Tonight, with a one-minute siren, Yom Hazikaron, Israeli Memorial Day, will begin. This is a time during which we honor the memories of those who have died in defense of the Land of Israel since 1860—the year that the first Jewish settlers left the secure walls of Jerusalem to build …
Read More »From Israel: “Definitely Not a Pretty Picture!!”
But it hardly does justice to the situation to say that what we are facing is not a pretty picture. What I want to touch upon today are some of the situations we are confronting that, if truth be told, tend to generate nightmares. ~~~ Let us begin with a …
Read More »From Israel: “You Can Run, But You Can’t Hide!!“
I am ever mindful of the blessings that are ours, and would never, ever suggest that hope be abandoned. Jews survive on hope, on faith in a better tomorrow. And yet, it is exceedingly important not to be naïve, not to insist on a positive perspective – because that feels …
Read More »From Israel: “How Do We Not Grieve??”
What causes us to grieve is the horrendous state of affairs in America. Should Biden end up becoming president (something that I absolutely do not consider a “done deal” at this point), there would be no reason to be reassured as to the direction he would take. The more we …
Read More »The Forgotten Jewish Refugees From Arab Lands.
Much has been written about the Palestinian refugees, but little attention has been paid to nearly one million Jewish refugees forced to flee their Arab homelands in North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant and beyond. Between 1948-1972, approximately 586,000 Jews from Arab countries were resettled in Israel, while 200,000 …
Read More »Israeli Navy Intercepts Hamas-bound Arms Shipment From Sinai.
Some individuals serve as terrorist entrepreneurs or enablers, working with multiple militant organizations of different backgrounds. Mohammed al-Zawari, an engineer who contributed to drone arsenals for both Hamas and Hizballah, was a notable example of a cross-group terrorist enabler until 2016, when Israel allegedly killed him in Tunisia. On Wednesday, …
Read More »Into the fray: The Iranian presence in Syria and the George Floyd factor.
Will a tragic incident on a Minneapolis curbside determine the fate of the political order in Tehran—and its military deployment across the ravaged realms of Syria? Recent media reports of a series of air attacks on Iranian-related targets in Syria—widely attributed to Israel—have once again raised the question of whether …
Read More »A civil uprising in Iran.
It looks like a civil revolution is taking place in Iran, where the people are rising up against the regime of the Mad Mullahs. The courage, the sheer bravery of the Iranian citizens is awe-inspiring. They face arrest, torture and death and yet are not giving up. It is clear …
Read More »From Israel: How Lovely It Is!!
How heartening to see a leader make a bold decision that improves the state of the world! My friends, I spent hours on Wednesday attempting to find the most effective words to convey my thoughts on President Trump’s decision to take out Soleimani. There are, I wanted to say, …
Read More »Good News Weekend-Israel
This week’s Good News Weekend post opens with the startling – and very good – news that the US killed the leader of the Iranian Revolutionary Group Corps – Al Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani last night. Make no mistake about it: Soleimani was an extremely bad, dangerous man. From the …
Read More »Into the fray: Iniquitous indictments for invented infractions.
Despite his remarkable success, Netanyahu has been ceaselessly assailed by his political adversaries. Indeed, it is perhaps his very success that has generated such raw rancor against him. I would have preferred to have devoted this week’s column to some other topic—such as the ascendance of blatant antisemitism around the …
Read More »From Israel: Standing Strong on the Tough Stuff!!
I begin with a report on the Likud primary that took place last Thursday: As expected, Binyamin Netanyahu defeated his challenger Gideon Sa’ar. And he did so in a landslide, with 72.5% of the vote. Out of 106 Likud polling stations across the country, Netanyahu won 99 and Sa’ar seven. …
Read More »Good News Weekend – Israel.
This post is not going to be a regular Good News post though it will contain what I consider several good news items. In any event the news keeps overtaking me before I can get around to writing a post. The one thing I am not going to write about …
Read More »“America First” and Israel – Opinion piece Oct ’19.
Just as it is wrong of those who criticise everything President Trump says and does just because it comes from him, likewise it is wrong for his supporters to blindly praise or try and explain away, a very poor decision and/or action. Trump made no secret of the fact from …
Read More »From Israel: “Urgent!!”
The election is upon us now – only two days away – and the situation is not substantially different from what it was when I last wrote. Neither camp has a clear majority in the polls. Likud and Blue & White are reasonably neck-in-neck. Maddeningly, each poll is somewhat different, …
Read More »From Israel: “On the Cusp of War”
For some time now, Israel has been at the edge of war. Or, to put it another way, Israel has been and continues to be engaged in an ongoing, low level, multi-faceted shadow war that has potential to erupt into something major. The post that follows is filled with …
Read More »From Israel: “Forcing Them to Their Knees!”
It is not because it is unimportant that I have not written about President Trump’s challenge to Iranian threats. It is of critical importance. I have simply been focused in a variety of other directions. On Friday, however, Ruthie Blum wrote an excellent column, “Bringing Iran to its knees,” in the …
Read More »Jews from a different planet.
“But why does he have to make provocations with these declarations of his?!” I was shocked to hear this sentence come out of the mouths of my Jewish American relatives. Yes, they were referring to Trump (who they hate) and to the Jerusalem Declaration. I love my relatives but they …
Read More »Report Sheds Light on Hamas’s Sinai Arms Smuggling.
In recent years, Israel has waged a covert war against a large-scale Hamas effort to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip, a Hebrew-language media report has said. The Jan. 6 report, citing unspecified international media sources, was published in Walla News, one of the largest online Israeli news agencies. Since …
Read More »Don’t tell me to “stay safe”
Don’t. Just don’t. Sometimes kindly meant words are the worst. On May 8th Trump pulled out of the disastrous Iran Deal. Almost immediately afterward Israeli citizens were warned that there would likely be an attack from Iranians based in Syria and communities in the Golan were instructed to make sure …
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