יום שישי, ח׳ אלול תשפ״וFriday, August 21, 2026
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This past weekend Harvard hosted a One-State Solution Conference, designed to promote the dissolution of Israel. It is only the latest example of that university’s longstanding practice of facilitating the spread of anti-Semitism.
By Steven Plaut
And after helping so many groups of people, after absorbing so many sets of refugees, after solving so many of the world's problems, there were no longer any wise leaders to govern the adorable little state. Because it had humanitarian-ized itself into oblivion.
By Ed Koch
Equating terrorism with criminality is ridiculous. They have no relationship to one another. Criminality is generally for the purpose of enrichment of oneself by breaking the law. Modern day terrorism seeks to achieve political or military goals by the use of indiscriminate terror directed primarily at innocent civilians.
By Barry Rubin
An uprising could take place due to some major or symbolic incident, forcing Palestinian leaders to rush to the front of the army. But least likely of all would be Abbas and the current leadership making a calculated decision to launch a war from which they would expect to benefit.
By Nathan Lewin
On Tuesday, February 28, it was widely reported that the basketball team of Houston’s Robert M. Beren Academy had “forfeited” its place in the semi-finals of the tournament conducted by the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools (TAPPS) because it would not play on Friday night and Saturday. But a headline in Friday’s New York Times read: “In Reversal, a Jewish School Gets to Play.”
By Barry Rubin
Whether he realizes it or not, President Obama changed history with his AIPAC speech. What he did is make a war between Israel and Iran almost inevitable - let’s say more than 90 percent probable - most likely some time in late 2013, 2014, or 2015.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet U.S. President Barack Obama at a time when Israel has been gaining in popularity among Americans, and at a time when his approval rating is a frail 43%, according to recent poll. Unlike previous visits by Netanyahu, this time Obama will be anxious for warm photo opportunities with Israel’s prime minister.
It is chilling to watch Ahlam Tamimi smile as she is told that she murdered not 3 children, but 8. But it is important to understand that this woman is not a psychopath. She is the true face of the Palestinian cause.
Whether or not Israel builds another porch in Jerusalem or for that matter entire new communities beyond the Green Line has no impact on the resolution of the problems in Egypt, Syria and the rest of the states on the neighborhood.
For those who have claimed that Obama is anti-Israel and/or weak on Iran, his forceful statements in a recent interview should make them reconsider. I was not surprised by President Obama's strong words, because he said similar things to me in private conversation. And I, for one, am satisfied with the President's words. Now I want to hear them repeated by Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, by Joint Chief of Staff Martin Dempsey and by others in the Obama Administration.
By Adam Levick
The broader aims of Global March to Jerusalem, according to the project’s official website, are as follows: “[To] end the Apartheid, ethnic cleansing and [racist]...Judaisation policies affecting the people, land and sanctity of Jerusalem… [which] is a crime not only against Palestinians but against all humanity.”
The presence of Israel physicians in Ramallah drew furious reactions from workers at the Palestine Medical Compound and many Palestinians, including the Western-backed Fatah faction headed by Mahmoud Abbas. The fact that thousands of Palestinian patients receive medical treatment in Israeli hospitals each year did not stop their vociferous oppostion.
By Barry Rubin
The new Middle East strategic battle is heating up and this is only the start. It has nothing to do with Israel and everything to do with two more serious lines of battle: Arabs versus Persians and Sunni versus Shia Muslims.
Why has it become the dream of many Arab Christians and Muslims to immigrate to the "Apartheid State"? Is it possible that all of these people are uninformed? Or do they really know the truth about Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East? In Egypt, Syria, and Iran, for example, government officials put journalists in jail, but Israel is the only country in the region where a single obscure journalist nobody can put a government official in jail.
Ariel said five Israeli Prime Ministers have tried to pursue a land for peace approach, and each have failed. He declared that it was time to present the alternative to the two-state solution - annexing 100% of Judea and Samaria.
By Moshe Herman
Yishai and Malkah talk about their excitement for snow in Israel, an Arab rock-throwing attack against American Legislators, an ancient Judean palm tree grows today, the expiration of a law allowing ultra-Orthodox Jews to avoid military service, and Yishai’s Tu B’Shevat Seder in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York.
Feiglin: I know that religious Zionists think that their army service will pave their way into the heart of Israeli legitimacy. But that is not the case. Army service is a very important value. But those holding the reins will never let go in exchange for religious Zionist cannon-fodder.
US President Barack Obama's sentiments notwithstanding, nuclear arms are not per se destabilizing or "warmongering." They are not necessarily anti-peace. Rather, in certain identifiably volatile circumstances, nuclear weapons can actually be indispensable to the avoidance of catastrophic war.
