Category Archives: Israeli Politics

Tisha b’Av 5777

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Victor Rosenthal

Tisha b’Av was weird for me this year. I sat in shul and listened to the eicha reading, and it spoke to me about current events, not about what happened thousands of years ago. Last week the Jewish people suffered … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel and Palestinian Arabs, Israeli Politics, Terrorism | 7 Comments

Pragmatism on the Temple Mount

Posted on July 28, 2017 by Victor Rosenthal

The Temple Mount crisis is a perfect example of what has been called “Israel Derangement Syndrome:” Arab Muslim terrorists murder a couple of Israeli police officers with guns they took onto the Mount. The terrorists are shot dead. Israel takes … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel and Palestinian Arabs, Israeli Politics, Terrorism | 3 Comments

Who gets to block traffic in Israel?

Posted on July 11, 2017 by Victor Rosenthal

Examples of how Israelis get things done when they really care: Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem is embroiled in a controversy over its Pediatric Hemato-oncology department (which treats children suffering from leukemia and other forms of cancer), in which 6 doctors … Continue reading →

Posted in American Jews, Israeli Politics, Israeli Society | 1 Comment

Why they are so angry

Posted on July 3, 2017 by Victor Rosenthal

This happened in 2011, at the California Reform Temple that I belonged to. A man – a Temple Board member, approached me with steam coming out of his ears. “I’m finished with Israel. I won’t give another dime to the … Continue reading →

Posted in American Jews, Israeli Politics | 4 Comments

Behind the struggle for the Kotel

Posted on June 27, 2017 by Victor Rosenthal

The kotel hama’aravi (Western Wall) is not actually the holiest place in Judaism – that is the Temple Mount, the actual site of the First and Second Temples – but for various reasons it has become the holiest place at … Continue reading →

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

Moshe Arens, meet Aharon Barak

Posted on May 15, 2017 by Victor Rosenthal

There are few people in Israeli public life that I respect more than Moshe Arens, former Minister of Defense (three terms), Minister of Foreign Affairs and Ambassador to the US. But I think he was wrong recently, when he wrote … Continue reading →

Posted in Israeli Arabs, Israeli Politics, Zionism | 1 Comment

Being the nation-state of the Jewish people

Posted on May 12, 2017 by Victor Rosenthal

In April of this year, the UN released the 2017 World Happiness Report. Using polling data collected by the Gallup organization, it ranked 156 countries in the world in order of how happy with their lives respondents said they were, … Continue reading →

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

Evil Council

Posted on May 8, 2017 by Victor Rosenthal

[The British High Commissioner] grabbed the most fantastic place in the world … built a palace there, and every morning when he wakes up and opens his eyes … can see from the palace windows the loftiest and most holy … Continue reading →

Posted in Israeli Politics, The UN | 2 Comments