The Day After Election Day
I devoutly hope the decision will be quick and unambiguous, but ultimately someone will win this election. So here is my advice to Americans about the aftermath...
Keeping Our Honor in the Middle East
While Israel has great military power at hand, it keeps squandering its honor.
Kahane Was Right
Kahane was absolutely right about one thing, and it is a big thing: Jews and Arabs cannot coexist as equals in Eretz Yisrael (by which I mean the land between the river and the sea). The Land of Israel must be the exclusive property of the Jewish people.
Trumping Jerusalem!
I think it’s worth emphasizing the surreal nature of this issue. Israel controls Jerusalem. No other nation has made Jerusalem its capital city since the Jebusites lost it to King David’s army around 1000 BCE.
Bibi and Rotem
Israel has never been a “state of all its citizens” as Sela, who is supposed to be well-educated, asserted. Like Japan and numerous other countries, but unlike the US, Israel is a nation-state, a state in which – or by which – a particular people or culture expresses its right of self-determination.
How Zionism Keeps us in the Game
Zionism is a form of ethnic nationalism, and in today’s intellectual climate, forged by the European wars of the 20th century, nationalism is considered incompatible with liberal democracy. However, Israel is a special case, because the Jewish people are a special case.
The Times They Are A Changing
Today many of Israel's elite are “post-Zionists,” citizens of the world. They are embarrassed by Zionist patriotism. How else to explain why they oppose the Nation-State Law which does nothing more than express the idea that the Jewish people have a collective right of self-determination?
Ben-Gurion, Zionism, and Democracy
There is only one Jewish state. There are numerous versions of the democratic “state of all its citizens” in the world, but as time goes by and it becomes harder and harder for Jews to live in them, we are finding that Herzl, Ben-Gurion, and other Zionists were correct: a Jewish state is essential for the survival of the Jewish people
On Palestinians
Of course the Palestinians have a culture; it is unique among Arabs. It is all about their historic sense of injustice, their obsessive certainty that all of their misfortunes are somebody else’s (usually our) fault, and their endless creative pursuit of strategies, tactics, and weapons that they hope will finally bring them to their judenrein promised land.
Israel and the Pandemic
When the rules were first announced, many people felt that PM Netanyahu and his advisors in the Health Ministry were overreacting, but as the number of cases grows, most Israelis have come around to the idea that tough measures are needed.
Corona Days in Israel
Israel’s approach to the Corona has been very – Israeli. First, we tried to overcome it by brute force. Then we became overconfident. And now, hopefully, we’ll try to be smart.
The 800-Pound Gorilla of American Judaism
The 800-pound gorilla of American Judaism? Progressivism
Our Enemies Deploy the Cognitive
None of the characteristics of South African apartheid can reasonably be applied to Israel. Everyone who knows anything about apartheid South Africa and Israel knows that. There is simply no resemblance
Sovereign or Satellite?
Israeli media reports that Foreign Minister Lapid – although he categorically denies it – promised American Secretary of State Blinken that the US could reopen the consulate.
An Ally, Not a Satellite
With all due appreciation for my former country, which I still love and care about, increasing Israel’s dependence on the US is not in Israel’s interest.
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
It’s Not Paranoia
Jewish paranoia. The phrase is ridiculous.
Security and Insecurity
We Jews were shown that Muslims would protect us, assuming of course that we were properly subservient; and we saw that the goyishe authorities could not be depended on. Not strong enough to protect ourselves, we were at our enemies’ mercy.
Friedman’s Lens and Sisyphean Mud
I believe that the ultimate source of this enmity is the principle – literally an “article of faith” in the Muslim Middle East – that a sovereign Jewish state in the region is an abomination to Allah, and it is their religious duty to destroy it
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
The Government Fiddles while the People Burn
The Prime Minister acts almost exclusively to protect himself, and not on behalf of the country. The evidence for this is the absurdly fat and expensive “unity” (one has to laugh) government with its 35 ministers and 8 deputy ministers. This structure exists so that Binyamin Netanyahu can continue to be Prime Minister. There is no other reason.
The Iranian Counterrevolution: A Good Start
The consequences in the region if the Iranian regime were replaced by one prioritizing economic development over foreign adventures would be immense. Israel would be overjoyed if the $ sent to Hezbollah stayed in Iran
How to Win Back the Squandered Gift of 1967
What’s the problem? It seems to me that we have taken the gift that was given to us by Hashem and the IDF and little by little, through ignorance and weakness of will, squandered it.
The Return of the Echo Chamber
Can any moral person seriously support the revolutionary Islamic regime in Iran? Two important lessons from recent Jewish history guide Israeli policy toward Iran: a) when they say they are going to kill you, believe them; and b) when they actually do try to kill you, almost nobody will come to your aid.
Jews and Evangelicals: It’s Complicated
Jews have a right not to be bombarded with attempts to persuade them to abandon their own faith
Jew-hatred and Conspiracy Theories
In recent years, the memes of Jew-hatred mutated into anti-Zionism. Instead of hating individual Jews, which is taboo, it’s possible to hate their collective expression of identity in the form of the Jewish state
Unlearning the Lessons of the Diaspora
If you won’t eliminate the Diaspora – the Diaspora will eliminate you. – Ze’ev Jabotinsky, 1936
The Israeli Arab Murder Epidemic
Everyone in Israel is talking about the explosion of violent crime among Arab citizens. As of today there have been 95 murders of Israeli Arabs in...
Setting National Goals
Leaving out the extreme Left and the Haredi and Arab parties, I believe most Israelis more or less agree that our important goals are prioritized as follows...
Our Strategic Balagan
Balagan: chaos, total disorder, huge mess. Borrowed from Russian.