One of those supposedly immutable laws of war is that you do not mess with Russia. Napoleon learnt this in 1812. He invaded with 450,000 men, captured Moscow, but was eventually repelled, limping out with little more than 50,000 men ravaged by hellish combat, mad with hunger and rife with …
Read More »From Israel: Frenetic and Fragile!!
The international scene is unstable: changes – many vastly unsettling –- are taking place with lightning speed. And a good number of those world events have significant import for Israel. The debate as to whether Israel can afford (from a security perspective) to provide additional assistance to Ukraine, via defensive …
Read More »The real agenda behind criticizing the Israeli aid response to Ukraine
Focus on Jewish Refugees and Humanitarianism are the same thing. It is because Israel is a Jewish State that it goes the extra mile. Op-ed. The pictures are horrific; the details are shocking. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has prompted worldwide revulsion and a justified desire to do something, anything, …
Read More »Israel needs to be able to defend herself. Opinion piece: March 2022
Some years ago, I heard the head of an Israeli think tank say, that Jewish life is a constant tension between two, often clashing, narratives. The continuity of Jewish values – and the value of Jewish continuity. This construct left a deep impression and has stayed with me ever since. …
Read More »After Ukraine crisis, Israel as a Jewish state likely to be attacked – Opinion
The Ukraine crisis has been an opportunity for anti-Zionists and antisemites to reinvigorate their demonization of Israel. It is impossible for any feeling human not to be revolted, disgusted and horrified by the pictures and stories coming from Ukraine. Wholly apart from all the political motivations and machinations, the impact …
Read More »From Israel: “The Head Spins and the Heart Aches”
Regarding the Ukraine crisis, of course. As eager as I am to address other issues, I feel the need to focus first on news related to Ukraine – much of which impinges upon Israel, and Jews. In many respects, we are deeply connected to these on-going events. ~~~ Natan Sharansky …
Read More »From Israel: The Painful Work of Sorting It Out!!
Rarely are crisis situations on the international scene simple to grasp. There are always different versions, different perspectives. Not to mention unsubstantiated rumors and propaganda. That said, I am finding the crisis situation in Ukraine more difficult to deal with than most others. I take seriously the need to get …
Read More »From Israel: “With Heads High, Prayers on Our Lips!!”
Please! Share this posting as broadly as you can. This past week, Natan Sharansky spoke at Sheva Brachot (a celebratory dinner in the week following a wedding). And this is what he said: “When I was growing up in Ukraine, in Donetsk, there were many nations and nationalities. There were …
Read More »From Israel: “Jews, Israel, Serbs, and Nazis!!”
The horrendous Russian attack on Ukraine continues… Credit: CNBC I remain focused on what is going on in that part of the world and how it impinges upon Israel and Jews. Many of the images we are seeing evoke a very uneasy sense of déjà vu: It’s almost as if …
Read More »From Israel: As Ukraine Battle Impacts Israel!!
Everything else I had intended to write is set aside, as I examine the Russian invasion of the Ukraine and the multiple ways it affects us here in Israel. It goes without saying that what I put out now may change within hours. The situation is enormously complex as it …
Read More »An act of repentance and reconciliation – our trip to Ukraine 2019.
From the 22nd to the 29th of June 2019, a group of five Austrians, three Germans and six participants from the Netherlands visited Christians for Israel Ukraine, to take part in a working trip. Apart from seeing significant historical sites, packing food-parcels, visiting Holocaust survivors at their homes and meeting …
Read More »Large numbers of Ukrainian Jews wanting to make Aliyah .
When we brought the last Olim (Hebrew for immigrants) to the airport on Monday 31 December (see article: Aliyah Continues) we had hoped for a few days of rest, but we were wrong. The requests started coming in rapidly on the 1st of January, which surprised us. Families want to come …
Read More »Poverty Amongst Jews in Ukraine.
“Your visit gives me proof that there are still good people out there”, says 82-year-old Katia, when she opens the door of her creaky house. This Jewish lady lives a lonely life in the vast countryside of the Ukraine.“I prayed for your coming. Thank you for looking after me. I …
Read More »A tragedy that became normal – Journal of a visit by Chief Rabbi Jacobs,Ukraine.
Journal of a special trip by Chief Rabbi Jacobs in Ukraine – Last night I tried to go to bed in time, to get rested for our journey today. But something troubled me; I could not break free of the extreme poverty I had seen that day. Very expensive medicines, …
Read More »The Jerusalem of Ukraine.
Journal of a special trip by Chief Rabbi Jacobs in Ukraine – Around midnight we arrive at our first destination in Ukraine, after a journey of more than five hours in a kind of driving washing machine, along roads full of deep potholes, in a van without normal suspension, but …
Read More »Happiness in the Ukraine for Sukkot – Feast of Tabernacles.
Sunday September 23 Sukkot the Feast of Tabernacles begins. Sukkot is a Biblical feast that lasts for a week, in which the Jewish people remember how, after the exodus from Egypt, they travelled for forty years through the desert, without a roof over their heads. Anyone who has ever been …
Read More »Ukraine: The Last Survivors.
“After the Holocaust, from one family, a boy survived, from another family, a girl. They were my grandparents.” This was how Orly Wolstein from the Israeli integration programme, ‘First Home in the Homeland’ began her story during a speaking tour with Christians for Israel in South Germany. Orly was born …
Read More »Obama, Putin & Rouhani Can Do A Deal On Destroying ISIL
President Obama’s sudden about face in deciding to attack ISIL in Syria on 21 September – without express approval of Syria or a resolution of the United Nations Security Council – has provoked a strong response from Russia and Iran – President Assad’s main supporters in his three years struggle …
Read More »Ukrainian Jews May Be in Danger
Written and submitted by Rachel Molschky – Cherson & Molschky Blog site. Choral synagogue in Kiev. The Ukraine’s Jewish population has been a target amid the political upheaval in the nation. A synagogue was hit with firebombs over the weekend, and there have been reports of anti-Semitic acts and …
Read More »The Social Construction of Hatred
The social construction of hatred toward the Jewish people by the Islamic world and the western-left should, at this point in human history, be axiomatic. In the Arab-Muslim world they scream bloody murder on a daily basis that the Jewish minority is evil and must be destroyed. Western “liberals” either …
Read More »