A ‘mifgash’ on Birthright
Most Elis consulted newspapers, television reports and online media for news of Israeli-Palestinian violence that erupted after the Dec. 19 expiration of a six-month truce.
But over winter break, 14 Yale students got a more personal view of one side of the conflict.
As part of a trip organized by Yale Hillel under the auspices of Taglit-Birthright Israel, an organization that funds educational trips to Israel for Jewish young adults, the students spent 10 days traveling in the Holy Land. Although smaller-scale fighting between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas started...
The notion of a "birthright" continues to amaze me. Israel has ignored the internationally recognized right of return for refugees, but has created a "Law of Return" which extends citizenship benefits to any person of Jewish heritage, excluding millions of Palestinians born in the land that has become Israel.
I think Ms. Kagan would do well to read this article, especially its introduction.
http://www.antiwar.com/avnery/?articleid=14056
I also find it shocking that she views American media coverage as "pro-Palestinian." It is, like our Congress, blindly and embarrassingly pro-Israel. More than that even, it is not simply pro-Israel, but pro-Likud.
This country needs to realize how awful living conditions were in Gaza before the invasion and how horribly one-sided this "war" is.