Israel

What has unfolded in Gaza should not really surprise anyone willing to face up to the inclement realities. After all, it was not only entirely foreseeable, but easily foreseen. The nightmare stories of the Likud are well known. After all, they promised Katyusha rockets from Gaza as well. For a …

In the past couple of weeks, while we have been having a family health crisis, it has not been quiet and peaceful at all on our borders and within country. The worst attack was a combined shooting and stabbing at Ariel Junction, scene of several previous attacks. A soldier, Gal …

In my last posting I discussed Israel’s failure to be tough enough – to create an environment of deterrence – with regard to terrorists residing in Judaea and Samaria, and inside of Israel. I noted to myself then that I needed to follow up with a similar discussion with regard …

Purim is over, and we are back to “normal,” whatever that actually is. Last Tuesday, the terrorist who murdered Staff Sgt. Gal Keidan and Rabbi Ahiad Ettinger at the Ariel Junction a week ago, was caught and eliminated.  Security forces had tracked him to the Arab village of Abwein, near …

In overturning a previous decision of the Knesset’s Central Elections Committee, the High Court took another giant step towards further undermining the already dwindling public confidence in the Israeli judiciary.  In Israel, the negative impact of the judicialization of politics on the Supreme Court’s legitimacy is already beginning to show …

We knew there was a strong possibility that Rabbi Ahiad Ettinger might not live, in spite of the valiant efforts of his doctors to save him.  But we prayed, and we hoped.  And now we must say, Baruch Dayan HaEmet (Blessed is the Righteous Judge), because he died this morning. In …

Perhaps it should not be unexpected, for there is frequently an increase in attacks before Purim, which comes later this week. But one can hope.  And one still feels punched in the stomach at the news of yet another attack. I begin with what is most important: a request for …

The air in Israel is heavy with tensions, but in many instances, for the wrong reasons. We are subject to so much nonsense: unfortunate sparring between persons in the political sphere; undue attention to the trivial. Perhaps what is currently happening is inevitable during a campaign, but I would prefer …

“We”? I am speaking of Jews:  The Jews here in Israel, certainly.  And some percentage of American Jews. I’ve been tracking the growing antisemitism in the US – including in the halls of Congress — with alarm and anger.  But, focused on events here, I have not written about it …

The danger is Benny Gantz as prime minister, in a very literal sense.  And so I lead off with “Elephant in the room – highlighting Gantz’s military record,” written by Dr. Aaron Lerner, co-founder and director of IMRA (emphasis added): “Bennie Gantz’s military career was torn to shreds in a feature …

The two-state paradigm’s deadly detriments are now so glaringly apparent that it is becoming increasingly difficult to reconcile calls for Palestinian statehood with genuine concern for the well-being of the Jewish nation-state.    Ladies and gentlemen, when the Palestinians say “two states” they do not mean what we mean—Maj-Gen. (res.) …

A month ago we raised three questions in regards to the forthcoming Israeli election . The first has been answered. A group of three ex IDF Chiefs of Staff – Gantz, Ya’alon and Ashkenazi – have joined together with Yair Lapid to present the Israeli people an alternate leadership to …

About a week ago, a reader wrote to me that we should have good cheer: things were looking so bad, politically, that they were bound to start looking up. I appreciated the optimism, for I try to hold on to that attitude myself.  The problem, however, is that things have …

The unrelenting drive to bring an indictment—any indictment—against Netanyahu has long exceeded the bounds of reasonable law enforcement. The issue at the center of these investigations seems trivial against the background of the existential crises Israel is facing…The first probe, also known as case 1000, involves gifts of cigars and champagne …

There is quite a hullabaloo ongoing with regard to the inclusion of the Otzma Yisraelit faction on the Bayit Yehudi-National Union list (in a technical merger, which means they go their separate ways after the election). In an effort to move past the hysteria and the accusations, I want to …

Not I.  In all of the many years during which I have tracked Israeli pre-election campaigns, I have never encountered a campaign season like this one. I’ve been writing about the multiplicity of new parties, and perhaps that was a clue that I missed: an overt sign of divisiveness.  And …

For weeks I was reticent about the intricacies of Israeli politics as the first stage of the campaign began to heat up.  It was all too complex – with new parties forming, and would-be members of the Knesset switching allegiance from one group to another or simply resigning. It was …

The purported electoral appeal of the Blue & White line-up is that it includes 3 former IDF Chiefs-of-Staff, yet virtually invariably when top military figures have departed from their field of expertise (security) & ventured into one where they have none (politics), they have been disastrously wrong.  The greatest tragedy …

It would not be surprising if my title today has left you scratching your heads. As if a person can be one or the other, but not both. But it is the Palestinian Authority that has posited this dichotomy! It is part of a surreal and highly politicized image they …

To find upbeat news, that is. No, it is not easy right now. But it is important for all of us to focus positively from time to time. And so I will touch a couple of diverse bases. ~~~~~~~~~ A two-day international conference on the Middle East was hosted by …