By Rafi Harkham
More than anything else, the likes of Arab MKs Hanin Zoabi and Ahmed Tibi frame the tension of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state in stark terms, and reveal what is in store for the country should it shift more towards modern liberal democracy and away from a state that reflects a Jewish character culturally and politically.
We are now more than ten years into America's invasion of Afghanistan, which was designed to rout the Taliban who had harbored Al Qaeda. The fighting has resulted in thousands of American and NATO deaths and casualties as well as billions of dollars spent. It would appear, however, that little has been accomplished in terms of American goals, with the Taliban still a formidable military and popular force in the country.
There is something off-putting about President Obama’s having announced in a video that his reelection campaign was launching a movement called “African-Americans for Obama.” The unease is not over an appeal to a particular ethnic group, which is a hallmark of American political campaigns.
We are encouraged by signs that shortsighted attempts by some Muslim groups to blunt the obviously successful proactive NYPD anti-terrorism programs – programs that involve heightened scrutiny of some Muslim-Americans – are not getting any traction.
Those who are subjected to emotional suffering tend to be kept out of society's line of sight. All the more so when society is either the cause of the suffering or can alleviate it and does not do so.
Dear Deborah, Your book, Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of my Hasidic Roots, has touched a lot of nerves and unsettled a lot of hearts in the Orthodox Jewish community. It is not every day that a Satmar woman divorces her husband, moves to Manhattan and writes a tell-all book about the experience. It is not every day that a Satmar woman writes about her chassidic experience with derision and her intimate relations without inhibition.
Why is Purim eternal? I would suggest that Purim is the prototype of the End of Exile, and as such will remain forever linked to the Era of Mashiach that will occur after the Final Redemption. Therefore, Purim will be part of that entire period at the culmination of history.
The news that a Mormon temple in the Dominican Republic recently conducted a posthumous proxy baptism of Anne Frank, the most famous diarist of the Holocaust, undoubtedly will cause some offense in the Jewish community. Evidently the baptizers believe they were saving Anne's soul. Of greater significance, however, is what Mormons tried to do to save Anne's life.
There certainly are many reasons to look forward to Purim. It is a time of feasting, joy, and merriment. We celebrate an important victory over our enemies, which was a precedent for many other such victories over the course of our history. We read one of the most moving stories in our entire tradition, and we have good fun while we’re doing it.
By Jason Maoz
Billy Graham had for decades been one of America’s most admired figures, a national icon, a man respected across the board for his seeming sincerity, rock-solid faith and openness to working with those whose beliefs differ from his own. He was also a staunch friend of Israel. But a different side of Graham emerged during the 90-minute White House meeting with Nixon. Graham was particularly exercised by what he saw as the “stranglehold” Jews maintained on the American media.
By Aaron Klein
NATO Considering Attack On Bashar Assad’s Regime...Dershowitz To Launch Crusade Against Media Matters...Koch Not A Santorum Fan
If you asked someone to outline the profile of a director making a film on The New York Times’s coverage of the Holocaust, “non-Jewish,” “college student,” and “South Carolina native” would probably not be the first descriptors he would use. Yet, they perfectly fit the profile of Emily Harrold, a 21-year-old senior who is currently completing “Reporting on the Times,” a film inspired by Laurel Leff’s 2005 book, Buried by the Times: The Holocaust and America’s Most Important Newspaper.
The Iran issue may be moved somewhat down the agenda as flailing Syrian dictator Bashar Assad is being pressured by members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to move both his WMD cache and long-range Scud missiles to well-protected Hizbullah bases inside Lebanon.
By Mati Wagner
The Supreme Court’s interventionist approach was pioneered by Aharon Barak, who served as the court’s president from 1995 till 2006. Dorit Beinisch, who is retiring from the court this week after serving as president since her mentor's retirement, upheld the tradition of judicial activism, keeping the court at the center of Israeli public debate and making it a lightning rod for Orthodox and right-wing critics. That could change as Beinisch is replaced by Asher Grunis, a conservative justice who has made a name for himself as a supporter of judicial restraint.
Any real and workable solution to the Israeli-Arab conflict must be based upon this sociological fact: tribalism and loyalty to traditional religious and sectarian frameworks are the prevailing cultural and political framework of the Middle East.
The two parties are telling Palestinians that Israel does not want peace or a two-state solution and is only interested in maintaining control over Palestinian lands and "Judaizing" Jerusalem. The stepped-up anti-Israel rhetoric has resulted in a sharp increase in Palestinian violence soldiers, policemen, and civilians in Judea and Samaria and east Jerusalem.
