Israel

In spite of decidedly negative news I must address, below, I want to first share some very positive reports. We start with Ari Abramowitz – a host on Israel Inspired Radio and former co-host of Tuesday Night Live in Jerusalem – who wrote a Tisha B’Av message from his unit, …

Written by Emily Gian. Media and Advocacy Director, Zionist Federation of Australia. Over the past four weeks since Operation Protective Edge began, we have been subjected to images shrouded by the fog of war. We hear stories of destruction in Gaza, plumes of fire, rockets and missiles, dead bodies. A cartoon from …

I will be posting less frequently now that the war is over – updating my readers often but not necessarily daily on the anticipated negotiations in Cairo and other matters of importance for Israel. But for today, having stepped back for 24 hours plus now to assess the situation and …

I am chagrined but not exactly shocked by the latest turn of events here. As Shabbat went out, I had expressed surprise that – following the Friday ceasefire broken almost immediately by Hamas with an attack that included a suicide bombing and the kidnapping of Hadar Goldin – Netanyahu had …

Tonight begins Tisha B’Av, the most solemn day of the Jewish calendar.  It marks the day of the destruction of our two Temples and a number of other national calamities. On this day we fast and mourn, read the Book of Lamentations. We also look to the religious meaning in …

I begin with some very essential observations that go to the heart of Israel’s situation, observations that are broadly recognized among Jews here in Israel, but are not grasped by many – Jews and non-Jews alike – in the Western world: How heavy, then, is the burden on the shoulders …

Motzei Shabbat (After Shabbat) I left my posting abruptly yesterday because of the advent of Shabbat and want here to follow through.  But it’s tentatively only, because indeed events are in the process of unfolding and we have to see what tomorrow and the ensuing days will bring. Quite frankly, …

To prevent an even more brutal and extreme successor from taking over, Gaza must be dismantled and the non-belligerent population relocated. Our neighbors want to see us dead. This is not a question that leaves much room for compromise. – Golda Meir, cited in The New York Times, December 9, …

Today I am feeling a far greater certainty that our government is going to see through this war to its necessary end.  That our prime minister is working with resolve, looking first at the people of our nation and not over his shoulder at Obama, or the UN. Another 16,000 reservists …

    Written by Emily Gian. Media and Advocacy Director, Zionist Federation of Australia. “You have no idea how scary it is to realise we have no idea what is underneath us”. So began a conversation with a friend who lives in one of the Kibbutzim on the border with …

Let me begin with a video of something I described last night from the Shloshim ceremonies at the Great Synagogue.  This is Lt. Col. Shai Abramson, Chief Cantor of the IDF, singing with choir in prayer for the soldiers of the IDF: For strength.  (And with thanks to Linda O.) …

A 32-year-old from an illegal Bedouin outpost near Dimona was killed and four others wounded, including his daughter. NGOs funded by the misguided New Israel Fund are cynically exploiting these casualties to open a new legal front against Israel even as the country is burying its dead and protecting its …

Shloshim means 30 in Hebrew, and and it is now a significant 30 days since the funerals of the three students who had been kidnapped and murdered by terrorists because they were Jews. ~~~~~~~~~~~ Tonight there was a major ceremony at the Great Synagogue in Jerusalem to mark this day …

  I begin by sharing this picture, drawn by an artist intent on paying tribute to our soldiers. Soldier as superman: His cape is his tallit. The artist is my granddaughter.         A true story told last week by Col. Richard Kemp: He was given the opportunity to …

Dana Bar-on is a beautiful, young Israeli woman who lives in a tiny progressive kibbutz in the township of Nir Am directly on the northern border of the Gaza strip, just west of S’derot. Among the founders of kibbutz Nir Am is Dana’s grandmother, Rachel Bar-on. Dana is 27 years old …

It’s going on 72 hours since I’ve posted – the longest interval I’ve gone without a posting since this war with Hamas began.  In that period, as I have attempted to track what is happening, I felt as if my head was spinning 350 degrees. Round and round. Here I …

The only durable solution requires dismantling Gaza, humanitarian relocation of the non-belligerent Arab population, and extension of Israeli sovereignty over the region. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind…. You ask, what is our policy? I will say: It is to wage war, by sea, land …

Even at this point it is possible to assess that this time a number of things have been different to what some people expected and to what happened in the past. Of course some things have not changed at all, such as Hamas’ determination to attempt to terrorise and destroy …

Please watch and distribute. The last five minutes, by the way, are probably more important than the first five, so you should watch it through. The enemies of the Jewish people have for centuries claimed that we just love to kill children and innocents. This is the basis of the …

July 24, 2014 Kerry has left Israel, for consultations in Cairo.  He’ll be back, undoubtedly.  But it’s nice to know he’s not here. ~~~~~~~~~~ The FAA ban on US airlines flying in and out of Ben Gurion has been lifted.  They say it’s because they have been “working with its …