יום שבת, ה׳ תמוז תשפ״וSaturday, June 20, 2026
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Abdel Khalik would have been more fortunate had she been arrested by Israel. Then she would have been depicted by the Western media as a hero and the UN Human Rights Council would have held an emergency session to condemn Israel and call for her immediate release.
At this time of the year, "Jewish eyes are smiling" as we look back to our Egyptian experience of 3300 years ago and the great salvation that HaShem had brought forth for us. But on this 10th of Nisan, corresponding to the general calendar of April 2, the eyes of all enlightened nations are on Egypt, but for different reasons. The Moslem Brotherhood political party in Egypt, that now controls the two houses of the Egyptian Parliament, is going to have their man as the next president of that country. This group is among the most radical Islamists in the world, and they have an unabashed, open, straightforward Islamic agenda. Not only will they turn Egyptian society back 300 years, their end game is to uproot the Jewish State.
On the surface, “The Pianist” is “merely” the true tale of a talented Jewish musician, Wladyslaw Szpilman, caught up in the unfathomable depths of Nazi occupation and terror. More profoundly, of course, it is a disturbing visual microcosm of the generic human struggle between good and evil, a titanic contest that is sometimes utterly clear but at other times distressingly “gray."
“Hey, Little Red Riding Hood, what is that dome on your head?” “Grandma-tech knitted it for me out of steel wool,” Little Red Riding Hood proudly answered. “Nice, isn’t it?” “Sure, it’s nice,” answered the wolf, licking his lips. “It fits you very well. But why is it made out of steel wool?”
By David Wilder, Tazpit News Agency
When the storm-troopers crashed the party early Wednesday afternoon, very few people were home. Most were at their "other homes," getting ready for Passover. It only took a few minutes for the hundreds of police, border police, soldiers and riot squad to round up a few women and kids, and see them to the door. Quiet, peaceful, almost pastoral. Almost. But not quite.
By Moshe Herman
It’s crunch time as Pesach is rapidly approaching. Yishai delves into deep thoughts on the holiday with Rabbi Shimshon Nadel. Then insights into the state of the Jewish world from Chicagoan Jack Berger, a scholar of Jewish history and experienced Israel advocate. Third up, a Migron insider (Aviela Deitch) walks us through the birth of the community up to the present. Don't miss the final segment featuring a powerful presentation from Yehuda HaKohen that will wake up and enliven the inner Jew among the pre-Pesach stress.
Stories of the heroes of our Jewish nation are heartwarming, eye opening, encouraging, and sometimes even frightening. When we hear such stories, we salute those people (most of whom we have never met) for their courage and perseverance, but most of all for their commitment to Judaism and the Jewish people.
Nearly all fans of baseball history have heard of Hank Greenberg. Most have heard of Al Rosen. But fewer have heard of Cal Abrams, and hardly any, it’s safe to say, have heard of Lou Limmer. All four are members of a compelling team – American Jews who played Major League Baseball.
President Obama’s extraordinary public broadside on Monday against the Supreme Court, in reaction to questions posed by the justices during the course of three days of oral argument in the Obamacare case, is further confirmation that liberal supporters of Obamacare, including the president himself, are beginning to panic.
We were gratified that the anti-Israel Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement failed in its bid to bring the Park Slope Food Co-op, located in Park Slope, Brooklyn into its ranks. Last week, co-op members voted overwhelmingly against a motion calling for a referendum on whether to join BDS and refuse to carry Israeli goods.
By Jason Maoz
The media wolves were in full feeding frenzy ten years ago this month as Israel, after dozens of Palestinian suicide bombings and other terrorist attacks, mounted its largest military operation in the West Bank in decades.
By Sara Lehmann
When Lee Terry began serving as a Republican congressman in 1999, representing Nebraska’s second congressional district, he didn’t realize he would become one of the House of Representatives’ Jewish members. Always a friend of Israel, Terry discovered his Jewish roots some ten years ago and began a personal odyssey to reconnect with his heritage.
As the Seder night ebbs away – long after the Four Questions have been asked and answered, after the festive meal has been eaten and the post-feast drowsiness descends, after the evening’s mitzvot have been observed and the fourth cup of wine emptied – we raise our voices in a curious, delightful, seemingly whimsical song at the end of the Haggadah.
Israel can play a role in undermining the radicals among its Arab community. The best way to weaken the radicals is by embracing the Arab citizens rather than alienating them. If Israel does not build a kindergarten or school in Nazareth, someone else will. And in this case, the someone else could be secular extremists or Muslim fundamentalists.
