For those not familiar, David Horowitz and Michael Lerner worked together in the early 70s on Ramparts, but are now considered arch-enemies. I'd wager that its probably there to irk Horowitz. It should've had an introduction to make it clear why its there. there's good reason for you to be surprised.
Regarding the rest of your post: Lerner has supported divestment actually - see Tikkun's March/April and June/July issues from 2005. so that's something you should check. Michael Lerner used to be a critic of calls for divestment, but changed his position over the last two years.
Concerning Michael's own positions on other Israel/Palestine matters, you seem to be implying that there is one party position at Tikkun. Like many magazines, there isn't, just as there wasn't when you and I worked together at Bad Subjects.
All of Tikkun's editors respectfully differ on questions regarding the one versus two state solution, the role of religion in Israeli society etc etc - among many other things. Its part of what makes our Israel/Palestine coverage halfway decent. The next issue is going to be even more lively than usual.
If you want to ask me what my opinion is, you're welcome to do so. But since you've asked about Michael's opinions - you're citing from his new blog - strike up a conversation with him about your disagreements with him concerning this specific issue, drop him a line at rabbilerner at tikkun.org .
He welcomes outside correspondence.
Thanks, Joel
On Jul 22, 2006, at 12:05 PM, Aaron Shuman wrote:
> http://www.tikkun.org/rabbi_lerner/news_item.2006-07-13.2604750814
>
> "Unlike many other publlications on the right, left
> and center, we believe in John Stuart Mill's view of
> the deep value of conflicting views in the marketplace
> of ideas--because we think truth is most likely to
> emerge from that perspective. In Tikkun magazine as
> well we print views which we find offensive, but
> nevertheless stimulating and forcing us to think about
> ideas that we might otherwise ignore. In fact, we
> believe that without this kind of exchange, people
> fall into an intellectual deadness that ensures that
> their ideas become stale and irrelevant."
>
> So Tikkun publishes "Moment of Truth" by Horowitz
> (among several pieces by a range of authors) which
> opens...
>
> "Americans need to take a hard look at what is going
> on in the Middle East, because it provides the
> clearest picture possible of the war we are in. On one
> side are al-Qaeda, Hamas, Hizbollah, Syria and Iran
> and their allies: Russia, France, Greece, and the UN
> majority. On the other is the only democracy in the
> land of Muslim and Arab terror."
>
> and concludes with
>
> "The goal of the United States and Israel and all
> freedom-loving and civilized people in this war must
> be the destruction of the Hamas and Hizabollah
> leadership, their military infrastructure and
> capabilities... The world will not be a safe place or
> a decent one until the present regime in Gaza, the
> West Bank, Syria and Iran are gone. This is a war all
> Americans must support."
>
>
> Joel, can you explain your editorial decision to
> publish this? Why would you distribute the work of a
> man who seems to believe the Left shouldn't exist?
> Does the invocation of John Stuart Mill and the value
> of printing views which some find offensive mean that
> Tikkun will publish work on Israeli apartheid
> (Reinhardt's use of the a-word, for instance) and
> critical holocausts (there's a school of lit on U.S.
> policy in Central America in the 1980s using that
> comparative term, for instance)?
>
> Or is "this kind of exchange" solely open to people,
> however right-wing they are, whose views shore up the
> liberal-Left Zionism of Lerner which opposes
> divestment and criticism of the Jewish identity of the
> state?
>
> (From Lerner's latest...
> http://www.tikkun.org/rabbi_lerner/news_item.2006-07-17.9426591429
> "Who are [Palestine's] enemies? Those who preach ideas
> like “one state solution” or global economic boycott
> without offering the Jewish people a secure state in
> Palestine--paths that will never produce anything
> positive but continued resistance by Israel and world
> Jewry.)
>
> aaron
>
>
>
>
>
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