Israel, Palestine, and the Future of American Politics

Check out the Times this Sunday

A fun gig I got last year is contributing to the New York Times Magazine. Beyond the prestige and pay, it’s a nice opportunity to work with talented editors and a very rigorous fact-checking operation. The Times Magazine, I learned recently, is the last pure weekly magazine in America: a new edition is published every single week of the year, no matter what, always slipping in between the Sunday bundle.

This Sunday, I’ll have my third feature published with them, which is now online. I spent several weeks exploring the fractures in the Democratic Party, and in American politics more broadly, since Israel’s war in Gaza began. The Hamas attacks and Israel’s military response have resonated deeply, as you all know, in the United States. For my piece, I strove to talk to as many voices as possible. I interviewed Israel hawks, liberal Zionists, and anti-Zionists; I spoke with Jews, Palestinians, and the many politicians and activists deeply engaged with what’s happening now. Cori Bush and Ritchie Torres, two House Democrats diametrically opposed to each other when it comes to Israel, are interviewed, and I tried to shine a light on the movement, among conservative pro-Israel donors, to oust progressives from Congress. I spoke too with Mazi Pilip, the Orthodox Jewish former IDF member who is running, as a Republican, to replace George Santos.

The story is a window into our volatile moment. I hope you enjoy it. Since everything is better in print, I encourage you to buy the Sunday Times and get yourself a copy of the magazine.

And, if you missed what I’ve written on Israel for this Substack, you can read some of my thoughts here, here, here, and here.