Ascending the Temple Mount for the First Time
My first “aliyah” this week to “Har HaBayit” was scary, emotional, fascinating, and infuriating. And necessary.
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.
Embrace the Abraham Accords Already!
Western progressives are dissing rather than embracing the Abraham Accords. This is a tragedy
The Myth of Escalating Settler Violence
An ugly, fringe phenomenon being falsely puffed up to "balance" the crimes of Hamas.
Israel: A Tale of 2 Parallel Universes
Israel seems to exist in two parallel, contradictory worlds. One is a false, hackneyed, out-of-date, and threatening universe where recalcitrant and violent Palestinian leaders are venerated, and admirable Israeli leaders are criminalized. The other universe is real, promising, forward looking, and stabilizing, and is marked by a peace dynamic that runs from Jerusalem to Dubai, Manama, Rabat, Cairo and Amman; and from Jerusalem to the most important leaders in the world.
Dicey Diplomacy with Israel’s Gulf Allies
I told interlocutors in the Arabian Gulf last weekend that Israel firmly will assert its sovereignty and governance in the face of Israeli Arab and Palestinian lawlessness. That is what most Israelis expect of their new government! At the same time, I assured Israel’s Emirati and Bahraini allies that Israel will do so without racist incitement and delegitimizing rhetoric, and without crude demonstrations of its power, but rather with finely calibrated tools and from an approach of maximum willingness to dialogue. (I hope that I am right….)
Who Actually Violated Temple Mount Status Quo?
PALESTINIAN-JORDANIAN IMPUDENCE and ISRAELI INFIRMITY.
Just who is Pogroming Whom?
Compared to the ongoing Palestinian terrorist mega-pogrom against Israeli Jews, the Huwara rampage must rank as one the weakest pogroms in the ugly history of pogroms. So where is the anguish over Israeli Jews continuously murdered by Palestinian terrorists?
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.
The War between the Wars
Israel’s necessary strategic posture is ferocious, in addition to peace-seeking. Get used to it.
The Nasty Sport of Second-Guessing Israel
In Washington and other capitals, an ungenerous spirit has set in.
Targeting the “Head of the Octopus”
The tectonic threat of Iran to Mideast and global stability must be countered head-on.
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.
Erase Jordan’s False Claims in Jerusalem
Israel has good reason to fear that Abdullah and Biden are cooking-up an attempt to impose new pro-Arab “arrangements” on the Temple Mount, with Biden coming to Israel in late June to ride herd on this issue. Note: King Abdullah has no claim to “custodianship” over Muslim and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem.
JCPOA 2.0.: Coming Any Day Now
More Bugs; No New Features
Beware Turkish Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing
Erdogan needs to be handled cautiously and, yes, respectfully. He also needs to be cut down to size.
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.
Hippocratic Israel Magnifies Kevod Shamayim in a Hypocritical World
The world knows only how to criticize and demonize Israel. What a shame. But at least Jews should know and appreciate Israel’s humanity. On Yom Haatzmaut, we can all add this to our calculations of kevod shamayim and kiddush Hashem (the glorification of G-d’s name in the world) that has been wrought by the State of Israel.
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.
The Big Chill–Again
Israel must resist America’s fantasy framework for a swift, dangerously indecisive, end to the Gaza war.
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.
Iran’s War on Israel
The only real power standing in the way of Palestinian terrorism and Iranian hegemonism is Israel.
Sacks, Carlebach, and Kahane
Remembering 3 Remarkable and Relevant Rabbis
9 Landfills for Lapid
Which policies will Yair Lapid choose to adopt during his time as PM? Here are my nine “landfills” — policy suggestions for the period in which Lapid fills-in for Bennett.
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.
Israel at 75: The Sun is Shining
On the 75th Yom Haatzmaut, focus on the brilliance bursting forth from the nation of Israel in realms galore.
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.
Arab Israelis: Opportunity or Threat?
Two new studies warn of radicalization among Arab Israelis and urge robust government action.
Beware: Future Israeli Arab Riots
WHAT WE REALLY NEED, MUCH MORE THAN A COMPTROLLER’S REPORT ON POLICE FECKLESSNESS, IS A NATIONAL PLAN TO ROOT OUT THE SOURCES THAT ARE FUELING EXTREMISM AND VIOLENCE IN PARTS OF THE ISRAELI ARAB COMMUNITY.
9 MILLION Hostages
Restraint and rethinking are necessary in the discourse about the hostage situation. Skeptics of deals with Hamas are not “war criminals.”
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