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January 16, 2025
Gaza, Israel, and EntertainmentHow does television do in dealing with the Gaza protests and anti-Semitism?
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September 12, 2024
The True Meaning of 'Nakba'The ultimate question is whether settler colonialism theory can contribute to peace and security in the Middle East, and the answer is “No.”
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April 5, 2024
Why I Will Not Watch for The Solar EclipseThe choice of not-looking, which is increasingly important in an age when privacy and restraint are constantly challenged
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March 11, 2024
Of ‘Teen Takeovers’ and Television NewsHow is a group looting a store not a mob, especially when it proves fatal?
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November 19, 2023
Progressive Pastors on the War in Israel and GazaI was interested to learn, via archived livestream, the reaction of pastors in prominent self-styled “progressive” mainstream Protestant congregations to the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.
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January 29, 2023
Neo-Hasidic New Age NecromancyIn The Offering, earnest and well-meaning Jewish filmmakers Hank Hoffman and Jonathan Yunger conjure up a demon in order to show that Hasidic communities are more relatable than most Jews and non-Jews think. Unfortunately, they lost control of their demon, and the Hasidic community as they depict it comes across as ill-equipped to face both death and life.
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January 15, 2023
Shady Jewelry Jews in the Current TV SeasonFor some reason, two Law and Order franchise series and two police series, one fledgling and one long-running, are obsessing on Jews and jewelry.
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January 1, 2023
CNN’S 2022 take on antisemitismRound up the ususal suspects: Trump and "right wingers"
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December 30, 2021
‘Ex-Mossad’ is Network Crime Dramas’ New Symbol of Ruthless VillainyWhy all the relish in suggesting that the State of Israel is a breeding ground for the most vicious and ruthless enablers of American and international crime?
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March 14, 2021
When Kenosha Might Have Burned Again, Local TV News Coverage Calmed the Flames their Broadcast Networks FannedWhen the D.A. explained why the officer whose shooting of a black man sparked two days of lethal riots wasn’t being charged, the three broadcast networks and their local affiliates took strikingly different paths.
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September 16, 2020
An Apology is Owed in ChicagoMayor Lori Lightfoot and Rep. Bobby Rush versus the police.
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July 26, 2020
Sitcom PoliticsWith TV writers on hiatus during the coronavirus pandemic and the criteria for acceptable political opinions changing day by day even as an election approaches, it is worthwhile to pause and to look back at a few recent short-lived sitcoms.
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July 19, 2020
CBS’s God Friended Me: TV’s Latest New Age Sign-OffWhile purporting to be religion-friendly, CBS’s recently canceled God Friended Me glorified New Age notions.
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May 22, 2020
Tel Aviv on FireA dryly satirical Israeli-European film about a soap opera produced by Palestinian television, set in the run-up to the 1967 war, is included in Amazon Prime subscriptions.
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May 20, 2020
Israel and the Palestinians in the time of coronavirusUnprecedented cooperation, while Palestinian security forces that Israel has permitted to enforce the closure of non-essential businesses are concentrating their efforts on preventing "peaceful ties between Palestinians and Israelis."
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April 12, 2020
Of Viruses and ChoicesTwo thousand years ago, the Talmudic Sages speculated about sickness. Is there a moral cause? Can we avoid illness by controlling our actions? Do illness and recovery really depend on our deeds?
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March 22, 2020
Should A Coyote Be Indicted?To wear down the hierarchy of people over animals is to open the floodgates to dehumanization.
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March 1, 2020
Uncut Gems: Loopholes for Depicting Jews (and Others)?Whatever we may think of Uncut Gems, starring Adam Sandler in a riveting role, there is no question that it represents a watershed moment in the depiction of Jews and Judaism in film.
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February 7, 2020
Game Show Heaven / Game Show HellTV Game shows have the potential to educate, but they can also degrade and horrify.
