Ha’aretz’s Good News Poll

Posted on: November 6th, 2012

Can we trust Haaretz reporting on polls? After Eldar and Levy on those "apartheid" stories? Here's the latest, "For the right man, Israelis would make peace" which makes the claim that "The consensus is moving to the right, but that doesn't mean Israeli Jews won't support a deal with the PA if the right leader comes along, a new study shows."

50 Reasons to Make Aliyah

Posted on: November 6th, 2012

A few readers have written me lately, saying that my blogs are too hard-hitting, and that I would have better results with honey than with smashing people over the head with a sledgehammer. I am not totally convinced

Condemning Israelis Democracy, While Serving in Knesset

Posted on: November 6th, 2012

The legal impunity Jamal Zahalka will continue to enjoy – the rights of citizenship, and special rights as an MK, afforded him by the very state whose existence he incites against – represents stubborn proof attesting to the continuing vitality of Israeli democracy.

Smell the Grass

Posted on: November 6th, 2012

Israel is a land that was, according to the Bible and logic, very fertile. I believe I read somewhere that when the Romans conquered Judea and sent the Jews into exile, they salted the earth to prevent our return. I googled it...yeah, google is now a verb... and there are more than 50,000,000 references to it. I didn't click on them to see if it was true or not. The bottom line is still the same.

As Long as We’re Guessing at God’s Message…

Posted on: November 6th, 2012

It didn’t take very long for some holy rollers to pop up and tell us why God punished the East Coast with a devastating storm. Not only didn’t it take long, there seemed to be a rush to see who could come up with a reason first. I don’t know who actually won that race. But I do know that there are a lot of people who think they have a direct line to God and know exactly what He was trying to tell us. Well, I’m glad I now know. Or do I?

Is Inflation About to Eat All My Investments? (Podcast)

Posted on: November 6th, 2012

Anyone who remembers life in Israel in the 1980s will cringe at the sound of the word “inflation.” Remember the soaring prices and the dramatic falls in the value of inflation? But what is inflation, and how does it affect the average investor? Listen to Doug Goldstein’s interview with Zane Brown, partner and fixed income strategist [...]

Morning Rocket Attack On Eshkol Region

Posted on: November 6th, 2012

Not that anyone is paying attention, but this morning a rocket was fired on the Eshkol Region, yet another rocket attack from Gaza.

Hankey, Hogarth and the ‘Arab People of Palestine’

Posted on: November 5th, 2012

"At the time of the Hogarth negotiations, the Arab people of Palestine were a backward, primitive sort of people without political consciousness." Those words were spoken at the meeting of the League of Nations Mandates Commission, Friday, June 16th, 1939, at 10.30 a.m. They are Lord Hankey's words. He was Secretary of the Imperial War Cabinet 1916-1918 and then Secretary to the Cabinet for the next nineteen years.

Haveil Havalim #384

Posted on: November 5th, 2012

Haveil Havalim is a great idea (I'm not going to post the normal shpiel here - just let me say it's our way of sharing a whole bunch of interesting blogs and blog posts that were posted this last week in the Jewish-Israel blogsphere.

Daniel Pipes: Why I am Voting Republican

Posted on: November 5th, 2012

I vote Republican because I support the party's core message of individualism, patriotism, and respect for tradition, in contrast to the core Democratic message of dependence, self-criticism, and "progress." I am inspired by the original reading of the U.S. Constitution, by ideals of personal freedom and American exceptionalism. I vote for small government, for a return of power to the states, for a strong military, and an assertive pursuit of national interests.

The Secret of Making a Living after Making Aliya

Posted on: November 5th, 2012

Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda HaKohen Kook said it was like a girl who was set up on a shidduch with a guy whom she knew wasn’t for her. But she didn’t want to embarrass him. So she dressed up in dirty, smelly garments so that he would feel turned off. While he thought that he was rejecting her, in truth, she was rejecting him... Surely, aliyah is the most difficult and challenging mitzvah – the true test of a Jew’s faith in God. But hundreds of thousands of new olim have made it, and so can you.

Locked Up Children: An Example of Anti-Israel Media Bias

Posted on: November 5th, 2012

On June 27, Honest Reporting revealed The Independent‘s use of the following photo to illustrate a particularly critical story on the Israeli treatment of Palestinian child detainees.

Sinai Spinning out of Cairo’s Grip, Creating Major Headaches for Israel

Posted on: November 5th, 2012

Recently, we wrote here about the great landmass on Israel's southwestern border that "given its physical proximity to Israel, Sinai is not only an Egyptian challenge. That it gets such a small degree of media attention is a puzzle." Since then, there has been a new set of Sinai developments to absorb

Gaming the System

Posted on: November 5th, 2012

One of the more troubling issues for me about the current right-wing push for all of their students to learn Torah full time for as long as possible (well into their marriage and long after having a number of children to support) is the way in which this is financed. I have long ago expressed my disagreement with this policy as it is currently applied. The idea of directing every single male in all of Jewry into a life of Torah study as the ideal (to the exclusion of any other productive endeavor) is anathema to the very idea of a Jewish nation.

In Polls: Labor Picking Up Speed as Likud-Beitenu Faces Loss of Seats

Posted on: November 5th, 2012

Weekly poll average: Likud-Beitenu at 38 seats; Labor at 22; the Right wing parties a little over 66 seats and the left has just under 54. The Jewish Home-National Union list rose to 9 seats while Kadima continues its decline into oblivion.

The Blood of an American Hero

Posted on: November 4th, 2012

I keep hearing the words of Charles Woods as he speaks of his son Tyrone. Tyrone was a Navy SEAL - who did what Navy SEALS have been doing for as long as they have existed - he went to the aid of his fellow Americans. For 7 hours, he fought terrorists. He and Glen Doherty managed to hold them off, managed to kill 60 of them, according to some reports. And in all that time, no Americans arrived to help them, to save them. No one came to their aid despite repeated requests, despite available assets.

Barak and Barack

Posted on: November 4th, 2012

An interview with Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak — thinly disguised as “the decision-maker” created a sensation in early August, when he suggested that an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities was imminent. Barak explained that Israel could not depend on an American commitment to destroy the program in the future, even if it were made today. Suddenly, last week, Barak began to sing a different tune.

Daniel Pipes: Superficiality Reigns Before the Election

Posted on: November 4th, 2012

It happens every four years, as U.S. presidential elections roll around: I feel like a stranger. That's because news reports blare out what's not of interest: trivial statistics (171,000 jobs added in October; jobless rate up 0.1 percent to 7.9 percent), biographical irrelevancies (claims that Romney outsourced jobs to other countries when at Bain Capital), and forgettable gaffes (Obama saying that "Voting is the best revenge"). This limited discussion misses the main points.

A Red-Faced Red Cross

Posted on: November 4th, 2012

In his op-ed in Ha'artez, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross delegation in Israel disputes the Levy Report. He does not understand that we are Jews returning, not being transferred to Judea and Samaria.

The Jews of the United States

Posted on: November 4th, 2012

Years have passed since Rabbi Kahane penned this essay, but it still rings sadly true today. Rabbi Kahane was known for saying uncomfortable things that comfortable Jews didn’t want to hear. In honor of his yahrtzeit, here’s another one of his brilliant and illuminating writings, which was published almost 25 years ago in The Jewish Press.