By Barry Rubin
It is the year 2012, people are walking around with smart phones and all sorts of undreamed of gadgets, the "Arab Spring" continues, and an African-American is president of the United States. Times have changed. Yet the hysterical hatred for Israel in the Arabic-speaking world and among Muslims in general has only increased; the philosophy of rejectionism is as strong as ever, or maybe even stronger.
By Guy Millière
Once it emerged that the killer of seven people was a Muslim, French commentators ceased to speak of anti-Semitism. Anti-racist associations became silent. All attention focused on the killer, Mohamed Merah. He was presented as a "nice young man" by his neighbors, then as a "petty criminal" who inexplicably drifted, and finally as a "lone wolf" without any significant connection to terrorist organizations.
By Soeren Kern
As in many other European countries, multiculturalists in Italy hope that by promoting Islam, they will eventually succeed in destroying the country's Judeo-Christian heritage. Now, with the creation of the Italian Islamic Confederation, Italy may be one step closer to hosting yet another mega-mosque, this time in the northern Italian city of Bologna.
Last week, a Foreign Policy article by Mark Perry shows American military intelligence officials and diplomats being snide, cutting, and condescending – both toward Israel and toward Azerbaijan, a country that sits on Iran's border and has its own serious problems with the Iranian style of radicalism exported to it.
By Rabbi Shimshon HaKohen Nadel
It has been said ‘It is easier to take the Jew out of the Exile, than to take the Exile out of the Jew’. While in Egypt, the Jewish people could not even hear Hashem’s promise of Redemption because of their “shortness of spirit.” Their bondage wasn’t merely a physical bondage, but a mental one. And so, while still in Egypt, Hashem began the process of taking the Jew out of the psychology of Exile, ridding him of his slave mentality.
The Binyamin region, where the biblical tribe of Benjamin settled, is a collection of mountains. There is no flatland between these mountains. The process of Migron’s development could be seen by any complainant for the seven years preceding this suit. What’s more, the plaintiffs were not listed as the Arab "landowners", but rather as Peace Now on the complainants’ behalf.
Last week I was quoted as saying that President Obama is a strong friend of the Jewish people and that anyone who calls him anti-Semitic is guilty of character assassination. I stand by that quote. But being a great friend of the Jewish people does not automatically make one a great friend of Israel.
In 1620 and 1630, William Bradford and John Winthrop delivered sermons on the Mayflower and Arbella, referring to the deliverance from “modern day Egypt and Pharaoh,” to “the crossing of the modern day Red Sea” and to New Zion/Canaan as the destination of the Pilgrims on board.
By Barry Rubin
The diagnosis being offered by Peter Beinart and his ilk is false and slanderous toward Israel and the solution being presented is false and dangerous to Israel. The goal is to get American Jews to adopt the basic anti-Israel narrative that paints Israel as the villain responsible for the lack of peace and ultimately delegitimizes Israel’s survival.
In public, Fayyad tells his people and the rest of the world how much he cares about freedom of expression. He has gone so far as announcing an annual award for press freedoms to be conferred on a deserving Palestinian journalist. Behind the scenes, however, his security officers continue to arrest and intimidate journalists who expose corruption or voice criticism of the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah.
By Shlomo Vile
Three years ago on the 8th of Nisan, 5769, an Arab terrorist with an axe ran into the center of our community of Bat Ayin and killed a 13 year old Shlomo Nativ. Every year before the anniversary of this terrible event, our community comes together to remember and honor Shlomo and his family and to connect with one another.
One can argue that the status of eastern Jerusalem is in dispute, but all of Jerusalem? Apparently the US State Department thinks so. In the wake of the US Supreme Court's decision in the case of Menachem Zivotofsky, State Department Spokesperson Victoria Nuland tried to wiggle and dance her way out of some expert questioning by AP reporter Matt Lee.
Tzipi Livni must decide on her first step. If she comes up short on the number of MKs needed to break away or if she decides against a split, she will most likely resign rather than stay on under Mofaz’s leadership. Whether or not Livni leaves, Kadima will break into two camps- those who will support Mofaz and those who will try to find another political home.
By Moshe Herman
This week’s show kicks off with Yishai and Malkah talking about a recently released movie titled “Israel Inside”, which shows how Israel is leading the way in not only technology but also social innovation and creating a new atmosphere in the Middle East. Then, Yishai talks with Jeremy Sultan to understand the nitty gritty of the Migron saga.
