Tag Archives: Lebanon

First order of concern: I have learned from Chaim Silberstein, father of Shira Ish-Ran, that she has had extensive surgery on the site where the bullet entered her abdomen during the terror attack outside Ofra. She is in a lot of pain and facing a long recovery and rehabilitation. He …

Israel is approaching a point when it must decide to destroy enemy capabilities, rather than attempting to deter the enemy from using them.  To remain at peace when you should be going to war may be often very dangerous…Let us attack and subdue…that we may ourselves live safely for the …

We begin with more information regarding the lead story in my last posting, about Deputy Minister Tzipi Hotovely, who was uninvited at Hillel House in Princeton. It was Rabbi Eitan Webb, director of the Princeton Chabad House, who had stepped in. He greeted the overflow audience with these words: “We …

Are “Commanders for Israel” aware of the deadly defects in their ill-conceived program, but persist in promoting it anyway; or they are unaware of them, and are promoting it out of sheer ignorance?  [After Gamal Abdel Nasser’s death] the ability of the Arabs to coordinate their political and military activities …

Benjamin Netanyahu – A synopsis: The good the bad…and the remarkable When you compare his [Netanyahu’s] lack of actual achievements compared to Ben-Gurion, whose record he’s eclipsed, it’s embarrassing – Jeff Barak, An empty record, Jerusalem Post, November 20, 2016 Last Tuesday Benjamin Netanyahu chalked up an unbroken stint of …

What is apartheid ? According to Wikipedia, Apartheid (which is an Afrikaans word meaning “apartness”) was a political and social system in South Africa while it was under white minority rule (meaning white people ruled the country, even though there were not as many of them as there were black …

Reply to Ruby Hamad’s Don’t ask athletes to set aside politics ‘in the spirit of the Olympics’ Is there even one Palestinian in the Lebanese Olympic team? There are few things more hypocritical than Lebanese claiming to snub Israel because of what we allegedly do to the Palestinians.  If there is …

  Sometimes looking at relationships in the Middle East is like watching Game of Thrones (without the gratuitous nudity). One needs a guide. This isn’t it. There are enough dubious facts and Israel obsessions in Owen Bennett-Jones’ Middle East map carved up by caliphates, enclaves and fiefdoms for this to be the ‘official’ …

 And that hardly begins to say it all. But then, I’m speaking about Obama, so what else would we expect?  I’m sorry I cannot start with good news today: I must begin with the outrage.  Israeli investigative journalist Ilana Dayan has just done an interview with President Obama for Israel’s …

Towards a New Law of War  is the subject of a conference currently being held by Shurat Hadin, the Israeli Law Center, founded and run by the amazing Nitsana Darshan-Leitner. Current laws of warfare are outdated, she explained in her introductory remarks.  The Geneva Conventions never envisioned the asymmetrical warfare that …

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Israel as “a small country, one of the smallest”. That is true, but only part of the story. As Bibi added “Israel is strong, but it’s much more vulnerable [than the US].” Size: Israel is about 20,000 square kilometers, using the 1949 Armistice Lines, or 22,000 …

All is quiet in the north now. There are those who think it’s just a matter of time until we are attacked again, and that we are certainly closer to major hostilities than we were before this most recent attack.  That something major is coming down the road, at some …

Yesterday, four rockets were launched from a Syrian-held position roughly seven kilometers inside of Syria; two of the rockets landed in the Israeli Golan Heights.  They landed in open areas and there were no casualties.  Military sources identified this as a joint effort of Hezbollah and Syrian forces; the IDF …

Yesterday, Prime Minister Netanyahu said, with regard to his speaking to Congress: “In coming weeks, the powers are liable to reach a framework agreement with Iran, an agreement liable to leave Iran as a nuclear threshold state. “As prime minister of Israel, I am obligated to make every effort to …

  Sukkot. “v’samachta bechagecha”: and you shall rejoice in your festival. This is it, Sukkot, our season of rejoicing.  My very favorite holiday.  The spirit is in the air, here in Jerusalem.  I look forward to meals in the Sukkah (much larger than the illustration here!), and sleeping in the …

The Fleeing Refugees There is a mass migration occurring in the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa). People are fleeing their home countries due to turmoil and are crossing land and sea to escape to more stable societies. Fleeing Syria: Over 3 million people have poured into Lebanon, Jordan, …

Khaled Abu Toameh, an Israeli Arab Muslim, is a veteran award-winning journalist who has been covering Palestinian affairs for nearly three decades. He studied at Hebrew University and began his career as a reporter by working for a PLO-affiliated newspaper in Jerusalem. Abu Toameh currently works for the international media, …

“The Ikar” (the essence of the matter) Tomorrow night my eldest granddaughter goes off with her class to Poland for a week, to visit death camps and related sites.  In Israel doing this is a rite of passage.  She and her 12th grade classmates have been exceedingly well prepared.  I …

Wards of the World The well-know secret (but not discussed, as honesty is considered impolite in politics) in the halls of governments around the world is that there are currently only 30,000 Palestinian refugees as defined by the United Nations. That definition states: “Palestine refugees are defined as “persons whose …

  In my last posting I wrote about “rays of light,” and indeed they do exist.  But I would be remiss indeed if I were to convey a simple-mindedly optimistic message.  The somber truth is that we are facing down some exceedingly tough situations. For starters, there is Hezbollah.  I’ve …