Author Archives: Irfan Khawaja

West Orange: Habitat for Inhumanity

Posted on by under Electoral Ethics and Politics, West Orange

Every candidate for office in West Orange should be asked a simple question. Would they regard it as disqualifying for office for a candidate to say, “We are humans, not Jews”? Yes or no? On the record. Before Election Day.

And guess who’s going to ask them? ❤️

RESPONSES TO THIS QUESTION WILL BE CONSIDERED ON THE RECORD AND UP FOR POSTING ON THIS BLOG. ONCE RECEIVED, THEY WILL BE POSTED. NOT SURE HOW MUCH MORE EXPLICIT I CAN BE. IF YOU CAN’T HANDLE THAT, DON’T ANSWER THE QUESTION, BUT THEN FACE THE FACT THAT YOU CAN’T ANSWER A QUESTION THIS STRAIGHTFORWARD.

Matt Dvorin, candidate for Town Council, responded on September 27, deleted September 29 at respondent’s request.
Jackie Hendy, candidate for Town Council, responded on September 28, deleted September 29 at respondent’s request.
Micaela Bennett, candidate for Town Council, responded on the evening of September 28, posted September 29, and deleted September 30 at respondent’s request.

“Now Boarding Active Service Military Personnel…”

Posted on by under activism, Fatwas, Human Shields, Neutrality and Complicity, Notes on the Anti-War Movement

Every system of mass transportation I use—trains, buses, airlines—gives a discount to active service military personnel. Some go beyond this, giving them special lounges and priority in boarding. Isn’t this a form of complicity, however ostensibly minor, in the wars they fight? And hasn’t the time come to put an end to it?

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Question Time for Nassau Hall

Posted on by under activism, Human Shields, Neutrality and Complicity, Notes on the Anti-War Movement, Palestine, Princeton University

Question submitted for the September 28, 2026 meeting of the Council of the Princeton University Community:

On November 11, 2024, I asked this body whether, given evidence of the University’s complicity in grave wrongdoing via its investments, it would in principle disclose the nature of those investments. I was told both orally and in print that it would not. The University now has a campaign in which it asks alumni like me to “Stand Up” for Princeton. This strikes me as an illegitimate request. It’s one thing to make a request for support in a context of reciprocity: you disclose; we decide. What Princeton is asking is that we stand up for it while it conceals what it stands for. How can that be justified? Indeed, how can it be differentiated from an outright scam?

The CPUC meets Monday, September 28 at 4:30 pm in the All Purpose Room of Frist Hall at Princeton University.
(I unfortunately missed this meeting again, stuck at work, and will have to ask the question at the CPUC’s next meeting on November 9th.)

Nassau Hall during Gaza Solidarity Encampment, April 29, 2024

Justin Goldsman Has Got to Go

Posted on by under activism, Fatwas, Neutrality and Complicity, West Orange

How is that after Justin Goldsman was fired by Gary Schaer in 2025 precisely over the comments to which I’ve recently drawn attention, West Orange is now in the position of wondering whether he should be elected to Town Council? What exactly is there to wonder about?

I don’t think of Gary Schaer as someone who has sky-high principles on this issue. How can it be that Gary Schaer saw fit to fire Goldsman, but the electorate has re-opened the issue and furrowed its collective brow over the same painfully-litigated issues? I guess Justin Goldsman wasn’t good enough to stay on Schaer’s staff, but is good enough for consideration for West Orange Council. In some ways, that fits. At some level, the Council deserves him. The problem is, we don’t.

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The “Trailer Parks” of Princeton

Posted on by under princeton

Adventures in Classist Self-Pity
Stephen Schreiber is the Vice Chair of the Zoning Board of Adjustment in Princeton, New Jersey. A zoning board of adjustment is a local government body that interprets and applies zoning laws, granting variances to existing law, and making special exceptions in certain cases. Schreiber has a remarkable letter in the September 16 issue of Town Topics, ostensibly on what he regards as the issue of over-development in town, but with the larger aim of proving that Princeton is a special place that ought to be regarded as immune to the imperatives of economic growth, development, and by implication, affordable housing.

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“Too Much Like a Declaration of War”

Posted on by under Electoral Ethics and Politics, MTSP Discussion: George Sher's Desert, West Orange

We supposedly inhabit “cancel culture.” If that’s so, why is it so hard to cancel someone who so obviously deserves it? How powerful a variable can “cancel culture” be if it’s consistent with someone spending decades tweeting out the most anti-woke, bigoted bilge he can dream up, being tolerated by his colleagues in local government for years, being appointed to positions in local government during the same time, and with his carrying on with his political career as if nothing happened? How is cancel culture consistent with nothing happening? What happened to the cancel part?

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Time to Cancel Justin Goldsman

Posted on by under activism, cancel culture, Electoral Ethics and Politics, Fatwas, West Orange

And Some Advice for the West Orange Election
My friend Matt Dragon has an excellent, timely piece on his blog about Justin Goldsman, a candidate for Town Council in West Orange and Favorite Son in local West Orange politics. Wherever Justin goes, adulation follows: he walks into every Council meeting to broad smiles and big hugs and “great to see you’s,” everybody’s little hometown hero. The scandal here is an open secret in West Orange, something that almost everyone, and surely everyone within the Council, knows. Justin has a decades-long history of plain, open, unapologetic social media bigotry, from the n-word to casual Islamophobia, to “I am going to kill this girl or castrate myself, whichever gets her off my dick sooner.” But work through it yourself via the bolded link above, if you have the patience. It’s an eye-opener, even if it’s all par for the course in West Orange.

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The Law’s Delay

Posted on by under Memorials and Obituaries

Here is the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution:

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

Today is the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The acknowledged mastermind of the attack was Khalid Shaikh Muhammad.

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They Have Some Planes

Posted on by under activism, Human Shields, Neutrality and Complicity, Notes on the Anti-War Movement, Palestine, War with Iran

“We have some planes…”
–Muhammad Atta, 9/11 hijacker

The great horror of 9/11 was supposed to be that Al Qaeda hijacked a bunch of American planes and used the civilians on them as mere cannon fodder for their military ends. The great redemption was supposed to be United Flight 93, which flew out of Newark, bound for San Francisco, but crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania when passengers stormed the cockpit and brought it down.

The horror hasn’t really ended. It’s just been concealed. United Flight 90 is the standard United flight to Tel Aviv out of Newark that I’ve taken for a decade, starting from the same place as Flight 93, but flying in the reverse direction. It turns out that everyone on it is, and has for some time been, a human shield for Israel. Our lives–and the honest truth–mean so little to our ruling class that they’ll sacrifice both to Israel without a thought.

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Event: “On Direct Action”

Posted on by under activism, Activist Interviews, General announcements, Human Shields, Neutrality and Complicity, Notes on the Anti-War Movement, Palestine

I’ll be moderating this event, which takes place Saturday, September 19, 1-3 pm in Princeton. It’s a conversation with four of the ten activists who helped shut down Port Elizabeth, New Jersey this past May 22 to stop the shipment through the port of weapons to Israel.

Scan the QR code on the flyer to register. Confirmed attendees will receive the location of the venue, which by request of the venue is only to be divulged to confirmed attendees. You can also use this link.