We begin today’s posting with citations from the Covenant of Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement (emphasis added): “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.” (Preamble) “The Islamic Resistance Movement is one of the wings of Muslim Brotherhood… (Article …
Read More »From Israel: A Heart That Is Heavy!!
This past Monday was election day here in Israel, and the people came out in impressive numbers – more than 70% in the end. Exit polls released after 10 PM Monday night indicated a solid win for Likud, which was polling several mandates ahead of Blue and White. The …
Read More »Open letter to PM Netanyahu from Pres. of Zionist Federation Australia.
OPEN LETTER TO PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU FROM JEREMY LEIBLER, PRESIDENT OF THE ZIONIST FEDERATION OF AUSTRALIA. Dear Prime Minister, I write this letter with a heavy heart. As the President of the Zionist Federation of Australia, an elected representative roof body of the Australian Jewish community, I am proud …
Read More »MYTH: PM Netanyahu’s visit to Hebron was an act of “defilement” & “war.”
FACT. On September 4, 2019, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the city of Hebron to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the massacre of Jews by Palestinians that occurred on August 23, 1929. “While we are not coming to banish anyone,” Netanyahu said, “neither will anyone banish us. To cite …
Read More »The UN’s immorality and UNIFIL’s counter-productivity.
I have written countless times about the UN and its various institutions and their depraved, insufferable bias against Israel. Last week we saw it all in action once again as the UN found it impossible to condemn Hezbollah – Hezbollah! One of the world’s most violent and vicious terrorist organizations …
Read More »Election fever raged briefly in Israel last week. Opinion piece: Nov. ’18.
Election fever raged briefly in Israel as a result of the resignation of Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman earlier this month, taking his party with him and leaving the current coalition with just a razor slim majority of 61 seats in a 120 seat parliament. The trigger for Lieberman’s resignation threw …
Read More »From Israel: The Fix Will Not Be Quick.
In my last posting, I wrote about hope – and I still have hope. We should all have hope. However, while we are in a better place than we were several days ago, we still have a long way to go. A good deal depends on the good will and …
Read More »From Israel: How Not to Wage War!
Our government’s premature willingness to stop the attack on Hamas yesterday was distressing and infuriating. Several people confessed to me that they found it nauseating. And I understood. Over the course of many months, we have tolerated too much aggression emanating from Gaza: the fires started in the south, in …
Read More »From Israel: Hang on to Your Hats.
My regular readers know that I am basically an upbeat person. I am not a Pollyanna: I face the bad news. But I also seek out the promise and hold fast to the blessings. And so I think I may surprise many of you, when I speak now of how …
Read More »From the desk of Ron Weiser AM – Opinion piece. January 2018.
Quite a chain of events have been crystallising over the past few weeks indeed. For over 3000 years Jerusalem has been the capital of the Jewish people. And once again in the third Jewish Commonwealth re-established on the very same Jewish homeland, Jerusalem is of course yet again the capital …
Read More »From the Desk of Dr Ron Weiser AM – Opinion piece Sept. 2017.
As we leave the Jewish calendar year of 5777 behind it is worth remembering that the three large external issues facing Israel remain unchanged and their resolution no clearer than they were at the beginning of 2017. Moreover, to greater and lesser degrees, these depend on President Trump’s positive sentiments, …
Read More »Stars, Stripes and Selfies.
On Monday afternoon, the President of the United States, Donald Trump touched down in Israel after a visit to Saudi Arabia. The flight from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to Tel Aviv, Israel was an historic one given it was the first direct flight between the two countries, which have no official diplomatic relations. Prime …
Read More »Arlene From Israel: Heading Forward.
It was heartening when the almond trees began to flower a couple of weeks ago. These trees are the earliest to bloom and a harbinger of spring. They are ubiquitous here in Israel and show up in various places in my Jerusalem neighborhood. And today, spring is in the air. …
Read More »Bibi “Down Under”.
What an historical time and exciting few days we are having in Sydney with Bibi – Benjamin Netanyahu in town. It was certainly a very moving experience listening to hear him speak in Central Synagogue. This is the first visit ever of an Israeli Prime Minister to Australia, he has …
Read More »From Israel: Thumbs Up.
As most readers surely know, Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump had their highly-anticipated first meeting on Wednesday. There was much angst on the right here in Israel before the meeting, for Trump was putting out an ambivalent message and Netanyahu was saying he would endorse a “two-state solution.” But …
Read More »Arlene from Israel – Then and Now
Today was Yom HaShoah VeHaGevurah – Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust and Heroism. (For there were not only Jewish victims, there were also Jewish heroes.) Here in Jerusalem, in the wee small hours last night, there was the most incredible prolonged, downpour – the likes of which I have …
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