By J. E. Dyer
Iran is making full use of strategic ambiguity on the high seas to advance its interests and dictate outcomes. Unless each new measure is directly challenged, strategic ambiguity would be a lot more fun for Iran than for the rest of us.
Anyone who travels through Judea and Samaria and sees the Arab cities and villages there will discover a highly-westernized living standard and rapid expansion, belying the the claims of suffering and discrimination.
By Barry Rubin
One factor that is not taken into account in Washington, or at least in the White House, is how U.S. policies and actions are distorted, often on purpose, in the Arabic-speaking sphere. When someone says that Arabs or Muslims hate America because of its policies, the proper wording should be: because of what they think those policies are, regardless of what is actually happening.
By Ayman Masri
Abbas's peace process will only lead to a Palestinian government or state controlled by Iran or the Muslim Brotherhood.
There are certainly substantive questions and concerns that can be raised about Naftali Bennett’s proposal to annex Area C in Judea and Samaria, but when people associated with Oslo, the Geneva Initiative, and Peace Now trash the idea on the grounds that it is out of touch with reality, one can only respond: “look who’s talking.”
The red carpet, with which the West welcomes Palestinian leaders, is transformed into a shabby rug when the same leaders land in Arab capitals. What do Arabs know about the Palestinians that the West has yet to learn?
By Ted Belman
The Obama administration needs to lead the world in providing direct aid to the Syrian people to stop the genocide in Syria
Refraining from preemption would gravely destabilize the Mid-East and beyond. The only effective way to prevent Iran’s nuclearization and its devastating cost is to preempt!
By Barry Rubin
It is now conceivable that the two leading presidential candidates will be Islamists and thus Egypt will have an Islamist president. That would mean the timetable for turning the country into an Islamist Sharia state could be vastly accelerated.
Countries whose immediate danger from Iranian bombs is far less than Israel's are remarkably hypocritical and insulting when they warn Israel against a military strike. Telling Israel that it should not defend itself is like saying “just die, but don’t make a mess.” When have Jews heard this before? It’s become a cliché, but one that still resonates. The difference is that then they had no choice because they had no power to defend themselves. Today there is a Jewish state, which should not be expected to act as though it is as powerless as the European Jews of WWII. All this is part of the “Israel is expected to…” syndrome.
By J. E. Dyer
Did Iran's warships actually visit Syria this past week as was widely reported, or did was that Iranian disinformation?
The stories in this column are translations by Mr. Nollet from Die Juden In Der Welt (The Jews in the World) by Mark Wischnitzer, a long out-of-print book published more than seven decades ago in Germany. The book examines Jewish communities, one country at a time, as they existed in 1935.
To my fellow Israelis, I say this: The door is open. Just start marching toward leadership, toward liberty, toward destiny. It is not easy, but it is doable. That is what we proved in these elections. The nation is waiting. It is yearning for a life of national meaning and anticipates your leadership.
In the strict Islamic view, not merely in the more narrowly Jihadi or Islamist perspectives, Israel must be seen as the individual Jew in macrocosm. The Jewish state must be despised on account of this relationship – that is, because of the allegedly “innate evil” of each individual Jew.
By Dov Gilor
Shabbat in Santa Fe, New Mexico with the local Chabad reminds the author of the fantastic kiddush Hashem done by the Chabad emissaries; impressed anew each time by the warm and wonderful families who willingly suffer their personal isolation from the centers of religious Jews in order to bring a little Yiddishkeit into the lives of their fellow Jews.
A young teacher described this episode that occurred early in her teaching career: “One beautiful spring morning when I arrived at school, I was surprised to see a youngster waiting at the door. ‘It’s locked,’ he said sadly. His expression brightened as I began to fumble for my keys. ‘You’re a teacher!” he exclaimed in obvious delight.
By Bracha Goetz
Wikipedia says it this way: In 2009, Guiness World Records cited her as the most-awarded female act of all time. Her list of awards includes two Emmy Awards, six Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, and 22 American Music Awards, among a total of 415 career awards as of 2010. Houston was also one of the world's best-selling music artists, having sold over 170 million albums, singles and videos worldwide. So, didn’t she almost have it all?
Incoming New York Times Jerusalem bureau chief Jodi Rudoren has been exhibiting not only questionable judgment but also an overt bias against Israel even before she’s landed in the country.
We are all aware of the terrible divisions among Israel’s Jewish population. My friends and colleagues in Israel tell me they cannot remember a time in recent years where so much fragmentation existed. All this when the external threats facing Israel grow greater by the day.
By Lee Habeeb
There are two kinds of Arabs in this world. Those who hate Jews, and those who don’t. And in my life, I have met more of the former than the latter.
