Fundamentally Freund/Michael Freund

This week marks the seventieth anniversary of one of the most chilling events of the modern era.

For the first time in recent memory, a prominent American politician has had the courage to speak some unvarnished truths about the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

For a brief moment last week, the world got to peek behind the diplomatic curtains and catch a glimpse of what the American and French presidents really think of Israel’s prime minister.

As the Palestinians press forward in international forums with their plans for statehood, a growing chorus of countries has expressed support for the move.

Sometimes the truth can be found in the oddest of places, if one knows where to look. Even in poll results. A new study by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research bears this out. Released last week, it raises three difficult questions for all those who continue to believe that Israel must make concessions to win peace with the Palestinians.

This year, one of America's leading newsmagazines decided to send a memorable Rosh Hashanah greeting to Jews all over the world. On the cover of its latest issue, Time magazine placed a large Star of David made of white Gerbera daisies, in the middle of which was superimposed large black text triumphantly declaring: "Why Israel Doesn't Care About Peace."

What a disturbing sight to behold. In the past few days, the Obama administration has gone to extraordinary lengths to berate Israel over the approval of a Jewish housing project in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo.

Anyone who thought Israel was immune to the kind of divisive "culture wars" that have beset America in recent years was in for a rude awakening this past week.

It was supposed to be temporary. Nine years ago last month, then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak ordered the Israeli army to withdraw from Joseph's Tomb in Shechem (Nablus) in one of the most humiliating retreats in the nation's modern history.