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 »Israel’s leaders need to listen to the music of the latest US election results
Israel’s new something-for-everyone coalition government prides itself on its emphasis on restoring bilateral political support for Israel in the United States. Of course, this is a not-so-subtle slap at former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom they perceive to have unduly favored the Republicans—meaning former U.S. President Donald Trump—thereby “endangering” longstanding …
Read More »From Israel: And the Plot Thickens!!
Very little that unfolds in the public domain is clear and simple. It behoves us to keep our eyes open and dig deep when there are questions. Please read to the end of this posting, for that is where you will find the biggest story, which is just in the …
Read More »Naftali Bennett and me – relationship status: “it’s complicated”
My friend was about to be inaugurated as Prime Minister of Israel. For the past year I had done everything in my power to help make that happen. Of course, I had to be there. On the other hand, this inauguration would establish a government with progressive, extreme left, post …
Read More »From Israel: “Twisting, This Way and That!!”
That is Artem Dolgopyat’s fantastic in-the-air manoeuvres, which won him the gold on Sunday in the floor exercise of the artistic gymnastic event. This was the first gold for Israel in the 2020 Olympics, and the second ever. Credit: JPost Scroll down here for a video of his performance. {Editor’s …
Read More »Evyatar, the window into the new government.
Given that the government is trying to show unity, why is the Evyatar outpost being tackled so soon, if at all? The new government is trying to show its unity, not courting controversy, though there will inevitably be controversies thrust upon it. Given this orientation, it seems strange that Evyatar, …
Read More »From Israel: “Quick! Open Your Eyes!!”
“There are none so blind as those who will not see.” And it is beyond painful to me how many there are who will not see in Israel today. This posting will be brief and very much to the point, with more to follow shortly. Yesterday, in the Knesset, ceremonies …
Read More »From Israel: “Facing Awful, Heads High!!”
The obscenity known as the “change government” is likely to come into existence this Sunday when Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin calls for a vote. For it appears that the hodgepodge coalition put together by Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid, pictured) will in the end garner the necessary minimum of 61 votes. …
Read More »From Israel: “Heartsick!!!”
This, my friends, will be the shortest of postings. It is not necessary to deal now in all of the details of the prospective new “change government” that may have been forged last night—that appears to have been forged but is not yet finalized. What makes me heartsick is the …
Read More »From Israel: “Perverse, Obtuse, or Just Plain Stupid??”
Incredibly, dear readers, this title applies all too well to a number of subjects that I wish to touch upon. I would obviously prefer that it would be otherwise, but it is so. I start with what is happening on the Israeli political scene, as it is, in my opinion, …
Read More »From Israel: “Damn! And Damn Again!”
Yehuda Guetta, 19, who was a student at the Itamar Yeshiva, has succumbed to his wounds. He is dead because he was Jewish. Yehuda was one of the three students who were targeted in a drive-by shooting at Tapuach Junction in the Shomron on Sunday evening. He was the most …
Read More »From Israel: ”Vile and Maddening!!”
The meaning of “vile” is fairly obvious. But “maddening”? I am referring to the back-room bargaining and extensive game-playing that have been taking place as Prime Minister Netanyahu seeks a way to form a coalition and others seek to block him. It could drive one mad (as in crazy). …
Read More »From Israel: “It’s Deplorable!!”
There are not a whole lot of people within the Israeli political system that I’m pleased with at the moment – and that is a polite understatement of major proportions. What evolved yesterday was the final stage of a process of wheeling and dealing that has been destructive for the …
Read More »Frustration with the current Israeli election process. Opinion piece Feb 21.
Whilst this is being written before final election results are known there are a few things we can say. And before we come to that, for all of the justified frustration with the current election process in Israel, all forms of democracy have shortcomings. Netanyahu began his second term as …
Read More »INTO THE FRAY: Imbecilic, Iniquitous, Inimical…
By its unflagging support of the establishment of a homophobic, misogynistic Muslim-majority tyranny (a.k.a. a Palestinian state), America’s allegedly “progressive” Jewry reveals that it is, in fact, profoundly regressive Benjamin Netanyahu is a failed leader. He has led the State of Israel, once a proud example of a tenacious and …
Read More »From Israel: Caught in the Quagmire!
Quagmire, morass, predicament. Call it what you will, Israel’s current political situation is one hell of a mess. Actually, I call it a busha, a source of shame ‒ that some of our purported leaders have not managed (or have not chosen) to get their acts together to form a …
Read More »From Israel: “The Critical Roller Coaster of Israeli Politics!”
For weeks I was reticent about the intricacies of Israeli politics as the first stage of the campaign began to heat up. It was all too complex – with new parties forming, and would-be members of the Knesset switching allegiance from one group to another or simply resigning. It was …
Read More »Into the Fray: Yair Lapid – Responding to Readers.
For MK Yair Lapid: Don’t wag your head when making a point. It makes you look even more arrogant than you are. – Lawrence Rifkin, Senior Editor, The Jerusalem Post. Full disclosure: This was not the topic I had in mind for this week. In fact, by late yesterday afternoon …
Read More »Into the Fray: Into the fray: Loopy, loopier… Lapid
There is little that infuriates me more that the arrogance and ignorance of Yair Lapid, head of the Yesh Atid party, and the shameful myopia and shameless mendacity he exhibits. The greatest tragedy of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is that everyone knows how it will end. We will divide up the …
Read More »Arlene from Israel – Could Be Worse.
Before I begin to discuss how it could be worse, a couple of housekeeping matters. First, dear readers, please know that I am working overtime on the Legal Grounds Campaign. That’s a good thing, because it means we are developing a solid campaign to coincide with the formation of the …
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