Author Archives: Victor Rosenthal

Why we are so happy (and the staff of Ha’aretz is not)

Posted on September 7, 2018 by Victor Rosenthal

Who is rich? He who is happy with what he has. – Shimon ben Zoma (2nd century CE) As the new year approaches, Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics released its annual report. It contained the astonishing detail that 89% of … Continue reading →

Posted in Israeli Society | 2 Comments

A few questions for our leaders about the next war

Posted on September 2, 2018 by Victor Rosenthal

Nobody ever defended anything successfully, there is only attack and attack and attack some more. – George S. Patton The idea that a war can be won by standing on the defensive and waiting for the enemy to attack is … Continue reading →

Posted in Iran, War | 6 Comments

Taking the ghetto out of the Jew

Posted on August 31, 2018 by Victor Rosenthal

We do not have to account to anybody, we are not to sit for anybody’s examination and nobody is old enough to call on us to answer. We came before them and will leave after them. We are what we … Continue reading →

Posted in Israeli Politics, Zionism | 2 Comments

How Trump looks from here

Posted on August 26, 2018 by Victor Rosenthal

After I returned to Israel about four years ago, I found that American politics seemed stranger and stranger to me. I thought it would be interesting to discuss how it looks from here, and what the trends portend both for … Continue reading →

Posted in American politics, American society, Jew Hatred | 5 Comments

Facebook’s essential extremism

Posted on August 24, 2018 by Victor Rosenthal

There are 7.6 billion humans on this earth. 2.23 billion of them logged on to Facebook (the number counts “monthly active users”) during the second quarter of 2018. I don’t know about you, but I found this astounding, considering that … Continue reading →

Posted in Media | 1 Comment

The Times They Are A Changing

Posted on August 20, 2018 by Victor Rosenthal

When the State of Israel was declared in May of 1948, 35 men and two women signed the Declaration of Independence. The overwhelming majority was made up of activists of various left-wing factions, a few represented the interests of different … Continue reading →

Posted in Israeli or Jewish History, Israeli Politics, Israeli Society, Post-Zionism | 2 Comments

Ronald Lauder’s Left Turn

Posted on August 16, 2018 by Victor Rosenthal

I recently got an email from a liberal Jewish friend in America. He’s a Zionist, he’s interested in Jewish issues, and he’s not dumb. To my horror, he highly recommended the op-ed published in the NY Times on Sunday by … Continue reading →

Posted in American Jews, Israeli Politics, Zionism | 3 Comments

Will Israel remain a Jewish and Zionist state?

Posted on August 12, 2018 by Victor Rosenthal

The Jewish state is truly under siege. Not from the Hamasniks of Gaza, who – despite their posturing – are no more than an annoyance (although a rather vicious one that our government is not dealing with properly), but from … Continue reading →

Posted in Israeli Arabs, Israeli Politics, Israeli Society, Post-Zionism, The Jewish people, Zionism | 3 Comments