Allison Kaplan Sommer and Noah Efron talk about what the hell they make of the neither-fish-nor-foul liminal state we find ourselves in now and what the hell the future holds for us. Then they are joined by Danielle Haas, who for ten years was Human Rights Watch’s only senior employee in Israel, to talk about bias in the Human-Rights-Industrial-Complex.
Plus, life after the holidays and matters Witkovian!
For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra discussion: The government decides to rebrand the wretched conflict of the past two years as “The War of Resurrection” which, despite its Christological resonances, has got some people here seeing double. What’s in a name?, we will ask. After all, that which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet. Or so they say, anyway.
Songs
Songs from the Mif’al ha-Payis Aquarium Series
- Anshei ha-Muzika — Nehamah Mitkaravet
- Tinshomet — Hamapal Hagadol
- Liad Eliahu — Parcha
I was sadly very disappointed by the “to arrive where we started” episode because of guest Danielle Haas.
She was given a platform to make apparently expert generalisations that were largely her grievances against a former employer. Of course, Human Rights organisations are businesses and may be influenced by not just donors but those with biased views. But, the same (and worse) is true of groups with wealthy Jewish backers who are vehemently pro-Israel and anti-Palestinian. Your guest had much to complain about based on her former employment and did not represent an open and balanced view of Human Rights groups. Her rant ignored the fact that Israel’s role in the long-term occupation and blockade of Palestinians, (even before this war), were legitimate grounds for concerns about human rights. Finally, in the absence of journalists being allowed into Gaza, we rely on the reporting by Human Rights organisations that are on the ground.
Hi Deborah. I had the opposite reaction to the episode. I was not familiar with Danielle Haas and I appreciated learning about her experience at HRW and hearing her perspective. As someone who served as the senior editor for 13 years, she had a front row seat to the blatant antisemtism that has infected these organizations.