I am putting this brief posting out as a preview of what we may see coming down the road in the next couple of days with regard to the Nachala Movement Project. The plans are in place – and they are extensive. Three temporary yeshuvim (settlements) are to be set …
Read More »Asserting the legitimacy of Israel. Then and now
We must stand up for the rights that place Israel on the right side of law, justice and sovereignty. My organization, Im Tirtzu, has been pleased to partner with Canadians for Israel’s Legal Rights (CILR)—and I have been privileged to personally take part—in a series of highly informative webinars …
Read More »In this election we need to get it Right – Opinion
I believe that an across the board right-wing coalition, religious and secular, can and must address these issues. Elections in Israel can be viewed as punishments or as opportunities. I would suggest that the lengthy string of inconclusive outcomes preceding the recently dissolved government were the former. Conversely, the Bennett-Lapid …
Read More »Looming election in Israel. Opinion piece: June 2022
In an election anyone claiming to predict who the next prime minister of Israel will be is a brave person. The frontrunner is Benjamin Netanyahu, which counts for quite a bit of course. But will it be enough? Hard to say. At the time of writing the next election had …
Read More »From Israel: “Dropping Out, Stepping Forward!!”
Sunday night I participated in a Webinar with Eve Harow for the One Israel Fund. For those of you who might not have signed up, or who signed up but were not able to see it because of a Zoom glitch, I provide a link to it here: https://oneisraelfund.org/trips/guarding-israel-critical-juncture/ ~~~~~~~~~~ …
Read More »Israel is the world’s worst country – except for all the others. Opinion
Israel has stopped the Western clock that was ticking during the 1950’s. We continue to embody the key values that drove an optimistic post-WWII West, particularly in the United States. BARS AND restaurants do a brisk business at Mahaneh Yehuda in Jerusalem. Israel regularly ranks as one of the happiest …
Read More »United States, Israel, Australia and UN. Opinion: June 2022
Interestingly, the two most dominant politicians in Australia and Israel in recent times, Scott Morrison and Benjamin Netanyahu, now both find themselves in opposition. What they have in common is that they are generally both held to be the major reason their respective parties are no longer in government. What …
Read More »Israel’s deepest problems are systemic and transcend whoever is in power
Whether or not the current government falls, there are essential issues that must be dealt with by any ruling coalition. Israel is currently mesmerized by the soap opera our government has become: Specifically, will the current coalition expire, and if so, when and how? As engrossing as the show might …
Read More »The Alternative Universe of Palestinian “Sovereignty”
There are alternative narratives and then there are alternative universes. The first might employ fabricated ideas and “facts,” but the latter is a complete departure from anything like reality. Welcome to the alternative universe of Palestinian “sovereignty.” There have been many stories on the recent Jerusalem Day festivities, in particular …
Read More »From Israel: Head High, Eyes Forward!!
After the high of Yom Yerushalayim, it’s important to sustain some of that positive feeling with good news items. And I will do that shortly. But it’s a bit of a challenge, as there is much to deal with. I begin with comments that relate to the Flag Parade. We …
Read More »From Israel: “Stupid Is, As Stupid Does!!”
Next Sunday, May 29, is Yom Yerushalayim – a day that marks Israel’s liberation of eastern Jerusalem in 1967 and its subsequent formal reunification with western Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. It is over 3,000 years ago – which is way before Islam existed – that King David chose Jerusalem as …
Read More »Does Israel belong to the Jews or have they usurped ancient Arab land? Part II
Part II The reader of Part I will have noticed that, to this point, there has been no historically recorded mention of either “Palestinians” or Arabs as sojourners in the land, and the end of Persian rule in the region marked the end of Canaanite culture as a result of …
Read More »When Truth is a Casualty of War
Why has truth become the first casualty in the media’s coverage of Israel? There is something about covering Israel that causes the global media and even some of the most reputable journalists to take leave of their senses. This phenomenon doesn’t happen with coverage of any other conflict or country …
Read More »From Israel: And This Is the Way WE Do It!!
“And This Is the Way WE Do It!! “A hero of Israel lived among us,” said Binyamin Regional Council head Yisrael Gantz, speaking at the funeral of Sgt. Maj. Noam Raz, who was badly wounded during anti-terrorism operations in Jenin last Friday, and died shortly thereafter. “We were privileged to …
Read More »Does Israel belong to the Jews or have they usurped ancient Arab land? Part I
Does Israel belong to the Jews or have they usurped ancient Arab land? This question, or it’s seemingly endless variant, crops up with concerning regularity on various social and mainstream media fora, and particularly in the mass of anti-Israel posters, some partly knowledgeable, most hopelessly not. The 100 year Arab–Israeli …
Read More »MYTH: Israel is responsible for blockading Gaza.
FACT: Israel cannot impose a blockade on its own. Egypt controls the southern border of the Gaza Strip and has maintained its own blockade to prevent Hamas from obtaining weapons from Iran and materials it can use to manufacture rockets to fire at Israeli cities. Egypt has demolished dozens of …
Read More »From Israel: “Hatred: Manifest and Implicit”
It is my practice, always, to begin a posting with news of a terror attack – when one occurs – before dealing with other matters. And sadly, painfully, I must do so again here: On Friday night, Vyacheslav Golev was working as a security guard at the entrance to the …
Read More »From Israel: “No Respite from the Horror!!”
The horror is, of course, a terror attack: This one was of particularly serious dimensions (not to imply that there are terror attacks not of serious dimensions). This report is not as complete as I would have hoped, as information is still lacking and much confusion remains. Yet I want …
Read More »AIPAC’s Super Pac Marks Its Course
According to a story that went up on JTA [Jewish Telegrapic Agency], the AIPAC [Political Action Committee] (PAC) is what we would expect from a lobbying group whose stated mission is “to encourage and persuade the U.S. government to enact specific policies that create a strong, enduring and mutually beneficial …
Read More »From Israel: Obscenities!!
We here in Israel have been dealing with a number of obscenities of late – including, from my perspective, the deceitful, destructive stance of the US right now. But much of this will wait for my next posting. What I have in mind at present is the abomination of taking …
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