Category Archives: Israeli Politics

Bibi Derangement in the Age of Corona

Posted on March 22, 2020 by Victor Rosenthal

If there is one theme that PM Netanyahu’s opponents are banging away at – and that includes not just his political opposition, but most of the mainstream media in Israel and a small army on social media – it is … Continue reading →

Posted in Israeli Arabs, Israeli Politics | 1 Comment

Israel at War — with Corona

Posted on March 15, 2020 by Victor Rosenthal

Good morning from locked down Israel. I was hoping to write that the Corona virus (called COVID-19) had accomplished what three elections failed to do, and forced the forming of an emergency unity government, as Netanyahu proposed. His main opponent, … Continue reading →

Posted in Israeli Politics, Israeli Society | 2 Comments

Too Much Democracy?

Posted on March 8, 2020 by Victor Rosenthal

The idea that there should be an independent sovereign Jewish state in the world is, to understate the fact, controversial. Much of the European-oriented West and certainly the Arab Middle East opposes it. Even many diaspora Jews either don’t see … Continue reading →

Posted in Israeli Arabs, Israeli Politics | 2 Comments

Anger, not Apathy

Posted on February 23, 2020 by Victor Rosenthal

The media say that Israeli voters are apathetic. They aren’t – they are furious. About a third of them aren’t expected to vote at all in the March 2 election, an unprecedented third in 11 months. And polls show that … Continue reading →

Posted in Israeli Politics | 4 Comments

Groundhog Day in Israel

Posted on January 9, 2020 by Victor Rosenthal

Israel should not be in the spot it is in, without a government and heading for a third election within 12 months, an election that – if you can believe the polls – will turn out as inconclusive as the … Continue reading →

Posted in Israeli Politics | 2 Comments

Our Coming Election: The End for a Tragic Hero

Posted on December 19, 2019 by Victor Rosenthal

The nightmarish prospect of a third election – and worse, the campaign for the third election, will become a reality for Israelis in the next few months, culminating at the ballot boxes on March 2nd. There are several ways in … Continue reading →

Posted in Israeli Politics | 2 Comments

The Partition Resolution: a Paper Triumph

Posted on December 1, 2019 by Victor Rosenthal

Friday was 29 November, the 72nd anniversary of the UN General Assembly’s passage of resolution 181, the “partition resolution” which recommended the division of the Palestine Mandate into a Jewish and an Arab state. You will see this date on … Continue reading →

Posted in Israeli or Jewish History, Israeli Politics, The UN | 1 Comment

Israel’s Excessive “Democracy”

Posted on November 7, 2019 by Victor Rosenthal

Israel is a democracy. We keep hearing this. It is “the only democracy in the Middle East,” as many of us are fond of saying. Lately, it is beginning to seem as though we would be better off with a … Continue reading →

Posted in Israeli Politics | 1 Comment