“The bride is beautiful” stories analyzed
Atlanta Jewish Connector, February 4, 2025
The ubiquity of “The bride is beautiful, but she is married to another man” stories presents a troubling example of how scholars, journalists, and filmmakers regularly dispense with accuracy and evidentiary standards when dealing with Jewish, Zionist, and Israeli history.
An Analysis of “The Bride is Beautiful but she is Married to another Man” Tales
New English Review, January 2025
The ubiquity of “The bride is beautiful, but she is married to another man” stories, which will be discussed here, presents a troubling illustration of the shoddiness found in Middle Eastern studies and of how scholars, journalists, and filmmakers regularly dispense with accuracy and evidentiary standards when dealing with Jewish, Zionist, and Israeli history. Professionalism is often intentionally put aside to advance political agendas and as part of efforts to delegitimize the Jewish state, and this approach has become so entrenched that fictions are relied upon even when documented events could be made to serve such purposes instead.
‘The Bride Is Beautiful But She Is Married to Another Man’ Stories
Middle East Quarterly 31:4 (Fall 2024)
What does it take to let go of cherished anti-Zionist narratives lacking historicity?
Governor Reed B. Oliver, Honorary Consul of the State of Israel in the Federated States of Micronesia. Photo — Shai Afsai
A warm welcome for Israelis in Micronesia
The Times of Israel — The Blogs, September 4, 2023
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.)
Cover of Ghada Karmi’s Married to Another Man: Israel’s Dilemma in Palestine
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.
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.