By Aaron Klein
The revelation of The Tides Foundation donations to Media Matters may raise more questions about the partiality of the media group. Tides is one of the biggest financial backers of progressive and radical left groups in the U.S.
It seems like only yesterday that the Obama administration missed no opportunity to declare its solidarity with Israel regarding the threat of a nuclear Iran.
We were disappointed by the Obama administration’s announcement that it intended to ask Congress to waive a ban on funding UNESCO because of its recognition of Palestinian statehood.
“Rabbi, did you ever think you would see this day?” It was 1971, and the university official who asked this question was inviting the rabbi to the dedication of the kosher dining room in Stevenson Hall on the campus of Princeton University.
The Knesset conference on Compensation for Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries, hosted by MK Nissim Zeev (Shas), raised the profile of his cause and will lead to the creation of a Knesset caucus. Speaker Reuven Rivlin, Vice Prime Minister Benny Begin, Israeli MKs, foreign leaders, and diaspora groups of Arab-country origins filled the Knesset's Jerusalem […]
Lapid proclaimed that the country belongs not to interest groups, lobbyists, business tycoons, ultra-orthodox parties, stone throwers, or those who threaten army officers, but to law-abiding middle class army-serving citizens. He unabashedly identified the three main problems with politics: the current electoral system, the ultra-orthodox parties and corruption.
The New York Times’ newly-appointed Bureau Chief Jodi Rodoren came under fire this week from pro-Israel bloggers who noticed that she sent a friendly tweet to a very obnoxious anti-Israel propagandist based in Chicago. Rodoren, an American Jew, was asked by one blogger whether she was a Zionist. Her response was that the only "ist" she would call herself is “journalist.” Well, that is really what is expected of her.
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights announced that Palestinians -- not Israel -- were to blame for the electricity crisis.
What will Syria look like the day after Bashar al-Assad's downfall?
Dennis Ross, former State Department advisor, NSC official, and special assistant to President Obama, is the latest voice in the Obama administration’s campaign to convince an already skeptical public that Iran should not be attacked – by either the US or Israel. Their obsession with diplomacy plays right into Iran's hands, as the Mullahs stretch out “negotiations” while crossing every one of the Obama administration’s "red lines".
According to the poll, PM Netanyahu could form a coalition of 62 seats with Yisrael Beitenu, National Union and Jewish Home without the need for any ultra-orthodox or center-left parties.
No one has a license to lie, manipulate or manufacture falsehoods. Make no mistake, the primary characteristics of Israel Apartheid Week programming are terrible, unjustified charges expressly aimed at demonizing Israel.
By J. E. Dyer
The only way to secure a positive outcome in Syria is to use US power, under US strategic direction, to do it. This has never necessarily meant military intervention, but it does necessarily mean acting with purpose and determination, rather than throwing random reconnaissance assets into the fray while handing the political problem over lock, stock, and barrel to the Arab League and the UN.
By Rafi Harkham
Khadar Adnan, a self-described leader of Islamic Jihad, is currently on a hunger strike against his administrative detention in an Israeli prison. Human rights groups are lining up to support him, solidarity marches are being held in his name, and the EU foreign policy chief has expressed her concern. But who really IS Khader Adnan?
By Elke Weiss
We are forgetting the lessons of the churban Beit HaMikdash, how we were not finished off by Rome, but destroyed ourselves through mindless hatred and zealotry. We bled each other dry through violence and bigotry until we were weak enough for Rome to come in and step all over our broken bodies. Rome did not defeat us - we defeated ourselves.
By Hillel Fendel and Chaim Silberstein / KeepJerusalem.org
Over the past year, KeepJerusalem has been keeping you informed in these pages about developments in Jerusalem that are likely to affect its Jewish future, for better or for worse. We strive to educate readers regarding the importance of a United Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty.
The history of reporting by UN frameworks on human rights in Israel has been characterized by biased mandates, false and unverifiable allegations, double standards and hypocrisy.
It's time for the realists to acknowledge that Israel not only has a moral and ideological claim to American support, but it also has a claim base on realpolitik.
By Barry Rubin
What is most notable about Russia's Middle East policy is that it tends to side with the extremist forces. These friends include primarily Iran, Syria, Hizbollah, and Hamas.
By dvora
In this highly politicized era, where every time Israel begins construction on any part of Jerusalem beyond the 1967 green line, it’s worth asking why the Jewish Quarter has been spared the same level of international criticism.
Obama plays the delaying game while giving a false impression to his gullible supporters – especially liberal American Jews – that he is supposedly doing everything to stop Iran short of military attack.
