I am a proud Jewish New Yorker and a proud Zionist. I believe deeply in the dignity of cultures, the necessity of human rights, and the power of communities to build beauty from pain. Precisely because I hold those commitments, I am revolted by any narrative that transforms the Hamas atrocities of October 7 into a romantic revolutionary touchstone.

In its August 10, 2026, article on New York’s emerging SWANA (Southwest Asian and North African) cultural scene, New York magazine describes how, in the months after October 7, protests, boycotts, and opinion writing developed into friendships, dinners, restaurants, reading series, and creative spaces. The article says that “out of that resistance, a cultural ecosystem started to bloom.” It later names October 7 and its “hellish aftermath” as one point at which this cultural movement reached critical mass.

The existence of a flourishing Arab, Muslim, Iranian, Palestinian, or broader SWANA culture in New York is not the problem. Cultural confidence is not the enemy. The danger lies in a........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)