Overcoming Catastrophe

Posted on: July 14th, 2010

How did we survive? Can you imagine that day? The First Temple: never had there been a more perfect society. An entire people dedicated to the service of God. Dignitaries from the four corners of the world came to witness the glory of the Kingdom of David and the shining Temple on the Hills of Yerushalayim.

Saluting A Stand Against Holocaust Denial

Posted on: July 14th, 2010

An official Iranian delegation from the city of Shiraz recently visited Weimar, its sister city in Germany. Like Weimar, Shiraz has been a capital of high culture for centuries, and appreciating the arts undoubtedly was high on the itinerary of Mayor Mehran E'temadi and his fellow delegates.

The Illegal Occupation That Must End

Posted on: July 14th, 2010

Famagusta, Cyprus: The ghost town lies near the very center of the city, just outside the Venetian walls. It is home only to snakes, scorpions, and rats of a hundred varieties. Signs on the fences around the ghost town show armed Turkish soldiers threatening those taking photographs with arrest or worse. The crumbling buildings inside the perimeter are frozen in time in 1974, as if in an episode of "The Twilight Zone."

A Nation’s Loss

Posted on: July 14th, 2010

While Shylock, in Shakespeare's play, might have used the plural as a rhetorical device, his words speak to a greater truth about community and nation. When we look at a country and wonder why it behaves in the way it does - with charity, belligerence, etc. - we are seeing an entity functioning as an individual might, often driven by the same emotions, ethics and sense of justice.

It’s Time To Follow Nixon

Posted on: July 7th, 2010

We need to learn from history. Once upon a time (nearly forty years but not so long ago, really) American foreign policy was being stymied, on every issue and continent, by a duplicitous Soviet Union, Confounded by the Vietnam War, President Richard Nixon and his foreign policy czar, Henry Kissinger, faced not so much crises that threatened America as murky messes that wouldn't yield to unilateral resolution. Soviet partnership was needed but at best absent.

Boys To Men: The Fighters Who Gave Us Israel

Posted on: July 7th, 2010

The early morning air drifting off the port of Haifa passed through the tents housing the sleeping new recruits secretly based at Kibbutz Ein Shofat.

Mourning The Gush Katif Expulsion

Posted on: July 7th, 2010

It is now five years since the mass expulsion of Jews from Gush Katif. The anniversary falls on Tisha B'Av, when we mourn the destruction of the first and second Temples in Jerusalem. We also mark the modern-day destruction of Jewish life.

‘Rabbi Live’ Turns Sights On Obama After Helen Thomas

Posted on: July 7th, 2010

Rabbi David Nesenoff has given Accuracy in Media the most detailed account yet of how his encounter with veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas caused him to reevaluate not only his view of the media, but of the White House and President Obama.

Family Ordeal Underscores Need For Gaza Blockade

Posted on: June 30th, 2010

Iris Twito, the mother of two sons injured by Kassam rockets in the city of Sderot, granted an exclusive interview with Sderot Media Center following the Gaza aid flotilla fiasco.

Europe Will Never Forgive Israel For The Holocaust

Posted on: June 30th, 2010

As an Israeli psychoanalyst once noted with bitter irony, the Germans will never forgive the Jews for Auschwitz. The corollary to this observation is that Europeans will never forgive the Israelis and the Jews for Auschwitz.

When The Only One Left Is The Puppeteer: A Spiritual Perspective on the Gulf Oil Spill

Posted on: June 30th, 2010

The ongoing crisis in the Gulf of Mexico has been declared the worst oil spill in American history. It occurred when an offshore drilling rig exploded on April 20, killing eleven crew members and causing an oil pipe, 5,000 feet below the ocean's surface, to rupture. BP, the oil company responsible for the spill, is the fourth largest company, of any type, in the world. Shockingly, BP's efforts, backed by America, have not stopped the flow.

Rubashkin Sentence Sullies U.S. Justice System

Posted on: June 30th, 2010

The unusually severe sentence of 27 years in prison for Sholom Rubashkin is a victory for a prosecution that from the outset pursued a win-at-all-costs strategy. But the success comes at a price, and not just to the 51-year-old man now facing a virtual life sentence, his wife and 10 children. The government's handling of this case has sullied our justice system.

The World’s Oldest Hatred

Posted on: June 30th, 2010

Anti-Semitism is the planet's oldest hatred. Yet it is a prejudice I had thought the world was moving past. Clearly, however, as demonstrated by the endless vitriol directed at Israel, it is alive and well.

Imprisoning Emmanuel Parents Is Morally Absurd

Posted on: June 23rd, 2010

The issue in the girl's school controversy in Emmanuel is not about ethnic discrimination but about differences between religious groups. The school's educational policies are based on the level of observance, not ethnic background.

Is Obama At A Tipping Point?

Posted on: June 23rd, 2010

Hurricane Katrina. Hostage crisis. Tet Offensive. Is Barack Obama's presidency at a similar tipping point? The relevance of the question exemplifies the gravity of Obama's crisis. Obama is learning the lesson of presidents before him.

The Race To Vilify Israel

Posted on: June 23rd, 2010

It's remarkable that with all the strife and conflict emanating from every corner of the globe, Israel is the country that perpetually dominates the headlines. With Iran thumbing its nose at the international community with the threat of nuclear proliferation, North Korea launching a torpedo attack and sinking a ship from South Korea, and car bombs killing countless civilians in Baghdad on an ongoing basis, why is it that Israel is the hot topic of conversation - and condemnation - throughout the world?

The Three Weeks – And A Nation That Dwells Alone

Posted on: June 23rd, 2010

We begin the Three Weeks. Is it an accident that the world seems to be engulfed by one crisis after another? The oil bubbling up from the ocean floor is a perfect symbol of the continuously unfolding tide of disasters. The world teeters, increasingly out of control. And Israel stands alone. As Balaam says in this week's parshah, "Behold! It is a nation that will dwell in solitude and not be reckoned among the nations" (Numbers 23:9).

Blame Liberal Media, Courts For Emmanuel Controversy

Posted on: June 23rd, 2010

The headlines in Israel are filled with the mass arrest and imprisonment of a group of haredi parents for disobeying a court order commanding them to send their children to one school and not to another. The world media have discovered the story of intra-Jewish "racism" inside Israel and by and large are repeating the twist to the story provided by Israel's largely leftist media. And, as usually happens, the Israeli media, by covering the story to suit their own biases and ideological agenda, are getting just about everything wrong.

Let’s Stop Talking To Ourselves

Posted on: June 16th, 2010

Just like an office fire alarm, the Gaza flotilla affair sent thousands of Jews all over the word into a well-practiced drill.

Supporting Israel, Questioning Turkey

Posted on: June 16th, 2010

The facts of the flotilla incident speak for themselves - but only to those who are willing to listen. Unfortunately, albeit predictably, the international community seems to care less about what actually happened and more about that fact that it now has an opportunity to engage in what appears to be a global pastime: kicking Israel.