Published on The American Mind “Our cold civil war and partisan rancor,” writes Ryan P. Williams, “will only end when one party finally wins the argument about these fundamentals in a decisive and conclusive victory and uses that victory to solidify and sustain an enduring electoral coalition for a generation or more.” I’m skeptical such a “decisive and conclusive” victory is…
Author: Jonathan Bronitsky
A politico who loves impressionist art, esoteric architecture, electronica, jazz, and racquet sports.
Review: Israelis versus Jews [CLAREMONT REVIEW OF BOOKS] Bibi: The Turbulent Life and Times of Benjamin Netanyahu, by Anshel Pfeffer
Published in Claremont Review of Books After the assassination of his labor Party colleague Yitzhak Rabin in November 1995, Shimon Peres became acting prime minister of Israel. He called for early elections in hopes of gaining a mandate for advancing the peace process and, as initial exit polls indicated, was favored to win the general contest….
The City of Mensch [MODERN AGE] Orthodox Judaism holds lessons for the Benedict Option — but not necessarily the ones Rod Dreher thinks it does.
Published in Modern Age They represent a growing force in the conservative intellectual movement. You could even say they constitute a new literary genre. A slew of books have recently been published by Christians concerned about the future of their religious communities in America, a country increasingly hostile to all people of faith. (How hostile? See, for…
Unseeing Paterno [WEEKLY STANDARD] Al Pacino plays Penn State's "JoePa" in an HBO movie about the rape scandal.
Published in The Weekly Standard A memorable bumper sticker from my childhood: “If God isn’t a Penn State fan, then why is the sky blue and white?” For me, growing up in central Pennsylvania, Penn State football was the universe while the team’s head coach, Joe Paterno, was the center around which it rotated. His likeness…
A Neocon Grows in Brooklyn [MODERN AGE] Can a neoconservative support Trump? Norman Podhoretz did.
Published in Modern Age Neoconservatives have never been especially popular on the right, to say nothing of the left. Since they emerged as a genuine political force in the early 1980s, they have been faulted by traditionalists for underemphasizing the role of morality in domestic affairs, yet denounced by realists and libertarians for overemphasizing the role of…
Put the Holy Back in “Holiday” [CITY JOURNAL] Dear Rabbis: Skip the politics these High Holy Days.
Published on City Journal “High Holidays” refers to the ten-day period of repentance spanning the Jewish New Year and the Day of Atonement, when—according to the Torah—the names of the righteous are inscribed in the Book of Life, and the names of the wicked are inscribed in the Book of Death. Not so long ago, the…
The Vanity of Bernard-Henri Lévy [NATIONAL INTEREST] BHL's latest tract, "The Genius of Judaism," is a polemic masquerading as intellectual history.
Published in The National Interest Bernard-Henri Lévy has been the recipient of vast quantities of acclaim, a copious dose of scorn and even a handful of projectile pies. This likely would have been the destiny of any semiprominent ex-Marxist French intellectual who openly (and practically unilaterally) turned against the European Left, calling it out for its…
The Left’s Anti-Semitism is More Widespread than the Alt-Right’s [FEDERALIST] According to the numbers, the average Jewish-American millennial will first encounter sustained and systemic anti-Semitism at college.
Published on The Federalist Although the fight against anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry must be nonpartisan, my attempt to draw attention to left-wing anti-Semitism triggered a depressingly partisan response. I was labeled a “liberal” by self-avowed anti-Semites and an “anti-Semite,” among other hateful terms, by self-avowed liberals. Clearly, many readers weren’t willing to seriously grapple…
The Alt-Right Distracts Many Jews From a Left-Wing Threat [FEDERALIST] There's a dangerous adversary on campus driven by anti-Zionism and intersectionality.
Published on The Federalist Much of the Jewish-American community is fixated on the “alt-right.” Over the past year, countless op-eds have been penned and declarations made comparing the United States to the Weimar Republic and intimating, à la Philip Roth’s 2004 novel, Plot Against America, that concentration camps are just around the corner—from Main Street. (A search…
It’s Time to Make Washington Part of America Again [FOX NEWS] DC must be comprised of people representing the entirety of our diverse nation.
Published on Fox News For perhaps the first time ever, it’s not necessarily “cool” in DC to have grown up in a big city and attended an elite college or university. This is one of the more important, yet subtle, developments for our republic resulting from Trump’s victory. And it’s a positive one that should…