Shai Afsai

ZIONISM and Israel




A warm welcome for Israelis in Micronesia

The Times of Israel — The Blogs, September 4, 2023

Governor Reed B. Oliver, Honorary Consul of the State of Israel in the Federated States of Micronesia. Photo - Shai Afsai

 

On the use and misuse of literature in Israeli political debate

Atlanta Jewish Connector, November 7, 2022

How literary misinterpretations have colored political discourse in Israel

An earlier version of this article appeared in The Wisdom Daily on November 1, 2022.

An old stone wall in a Rhode Island forest. Photo — Shai Afsai

 

Besieged by Hate: Tuvia Tenenbom’s Catch the Jew!

Atlanta Jewish Connector, September 19, 2022

Tenenbom goes to Israeli cities and towns, Palestinian cities and refugee camps, remote Bedouin encampments, and isolated Jewish settlements, encountering an array of characters along the way, from Israeli Members of Knesset and Palestinian Authority officials to prostitutes and stray cats. Though always informing those he interviews that he is an author and journalist, Tenenbom assumes different accents and adopts various personas depending on his audience, presenting himself at times as Tuvia, Tobi, or Tobias, and as a Jew, German, or Austrian. Perhaps the most eye-opening and troubling sections of Catch the Jew! deal with the over one hundred European and European-funded Israeli and Palestinian NGOs operating in Israel and the Palestinian territories and dedicated to the conflict.


Bride is beautiful: An irresistible anti-Zionist story

Atlanta Jewish Connector, November 8, 2021

Though stories incorporating the phrase “The bride is beautiful, but she is married to another man” lack a primary source, and though there has been no basis for recounting them as historical events that occurred during the early years of the Zionist movement, different versions have appeared in many articles, books, and films.

(This article is a follow-up to 2020’s “The bride is beautiful, but she is married to another man.” The tenacity of an anti-Zionist fable.)


 The Independent amends its brief history of Israel

JewishBoston, August 12, 2021

Editors at British newspaper The Independent make significant changes to Joe Sommerlad’s May 2021 article about Jewish and Israeli history, including his plagiarizing use of a story featuring the phrase “The bride is beautiful, but she is married to another man.”


 Plagiarism and Misinformation About Israel at The Independent

JewishBoston, June 7, 2021

How Joe Sommerlad of The Independent gave readers “A brief history of the Israel-Palestinian conflict” by plagiarizing Rawan Damen’s flawed four-part documentary


“The bride is beautiful, but she is married to another man.” The tenacity of an anti-Zionist fable

Fathom Journal, Autumn/December 2020

Some authors are unwilling to dispense with unsubstantiated stories, opting instead to put scholarly standards aside in their attempts to advance anti-Zionist arguments. One case in point is the “married to another man” fable.

(This article is a follow-up to 2012’s “The bride is beautiful, but she is married to another man”: Historical Fabrication and an Anti-Zionist Myth.)

The bride is beautiful, but she is married to another man - Cover of Ghada Karmi’s Married to Another Man.jpg

Cover of Ghada Karmi’s Married to Another Man: Israel’s Dilemma in Palestine

The bride is beautiful, but she is married to another man - Cover of Ingmar Karlsson’s Bruden är vacker men har redan en man.jpg

Cover of Ingmar Karlsson’s Bruden är vacker men har redan en man: Sionisme — en ideologi vid vägs ände? (The bride is beautiful but there is already a husband: Zionism — an ideology at the end of the road?)


 Israeli educator, fighter to speak at Yom ha-Zikaron ceremony

The Jewish Voice, April 28, 2016

For Amichai Chikli, an understanding of Jewish texts and history is crucial.


 The “Married to Another Man” Story and Zionism

Jewish Link, February 5, 2015

While the “married to another man” story lacks a primary source and there is no basis for recounting it as a historical event that occurred during the early years of the Zionist movement, different versions of it have appeared in a host of books and articles for decades.


“The bride is beautiful, but she is married to another man”: Historical Fabrication and an Anti-Zionist Myth

Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies 30:3 (Spring 2012), pp. 35–61

According to a frequently repeated story, during the early years of the Zionist movement a number of European Jews were sent to Palestine to investigate its suitability as a location for a Jewish state. They reported back, the story concludes, that “the bride is beautiful, but she is married to another man“ — Palestine is an excellent land, but it belongs to others.

While its details vary with the telling, the story’s central point is often the same: already in the early years of the Zionist movement, Jews recognized that it would be unjust and immoral for them to try to claim Palestine; despite this awareness, the Zionists proceeded with their plans for Jewish statehood there; from the outset, therefore, the establishment of the state of Israel was an act of severe and willful injustice.