“And This Is the Way WE Do It!! “A hero of Israel lived among us,” said Binyamin Regional Council head Yisrael Gantz, speaking at the funeral of Sgt. Maj. Noam Raz, who was badly wounded during anti-terrorism operations in Jenin last Friday, and died shortly thereafter. “We were privileged to …

Does Israel belong to the Jews or have they usurped ancient Arab land? This question, or it’s seemingly endless variant, crops up with concerning regularity on various social and mainstream media fora, and particularly in the mass of anti-Israel posters, some partly knowledgeable, most hopelessly not. The 100 year Arab–Israeli …

I have found myself pondering this mystery a good deal lately: We Israelis are a good people.  I cited Alan Dershowitz in this regard recently: “No country in the history of the world ever contributed more to the welfare of humankind in such a short period of time than Israel.” …

If being an Arab in Israel is a catastrophe, one is hard pressed to imagine what a success would look like.   May 15 is marked by Palestinian Arabs and probably a substantial percentage of Israeli Arabs as Nakba Day, the day of catastrophe.The catastrophe in this telling is the …

Must? We must hold our heads up, mindful of who we are and standing forever strong. Before I consider some of the vile situations that prompted the title of this posting, I want to look at a bit of good news.  It reminds us that there is always hope for …

Each year, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), the peak national body representing Australia’s Jewish community, produces a Report on antisemitism in Australia. A major section of the report is dedicated to antisemitic incidents. These include physical assault, verbal abuse, vandalism, graffiti, and vilification or threats via email, postal …

As the Biden administration continues to bring executive incompetence to yet unplumbed depths, any fair-minded person must feel increasingly compelled to question the authenticity of the 2020 poll.     Man can believe the impossible, but man can never believe the improbable. – Oscar Wilde, “Intentions”, 1891. As the Biden …

Israel should counter fictitious Palestinian narratives, like the “threat” to Al-Aqsa, by ceaselessly telling the truth to the world In a geopolitical version of the movie “Groundhog Day,” the Palestinians have continually employed a series of dog whistles that are intended both to rally the faithful and gain the sympathy …

Many of us here in Israel had not yet moved past the deep sadness we were carrying with regard to the terror attack in Ariel, in which a beautiful, caring young man had saved his fiancée’s life by throwing himself in front of her, right in the line of gunfire …

Yom Ha’atzmaut, with its euphoria, was just coming to an end. (Please see my posting reflecting that euphoria if you have not done so yet!) We seemed to be back to normal. But it’s tough, because “normal” has just become obscene. ~~~ I was going to write about the Temple …

“Embracing the Blessing and Bearing Its Burden!!” The Land of Israel is the sacred inheritance of the Jewish People.   That we have been able to return after 2,000 years of exile is a modern day miracle.  In a mere 74 years, we have blossomed beyond all expectations, making the …

FACT: Israel cannot impose a blockade on its own. Egypt controls the southern border of the Gaza Strip and has maintained its own blockade to prevent Hamas from obtaining weapons from Iran and materials it can use to manufacture rockets to fire at Israeli cities. Egypt has demolished dozens of …

It is my practice, always, to begin a posting with news of a terror attack – when one occurs – before dealing with other matters.  And sadly, painfully, I must do so again here: On Friday night, Vyacheslav Golev was working as a security guard at the entrance to the …

The simmering conflict between Egypt and Ethiopia over the construction of a massive dam on the Blue Nile could have grave ramifications for Israel   …no one can take a drop from Egypt’s water, and if it happens, there will be inconceivable instability in the region. – Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah …

The final day of Pesach is over, as is Shabbat, and – grateful for a brief hiatus that brought me a modicum of temporary peace – I return now to write about the situation in Israel, which simply must not be permitted to continue as it has been going. ~~~ …

My heart sunk when I woke up Friday morning to the news of riots on the Temple Mount. Flipping through an endless barrage of cell phone videos flooding the many WhatsApp and Telegram news groups I subscribe to, scrolling through reports on social media from those who witnessed the destruction …

The outrage is very real, and very serious.  Its focus is Har Habayit (the Temple Mount). Credit: Wikimedia commons Palestinian Arabs today claim that Har Habayit is theirs: Theirs to the exclusion of any other claim. But the facts attest to origins of the Mount that are irrefutably Jewish. As …

“Haaretz” has a nervous breakdown over the removal of the Hamas flag. Sometimes seemingly insignificant events open up a world of understanding to the true state of things. This is the story of one of those events and its aftermath. Recently, the art department at Sapir College in Sderot, the …

Last Friday night, Jews across the world were participating in the Pesach Seder. And so I begin by extending wishes for a Pesach Kasher v’Sameach to all who are observing. Every year I share a link to a video of Vehi shamda, which is found in the Haggadah: That which …

WILL ELIJAH BE COMING THIS PESACH? Such is the fascination of Pesach that four out of every five Jews will sit down to the Seder. No matter how far some may seem to be at other times from the traditional practices and observances of the Jewish heritage, Seder night will …