Libya lies in North Africa between Egypt and Tunisia and consists of Cyrenica and Tripoli. Even in the 3rd century before the Common Era, Cyrenica was a destination for Jewish emigration. Over the next century the Jewish population grew in numbers but was strongly Hellenized.
By Hillel Fendel and Chaim Silberstein / KeepJerusalem.org
A million Arabs plan to march on Jerusalem highlighting strange "accusations" that Israel is seeking to retain the Jewish character of its holy capital.
Nothing is new. The recent murder of the Jews in France should surprise no one. It exposes a dismal reality that is taking shape in Europe and throughout the world.
President Obama continues to favor the creation of a "nuclear weapons-free world." This explicit preference is more than naive; it is also undesirable in principle. For Israel, in particular, Obama's solution could likely open the doors to unendurable enemy aggressions. However unintended, therefore, it could become an utterly Final Solution.
When Sigmar Gabriel wrote on his Facebook page that Hebron was “an apartheid regime for which there is no justification,” the chairman of Germany’s main opposition party sparked an outcry that reverberated beyond his virtual wall. But such a conclusion is inevitable when one relies on sources and organizations that present Hebron in an extremely skewed light, like the Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH).
The Jewish Press joins Klal Yisrael in mourning the loss of Rav Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg, a world renowned Talmudist and posek, longtime rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Torah Ore in Jerusalem, and one of the foremost figures in the yeshiva world for three quarters of a century.
We share the dismay many have expressed over the recently announced decision by the State University of New York to abandon a longtime practice and no longer refrain from scheduling classes on major Christian and Jewish holidays. Nothing in the nature of new facts on the ground has been offered by the university to explain the controversial move, though concerns for Muslim sensitivities were apparently behind it.
For those of us with an abiding concern that a reelected Barack Obama, free of the fear of the dynamics of another political campaign, will revert back to his full-court press against Israel to make a deal with the Palestinians – even at substantial cost to its national and security interests – the president’s widely reported overheard comment the other day to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was anything but reassuring.
By Jason Maoz
Lawrence Hoffman is a politically liberal Reform rabbi who writes about his favorite Jewish books in his own recently released book, titled, not altogether unexpectedly, One Hundred Great Jewish Books.
The Midrash (Shemot Rabbah 18:12) describes “leil shimurim,” the “night of watching,” the night before the redemption, as one of the glorious nights in Jewish history.
Saudi Arabia is, to use a term the royals would, “greatly displeased” with the United States. Displeased with U.S. foreign policy regarding Iran and equally displeased with the decisions the White House is making about Syria.
Much of the Israeli Left – including cultural and political leaders, journalists and academics – has in recent months engaged in hyperbolic, defamatory claims that the government of Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to destroy Israel’s democracy through proposed legislation such as that aimed at modifying how Israeli Supreme Court justices are selected.
Is this what three thousand and three hundred years of Jewish tradition has come to, that a nation that has always dared to walk alone, with different ideals and values from the wider culture, should so fully capitulate to the most corrupt, misogynistic values, that we would advocate that our young women have plastic surgery in order to get married?
The question today is not whether Abbas is a peace partner or not. Rather, what Olmert needs to ask is whether the Abbas can deliver or not. The answer is very simple and clear: even if Abbas wanted to deliver a peace deal, he cannot. His term in office expired in January 2009, but he remained at the behest of the Obama administration. The result is that he is seen by many Palestinians as an illegitimate leader.
By Barry Rubin
To view government as a form of deity or an inevitable friend of the poor and downtrodden is an illusion. Government is not a magic box, but a can of worms. To see it as a player, with its own interests, that should be as distrusted as any bank or corporation is the purest form of common sense, the very triumph of common sense over ideology and dogma that made America great, its people free, and real democracy possible.
It is a familiar pattern. Whenever a terrorist commits an atrocity, his apologists start blaming society or, even worse, the victims. Hence, it was not surprising that after Mohamed Merah, a French jihadist of Algerian descent, killed a rabbi and three Jewish children in Toulouse last week, some immediately blamed the Jews.
By Soeren Kern
In country after European country, the post-modern charade of the bliss of multiculturalism -- the idea that all cultures can coexist peacefully side-by-side in any given country -- is unravelling.
