Combating Antisemitism without Apology
The safety and security of Jews around the world depends on Israel winning – on regaining its strength, self-confidence, and deterrent power. This, in turn, will re-empower Diaspora Jews to defend Israel and themselves.
9 MILLION Hostages
Restraint and rethinking are necessary in the discourse about the hostage situation. Skeptics of deals with Hamas are not “war criminals.”
The 50% Haredi Discount
The draft bill currently before Knesset is an outrage and a fiction at the same time; Religious Zionists demand: Give our families a 50% reduction in army service too!
Tackling ‘Transactional Trump’
Israel will have to play along with President Trump’s priorities such as the hostage deal and a Saudi deal. If Israel does so, it will be well placed to expect a return from Trump down the line on other issues – ranging from Israeli assertion of sovereignty in parts of Judea and Samaria, to pushback against nasty international organizations that are at Israel’s throat, to US supply to Israel of heavy ordnance weaponry necessary for striking Iran, and more.
Incontrovertibly Indigenous in Israel
Time to re-engage in the fight for Israel with passion and conviction, not apologetics or apprehension. A new film and book show the way.
6 Takeaways from Trump’s Victory with Parallels to the Politics of Israel
In this space last week, I correctly predicted a decisive win by Donald Trump in the US presidential elections and warned of a perilous transition in US-Israel relations in the lame duck days of the outgoing administration.
Trump Will Win and Biden Will Bash Israel
In its dying days the Biden-Harris administration will be chomping at the bit to act on its most “progressive” impulses: To clobber insolent Israel and to reset US Mideast policy away from Israel.
Mideast Political Quiz for 5785
Which of the following Mideast-related events can be expected this coming year? Take this quiz and calculate the 5785 future you need to be prepared for. (My answers are at the bottom of the article.)
YES! to Schadenfreude
The feelings of triumph are justified, healthy, and very moral.
A Civility Elegy
What better moment than the eve of Tisha Be’Av – ten months distance from Israel’s contemporary national catastrophe of Tisha Be’Av magnitude – to remind oneself of the Biblical warnings against the politics of defamation?
Putting Israel’s Economy and Society on Emergency Footing
It is time to raid the high schools, university campuses, and senior citizen homes for manpower; to press the entire Israeli public, young and old of all hues and stripes, into industrial and emergency service.
Protecting the Eternal
Israel must act to halt Palestinian destruction of Jewish archaeological sites in Judea & Samaria.
Judea and Samaria are on Fire – Literally
Escalating Palestinian terrorism, surging illegal Palestinian construction in zones of strategic importance to Israel, and wildly out-of-control arson attacks must be stopped.
Israel Needs a Strong Spine
Israel has no choice but to stiffen its spine; and in some matters to grow a spine. More than ever before, Israel must reject impossible international dictates and demands.
The Ultra-Orthodox “Vacation Draft” Plan
Everybody knows that the rapidly growing and politically muscular Ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Israel can no longer altogether avoid military and/or national service. But haredi leaders will not relinquish their rigid communal structure of full-time and lifetime-long Torah study. And nobody can draft haredi Israeli Jews against their will – no matter what the Supreme Court rules or the Knesset legislates. So here is my national service plan for haredi men during “bein hazmanim,” their long semester breaks.
Targeting the “Head of the Octopus”
The tectonic threat of Iran to Mideast and global stability must be countered head-on.
The Big Chill–Again
Israel must resist America’s fantasy framework for a swift, dangerously indecisive, end to the Gaza war.
The Myth of Escalating Settler Violence
An ugly, fringe phenomenon being falsely puffed up to "balance" the crimes of Hamas.
Rosh Hashanah 5784: Prophesies and Prayers
Take this Rosh Hashanah political-security quiz and prognosticate on the future for the Jewish new year. (My predictions are recorded at the bottom of the article.)
Weapons, Weapons Everywhere – Why?
Oslo is the root cause of today’s terrible epidemic of terrorist and crime shootings.
Give Saudi Peace a Chance
Chances for a deal are high, the risks manageable, and the value overwhelming. The doubters and naysayers, as well as those who actively are trying to sabotage such an agreement, are wrong.
The ‘Refusal-to-Serve’ Festival
Lost in the anti-Netanyahu netherworld are manifold affirmations of commitment to IDF service despite the judicial reform juggernaut.
Tribute to Rabbi Sholom Gold of Jerusalem: The Most Passionate of Zionists
Rabbi Gold, who passed away this week at 88, was known for feisty and infectious Zionist passion and for biting witticism. He understood God’s love for all Jews in absolute terms (which he sought to emulate absolutely), and he understood God’s grant of the Land of Israel to the Jewish People in absolute terms, in a totality wrapped with kedusha, holiness. These are not gifts that one can simply fritter away.
Iran’s War on Israel
The only real power standing in the way of Palestinian terrorism and Iranian hegemonism is Israel.
No Moral Equivalence
There is no moral equivalence whatsoever between Palestinian terrorists and Israeli troops. Falsely balanced diplomatic formulations like those that “call upon all sides to end the cycle of violence” must be rejected. This is prattle that covers for Palestinian extremism and rejectionism, and retards the cause of peace.
Beware: Another US Sellout to Tehran?
Alas, coming soon: More American goodies for Iran in exchange for more pious and empty Iranian pledges.
Honoring Henry Kissinger at 100
Dr. Kissinger is most consequential figure in US foreign policy of the past century. His record regarding Jews and Israel remains controversial, but I think that on balance Kissinger deserves respect.
Seeking Jerusalem
We are obligated to be doresh Yerushalayim, to spiritually refine ourselves and draw closer to He who truly owns Jerusalem; to long for God’s revealed presence, seeking to encounter Him with the tools at our disposal. Already today, the Divine Presence peeps at us through the cracks of the Temple Mount retaining walls, there to be seen and experienced, if we only seek it.
Celebrating Cynthia Ozick at 95
The illustrious Jewish-American novelist is a penetrating and courageous critic of contemporary society and its attitudes to Jews and Israel.
Can Israel be Unified?
Israel’s future depends more on repairing a modicum of national unity and even global Jewish accord than it does on countering Iran
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