Releasing Killers Endangers Israelis

Posted on: October 14th, 2009

Last week, in return for a video – not the freedom of a kidnap victim, but a video of a kidnap victim – Israel freed 20 Palestinian prisoners. This has to stop.

Free Speech On Campus? Only If You Don’t Offend Islam

Posted on: October 14th, 2009

St. Louis University is the latest institution of higher learning to demonstrate that free speech on campuses begins and ends according to how well that speech conforms to existing political orthodoxies.

Amira Hass’s Prize For Propaganda

Posted on: October 14th, 2009

One of four Courage in Journalism awards to be presented later this month by Christiane Amanpour and Irshad Manjie, among others, will go to the Israeli journalist Amira Hass, whose unremitting critique of Israel serves as a veritable blood libel against the Jewish people.

Does Israel Need America?

Posted on: October 14th, 2009

Ask the average Jew on the street and he’ll tell you: Israel needs America in order to survive. Indeed, this view is so entrenched in the Jewish community that few dare question it. Just as a baby needs his mother and an injured person needs his crutches, it seems obvious to many that Israel needs America.

I Did My Part

Posted on: October 7th, 2009

Since creating EndTheMadness seven years ago I have received all manner of correspondence, and it should come as no surprise that for every gratifying e-mail I receive there are plenty more that are disturbing in one way or another. But what if I asked you to guess which e-mails disturb me the most, even momentarily shaking my optimism that there really is hope for our society?

Questions For Jewish Obama Supporters

Posted on: October 7th, 2009

On January 20, President Obama’s longtime friend and adviser David Axelrod appeared at the Jewish Community Inaugural Reception and told the crowd he was there to do “a little kvelling.”

The Greatest Gift

Posted on: October 7th, 2009

We call it “Simchas Torah.” It is the culmination of our entire holiday cycle. Pesach and Shavuos, then Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkos all lead up to one enormous day of simcha. Why do we associate simcha with Torah? And why is it the culmination of everything?

The Searches Continue

Posted on: October 7th, 2009

One of the most remarkable and poignant things about the World Gathering of Jewish Holocaust survivors and their families in Jerusalem in 1981 was a wall plastered with notes from survivors and their children looking for lost family members and friends.

Navigating Our Ship On The Open Sea: Learning – and Teaching – the Lessons of History

Posted on: September 30th, 2009

There is more than a bit of gallows humor in the following Torah thought, which I’ve heard attributed to several gedolim over the years: Question: Why is it that our children do not ask “Four Questions” on Sukkos? After all, things are far from ordinary – arguably even more so than on Pesach – when we sit down to our first Yom Tov meal outdoors in the sukkah.

Defunding Iranian Terror

Posted on: September 30th, 2009

On the anniversary of the tragic events that took place on September 11, 2001, we remembered the lives lost of friends, family and neighbors. We also renewed our resolve to rebuild, to bring to justice those responsible, and to challenge extremism wherever it exists.

Irving Kristol And The Power Of Ideas

Posted on: September 30th, 2009

The role of a public intellectual in a democracy is not one that is easily understood or described. In our contemporary media culture, where celebrity is measured solely by notoriety rather than the force of a person’s ideas, it is difficult to imagine how someone like Irving Kristol can be properly appreciated.

Jimmy Carter’s Politics Of Division

Posted on: September 30th, 2009

There he goes again. Jimmy Carter, former Jim Crow man, has accused millions of his fellow Americans of engaging in the type of racial politics that marked his political career for years, even up to the eve of the 1980 presidential election, which he has never apologized for or acknowledged.

The UN’s Blood Libel

Posted on: September 23rd, 2009

Richard Goldstone – the primary author of a one-sided United Nations attack on Israeli actions during the Gaza war – has now become a full-fledged member of the international bash-Israel chorus. His name will forever be linked in infamy with such distorters of history and truth as Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein and Jimmy Carter.

Obama’s Agenda Isn’t Selling In Conservative America

Posted on: September 23rd, 2009

The huge “9/12” protest in Washington was the latest expression of discontent over President Obama’s leftward policy thrust. The discord is evident from the Tea Party movement to the chaotic town halls on health care reform.

New Year’s Resolutions In September

Posted on: September 23rd, 2009

In the fall of 1988, I began a new chapter in my life. It had been almost a year since I delivered my bar mitzvah speech in my family’s warm suburban synagogue and just a few months after I’d completed eighth grade at the Hebrew Academy of Cleveland – the Jewish day school I had attended since pre-kindergarten.

Goldstone Report A Mockery Of History

Posted on: September 23rd, 2009

The UN’s Goldstone Commission report on the Israeli army’s behavior in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead is a mockery of history.

Time To Get Tougher On Iran

Posted on: September 23rd, 2009

Amid the media firestorm over Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's annual propaganda turn on the world stage addressing the UN General Assembly, let’s not lose sight of the need to get tougher on Iran.

J Street’s Shameful Attacks On Pro-Israel Organizations

Posted on: September 16th, 2009

If J Street, the new left-wing Israel lobby, wants to be taken seriously by mainstream American Jewry, I suggest it immediately stop the patronizing argument that all those who disagree with the organization are ossified Jewish knuckle-draggers who see an anti-Semite behind every corner.

Whose Side Is J Street Really On?

Posted on: September 16th, 2009

Is J Street a pro-Israel group? The lobbying organization never tires of claiming it is. Yet what pro-Israel group would invite a man to speak at its forthcoming conference who has called for Israel’s destruction, stating that “the establishment by force, violence and terrorism of a Jewish state in Palestine in 1948” was “unjust” and “a crime,” and vowed to “work to overturn the injustice"?

The Only True King

Posted on: September 16th, 2009

Hashem Melech. God is King. That is the theme of Rosh Hashanah. What does it mean for us? We are accustomed to a world in which “the people rule.” That is the theory. One man casts a vote, and it is tabulated along with the rest. The winner theoretically becomes the leader. We have grown […]