Ahmed Qurei and those who are working to promote the "one-state solution" ignore the facts on the ground: that the Palestinians already have two separate "states" next to Israel - one in the West Bank and the other in Gaza. They also ignore the reality that the two Palestinian entities have been at war with each other since 2007.
The actual question has almost nothing to do with the Palestinian Arabs and whether they have a state. It has to do with whether the Jews can continue to have one. There is a huge amount of human energy and financial resources that are being wasted in support of the Palestinians. It wouldn’t be necessary if the world could simply get used to the idea of a Jewish state.
Recently, the court refused to accept the deal and annulled the Benny Begin agreement. In my opinion, this is a blessing that will lead to a better outcome for this community and for the future of other such communities in Judea and Samaria. Historically, the settlement movement in Judea and Samaria has always come out stronger when obstacles are put in its way.
By Barry Rubin
As the Turkish PM continues to undermine Turkish democracy, throw hundreds of moderates into jail, destroy the nation’s institutions, support Iran, throw hysterical tantrums about how much he hates Israel, promote Islamism in the region, and is fresh from yet another meeting with Hamas leaders, Obama continues to use Erdogan as his guru.
60% of Jewish Israelis also agreed with the statement that only military force could halt Iran's nuclear program, while 37% disagreed; and when asked if they believed that Israel's home front will suffer equally whether it is Israel that attacks Iran or the United States, 63% answered in the affirmative.
I am not particularly interested in writing another post excoriating the UNHRC or the UN itself, which is a vile institution, far less than worthless. Rather, I want to summarize some important issues about ‘West Bank settlements’ — that is, Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria — and why I support them.
The population of Africa is involved in a series of disputes with a tribal background, where the Islamist and ethnic components play an important, and sometimes critical, role. Saudi Arabian money, Wahhabi propaganda, the presence of terror organizations, and wide distribution of weapons do not contribute to a calming of tensions between the various demographics in Africa.
By Barry Rubin
In the past, the mass media could be expected to present a debate on how to interpret this event but now all too often they give a monopoly to the whitewashers and the apologists.
Israel’s economic growth during the last five years (21%) is higher than all OECD countries, besides Turkey. Israel’s economy grew 270% over the last 20 years, while Israel’s population grew 145%. Israel’s unemployment is its lowest ever – 5.4%.
There is certainly much to be learned from the events of 1970 and the nightmare that followed in 1973. Much that is extremely relevant to our own times. Israel paid dearly in 1973 for accepting the Egyptian violation of the 1970 agreement. And the Jewish State may yet again pay dearly if it continues to accept the ongoing security violations of Oslo in the Gaza Strip.
By Hani Abbas
The West Bank's Palestinian Authority government, headed by Salam Fayyad, has appealed to donor countries to increase financial aid to strengthen the Palestinian economy, especially in the Gaza Strip. But before the donors make any decisions, they really should ask Fayyad and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas about the $7 billion they have already spent on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip over the past four years: Where is it?
By Soeren Kern
Livingstone's appeal to Muslims may, on May 3, propel him into the mayor's office. Either way, London appears headed for an Islamic future.
It has been widely reported that Merah, the young Islamist terrorist who killed three French soldiers two weeks ago, and four Jews at the Otzar HaTorah school in Toulouse, murdered Jews “to avenge the deaths of Palestinian children.” But NPR went one better, reporting — in the words of “All Things Considered” host Robert Siegel — that “the gunman told officials that he killed his victims in part to avenge slain Palestinian children.”
It is impossible to rely on defense alone, because Israel simply isn’t big enough to absorb the damage when the defensive systems are not 100% effective. More importantly, a strictly defensive posture has zero deterrent ability. Why not fire rockets at Israel if the worst that can happen is that they will get shot down?
As the U.S. election season enters into high gear, an important Gallup poll released earlier this month offers Israel and its supporters much reason to cheer.
By Hillel Fendel and Chaim Silberstein / KeepJerusalem.org
The fight for Jerusalem continues, on a number of quiet fronts. And if "want of a nail" can lose an entire war, as per Benjamin Franklin's poem, Yerushalayim can certainly be won via our close attention to issues that may not appear decisive or crucial.
It would be unreasonable for Israel to draw any comfort from an argument that Iranian intentions are effectively harmless. Rather, such intentions could impact capabilities decisively over time. Backed by appropriate nuclear weapons, preemption options must somehow remain open and viable to Israel, augmented, of course, by appropriate and complementary plans for cyber-defense and cyber-warfare.
