Israel

The world is in horrendous shape.  And yet, yet the focus is on us, here in Israel. Now we are confronting widespread hysteria because our Minister of Public Security spent 13 minutes on Har Habayit.  Thirteen quiet minutes.  He didn’t announce the time when he would ascend so that the …

I am referring to the task that lies before us to make certain that factual information about Israel’s new government (official picture below) is properly publicized.  Genuine anxieties must be addressed and hysterical misrepresentations must be refuted. Credit: Marc Israel Sellem/JPost Not an easy task, but a very important one. …

The new Israeli government – Israel’s 37th with over 30 ministers – was sworn in today in the Knesset. At the beginning of the proceedings, incoming Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke, presenting the agenda of the new government: First, it would prevent Iran from “developing an arsenal of atomic weapons that …

Baruch Dayan Emet we say on learning of a death: Blessed is the Righteous Judge. In this instance we say it because of the passing of Rabbi Chaim Druckman, z”l, a leading and much loved Zionist rabbi, who died of corona on Sunday night, at age 90. Among the great …

Last night at midnight was the deadline for Binyamin Netanyahu to inform President Herzog that in accordance with the mandate he was given, he has been able to form a government. He placed that all-important call just 18 minutes before the deadline. Credit: Screenshot Then he tweeted: ala b’yadi, which …

The Jewish people, small in number and constantly finding ourselves a minority in various host societies, with little control over our national destiny, saw Zionism as the answer to Jewish powerlessness over our own lives. To be a majority in the Jewish homeland and to be able to control the …

Chag Chanukah sameach from Jews Down Under Credit: Kosher.com Chanukah commemorates rededication of the Temple during the Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid (Greek) Empire in the Second Century CE. The revolt was begun by the priest Mattathias and later carried on by his third son, Judah Maccabee. It imparts important …

First, an important housekeeping message.  There had been some trouble with linking to my website.  Several repairs/adjustments have been made and now access should be possible without a problem.  (In the unlikely event that you still encounter difficulty, it will be because of a lag time in when the repairs …

Anyone who has visited a checkpoint in Judaea or Samaria, or has spent time in Hebron, has likely seen the phenomenon of activists and anarchists filming soldiers up close. So up close that they are often inches away from the soldiers, all the while hurling abuse and accusations against them. …

Since the Zionist narrative has demonstrable validity over the irreconcilable, mutually-exclusive counter-narrative of the Palestinian-Arabs, it is the Zionist narrative that must prevail At the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict lies a clash of two narratives. On the one hand the stirring, fact-based Zionist narrative, on the other, the openly …

This, my friends, is a follow-up to my very recent posting – “Vile and Insufferable!!” – regarding reactions of members of the Israeli left to our incoming government  The attacks seem never ending. While Yair Lapid continues his rampage (“If you think what I’ve been saying the last few days …

Let us put the title of this posting aside for the moment. We are moving close to the formation of a new right wing government – which, quite to the contrary – will be cause for considerable thanksgiving. Otzma Yehudit headed by Itamar Ben Gvir, the Religious Zionist Party headed …

In early May 2021 Israeli authorities had to cope with a high level of unrest and accompanying violence on the part of Arabs in Israel in several locales; nowhere was the situation more intense than at the Temple Mount. Those riots were incited by Hamas. During that time of unrest, …

They brought their boy home with no prisoner exchange, no concessions, no nothing.   Every so often, we have the opportunity to learn a much-needed lesson in the art of statecraft.  Israel just received such a lesson from its Druze community. The Druze are a small and historically persecuted religious …

This most recent Israeli election, the fifth in the current cycle, proved to be quite different from the previous four, not only in producing a definitive result but with the campaign itself. It began the same, however, along the way expanded into not only a ‘for or anti-Bibi’ tussle, but …

This posting will be brief. I had hoped to write next when a government had been formed. Sadly this has not happened yet (I will get to this) but there is information that must be shared. Must be shared because people must know what we are dealing with. I suspect …

When the Israeli election results were made public almost two weeks ago, it became apparent that the Religious Zionist party would have a significant role in the new government. Since then, there has been a huge international outcry, including from several liberal-left American Jewish organizations. The main focus of the …

Last Tuesday, Israel held an election that has significantly shifted the tenor of politics in the nation – and I will offer a look at various aspects of the situation below. But this coming Tuesday, it is America’s turn.  And so I want to begin by offering my heartfelt prayers …

1 – Benjamin Netanyahu has made a stunning career-saving return to the prime ministership. 2 – The outstanding performer of the election campaign was Itamar Ben Gvir 3 – The decisive factor in the election has been the very high voter turnout (despite predictions and expectations) and its effect on …

Not the right-wing, not Bibi Netanyahu, but the State of Israel. I watched and tracked, as the ballot count was announced, in stages, through the day on Wednesday. I was hopeful, so hopeful, but cautious – to be certain that I did not respond prematurely. I am no longer feeling …