Since the early 1990s, and certainly since the Oslo process (1993), the ‘Land for peace’ principle has been Israel’s dominant policy paradigm, particularly, but not exclusively, with regard to the “Palestinian problem”. This is something that is difficult to comprehend. After all, not only was it a formula that …
Read More »Operation Thunderbolt.
I did not watch “Seven Days in Entebbe” and I don’t intend to. When the trailer came out my first reaction was excitement. This story is one of the best, breathtaking, exciting, moving, against-all-odds, adventure stories I have ever heard and, best of all – it’s real. And it’s OURS. …
Read More »Into the Fray: Bibi vs BG.
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 …
Read More »Arlene from Israel: As We Begin a New Year.
I’m going to begin with some inspiring words that go beyond my normal “good news.” This is extracted from commentary by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks in the Koren Rosh Hashana Machzor [Prayer book] with my emphasis added: “There is mystery at the heart of Jewish existence, and it is written into …
Read More »Into the Fray: Shimon Peres (1923-1985; 1986-2016)
Paradoxically, it was not Peres’s successes – but his failures – that catapulted him to international stardom; it was not his impressive accomplishments that made him a global celebrity but the disastrous fiascoes in pursuit of his wildly unrealistic illusions Ambition drove many men to become false; to have …
Read More »Into the Fray: Israel’s lethal land-for-peace laureates.
Paradoxically, indeed perversely, the policies of Israel’s peace laureates have not only made peace increasingly remote, but Israel increasingly untenable. Itzhak Rabin Poor Menachem [Begin]… I got back… the Sinai and the Alma oil fields, and what has Menachem got? A piece of paper. – Anwar Sadat, on the peace …
Read More »From the desk of Ron Weiser – So Israel has a new government.
So Israel has a new government. Just. Prime Minister Netanyahu must be wondering why he decided to go to early elections after all: – his government currently has a slim majority indeed, just 61 out of 120 seats in the Knesset, – he has been forced to pay a very …
Read More »Into the Fray: Whew! But…
The unthinkable has been avoided – narrowly. The greatest challenge now will be to deal with a detrimental, dysfunctional and, not infrequently, disloyal opposition. With respect to the people’s choice, if this is in fact its choice, I do not accept it … If that is the choice of the …
Read More »Into The Fray: Goofy generals galore
Virtually every time top military figures have departed from their field of expertise & ventured into one where they have none (politics), they have–almost invariably—been disastrously wrong. [Israeli] security experts didn’t anticipate one major event in the Middle East in the past 50 years. – Economy Minister Naftali Bennett, Saban …
Read More »