March 29, 2009

Broadcast Date: 
Mar 29 2009

Eyal Weizman on the paradox of international human rights law; Birthright Israel and the marketing of a Jewish identity; and an April 4 mobilization against the Iraq War and the Wall Street bailout.

Episode segments
  • International Humanitarian Law and the Invasion of Gaza
    Israel/Palestine, Occupation
    Eyal Weizman is an architect and director of the Centre for Research Architecture at Goldsmiths College in London.  He is the author of Hollow Land: Israel's Architecture of Occupation (Verso, 2007).
    Marilyn Kleinberg Neimark and K.E. Feldman

    Charges that Israel violated international humanitarian law in its January 2009 invasion of Gaza have been mounting steadily.  But in a recent essay in Open Democracy--Lawfare in Gaza: Legislative Attack--Eyal Weizman argues that these legal aftershocks of the attack on Gaza also expose a paradox.  Israel itself used experts in international law throughout the invasion to legitimize its actions.  We ask Eyal Weizman to help us understand this paradox.

  • Birthright Israel
    Israel/Palestine, Jewish Communities, Jewish Life
    K.E.Feldman

    According to their website, Taglit-Birthright Israel "provides the gift of first time, peer group, educational trips to Israel for Jewish young adults ages 18 to 26 in order to strengthen participants' personal Jewish identity and connection to the Jewish people."  But just what is the nature of the identity and connection Birthright fosters and how is it nurtured? Beyond the Pale contributor, K.E.Feldman, investigates and reports.

    For those who want a very different Israel/Palestine experience, check out the trips sponsored by Birthright Unplugged.

  • United for Peace and Justice Wall Street Action
    Foreign Policy, International Politics
    Leslie Cagan, national coordinator for UFPJ (United for Peace and Justice)
    Marilyn Kleinberg Neimark and K.E.Feldman

    On April 4th, 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King delivered his prophetic "Beyond Vietnam" speech at Riverside Church.  This Saturday, 42 years later, activists will mobilize on Wall Street to call for an end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and for addressing the economic crisis by cutting military spending.

    We talk with Leslie Cagan about UFPJ's April 4th mobllization on Wall Street: Beyond War a New Economy is Possible.  For logistical details, click here.