Shaul Magid > Quotes

“However, these communities were also subject to the infusion of the world around them and their notion of tradition became altered in the very act of dissimulation. They 'falsely' believed they were protecting something old when, in fact, they were creating something new.”
― Shaul Magid, American Post-Judaism: Identity and Renewal in a Postethnic Society

“extremes are working in tandem to undermine the liberal Zionist middle which, unable to offer any realistic solution, ends up passively tolerating the occupation (one new liberal Zionist euphemism is “shrinking the occupation”)—another unwitting affirmation of the BDS movement. As the historical window for an equitable two-state solution closes, and the middle ground continues to shrink, what is a liberal Zionist to do?”
― Shaul Magid, The Necessity of Exile: Essays from a Distance

“It was there that I understood what long-time leader at the Jewish National Fund and lifelong Zionist Yosef Weitz said long ago in his diary (popularized in the 2021 film Blue Box): “The Arabs will never forgive us for what we have done to them.”
― Shaul Magid, The Necessity of Exile: Essays from a Distance

“Liberal Zionism is a failure on liberal grounds if it cannot offer those who live within Israel’s borders the very same rights of self-determination that Zionism claims for”
― Shaul Magid, The Necessity of Exile: Essays from a Distance