Press release – Sheikh Who Praised Murder of French Teacher Banned from Temple Mount Palestinian Arab Islamic scholar Sheikh Issam Amira was issued a ban from the Temple Mount on Saturday after he called the beheading of French teacher Samuel Paty a “great honor” for all Muslims during his weekly …
Read More »Expensive Toys.
What’s the F-uss with F-35? It’s time to weigh in about the F-35 next-gen fighter that may or may not be sold to the United Arab Emirates. That may or may not be sold to Qatar. That may or may not be sold to Turkey. Here are some random thoughts.
Read More »Collapse of the Kerry Doctrine and End of the Arab-Israeli Conflict.
In January 1919, Chaim Weizmann, who would become the first president of Israel, signed an agreement with Emir Faisal, who would rule Syria and Iraq. Signed on the eve of the Paris Peace Conference at which the victors of World War I would determine how to administer the former colonies …
Read More »From Israel: “The Shift is Radical!!”
The US election is less than a week away, and, as I track the news, I have a growing conviction that Donald Trump will be in the White House for four more years. As Caroline Glick tweeted: “Spit three times, then say, ‘No evil eye, things look hopeful, things look …
Read More »INTO THE FRAY: Indicting Netanyahu – The unintended consequences.
The recent release of taped telephone conversations underscores the bitter irony that the politically motivated initiative to indict Netanyahu on contrived charges will end up by undermining precisely those who launched it & were complicit in conducting it. There is something sick in the State Prosecutor’s Office; Shai Nitzan is …
Read More »YES, IT IS A BIG DEAL.
Not shooting is not the same as peace The Internet is full of comments claiming Israeli agreements between Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Sudan mean nothing because they were already at peace. Is there any explanation other than Trump Derangement Syndrome to explain the blindness? Had former POTUS Barak …
Read More »Press Release: Haifa Protesters Call for Intifada, Terrorism & Kidnapping of IDF Soldiers
Press Release Protesters in Haifa Call for Intifada, Terrorism and Kidnapping of IDF Soldiers Dozens of Israeli-Arabs called for intifada and terror against Israel during a protest held in Haifa on Tuesday night. During the protest, which was held in support of hunger-striking Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist Maher al-Akhras, the …
Read More »Normalisation with the Arab World. Opinion piece: Oct. 2020.
Direct Etihad passenger flights to Israel; the formation of Kosher Arabia which will apparently make it easier to get kosher food in Abu Dhabi and Dubai than in Sydney or Melbourne; a public sukkah in front of the world famous Burj Khalifa Tower; and normalisation with Sudan around the corner. …
Read More »From Israel: Hanging by our Fingernails??!
In spite of the title of this posting being potentially ominous in tone, I begin with a brief good news item: It rained on Tuesday here in Jerusalem, and only in Jerusalem. The rainfall ‒ accompanied by thunder and exceedingly heavy for a brief time ‒ was a real surprise. …
Read More »From Israel: Slogging Through to Better!!
When last I wrote about the painful electoral situation in the US, I said I would return to news about Israel very soon. And so, here I am. But as I began to consider the focus for this posting, a familiar sense of sadness came over me: There is so …
Read More »All eyes might be on the Temple Mount after the UAE-Israel deal.
Part of the avowed rationale for the accords was to create enhanced access for all Muslims to worship at al-Aqsa Mosque. When he dedicated the Temple he built on Mount Moriah, King Solomon prayed that God’s house would be a center of prayer for all the peoples of the world. …
Read More »An Israeli View: With the Abraham Accords, The Times They Are A-Changin’
Years ago, a survey was done in Japan, where people were asked how many people were there in Israel. The top of the bell curve answer came back with 125 million people, about the same population as Japan itself. Clearly, the people in Japan were impressed by Israel’s ubiquitous presence …
Read More »From Israel: Do We Know What We Are Doing??!!
I am speaking at a national level here in Israel, not a personal level. Nevertheless, before Yom Kippur is absolutely the right time to ask the question. We have been watching the unfolding of a new international dynamic with several nations in turn – predominantly Arab/Muslim nations – agreeing/or giving …
Read More »If Peace with the UAE & Bahrain Is Good, Where Are the Trumpet Sounds?
Less than a month after the normalization agreement with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain has also joined the peace train. I am all for it; peace and normalization are always better than war and animosity. To be honest, I don’t see that the rest of the world is so …
Read More »Into the fray: Oslo as political Kryptonite.
For the Labor Party, the fall from the heights of political hegemony to the depth of political oblivion is a fitting fate for the perpetration of the Oslo Accords, which ran counter to every prevailing Zionist norm of the time Kryptonite: Something that can seriously weaken or harm a particular …
Read More »It’s like we are looking at two different Israels. Opinion piece: Sept. 2020.
It’s quite amazing how the State of Israel at this moment in time, has become a mirror image of the two sides of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s operating styles. Internally, whilst the raison d’etre for the formation of this coalition government was to fight Covid 19, it has descended into a …
Read More »From Israel: Tempest-Tossed!!
Rosh Hashanah begins on Friday night, and will be celebrated here from within a lockdown. None the less, we always look to better times. And so I begin this posting with a heartfelt prayer that this coming year, 5781, will be one that is rich in blessings: A year of …
Read More »From Israel: “Dangerous?? Promising??”
We here in Israel are dealing with shifting international scenarios that are a bit unsettling; For there is no certainty as to how they will play out. I allude, of course, to the evolving détente with various nations – primarily Aran and Muslims nations that Israel has long been accustomed …
Read More »Into the fray: Israel’s national imperative: “Keep your powder dry.”
While the normalization with the UAE could definitely entail significant benefits for Israel it is still somewhat premature to celebrate the onset of lasting amity—rather than enmity—in the region. Put your trust in God, my boys, but mind to keep your powder dry – attributed to Oliver Cromwell, prior to …
Read More »Into the fray: Why the “Right” insists on bringing knives to gunfights.
Although it has ostensibly been in power for much of the post Oslowian era, it is clear that the “Right” has not internalized the exigencies of political warfare. To bring a knife to a gunfight: To enter into a confrontation…without being adequately equipped or prepared.—Phrases.com One of the most perplexing …
Read More »