International law is not a suicide pact. Indisputably, Israel has a peremptory right to remain alive. It was entirely proper for Netanyahu to have previously opposed a Palestinian state in any form. Both Fatah and Hamas still see all of Israel as part of "Palestine."
Recent polls show yet again that the vast majority of Israeli society is traditional, holds from its religious faith and shies away from coercion. Thus, hasn’t the time come for our national leadership to express the desires of the large Jewish majority?
With the stroke of his pen, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas sealed the fate of the peace process, effectively declaring an end to any chance of reaching an agreement with the Jewish state.
The two apparently coordinated attacks on Monday against Israeli diplomatic personnel present Israel with a significant challenge of how to respond, aside from an obvious concern for the safety of its citizens abroad.
In many respects President Obama’s imposition of a federal mandate calling for free contraception and certain abortion procedures on demand – and the uproar it has caused – is emblematic of the problems inherent in the way he sees his role.
Rabbi Avraham Ginzberg, who passed away earlier this month, will be remembered by many for his fifty-plus years as executive director of Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim in Queens, New York. He will be remembered by his congregants as “our rabbi” – the spiritual leader of our small shul attached to the yeshiva.
By Yael Rosen
Over the past several weeks, protests have spread throughout Israel calling for a response to racism targeting the country's Ethiopian community. Sparked by a Channel 2 story on discrimination in Kiryat Malachi, citizens have taken to the streets to show their outrage at the status quo.
The real heroes of our age are pencil-protector geeks. They sit at home, behind their keyboards, determining the rules of the game that you and I live by – and we trust them to do so. They love toys. They love games. They enjoy battle. They are at the forefront of the cyber war that is enveloping the world.
Read the first five books of the Bible and the Book of Joshua. In them, God clearly specified what was expected of Israel: obedience, righteousness and faith being the gist of it. God blessed Israel when it obeyed, and when Israel faltered, God unleashed abundant wrath.
By Aaron Klein
Attack On Iran May Trigger Al Qaeda Counterattack....Middle East Christians Facing Increased Persecution....Senator Inhofe: Obama Is Disarming America
By Jason Maoz
The common lament from the smugly high-minded is that the media’s fascination with polls gives too much weight to the horse race aspect of a campaign, at the expense of the important and weighty discussions of policy for which voters presumably hunger. The Monitor says: Give us more of the horse race!
By Mati Wagner
Demonstrations last summer that protested exorbitant housing prices, high costs for basic necessities and growing income inequality managed to mobilize an unprecedented number of Israelis. Still, even if socioeconomic issues become a central issue in the upcoming elections, it is not clear that parties such as Labor or Meretz will be its beneficiaries.
By Barry Rubin
With the Obama Administration leading from behind and stressing the need for a UN consensus to do anything, it is now stuck with a passive stance on the Syrian civil war.
There is constant talk of a tuition crisis, of the growing number of yeshiva and day school parents – and potential parents – who say that full tuition or anything close to it is beyond their financial reach.
By Ron Kampeas
WASHINGTON – Israeli leaders blamed Iran for two assassination attempts late Sunday and early Monday – in Tbilisi, Georgia, and in New Delhi, India. The bomb in Tbilisi was disabled before it could be activated, and the attack in India wounded the wife of an Israeli diplomat and her driver.
By Rafi Harkham
The intensified cooperation between Iran and Syria reflects their understanding that Iran's nuclear ambitions and the unrest in Syria are linked: Western nations' arming of the Syrian Opposition would cause a serious rift with Russia and China at a time when their consensus is crucial to constraining Iran's nuclear program.
Last week’s meeting between Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal highlighted their common strategic goal, despite their bitter rivalry in recent years: The PLO’s Phased Plan aimed at the establishment of a Palestinian state in all of what was 'Palestine' within the Ottoman/British Mandate borders.
Dahaf conducted two telephone polls for newspaper Yediot Ahronot on 10 February 2012 with a sample of 500 respondents and a sampling error of 4.5%.
Jordan has recently witnessed weekly demonstrations calling for far-reaching reforms and an end to financial corruption. King Abdullah did not take the protests seriously at first, but is now desperate to restore calm and order; going as far as ordering the arrest of some of his most trusted officials.
By J. E. Dyer
Robert Mackey at New York Times’ The Lede has a Friday post entitled “Crisis in Syria Looks Very Different on Satellite Channels Owned by Russia and Iran.” Well, no kidding. It’s nice to see NYT catching up with the rest of the infosphere. But it’s not just in Russian and Iranian media that the crisis […]
Egypt's prosecution of pro-democracy NGOs reflects unresolved suspicions and hostilities towards the West and democracy.
August 21, 2026 
