – including 10,000 police officers, 3,000 judges and prosecutors, more than 15,000 educationists, and all the university deans in the country – have either been detained or fired, and the numbers are growing daily. Torture, banned since the military coup of 1980, has resurfaced. A campaign has been launched to revive the death penalty, which was abolished in 2002. It is the biggest witch-hunt in the history of the republic.

Jewish World

Matt Lebovic writes about the plight of many US Holocaust survivors who live in poverty:

Out of the just under 100,000 Jewish survivors of the Nazi genocide who reside in the US, more than 30,000 live below poverty threshold standards, according to the National Jewish Population Survey (NJPS). And as the survivor community ages, a larger segment will need increased assistance with healthcare and other basic needs.

Rebecca Heilweil takes a look at the diaspora outreach programs trips that Birthright has inspired around the world:

In this time of globalization, as diaspora leaders from many countries look to their younger members as political and economic resources, the diaspora communities of Armenia, Greece, Macedonia, Hungary, and Cuba all have founded Birthright-style programs. Each program is structured and funded differently, but all aspire to the success of the Israel-bound program.

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