first published at http://www.martinshaw.org/politics/lebanon2006.htm In the first days of the war in Lebanon, BBC news repeatedly referred to dying and fleeing Lebanese civilians as victims of the 'fighting' between Israel and Hizbullah. Yet in truth there was no fighting. Israel's planes rained destruction on Lebanon from the safety of high altitudes, killing and wounding with… Continue reading Israel’s degenerate Lebanon campaign holds a mirror to the West’s own wars, 3 August 2006
Category: Israel / Palestine
Antisemitism and the Boycott: An Exchange between Martin Shaw and David Hirsh, 2008
First published in Democratiya, 2008: go to http://dissentmagazine.org/democratiya/article_pdfs/d14ShawHirsh-1.pdf Democratiya Editor’s Note: Democratiya opposes the academic boycott of Israel and all forms of antisemitism. The relation between that boycott and antisemitism is debated here by two advisory editors of Democratiya, Martin Shaw and David Hirsh. It was initiated by Shaw, who sent us a short letter… Continue reading Antisemitism and the Boycott: An Exchange between Martin Shaw and David Hirsh, 2008
A viable two-state solution needs the idealism and utopianism of the one-state idea, March 2009
First published in Democratiya 19, spring-summer 2009, at http://dissentmagazine.org/democratiya/article_pdfs/d16Symposium.pdf Martin Shaw The Israeli assault on Gaza was an affront to humanity. 1338 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed, thousands were wounded, and tens of thousands made homeless. The poor and crowded enclave, whose people were already suffering from restrictions on their movement and the entry… Continue reading A viable two-state solution needs the idealism and utopianism of the one-state idea, March 2009
When is a massacre not a massacre? (Jenin) 21 April 2002
The simple answer to this question would seem to be, when it is committed by the Israeli 'defence' forces. 'Brutal yes. Massacre no', writes Peter Beaumont in The Observer, while a correspondent takes me to task along similar lines: 'your reference on theglobalsite to the Jenin "massacre" is highly misleading since it gives the impression… Continue reading When is a massacre not a massacre? (Jenin) 21 April 2002
Israeli settlements and “ethnic cleansing”, Open Democracy, 26 August 2009
The argument that the dismantling of Israeli communities in the Palestinian West Bank would amount to "ethnic cleansing" is increasingly being heard. It deserves close examination of a kind its proponents may not welcome, says Martin Shaw. An intense political engagement over the question of West Bank settlements is continuing between the Barack Obama administration… Continue reading Israeli settlements and “ethnic cleansing”, Open Democracy, 26 August 2009
Uses of genocide: Kenya, Georgia, Israel, Sri Lanka, 9 February 2009
The concept of genocide has become a weapon of political polemic. But the violence inflicted on civilians in four conflicts shows how it is also rooted in the logic of modern wars, says Martin Shaw. Go to Open Democracy for the full text.
Review of Goldhagen, Worse Than War: Genocide, Eliminationism and the Ongoing Assault on Humanity, for International Affairs, 2010
Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, Worse Than War: Genocide, Eliminationism and the Ongoing Assault on Humanity, New York: Little Brown, 2009, 658 pp. ISBN 978-1-58648 -769-0 After a rush of major texts in the last few years, another massive tome on genocide needs a distinctive take if it is to find an audience. Daniel Goldhagen's new book… Continue reading Review of Goldhagen, Worse Than War: Genocide, Eliminationism and the Ongoing Assault on Humanity, for International Affairs, 2010
Review of Meirsheimer and Walt, The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy, published in The Political Quarterly, 2008
John J. Meirsheimer and Stephen M. Walt, The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy, London: Allen Lane, 2007, 484 pp, £25, ISBN 978-1-846-14007-5 Many readers will have caught the trail of The Israel Lobby, the expansion of Meirsheimer and Walt's controversial London Review of Books article - published here in 2006 after the Stateside Atlantic… Continue reading Review of Meirsheimer and Walt, The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy, published in The Political Quarterly, 2008
Israel’s Degenerate War in Gaza
Martin Shaw I have referred to the Gaza 'war' in my title but we might question whether it really deserves this label. Hamas have managed to kill only 6 Israeli soldiers, only 2 more than the Israelis themselves with 'friendly fire'. Their rockets have killed 3 more Israeli civilians: this side of their activity is… Continue reading Israel’s Degenerate War in Gaza
Yet more on Israel and anti-Semitism
As our debate about 'anti-Semitism' in the opposition to Israel winds down, Norman Geras thinks he has found another weakness in my argument, in my agreement with 'the sociological truth that racism is not only a matter of overt expressions of hostility, but can also inhere in symbols, discourses and practices of discrimination. Still, in… Continue reading Yet more on Israel and anti-Semitism
Martin Shaw 