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.
9 MILLION Hostages
Restraint and rethinking are necessary in the discourse about the hostage situation. Skeptics of deals with Hamas are not “war criminals.”
Tisha B’Av: Repeat Reflections
Tisha Be’Av, the mournful commemoration of Jewish national destruction and self-destruction which falls this weekend, hasn’t quite reached the status of Yom Kippur as a day of reflection and repentance. But it should.
Embrace the Abraham Accords Already!
Western progressives are dissing rather than embracing the Abraham Accords. This is a tragedy
Imagine: Israel-The Role Model for Arab Countries
On their second anniversary, it can be said that the Abraham Accords constitute an ideological breakthrough of Biblical magnitude.
When the Going Gets Tough…
… the tough get going. When this country is under attack, Israel’s friends need to be more determined than ever to defend it.
Radicals with “Ben-Gvir-Phobia” Committed to Crashing Israel’s Diplomatic Relations
I'm less concerned about the direction of the emerging direction of the new government than I am about the hysterical reactions to it from foreign governments and hard-left observers.
YES! to Schadenfreude
The feelings of triumph are justified, healthy, and very moral.
Multiple Political Choices for 5783: A Quiz
Which of the following political, security, and domestic events can be expected in Israel, the Mideast, and around the world this coming year? Take this quiz and calculate the 5783 political future you need to be prepared for. (My answers are at the bottom of the article.)
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.
The Myth of Escalating Settler Violence
An ugly, fringe phenomenon being falsely puffed up to "balance" the crimes of Hamas.
Ten Tips for Netanyahu
Israel must reject the hypocrisy of foreign leaders from Washington to Paris who threaten to downgrade their ties with Israel if Ben-Gvir gets a seat in cabinet.
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?
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.
Reawakening to the Iranian Threat
A comprehensive picture of Iranian belligerence and its tectonic threat to Mideast and global stability.
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.
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!
Good Morning, President Biden
Wakey, wakey! Time for a course reversal. Consider the grand drama of Israel reborn, and don’t go weak-kneed on Iran.
Nobody to Vote For?
Consider one of the lesser-known parties running for election to Knesset. They serve as an antidote to widespread cynicism about Israel’s political system.
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.
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.
Brave and Brazen EU 20
On Europe’s insolence towards Israel and its willfully blind reverence for the Palestinians.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Israel’s Supreme Court Needs Democratic Checks on its Power
Restoring the pre-Aharon Barak juridical culture of restraint is a necessary process.
Where is King Abdullah’s Moderation on the Temple Mount?
One would think that Jordan’s “special role” means it has a responsibility to maintain the site as a place of prayer, brotherhood and tolerance.
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.