Sheldon Richman | The Libertarian Institute

TGIF: Ahad Ha’Am’s Prophetic Warning about Political Zionism

by Sheldon Richman | Dec 15, 2023 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy, History, Justice, Sheldon Richman, TGIF

Ukrainian-born Asher Zvi Hirsch Ginsberg (1856-1927), whose pen name was Ahad Ha'Am (Hebrew for one of the people), was a proponent of Spiritual, or Cultural, Zionism, which made him a rival to Theodor Herzl and Political Zionism, the movement dedicated to creating a nation-state in Palestine for all Jewish people worldwide. Ahad Ha'Am remains relevant to understanding the roots of the conflict in Palestine and Israel that has cost so many innocent lives. Hans Kohn, a Bohemian-born American writer, shed light on Ahad Ha'Am's thinking about the "Arab problem" for Herzl's movement in "Zion and...

Anti-Zionism Is NOT Anti-Semitism

by Sheldon Richman | Dec 10, 2023 | Blog

Rabbi Yaakov Shapiro says what needs to be said -- and he said it two years ago, before the clowns in the House of Representatives (Thomas Massey and a few others excepted) decreed otherwise. I have nothing to add.

TGIF: Inspiration for the Nakba?

by Sheldon Richman | Dec 8, 2023 | Featured Articles, History, Justice, Sheldon Richman, TGIF

The unspeakable violence that plagues Israel and Palestine daily relates in part to the assertion of an ancient, ancestral, and even divinely bestowed property right to a parcel of land, which is often called "holy" and "promised." For background, here are a few influential -- which is not to say factual -- passages from a perennially bestselling book (or set of books) deemed important by the three Abrahamic religions. From the Book of Genesis: [15:18]In that day [the Lord] made a covenant with Abram, saying: 'Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt [Nile] unto the...

Kissinger, RIP?

by Sheldon Richman | Dec 1, 2023 | Blog, History, Politics

I published my take on Henry Kissinger, who died this week at age 100, in 2014, when presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was courting his support. Read it here.

TGIF: Jewish Dissent on the Balfour Declaration

by Sheldon Richman | Dec 1, 2023 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy, History, Justice, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF

In the fateful year 1917 the British cabinet had one Jewish member: Edwin Montagu. He was also the only cabinet member to oppose the Balfour Declaration of that year, which paved the way for the self-declared creation of the state of Israel, the so-called Jewish State, 31 tumultuous years later. The declaration was a brief letter from British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to Lionel Walter Rothschild, a leader in Britain of the Zionist project, launched in the late 19th century by Theodor Herzl, to establish a Jewish state in Palestine The letter stated, His Majesty's Government view with...

TGIF: Arms Sales and Democracy

by Sheldon Richman | Nov 24, 2023 | Economics, Featured Articles, Foreign Policy, Libertarianism, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF

The U.S. government's role as the world's premier arms donor and dealer is now under renewed scrutiny. I can't imagine why. But seriously... We may legitimately ask if this role fulfills democracy's promise of, in Lincoln's words, "government of the people, by the people, for the people." Or are we justified in concluding that with the government's arms distribution, democracy falls short of its promise even more so than it does in its other functions? This is something Chris Coyne of George Mason University and its Mercatus Center F. A. Hayek program spends a lot of time studying. In this...

TGIF: Bigotry versus Social Cooperation

by Sheldon Richman | Nov 17, 2023 | Economics, Featured Articles, Justice, Libertarianism, Sheldon Richman, TGIF

We who value individualism, freedom, and social cooperation as essential to flourishing should be distressed by the hostile bigotry that has lately reared its ugly head, to some uncertain extent, on the streets and campuses of America and abroad. This is not new. In America we've seen it intermittently in both directions on racial issues just in this century. It seems related to an intolerant, zero-nuance, take-no-prisoners, and glib attitude among many contenders over racial, religious, and ethnic controversies. Now it is showing itself in ugly group chants and more personal communication...

TGIF: When History Didn’t Begin

by Sheldon Richman | Nov 10, 2023 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy, History, Justice, Sheldon Richman, TGIF

I agree with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. I've never written those words before. But on Oct 24, Guterres said to the UN Security Council (emphasis added): The situation in the Middle East is growing more dire by the hour. The war in Gaza is raging and risks spiralling throughout the region. Divisions are splintering societies. Tensions threaten to boil over. At a crucial moment like this, it is vital to be clear on principles -- starting with the fundamental principle of respecting and protecting civilians. I have condemned unequivocally the horrifying and unprecedented 7 October...