Of Mufti and Men

The die that was cast for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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Live from Tel Aviv, author Oren Kessler joins the Remnant to discuss his new book, Palestine 1936: The Great Revolt and the Roots of the Middle East Conflict. The result is a deep dish slice of eggheady conversation, which mixes rank punditry with historical nerdery and a negligible amount of technical glitches. Things kick off with a history of the Arab-Israeli conflict from the 1930s to the present. Afterward, Jonah and Oren explore some pressing questions surrounding the conflict today. How should we regard the ongoing judicial reforms in Israel? Where does nationalism fit into Arab and Israeli intellectual history? And does Israel need to develop a written constitution?

Show Notes:

–Oren’s new book, Palestine 1936: The Great Revolt and the Roots of the Middle East Conflict

–Oren’s webpage

–Oren’s book preview on Military History Now

–George Antonius’ The Arab Awakening

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Comments (23)
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  1. Israel.D.Gale

    Regarding "No you won't", the problem is not something special about Hebrew, it's a lack of understanding of the English. The word "won't" is a shorthand reference to the previous sentence ("I'll see you next time"). It means "No, you won't see me". Unlike Hebrew (and most other languages), in which the future tense is one word, the English future tense is a two word phrase ("will see"), and "won't" is short for "will not see". "No you won't" uses a fragment of the verb phrase, which is not possible in most languages, because they have a single-word future tense. The most literal thing you could say is the entire sentence: "No, you won't see me".

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    Kelvinktsang

    Who's the British guy that lives in florida that jonah brings in occasionally? Would love to hear his thoughts on whether the UK needs a constitution.

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    This comment has been deleted

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    Kelvinktsang

    Really appreciated this, especially given the competing narratives.

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    Ben Connelly

    The last ~90 seconds of this podcast cracked me up.

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  6. Aaron H Frank

    I've started to read Oren's book because of the podcast. A technical question - does the Remnant or Dispatch receive click-through credit if I go from your show notes to an Amazon page? You should.

    I liked the little discussion of antisemitism vs anti-Zionism. But I am really interested in that comparison in a modern, post Israel world.

    Israel as a Jewish refuge has a problem they need to think about. The antisemite definition of a Jew is broader than the Israeli definition of a Jew. My kids would not be Jewish because my wife did not convert. My sisters-in-law did but had reform conversions so they would not be considered Jewish rendering their kids gentiles in the eyes of the Law of Return. All of these kids consider themselves Jewish.

    In Nazi Germany all these kids would be Jewish. If we find ourselves in a similar world will Israel turn its back on these Jews.

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    Katenesvick

    Is the phrase you're looking for... thou shalt not?

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    1. Israel.D.Gale

      FYI, "Thou shalt not" is a non-literal English translation of the 2-letter word "lo", which just means "no" or "don't".

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    Gibby

    Idea for Dispatch Merch:

    A random answer generator that completes the sentence "My old boss Ben Wattenberg used to say..."

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    Bill Dyer (aka Beldar)

    A very intriguing and informative show, on both history and current affairs, with a charming guest who kept up nicely with Mr. Goldberg at high revs-per-minute.

    I almost bought Mr. Kessler's book after reading the WSJ review that Mr. Goldberg referenced in the podcast, and put it on my "consider later" list. But based on the podcast, it's moved up in my queue, been purchased on Kindle, and will probably be my next nonfiction read. (I'm a third of the way through the very, very different Murderbot Diaries SF series at the moment.) Here's the review, in a link that the WSJ promotes as a "free link," so I hope it will get you past their paywall:

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/palestine-1936-book-review-the-storm-before-the-storm-23c67da1?st=72gb38i8hvkxpat&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

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    Katenesvick

    I love a Remnant that fills gaps in my knowledge and is current events adjacent. Not too rank, not too wonk.

    Can we get Gallagher back to talk China? A quote in TMD made me think he might disagree with Jonah about the Chinese buying US farmland but I'd like to hear both takes fleshed out and situated in an updated assessment of the relationship more broadly, post-balloon and -Energy Dept assessment.

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