The situation I address here is awash in complexities and troubling aspects. This past Sunday, October 6, President Trump, after a phone conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, announced a very sudden decision to pull US troops out of northern Syria. This was in the face of Turkish threats …

Hey, I know politics are a fact of life, necessary for civil governance.  But it happens that a consideration of the political situation here is neither inspiring nor uplifting these days.  In fact, it is depressing. I face the prospect of writing once again about our political situation, my friends, …

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday night received the mandate for forming a new government from President Ruby Rivlin. That the president acted so quickly was a surprise: he had indicated that he would likely wait until next Wednesday, the last day that it was legally possible for him to …

With regard to the elections and their tortuous aftermath. Of course. As this is a professional posting, I refrain from telling you where the pain is. In any event, you may be feeling the very same discomfort. ~~~~~~~~~ But I want to preface my discussion of what’s going on with …

The election is upon us now – only two days away – and the situation is not substantially different from what it was when I last wrote.  Neither camp has a clear majority in the polls. Likud and Blue & White are reasonably neck-in-neck.  Maddeningly, each poll is somewhat different, …

I have made no secret of it: the current election campaign has not exactly been an enlightening period for Israel. For many of us, this has been a source of great sadness. Our nation is capable of better – of a more elevated campaign. There has been too much back-biting, …

There is an idiom that came to my mind this week: “You can run, but you can’t hide.”  It really hit home: There is a whole lot of heavy stuff, worrisome stuff, going on in our part of the world.  The temptation to run from it, figuratively speaking, is huge …

For some time now, Israel has been at the edge of war. Or, to put it another way, Israel has been and continues to be engaged in an ongoing, low level, multi-faceted shadow war that has potential to erupt into something major.   The post that follows is filled with …

We are on high alert in the north, anticipating an attack from Hezbollah in response to our operations in recent days.  But I am not going to write about this now.  Time will come soon enough. Neither am I going to write about the election campaign, which is fairly stomach-turning.  …

Please, my friends, share this absolutely as broadly as you can.  People must know. On Friday morning, Rabbi Eitan Shnerb, of Lod, went hiking with two of his children, Dvir, 19, and Rina, 17, and stopped at a spring right outside the community of Dolev in Binyamin Regional Council. What …

I have been astounded as to how much has been written, how many words have been spoken, passionately arguing the issue of whether or not it was a good move for Israel to block entry to those Israel-hating, BDS- supporting members of Congress, Ilhan Omar (MN-5th) and Rashida Tlaib (MI-13th). …

I have been advised by a highly reliable inside source that a phone call from Prime Minster Netanyahu to President Trump has a good chance of achieving the release of Jonathan Pollard from his parole restrictions and making it possible for him and his wife to come to Israel at …

Evil is all about us and we dare not ignore it. Please read to the end for another instance of evil.  But here I want to begin with a statement by Yoav Sorek, whose son Dvir was murdered last week in a terror attack: “I hope it is as I …

Actually, I have this wrong: there are many causes for weeping. I write about hope often and there is still hope in my heart But at the moment my heart is heavy with several matters that need to be addressed in a forthright manner. ~~~~~~~~~~ We are now in the …

Things on the political scene have been – if not quite grim – unsettling and worrisome at best. But I want to kick off here with very recent news about a transition in government policy that addresses Israel’s rights rather than simply bending to what is politically correct. It offers …

Last time I wrote, I focused on “good stuff,” and here I will provide more of the same.  However, the good news in several instances is qualified. Not always an easy trick:  To hold fast to what is positive, celebrating the promise, while at the same time retaining a realistic …

Time for a “good news” posting, or at very least one that has a solid focus on the good stuff. We badly need the balance in these difficult times, fraught with tensions. Actually, we begin with an incredible and inspiring story: Earlier this month, Shachar Kugelmas, a young Jewish Israeli …

Both here in Israel and in the US, there is so much dissension, so much hostility.  My thought again and again is that this is not how it is supposed to be. With a couple of exceptions, I will try to move past this, or around it, as I have …

With all there is to write about, I have decided first to do a follow-up to my posting about the Ethiopian riots sent out last Monday: After I wrote, the issue lingered with me: I could not stop turning it over in my mind, in part because of having worked …

Last Sunday, June 30, news broke that an unarmed Ethiopian 19 year old, Solomon Teka, had been shot dead by an off-duty policeman in Kiryat Haim, a neighborhood of Haifa. Although this was not the fact of the matter, as we shall see below, many jumped to the conclusion – …