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August 4, 2019
Bernie Sanders, Jack Benny, and Anti-SemitismIs there such a thing as a flash-in-the-pan accusation of anti-Semitism? It would seem that in the case of Bernie Sanders, there is, or was.
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April 14, 2019
Psychology Scuttles Spirituality in Two New MoviesTwo unpleasant but fascinating recent films allow psychology to scuttle alternative spiritualities, even as monotheistic faiths are not consulted.
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March 31, 2019
Three Recent Movies Speak Truths About the Middle East that ‘Activists’ and Solons IgnoreA new member of Congress and self-proclaimed “activists” could benefit from the perspective of three films about the Middle East, released in 2018 and currently screening on cable television or Amazon Prime.
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December 23, 2018
Dreaming of a Jewish ChristmasFilmmaker Larry Weinstein is not the first to pay tribute to Jewish composers of popular Christmas songs, but his Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas, recently broadcast on PBS, may be the most disappointing and even obnoxious of such efforts.
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September 7, 2018
Spike Lee's BlacKKKlansman undermines its own messageWhile Spike Lee's BlacKKKlansman purports to expose both the subtle and the blatant aspects of racism in American life, it ends up compromising its characters and its message.
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May 13, 2018
The Bible and Clergy According to CBSIn a recent, short-lived series, Living Biblically, the CBS Network took a stab at religion – literally though unintentionally.
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January 15, 2017
The Convent and the Strip Club: A Jewish PerspectiveI can’t help looking at this issue (and all issues) from the perspective of Jewish law and tradition.
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September 4, 2016
Indignation: Defying Philip Roth?Does a flawlessly produced and perfectly cast movie of Philip Roth’s novel of college life, Indignation, subvert the novel’s assault on religion?
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August 26, 2016
Child Terrorists on NCIS: Los AngelesThe NCIS franchise’s strange uses of Israelis get even stranger.
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July 31, 2016
X-Men: ApocalypseThe latest X-Men cinema installment purports to deal with “false gods.”
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June 27, 2016
Quantico: ABC’s FBI and IsraelIt would seem that today’s TV producers and writers -- including, or especially, the Jews among them -- prefer the most outrageous of Jews, especially if they have a connection with Israel.
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May 27, 2016
An NCIS Finale (and Israel)To create a superhero Israeli woman for its season finale, the producers and writers of NCIS concocted a rather monstrous Jewish State.
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May 1, 2016
Spiritual Realism In Recent MoviesAn engaging spiritual realism characterizes recent films on the themes of morality and spirituality, right and wrong, life and death. These movies all offer fine performances and compelling story lines.
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May 24, 2015
<em>Mad Men</em>'s ReligionThe landmark television series had a surprising amount to say on religion.
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February 1, 2015
The New Age Theology of <em>Selma</em>The movie Selma has been criticized for caricaturing President Lyndon Johnson, but its transformation of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. from biblically- to New Age-based is equally disturbing.
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January 4, 2015
God, Man, and Partying: The Seth Rogen TrilogySeth Rogen’s last three films, The Interview (2014), Neighbors (2014) and This Is the End (2013), are best taken as a trilogy, with Neighbors as the key.
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December 28, 2014
The Politics of Ridley Scott's <em>Exodus</em>Ridley Scott’s Exodus: Gods and Kings is an epic film intent on deflating social and political -- and religious -- ideals.
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November 2, 2014
No Peace, at Best Truce Talks with Hamas and FatahTime for some realism in dealing with the Palestinians.
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August 3, 2014
Kerry's Destructive DeadlinesWhenever United States administrations have pushed for deadlines in Palestinian-Israeli peace talks, the results have been disastrous.
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January 28, 2013
TV's NCIS on those Sinister IsraelisThe leaders of the State of Israel, according to NCIS, are into breeding decoy Palestinians rather than engaging in negotiation, and into motivating their own children to become ruthless killing machines dedicated to thwarting any peace efforts