Mondoweiss is an anti-Zionist news website based in the United States.Mark Braverman, A Wall in Jerusalem: Hope, Healing, and the Struggle for Justice in Israel and Palestine, Hachette UK 2013 Mondoweiss began as a general-interest blog written by Philip Weiss on The New York Observer website. Adam Horowitz later joined as co-editor.Michelle Goldberg, 'Idiosyncratic and influential anti-Zionist blogger Philip Weiss has a complicated relationship with Israel, American Jewry, and himself,' Tablet January 20, 2011 In 2010, Weiss described the website's purpose as one of covering American foreign policy in the Middle East from a "progressive Jewish perspective".Jane Adas, 'Interview with Jane Adas,' AMEU, Link, vol 43, No. 1 January–March 2010 p. 12 In 2011, it defined its aims as fostering greater fairness for Palestinians in American foreign policy, and as providing American Jews with an alternative identity to that expressed by Zionist ideology, which he regards as antithetical to American liberalism. Originally supported by The Nation Institute (renamed Type Media Center in 2019), it became a project of part of the Center for Economic Research and Social Change in June 2011.
Staff Philip Weiss has written for New York magazine, This is the archives of New York magazine articles written by Weiss from 2002 through 2009. Harper's Magazine,"Philip Weiss" at Harper's Magazine. Esquire, and The New York Observer. He is the author of Cock-a-Doodle-Doo (1996)Philip Weiss, Cock-a-Doodle-Doo, St. Martin's Press, March 1996, , . and American Taboo: A Murder in the Peace Corps (2004).Publisher Harper Collins web page on Philip Weiss, American Taboo: A Murder in the Peace Corps, 2004. Weiss self-identifies on the site as anti-Zionist.
Adam Horowitz received his master's degree in Near Eastern Studies from New York University.Biography in "Peacebuilders delegation to Israel Palestine May & June 2011", Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota, March 3, 2011. He later served as the Director of the Israel/Palestine Program for the American Friends Service Committee where he gained "extensive on-the-ground experience in Israel/Palestine".The New Media & the Palestine Question: Blogging Out of Conflict 2010 event, biography of Adam Horowitz, The Jerusalem Fund website. In addition to Mondoweiss, Horowitz has written for The Nation, AlterNet, The Huffington Post, and The Hill.com.*Adam Horowitz at The Nation Adam Horowitz at The Huffington Post Adam Horowitz at The Hill Adam Horowitz at AlterNet He has spoken frequently on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict on campuses and to organizations.Adam Horowitz, "'Mr. Horowitz, tell us what you think of the two-state solution'" , Mondoweiss, March 15, 2009.The following events all accessed January 19, 2013. Chicago Sabeel Conference announcement, 2005, Friends of Sabeel website. Campus Organizing Conference: Educate, Motivate, Advocate for a Just Peace in Israel & Palestine, 2011 , American Friends Service Committee "UIC/DePaul University joint student research conference States and Violence/Violence and the State", 2011 , American Friends Service Committee website. Jewish Bloggers: Conscience over Complicity, 2010 at Committee for a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine website. The New Media & the Palestine Question: Blogging Out of Conflict 2010 event , The Jerusalem Fund website.
Alex Kane, an assistant editor for Mondoweiss based in New York City, also is the World editor for AlterNet.Alex Kane Stories listing , AlterNet, accessed April 18, 2013. His work also has appeared in Salon, The Daily Beast, The Electronic Intifada, Extra! and Common Dreams.Alex Kane, "It's official: Israel has gotten away with it — again" , Salon, July 9, 2010. Regular contributors include Helena Cobban, Dareen Tatour, Steven Salaita, Alice Rothchild, Haidar Eid, Nada Elia, Yossi Gurvitz, Jonathan Ofir and Shatha Hanaysha."Mondoweiss is growing: Join us in welcoming new staff" . Mondoweiss. June 4, 2019.
Development
In a 2010 interview with The Link, the magazine published by Americans for Middle East Understanding, Philip Weiss described the evolution of Mondoweiss:
In March 2006 I began writing a daily blog on The New York Observer website. My editor, Peter Kaplan, encouraged me to write what was on my mind and it was his idea to call it Mondoweiss. Increasingly what was on my mind were "Jewish issues": the Iraq disaster and my Jewishness, Zionism, neo-conservatism, Israel, Palestine. For many reasons that I detail in "Blogging about Israel and Jewish identity raises Observer hackles" in the spring of 2007 I re-launched my own blog on my own website. It became a collaborative effort a year ago when Adam Horowitz joined Mondoweiss.Adas, Jane. "From The Link's Links" , The Link, Vol. 43, Issue 1, Americans for Middle East Understanding, January–March 2010:12.
In The American Conservative, Weiss detailed his split from The New York Observer and wrote, "Blogging about such matters sometimes made me feel wicked, as though I was betraying my tribe. Shouldn't some thoughts remain private? But I felt that the form demanded transparency about what I cared about, Jewish identity."Philip Weiss, "Blogging about Israel and Jewish identity raises Observer hackles" , The American Conservative, June 4, 2007. On July 16, 2012, Mondoweiss announced a new partnership with Salon."Salon.com Partners With Purveyor of Anti-Semitic Material Mondoweiss". . The Algemeiner. July 23, 2012.Philip Weiss, Adam Horowitz. "Announcing a new partnership between Mondoweiss and Salon". . Mondoweiss. July 16, 2012.
