Rashid Khalidi speaks at a New York Jewish salon

JVL Introduction

For Jews with differing views about Israel, the subject has often been treated as the proverbial elephant in the room, not to be addressed for fear of destroying friendships and even family bonds. This has become even more painfully true since October 2023. In this atmosphere, an eminent Palestinian historian dragging the elephant right into the middle of the room full of observant New York Jews seems impossible to contemplate.

But that is what happened when Rashid Khalidi, author of The Hundred Years War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonial Conquest and Resistance, joined in a discussion  described here by Forward editor-in-chief Jodi Rudoren.

She urges her mainly Jewish readers to break out “of the bubbles too many of us live inside, particularly regarding Israel. It’s about the urgent need for all of us to wrestle with other people’s perspectives and narratives even about the things closest to our hearts, even when it’s upsetting.”

NWI

This article was originally published by Forward on Fri 6 Dec 2024. Read the original here.