Amir Kochavi: A Holocaust Remembrance Day speech is not the time to be politically divisive
Hod Hasharon’s mayor, Amir Kochavi, gave a Holocaust Remembrance Day speech that drew praise from Israeli Arab anti-Israeli Member of the Israeli Knesset Ahmed Tibi. That in itself should raise eyebrows. After all, Tibi has eulogized terrorists from the Knesset podium and has made speeches to students in the Palestinian Authority praising the “martyrs,” meaning […]
Victory and Resilience alongside Despair: Passover 2025
Count the number of Passover Seders held this year in Israel and the Diaspora (and the latter get two, one for each side of the family) and that is a measure of our victory. Not our final overwhelming victory that I hope we will finally achieve over Hamas and other jihadists in this existential war […]
Israel’s “Sophie’s Choice” hostage deal would drive anyone to drink
In American author William Styron’s novel, Sophie’s Choice, Sophie was forced, at Auschwitz, to choose which of her two children would be sent to the gas chamber and which would live. Should she have refrained from choosing, both would die. That is the nature of the choice facing our leadership having to negotiate hostage deals […]
This is what Israelis should be arguing about.
My bias is showing here. I believe that all the demonstrations in Israel insisting that the government accept a deal NOW, accept ceasefire NOW are working against the better interests of both the state in general and the hostages in particular. I bring to you a few of those who see it this way too. […]
Please tell me how a general strike makes sense.
It took me till the end of writing this article for me to finally see what this strike could have been good for. I am telling you this up front because, if you are like those who read the last page of a novel before beginning at the beginning, you might want to go there […]
The poll that gets quoted and the poll that does not
Lately, consumers of English language news are reading that most Israelis now support a hostage deal over continuing military action against Hamas in Gaza. For example, the most widely read English-language Israeli website, Times of Israel, proclaims in its headline: Two-thirds of Israelis back hostage deal over continuing war in Gaza – poll and this […]
Please tell me what is wrong with my post
Facebook provided no option for me to appeal their decision. If you tell me my post does violate community standards, I will accept the decision without further fuss. * * * * * I love how FB claims to remove only those items that threaten the community’s basic rights to respect and safety. (Read the […]
Fateful days: the same Netanyahu, the same security system – they don’t think long term
Senior diplomatic correspondent Ariel Kahana gave me permission to translate into English an article I think everyone should read and contemplate. The original Hebrew is here. We have experience dealing with deals from Shalit’s time • Although the lesson is clear, the same leadership that brought about the deal repeats the very same line • […]
UNSC Resolution 2720: Been here, done that
Yesterday, Jewish Press published the full text of UNSC Resolution 2720 in which the Council called for: … increased humanitarian aid, humanitarian “pauses”, unconditional release of all hostages being held by Hamas, and Red Cross access to those hostages to determine their medical status and to provide them with medical care. The United States and […]
Israel-Hamas War, Part V: An Israeli horror film and the hostages
Call it a dark sense of humour. Call it cynicism. Call it desperation. Whatever it is, Israel is pulling no stops in getting our hostages back home. Israeli authorities cannot release to the public the Hamas horror film (40-something minutes long) as it is reserved for journalists and world leaders who otherwise might “forget” that […]