By Dov Gilor
While in Las Vegas, my wife, Barbara, fed several quarters into a machine that really cleaned us out. She then fed more quarters into another machine that dried all of our clothes.
80% of all 2010 UN resolutions criticizing specific countries for human rights violations were directed at Israel. Only six other UN members faced human rights criticism at all, one of which was the United States. The HRC subjected the USA to harsh criticism – by Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea, Iran and Russia – for, supposed, human rights violations. The HRC criticized the elimination of Bin-Laden and Israel’s defense against PLO, Hamas and Hezbollah terrorists.
The annual number of schoolchildren visiting Israel's capital from 200,000 to 500,000 under Minister Gideon Sa'ar's leadership.
The one-state solution that the extreme left and extreme right seek is completely different: the left wants yet another Arab state in place of Israel; the right wants a Jewish state that encompasses what is now the West Bank, in place of any Palestinian state. Both are prescriptions for undemocratic disasters and for the ultimate delegitimation of Israel as the democratic nation-state of the Jewish people.
By Barry Rubin
The street thugs, fanatics, and mentally-twisted may be pulling the trigger, but the distinguished, the powerful, and the honored are providing the ammunition.
By Hillel Fendel and Chaim Silberstein / KeepJerusalem.org
Rabbi Porat oncesaid that his proudest parliamentary achievement was having sponsored and ensured the passage of a law entitled “Do Not Stand by Your Neighbor’s Blood”—rendering it a legal duty to offer assistance to someone in mortal danger. Based on a verse in Vayikra, Rabbi Porat’s law ensures that sanctity of life is a national value not only in word, but in deed.
Defense systems are important, just as tank shields are vital. But that is true only when we are on the offensive and focused on victory. In defensive-defeatist mode, these systems draw the end near. They are like aspirin for cancer.
The Jewish Press joins Klal Yisrael in mourning the death of Rav Moshe Yehoshua Hager, the Vishnitzer Rebbe in Bnei Brak since 1972 and a major Torah personality for more than sixty years.
European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton’s condemnation of the murders in Toulouse, France, on Monday was symptomatic of the problem facing Israel in the international community.
It has largely passed under the radar screen, but Stephanie Rose, who was the deputy chief of the criminal division in the U.S. attorney’s office in northern Iowa at the time of the Agriprocessors immigration and Rubashkin prosecutions, has been nominated by President Obama to be a federal judge.
A new book by foreign policy pundit Peter Beinart, The Crisis of Zionism, seems certain to reignite the debate over President Obama’s feelings toward Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But the focus will be a little different this time around. It will be not on his exposure to the likes of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, William Ayres or Rashid Khalidi but rather on the prominent members of the Chicago Jewish community who took him under their wing.
In July 1993, I joined a group of Jewish leaders on a visit to Israel with then-Mayor David N. Dinkins. One morning as we had breakfast at the King David Hotel terrace overlooking the Old City of Jerusalem, Dinkins confided, “I wish Ray Kelly were in charge before Crown Heights blew up.” By this time, Ray Kelly had become police commissioner and had made a clear impact on the mayor.
The study of Jewish history teaches us that throughout the ages, numerous edicts and decrees have prevented the practice of Jewish traditions and religious observance. Yet it has gone almost completely unnoticed that in recent weeks, Jewish rights and freedoms in the Land of Israel, of all places, have once again come under attack.
Let us employ a bit of fantasy and assume that Muslim states were intent on assailing the Netherlands. They would claim in the United Nations Human Rights Council that the hundreds of cases every year of euthanasia in the Netherlands, in which the patient is not asked his or her permission, constitutes a severe breach of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. These states could easily muster a majority to have the UNHRC appoint a commission of inquiry into this matter.
There is no one definition of the term “pro-Israel.” It does not require anyone to be a cheerleader for Netanyahu or any other Israeli leader or party. But there are some things one cannot do and still claim to be within the pro-Israel camp. One of them is to adopt rhetoric that apes the efforts of Israel-haters to delegitimize supporters of Israel and which adopts the classic themes of anti-Semitism.
Like other chassidic dynasties, Bobov was not immune to one day experiencing a schism. When Rabbi Naftali Zvi Halberstam, the fourth Bobover Rebbe, died in 2005, a dispute arose over who would succeed him. Some chassidim sought to appoint his younger half-brother, Rabbi Ben Zion Aryeh Leibish Halberstam, as the next rebbe; and others sought out the fourth rebbe’s sons-in-law: Rabbi Mordechai Dovid Unger as the rebbe, and Rabbi Yehoshua Rubin as the Bobov rav (serving as head of the bet din and as the posek).
