Aftershocks of 9/11
If America goes down, so does that thing called Western civilization. Unfortunately, the American political system has failed: there is no great leader anywhere near the horizon.
Why I’m Grateful to Mahmoud Abbas
Liberal Jews have distanced themselves from Judaism, the Jewish people, and Israel. They have very little left of their Jewish identity. But when Abbas blamed the Jews for the Holocaust, they finally had a problem.vi
No, it isn’t Kent State on the Mediterranean*
Hamas benefits greatly from civilian casualties, which support its narrative of victimization and provide its supporters with fodder for “lawfare” against the IDF and diplomatic sanctions against Israel.
A Great Prime Minister – Despite Everything
Of course Bibi has his flaws, but I think I join many Israelis who do not see among the potential candidates to lead the nation one that could better ensure our security. And that is the issue, light years ahead of the price of apartments and his wife’s taste in champagne.
Fulfilling the Social Contract
The people of Israel have a right to expect that the political/military establishment that it is paying so generously do its job and eliminate the threat of terror. That is, after all, in the social contract.
The Reform Jewish al-Aqsa
Israelis couldn’t possibly care less about mixed gender prayer. But for liberal American Jews, it plays the same role as “al-Aqsa is in danger” does for Arabs, inciting fury against Israel and its leadership.
Our Conflict as Multiplayer 3-D Chess
The biggest and most damaging error made by Israel was the massive sacrifice offered in the Oslo Accords, allowing the dying, irrelevant PLO to come back to life, and to insert its cancerous cells into her body.
Absurdity of Land Swaps
The idea of swaps ought to be unacceptable to Israel, because it presupposes Arab ownership of all of Judea and Samaria. Why should Israel be required to compensate the Palestinians for taking its own land?
Must all our Residents be Citizens?
it only seems reasonable in view of the extreme and violent hostility of much of the Arab population of the area to Israel and Jews, that Israel should follow Pakistan’s example and exclude “enemies of the state” from citizenship.
Truth Serum for the Palestinians
Do the Palestinians expect that the US will say that all of Jerusalem belongs to them? Clearly not. So why the rage, the riots, the rockets and the terrorism?
Jewish Peoplehood in Israel and America
Many American Jews, especially younger ones, are not able to withstand the assault on their sense of peoplehood. It’s not surprising, because this identification has been suppressed by the American educational system and media from their earliest years.
How Trump Looks from Here
How does Pres. Trump look from an Israeli point of view? What effects have his policies had on Israel? The answer, to the chagrin of many of my American friends, is this: no recent US president has done as much for the Jewish state as Trump.
Foreign Leaders Eulogize Peres – for the Wrong Reason
The funeral should have been held on the day Peres died, as is customary in Judaism. Then it would have been impossible for most of these political celebrities to be here.
The Third Lebanon War will be the Last Lebanon War
Hezbollah's stated goals since its founding in 1985 were the elimination of Western influence, the assertion of Islamic (Shiite) dominance over Lebanon and the destruction of Israel. Nothing's changed
The Narrative
The 'Palestinian Narrative' has various forms and incarnations, which may be more or less persuasive. But they all make several main false claims:
Facebook’s Essential Extremism
Facebook will never do anything that will significantly impact its primary objective, which is to get people to spend more time scrolling through it and encountering ads.
But What about the Druze?
I see the law as absolutely necessary to protect the Jewish state against the post-Zionist elite and the European-funded NGOs. But I also see the reaction of the Druze to the law as a major failure of our leadership.
Abolish the Rabbinut!
The Rabbinut’s power is based on laws which have been passed because religious parties always are an essential part of coalition governments. This has been true for coalitions of the Left and Right since the founding of the state
Keeping the Jewish State
Zionism today is the ideology that insists that not only is it just that there is a Jewish state, but that it is essential for the survival of the Jewish people and must be protected
Our Strategic Balagan
Balagan: chaos, total disorder, huge mess. Borrowed from Russian.
The Fires
While Israel burns, world media fiddles tiny violins of unctuous sympathy fro the Palestinians.
Trading Sovereignty for PR
One usually sensible journalist praised the decision to allow Alqasem to enter, because “it proves that the system works” and “showed just how democratic Israel really is.” But in fact it proved the opposite: that the system of laws does not work, because it is often overridden by considerations of public relations.
Jordan can be Palestine
We have reached our breaking points. There are murders and attempted murders almost every day. We try to make agreements, to improve their living conditions, to use the minimum amount of force necessary to protect ourselves. We knock on roofs, shoot rubber bullets, issue work permits, dismantle communities because there is a claim of Palestinian ownership, approve the same building plans over and over without building. They kill Jews.
Shimon Peres
Peres has always been a Zionist and does not believe that there is an irreconcilable conflict between the Jewishness of the state and democracy, nor that one should be sacrificed for the other
Non-solution to a Non-crisis
The Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC), created and primarily funded by the American Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) has proudly announced the establishment of a “Racism Crisis Center” in Israel.