InDepth

This week we celebrate the anniversary of America’s independence, an event of great magnitude in the history of mans’ struggle for freedom. At a time like this we should be humble and realize that we are the beneficiaries of the dedication and sacrifice of countless others who came before us and built up and defended America.

Rick Perlstein, an unabashed man of the left, first attracted wide notice seven years ago with the release of Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus, his engagingly written and fair-minded study of the rise of the American conservative movement in the 1950’s and 1960’s.

There is currently no place on earth called "Palestine" - certainly not in any meaningful legal or diplomatic sense.

At Camp David in July 2000, PLO terror master Yasir Arafat was exposed as a fraud.

Of all the formerly large Jewish communities in Poland, Lodz is one of the best organized today.

The scent of approaching Kadima primaries has turned the heads of this party of corruption into saber-rattling hawks.

We've grown used to it: whenever anyone in the media takes note of the antics of Norman Finkelstein, a flood of disinformation is bound to follow.

Recently, I was handed a flyer advertising an event billed as “A Day of Remembrance: Recognizing and Honoring Countries and Diplomats for Their Heroism During the Holocaust.” The event took place at a prominent Brooklyn synagogue under the auspices of several respected Jewish organizations. The guest speaker was Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis.

It’s been almost five years since director Ang Lee’s big budget movie The Hulk roared into theaters. Fans and critics alike were less than impressed, so moviegoers eagerly anticipated last week’s release of director Louis Leterrier’s new half-remake/half-revamp of the Bruce Banner saga, called The Incredible Hulk.

There are times when even the most ardent supporters of Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem wish the politicians would just shut up. Not that they mind it when men like Sen. Barack Obama, the putative Democratic nominee for president, wax lyrical about the Jewish state’s capital. When Obama told the annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in Washington, D.C., earlier this month that “Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided,” he was cheered to the echo.

There once was a nation called Rhodesia. Located in southern Africa, Rhodesia was a nation with a European minority that ruled over black Africans. Rhodesian government and society were badly flawed and racist. But black Rhodesians had a better standard of living than blacks anywhere else in Africa; black Africans smuggled themselves into Rhodesia for good jobs and a more comfortable life.

As noted here last week, the Monitor is coming up on its tenth anniversary as a weekly column. The very first Monitor ran the week of July 3, 1998, and on the chance that some (a few?) readers might be interested in what the maiden voyage looked like, it appears below.

We have seen that, among several other essential purposes, Israel could conceivably need nuclear weapons for nuclear war fighting.

Have you noticed that some problems just won't go away?

During my trip to Poland last year, I witnessed the restoration project underway in the city of Poznan.

The following is an excerpt from a recent Front Page interview with Moshe Feiglin. The interviewer is Dan Rabkin of FrontPageMagazine.com.

As summer arrives, our thoughts here in the offices of Yachad/National Jewish Council for Disabilities are on our one-of-a-kind summer program, Yad B’Yad. Yad B’Yad, which translates from the Hebrew as Hand in Hand, is unique in that participants include both “mainstream” high-school students – from Jewish or public/secular schools – and campers who have developmental disabilities and sometimes accompanying physical disabilities. Yad B’Yad is a touring summer program; most summers see two concurrent trips; one in Israel and one somewhere in the United States. (This year’s U.S. trip will be on the West Coast with time spent in Hawaii.)

Nearly 20 years since he left the White House, Ronald Reagan has begun taking his place in the small gallery of most consequential presidents. Though his admirers accorded him a prominent spot long ago, the story of recent years has been the gradual recognition of Reagan’s achievements among more liberal-minded scholars.

When Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had to justify his decision to free rogue Israeli businessman Elchanan Tannenbaum from Hizbullah captivity (a move for which the State of Israel paid a steep emotional and human price), he used the term “Jewish sentiment” – one of the rare occasions in Israeli history that this forgotten ideal had been brought to the fore.

We have seen that, among other purposes, Israel needs nuclear weapons to undertake and/or to support various forms of preemption.