Tag Archives: Benny Gantz

Last Friday night, Jews across the world were participating in the Pesach Seder. And so I begin by extending wishes for a Pesach Kasher v’Sameach to all who are observing. Every year I share a link to a video of Vehi shamda, which is found in the Haggadah: That which …

The international scene is unstable: changes – many vastly unsettling –- are taking place with lightning speed.  And a good number of those world events have significant import for Israel. The debate as to whether Israel can afford (from a security perspective) to provide additional assistance to Ukraine, via defensive …

Rosh Hashana begins next Monday evening, and it seems unlikely that I will write again before then.  And so, I now wish all a Shana Tova: May it be a sweet year of many blessings!!     ~~~ Prior to his meeting with Biden, Prime Minister Bennett gave an interview …

The hostilities between Israel and Hamas stopped at 2 AM on Friday morning, and the quiet in this regard seems to be holding at the moment.  But from Israel’s perspective, was this a good move? No!  It was done too soon. When last I posted, on Thursday, May 20, Israel …

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 …

In Israel we currently see two worlds clashing. Perhaps more accurately, running parallel, as if the other did not exist. That is, the real world and the world of the internal machinations of the Israeli government and Knesset politics. In the real world, Israel, initially an international leader and example …

By its unflagging support of the establishment of a homophobic, misogynistic Muslim-majority tyranny (a.k.a. a Palestinian state), America’s allegedly “progressive” Jewry reveals that it is, in fact, profoundly regressive Benjamin Netanyahu is a failed leader. He has led the State of Israel, once a proud example of a tenacious and …

  Most of the readers who wrote after my last posting – in which I celebrated the fact that we would have a unity government – wanted to share their pleasure at the news. But a few wrote with considerably less enthusiasm: Gantz? Bibi is going to work with Gantz? …

Our first battle is against the coronavirus, which is being fought not just in Israel, but around the world.  It preoccupies everyone, so that political news here is not necessarily even front page any more. I write from my Jerusalem apartment: I am well, thank Heaven, but following the rules …

Oh, and these are tough times. But Purim begins Monday night (and a day later in Jerusalem, where Shushan Purim is celebrated).  And so, today children went to school in their Purim costumes, and I happened to be running an errand when they were coming out of school. All those happy …

  Seize the day!!  Do not let it pass. The poll numbers are shifting in favor of the right wing bloc.  It appears that this bloc may require only three additional mandates in order to win the election. The votes for winning are there: but they must be registered at …

Perhaps we truly are on the verge of significant positive changes.  But then again, we may be facing only frustration and stagnation.  It’s difficult to call on several counts. I am speaking, first, about the election which is now – yikes! – less than two weeks away. It’s difficult to …

The world of politics: It would be wrong to say that there is never clarity of purpose inspired by high ideals. But it is rare. Much of the time there are shifting scenarios, and complex, conflicting motivating factors at play. Rivalries, certainly. We find pretence (allegedly, for good reason). And …

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 …

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 …

Prime Minister Netanyahu has stood head and shoulders above his political opponents for the past decade because he has managed to convince the electorate of two factors. Firstly that in effect he is Israel’s ‘security guard’ and secondly that notwithstanding any of his flaws, no-one else is really up to …

As has undoubtedly been obvious to many of my readers, even though Israel is in the throes of an election campaign (or the first stage of a campaign), I have studiously avoided writing about it. There has been ample reason for this:  The process has been so convoluted that reporting …

Benny Gantz’s election campaign videos are being used by Electronic Intifada to tar and feather Israel. When this is your starting point: . . . Gantz, like Netanyahu, is accurately reflecting the desires and fantasies of an Israeli public that views the willingness to shed the blood of defenseless Palestinians …

It is election season in Israel with all the attendant empty promises, scandals, and political jockeying. Bayit Yehudi head and Education Minister Naftali Bennett took his deputy, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, and left the party, forming a new party simply called “The New Right”. I have not been able to …

The silly season is upon us and the even sillier season seems to be approaching fast. Israel is going to elections on the 9thof April. On the one hand when it comes to actual policies, it is the Seinfeld election – yet again – an election about nothing – well …