January 02, 2011

Broadcast Date: 
Jan 2 2011

A tear gas killing in Bil'in; Hillel sets guidelines for what it deems acceptable discourse on Israel-Palestine; Diane Ravitch on what's wrong with the bipartisan consensus on school reform; plus why the Dreyfus Affair matters.

Episode segments
  • A Killing In Bil'in
    Israel/Palestine, Occupation
    Marilyn Kleinberg Neimark

    Beyond the Pale comments on the killing of a 36 year-old Palestinian woman, Jawahir Abu Ramah, in Bil'in this past weekend.

  • Hillel's Line in the Sand
    National Politics, Israel/Palestine, Jewish Communities, Jewish Life, Occupation, Jewish
    Ben Sales in the editor of New Voices, the national Jewish student magazine, published by the independent student-run Jewish Student Press Service.  He is the author of the editorial Hillel Must Put Students First.
    Marilyn Kleinberg Neimark

    In a December 13, 2010, op-ed for the Jewish Telegraph Agency, Wayne L. Firestone, President and CEO of Hillel, the Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, wrote that "when it comes to Israel, Partnership has its Limits."  To that end, he continued, "Hillel's Schusterman International Center issued guidelines this week to ensure that local Hillels know which organizations, groups and speakers are considered valid partners in promoting civil and informed discourse on Israel."

    Although not specifically named, it was widely understood that Jewish Voice for Peace was specifically targetted as being beyond the pale.  In an editorial in New Voices, Ben Sales took issue with these guidelines and with the exclusion of JVP.  He explains why to Beyond the Pale.

  • The Death and Life of the Great American School System
    New York Politics, National Politics, Education, Domestic Policy
    Diane Ravitch has been a historian of Education and an Education policy analyst since the 1970s.  She served in both the George H.W.Bush and Bill Clinton administrations and is now a Research Professor of Education at New York University.  The author or editor of more than twenty books, her most recent book is The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice are Undermining Education.  She shares a blog called Bridging Differences  with Deborah Meier, and also blogs for Politico.com/arena and the Huffington Post.
    Marilyn Kleinberg Neimark

    Diane Ravitch's most recent book reflects a serious change of mind about the direction of education reform, at the moment that the policies she is now rejecting have been embraced by a fervent bi-partisan consensus.  Beyond the Pale talks with Ravtich about this consensus, its appeal for her in the past, and why she rejects it today.

  • Why Does the Dreyfus Affair Matter?
    Global Justice, National Politics, International Politics, Civil Rights, Police/Criminal Justice, Anti-Semitism, Literature
    Louis Begley is a bestselling novelist and a lawyer who retired after a 45-year career as partner in a prominent law firm. His fiction includes Wartime Lies, About Schmidt, and Matters of Honor.  His most recent book is Why the Dreyfus Affair Matters.
    Alan Levine

    For over one-hundred years, the court martial, conviction for treason and imprisonment on Devil's Island of a young French military officer, Alfred Dreyfus, has stood as an exemplary case of a miscarriage of justice, fueled by anti-Semitism, and also as a symbol of victory over injustice achieved through the collective actions of private citizens. 

    Beyond the Pale contributor Alan Levine talks with author Louis Begley about the convoluted trajectory of the Dreyfus case and the lessons we might take from it in dealing with those detained at Guantanamo.