Monthly Archives: November 2021

My Brush with Censorship

For the past seven years I’ve written a regular column for a newsletter that is distributed several times a year by the Jewish Federation in my home town in California. I write about what’s going on in Israel, explain our … Continue reading

Posted in American Jews, Iran, Israel and Palestinian Arabs, Jew Hatred, The Jewish people | 7 Comments

Behind Biden’s Iran Policy

What does the Biden Administration actually want? One might think it is that Iran will not make nuclear weapons. But it’s more complicated than that. To try to answer the question, I looked at a recent article in America’s own … Continue reading

Posted in American politics, Iran, Middle East politics, US-Israel Relations, War | 3 Comments

Hanukah: Stay Jewish and Defeat our Enemies

Next Monday is the first day of Hanukah, a holiday that is not mentioned in the Torah, but like Purim and (more controversially) Yom Ha’atzmaut, came along later as a commemoration of fraught and violent events. What are we celebrating … Continue reading

Posted in American Jews, Israeli or Jewish History, The Diaspora, Zionism | 1 Comment

When Will Israel Regain her Honor?

In 1981, Menachem Begin presented what he thought were the most important lessons to be learned from the Holocaust. Many people remember the first lesson, “if an enemy of our people says he seeks to destroy us, believe him,” and … Continue reading

Posted in Israel and Palestinian Arabs, Israeli Society, Middle East politics, Terrorism | 3 Comments

Kafka’s Trial, in Three Acts

I see, these books are probably law books, and it is an essential part of the justice dispensed here that you should be condemned not only in innocence but also in ignorance. ― Franz Kafka, The Trial For the umpteenth … Continue reading

Posted in Academia, Wokeness | Comments Off on Kafka’s Trial, in Three Acts

Giving Up Zionism

Amichai Shikli, the dissident member of Naftali Bennett’s party and the only coalition member to vote against the budget, had an op-ed in today’s Israel Hayom newspaper that got my attention. I’ll translate the first few sentences: At the end … Continue reading

Posted in Israel and Palestinian Arabs, Israeli Arabs, Israeli Politics, Israeli Society, Post-Zionism, The Jewish people, Zionism | 4 Comments

The Camel’s Nose

It’s painful, but I have to admit that I was wrong. I supported the Bennett-Lapid government because I believed that nothing could be worse than the instability of an endless series of elections and caretaker governments. The challenges facing the … Continue reading

Posted in Israeli Arabs, Israeli Politics | 5 Comments

A Drastic Proposal

In my morning paper there is a discussion of the home front defense drill that will be taking place today, simulating an all-out war with Hamas and Hezbollah. Warning sirens will be activated in various places, and note will be … Continue reading

Posted in Iran, Terrorism, War | 6 Comments