Israel

Note: Sorry about the way this has posted. I can’t change it. Arlene doesn’t have it on line yet and this happens sometimes when taken from an email. No matter what happens with regard to Hamas, it will be a mess of one sort or another.  There are no clean, …

For the past month or so news has been filtering out of Gaza from international journalists that they have been harassed, and even threatened, by Hamas for sending reports and information out which was truthful and not favorable to them. On 11th August 2014 the Foreign Press Agency released the …

Before I look at that forecast, let me mention “Kaitana Savta,” which translates literally as “Camp Grandma” (it sounds better in Hebrew).  I am about to begin Kaitana Savta, which comes every year in August and is truly as much fun for me as for my grandkids. Starting tomorrow and …

One month of fierce fighting between Israel and Hamas has resulted in an enormous propaganda victory for Hamas as horrific pictures of dead and wounded Gazan children and civilians, their destroyed homes and other buildings have appeared daily in social media and newspapers around the world. Why these tragedies need …

In reality, the Left has no genuine concern for humanitarian values . All it truly desires is dominance over the political system. The Fascists of the future will be the anti-fascists. – A dictum of disputed origins, sometimes (mis)attributed to Winston Churchill Thy destroyers and thy demolishers shall emerge from …

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 …