Content In 2008, after the arrest of Ben-Ami Kadish, who allegedly gave Israel stolen United States secrets on nuclear weapons, fighter jets and missiles in the 1980s, The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles quoted Mondoweiss as writing about an old Government Accountability Office report stating that Israel "conducts the most aggressive espionage operation against the United States of any U.S. ally".Brad A. Greenberg, "Bad news for Jews: American accused of spying for Israel in '80s" , The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, April 22, 2008.Philip Weiss, "I Swear My Mama Doesn't Spy for Israel. Now, My Daddy–". . Mondoweiss. April 22, 2008. In 2010, James Wolcott wrote in Vanity Fair quoting Weiss in Mondoweiss regarding an Anti-Defamation League statement regarding the planned Park51 project, an Islamic Center near the World Trade Center site. Wolcott quoted Weiss who had written: "It's happened: the Anti-Defamation League has overplayed its hand (in this case, neoconservative Islamophobia) in such a glaring manner that it is being condemned at every quarter."James Wolcott, Foxman Agonistes (Updated) , Vanity Fair, July 31, 2010, accessed February 20, 2013.Philip Weiss, "'ADL' statement rationalizing bigotry draws wide scorn" , Mondoweiss, July 30, 2010.
In 2012, Tablet magazine wrote that the Associated Press had "picked up a story from advocacy blog" Mondoweiss, about Israeli security asking a Palestinian-American to show them her email at Ben-Gurion Airport. Tablet wrote that "more news stories—and this story is undoubtedly newsworthy—are going to come to the attention of non-niche journalists and thereby gain wider notice".Najwa Doughman and Sasha Al-Sarabi, "'Do you feel more Arab or more American?': Two women's story of being detained and interrogated at Ben Gurion". . Mondoweiss. June 2, 2012. Also in 2012, Mondoweiss reported that United States Representative Joseph R. Pitts' office had mailed a letter calling on Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestine National Authority Chair Yasser Arafat to work toward peace in the Middle East. It commented that the congressman seemed to entrust peace negotiations in the Middle East to a dead man, Arafat, and another in a vegetative state, Sharon.Ian Rhodewalt /Congressman Joe Pitts: 'It is incumbent on Ariel Sharon and Yasir Arafat to restart a peace process' . Mondoweiss. May 13, 2012. The blog pointed out that Sharon had been in a coma since 2006 and Arafat had died in 2004. The representative blamed accidental use of an old form letter.Adam Horowitz, "Rep. Pitts in damage control mode following call for Arafat-Sharon negotiations" . Mondoweiss. May 16, 2012.
Reception In March 2007, Gary Kamiya, in an article for the website Salon, wrote that Mondoweiss offered "informed and passionate discussions" of what Weiss stated were "delicate and controversial matters surrounding American Jewish identity and Israel". Kamiya wrote that Weiss, "routinely skewers attempts by mainstream Jewish organizations and pundits to lay down the law on what is acceptable discourse". As an example he mentioned Weiss' exploration of "off-limits" topics like dual loyalty, as in an incident regarding the American Jewish Committee. Weiss had written that a Committee piece accusing Jewish intellectuals who did not "toe the party line on Israel" of being "self-haters" only revealed the "anti-intellectual, vicious, omerta practices of the Jewish leadership".Gary Kamiya, Can American Jews unplug the Israel lobby? , Salon March 20, 2007.
In 2009, Michael Massing, in an article titled "The News About the Internet" for The New York Review of Books, noted that "Weiss is one of several friends I've seen flourish online after enduring years of frustration writing for magazines. With its unrelenting criticism of Israel, his site [Mondoweiss] has angered even some of his fellow doves, but it has given voice to a strain of opinion that in the past had few chances of being heard." In November 2009, former United States Senator James G. Abourezk praised Weiss and Horowitz for their courage in taking on "what most believe is an unassailable, monolithic pro-Israel Lobby".James G. Abourezk, "Mondoweiss: A Profile in Courage" , Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, November 2009. In September 2010, James Wolcott of Vanity Fair argued that Mondoweiss "is one of the most invaluable sites in the blogosphere, a blast of sanity and moral suasion against the prevailing demonization of anything and anyone perceived as anti-Israel".James Wolcott, "Mondo Narco" , Vanity Fair, September 22, 2010.
In 2010, Mondoweiss was criticized by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs for publishing a series of cartoons which they stated expressed "anti-Israelism, a more recent category of anti-Semitism".Levick, Adam, "Anti-Semitic Cartoons on Progressive Blogs" , JCPA, September 2, 2010. Between 2010 and 2011, Tablet magazine published three articles in which Mondoweiss and other blogs, were criticized. The articles described Weiss as a "Jew-baiter" and "intensely anti-Israel", saying his site was "obsessed with Israel and the machinations of the U.S. Israel lobby" and laden with "sweeping and unsubstantiated rhetoric".Smith, Lee. "Mainstreaming Hate" Tablet, July 21, 2010.Smith, Lee. "Playing With Fire" Tablet, July 29, 2010.Goldberg, Michelle. "Mondo Weiss" Tablet, January 20, 2011. Weiss responded to allegations in Tablet, by stating that the magazine had "smeared" him and several other bloggers as Jew-baiters.Philip Weiss, "'Tablet' is mobbed up with neocons" , July 22, 2010, Mondoweiss. Walt stated that Smith's article contained "not a scintilla of evidence" that "Weiss or I have written or said anything that is remotely anti-Semitic, much less that involves 'Jew-baiting'. There's an obvious reason for this omission: None of us has ever written or said anything that supports Smith's outrageous charges."Stephen Walt, "The problem with judging a blog by its commenters (updated)" , Foreign Policy, July 21, 2010.