What made the deportation of more than 80,000 Jews from Slovakia during World War II unique? It was this striking fact: In contrast with other countries, the Slovak government actually appealed to the Germans to enact deportation.
The law states that the Rabbinical Court must determine a court date for a Get within 45 days of a divorce sentence. If the Get is not given within that time, the court will issue a restriction order and hold another hearing within the following 45 days. The court will meet within 90 days of giving a restriction order to discuss it and decide if it must be extended. The court will be able to use these extensions as they see fit.
It would appear to be ironic that when it comes to Iran, so-called "doves" favor a mutually assured destruction policy that threatens the deaths of millions over a preventive policy that targets military nuclear facilities. But it is not at all ironic, since such doves would be against actually carrying out the threat that is central to any credible policy of deterrence. For them, deterrence is a bluff—a hollow threat and the Iranians would see right through it.
By Barry Rubin
In 2012-2013, the vultures in the Middle East are coming home to roost. Of course, the main cause of developments in the region is the long, failed legacy of radical Arab nationalism which is now being replaced by what we’ll be calling in 20 or 30 years the long, failed legacy of revolutionary Islamism. But the secondary cause is the mistaken policy of President Barack Obama.
By Barry Rubin
True, sanctions are hurting Iran but this regime is hardly delicate and gives every appearance of using negotiations only as a stalling tactic. Anybody who thinks the Iranian regime will crack under sanctions is living in wishful-thinking world. No matter how many chances Obama gives Iran, it’s still going to go full-speed ahead toward obtaining nuclear weapons and matching them up to long-range missiles.
The Dutch government is on a collision course with the EU over Israel, and some critics warn that the position of the Dutch will isolate their country in Europe. It is, however, also possible that the Dutch are pioneers, whose example will soon be followed by others.
From time immemorial, security fences have been built around the world - often in disputed territories to disrupt terrorists, drug smugglers, and illegal immigrants from entering. No doubt, these fences often cause difficulties for native populations in the vicinities they are built. Yet it is only Israel's barrier that arouses the conscience of sanctimonious hypocrites around the world.
If Syria and Egypt have nothing to fear from the President of the United States, what will Iran fear?
Turning Jordan into Palestine would mean the loss of a moderate and rational Arab leader at a time when Islamists are rising to power in Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and Libya.
Shalit announced that he would talk with them if they agreed to it, and he would even shake the hands of Gilad's kidnappers, also saying he would kidnap Israeli soldiers if he was a Palestinian. He insisted that PM Binyamin Netanyahu was not solely responsible for the release of Gilad, and charged that the PM only released his son because the polls showed that 70-80% of the public supported the deal.
When this farce began, only a limited rural area near the Gaza Strip was being hit. Each time the range was extended there was talk that a red line had been crossed. But it is now clear that these lines in the sand had no meaning. Today over a million Israelis are in range of the weapons already launched from the Gaza Strip.
The Gaza Strip is no different from the rest of the Arab world, so tribal culture is alive and kicking there. Ever since the Hamas movement took control of Gaza trip in 2007, it has transformed itself from a gang of jihadists into a ruling government, a standard Arab state. The minor movements - Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Resistance Committeess - function like tribes, challenging the authority of the state. Today, these groups are doing to Hamas what Hamas did to the PLO twenty years ago when it was in power.
A war between Israel and Iran is not something that may or may not occur in the future. It is in progress now.
By Barry Rubin
Reality: Those who are, or will soon be, governing Egypt view themselves as being at war with Israel for all practical purposes. It matters relatively little that there is still a peace treaty. In Cairo, there are no thoughts of peace.
The threat and the ominous effects of an air attack against Iran is the pull and tug of sovereignty versus suzerainty. Is Israel an independent nation free of American influence? Does the president of the U.S. have a veto over Israeli military actions? Or is Israel free of outside influences, a state enjoined by what it believes to be its self interest?
In our Palestinian culture, it is much more important if one "graduates" from an Israeli prison than from the most prestigious university in the world.
I oppose the proposed Biometric Law because of how easily it can chip away at a citizen's liberty, without him feeling a thing.
For forty years I have studied the stunningly complex problem of enemy rationality, especially in certain earlier published writings concerning the particular nuclear threat from Iran.
