Lawrence Davidson

The Israel – Saudi Arabia Liason

Looked at objectively, both Saudi Arabia and Israel should be anachronisms. Two nations making outrageous, unprovable claims of divine right that in turn excuses undemocratic, racist-like behavior and policies.

Lawrence Davidson
By Lawrence Davidson
Palestinian protesters beat a representation of an Israeli flag with pictures of U.S. President Donald Trump and Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman during clashes with Israeli troops along Gaza's border with Israel, April 13, 2018. Thousands of Palestinians staged a mass protest along Gaza's sealed border with Israel, some burning Israeli flags, and Israeli soldiers fired tear gas and live bullets from across the border fence. (AP/Adel Hana)

In a 2 April 2018 interview in the Atlantic, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman publicly declared that the Israelis “have a right to live in their own land just like the Palestinians.” It is a problematic assumption, given that the Israelis’ “own land” is the land they took away from the Palestinians. This, and much else, has been

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The Dark Inevitability of Zionism

Among the growing assaults on freedom of speech is an Israeli-driven campaign to criminalize a campaign to boycott Israel over its racist persecution of Palestinians.

Lawrence Davidson
By Lawrence Davidson
Palestinian men walk past a section of Israel's apartheid wall to cross IDF checkpoint from Palestine on their way to pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

Opinion -- We know where Zionism has taken Israel. The Balfour Declaration of 1917 led the way. In that imperial and colonial document, the British promised the World Zionist Organization a “Jewish National Home” in Palestine. They did so, as Edward Said put it, in “flat disregard of both the presence and wishes of the native majority residents in

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The Political Organization Men

Many working-class Americans voted for Donald Trump believing he would address their needs, not those of rich Republicans. But all pols, it seems, end up conforming to their political group’s priorities.

Lawrence Davidson
By Lawrence Davidson

In 1956, William H. Whyte published a book entitled The Organization Man about America’s societal changes in the post-World War II economy. Basing his findings on a large number of interviews with CEOs of major American corporations, Whyte concluded that, within the context of modern organizational structure, American “rugged individualism” had

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The Government Smearing Of Israel’s Critics

Israel’s pressure to conflate criticism of its treatment of Palestinians with the evils of anti-Semitism has stifled a needed debate in Western societies, as Lawrence Davidson explains.

Lawrence Davidson
By Lawrence Davidson
Benjamin Netanyahu US Congress

“Back in the day,” which in this case was Feb. 8, 2007, the U.S. State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism adopted a “working definition” of anti-Semitism which included the following point: It is anti-Semitic to “deny the Jewish people their right to self-determination (e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel

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The Zionist Record On Refugees

Historically, Zionists have put the interests of Israel over the humanitarian plight of refugees, even in the face of Nazi Germany and now in shying away from offending President Trump, writes Lawrence Davidson.

Lawrence Davidson
By Lawrence Davidson
Israeli soldiers and relatives of new Jewish immigrants from the U.S. and Canada, wave Israeli flags to welcome them as they arrive at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, July 23, 2013.

It is a strange story. American Jews (and I expect it is the case with other Jews too) act in solidarity with other discriminated groups only if they, the Jews, resist Zionist leadership. If they follow the Zionist lead, they usually do one of two things: passively support the discriminatory majority or stay silent. This behavior is particularly

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The Rise Of White Racial Nationalism

While there were many reasons for Donald Trump’s surprise victory, a particularly ugly one was his success in touching the raw nerve of white racial animosities.

Lawrence Davidson
By Lawrence Davidson
President-elect Donald Trump waves to supporters during a rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., Friday, Dec. 9, 2016. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

There is little doubt that white racism played a role in the U.S. presidential election of 2016. As Zach Beauchamp demonstrates in a Nov. 10 article at Vox.com, enthusiastic support for Donald Trump – 10 on a scale of 10 – among white voters in mostly white geographic areas was about 25 percent. However, in areas of growing ethnic and racial

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