Op-Eds

The recent resignation of Peter Schäfer, Director of the Berlin Jewish Museum, follows a series of missteps by the museum that have led the German Jewish umbrella organization to declare that the museum has lost the trust of the community. Schäfer, a respected scholar, resigned from a position that requires an experienced manager with profound political understanding and instincts who is able to operate in what is for German Jews a highly problematic reality.

Gazan terror organizations are looking into armed drones and sea-based commando cells, while concentrating fire at Israel’s Iron Dome to overwhelm it.

The continuing bombardment of the Syrian province of Idlib by Russia, Iran, and Syrian dictator Bashar Assad has been ignored for far too long by the international community. Attention must be paid – in particular by Donald Trump, who is showing himself worryingly prone to “Obama moments” of hesitation and lack of resolve.

The positive side to this story is that the country had some comic relief from the genuine clawing controversies of the day. Less amusing is arousing the wrath of the country’s more extreme religious elements.

His violent discourse disqualifies him from leading this country again, not to mention his pillaging of Jerusalem.

Jesus is no more Palestinian than Saladin is Iraqi, or the Prophet Muhammad a Saudi.

The British Labour Party offers a weak response to the BBC’s anti-Semitism investigation.

“With so many Jews crying out, his complete dedication to reaching each and every one of them is the Rebbe’s greatest legacy,” said Rabbi Yitzchak Schochet of London.

The ancient Pilgrimage Road in the City of David is one of the most sensational archaeological discoveries to be made in Jerusalem since Israel’s establishment. On this road, remarkably preserved under the ashes of the Roman destruction, many thousands of Jews in Second Temple times, after a ritual bath in the Shiloah Pool, walked about 700 meters up the hill to the Temple Mount.

The rejection by Israeli intellectuals of Jewish spiritual and political activism, as exemplified in the preaching and actions of Rabbi Akiva, who was executed by the Romans for his support of the Bar-Kochba revolt (132-35 CE), runs counter to the thinking of David Ben-Gurion, who considered himself a disciple and successor of the eminent sage.

This time around -- the third time was not the charm. Many people defended Cortez and attacked those who criticized her.

Some people are perfectly satisfied with their imperfect vision. This vision is called "20/happy." As I became a more experienced clinician, I realized that "20/happy" isn’t just limited to the offices of optometrists. It determines how one views the world.

So, what does it mean to live outside Israel and be a Zionist? Is there any meaning to the belief in an ideal so tied to a land and place lacking the physical presence in that place? Here are three key components to what it means to be a Zionist while not living in Zion, the include the past, present, and future:

While I am not a member of the Rashida Harbi Tlaib fan club, her twisted logic has actually scored two points in my book, without her even noticing!

Palestinians’ rights matter when targeted by Israel, but not when targeted by the Palestinian Authority. And Israeli rights never matter, except when violated by Israel.

Human beings have desires. Nobody can deny that. Many even have dark innate desires. Fortunately, most of us hold these desires in check. People just cannot go around doing whatever they’d like.

Why isn’t there outrage when a senator proposes giving a government grant to Palestinian Arab schools that feature a blatantly anti-Semitic curriculum?

Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson showed the world a Judaism that is hard to hate.

At the core of the Trump peace initiatives is creative chaos; replacing hoary assumptions with new bridges and highways – literally and figuratively.

"My aim is the United States of Europe..." said German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen, nominated to be the next President of the European Commission,

After getting his wallet "high" in the medical cannabis industry, as chairman of InterCure, Barak’s now ready for his fourth attempt to take power in Israel.

The flight schedules of the major airports in the states of the Middle East provide an excellent window into regional politics. The absence of air traffic between Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt to Iran reflects the tacit alliance of the three, while the abundance of connections between Istanbul and Qatar and Iranian destinations reflects the counter-Sunni alliance. Flight data also help us to gauge the extent to which Assad’s Syria has been restored.

For there to be any semblance of a chance for peace in the region, all the existing financial incentives for the Palestinian Arab leadership must be removed, and the philosophy of “mukawama” has to die.

Rooting for President Trump to fail in his policy with Iran means calling for empowering and emboldening a theocratic regime that has consistently threatened "Death to America" -- with nukes, presumably, if it had the capability, which it is busy acquiring.

The economic conference in Bahrain ended successfully and without the Palestinian Authority managing to undermine it or disrupt it with demonstrations.

While a direct U.S.-Iran conflict has not broken out, there are already conflicts taking place between allies and proxies. This includes Israel's attempts to prevent Iranian entrenchment in Syria.

Israeli policy needs to be unambiguous in this area. A firm stand will show the Palestinian Authority and Jordan that Israel does not intend to relinquish its sovereignty over the Temple Mount and east Jerusalem.

European diplomats gathered in Tel Aviv for a presentation by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs on its recent study on the legal, security and cultural implications of the European immigration crisis.

These leaders' biggest fear is that economic prosperity might divert Palestinians' attention from the fight against Israel. Like his rivals in Hamas, Abbas seems afraid that once Palestinians start enjoying the fruits of a strong economy, they will stop thinking of killing Israelis or abandon the Palestinian dream of destroying Israel.

Maybe if Israeli leaders today, would deal with the Arab world and “Palestinians” the same way, they would get the same results as Yiftach’s leadership achieved, “And Ammon was subdued before the Children of Israel.” (Judges 11:33)