יום שישי, א׳ אלול תשפ״וFriday, August 14, 2026
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It's all about a mountain that sits between Maale Adumim and Jerusalem.
In every move the Prime Minster has taken since the Presidential election, he has had complete U.S. support. Now Israel has taken a step backward.
Mahmoud Abbas spent his speech claiming that this was the last chance for the peace process. In reality, it was simply the last chance for Abbas to remain in charge.
Peace is not at hand — maybe it will never be, but that doesn’t mean that Israel can’t continue to survive and thrive.
Mark C. Toner, DOS Deputy Spokesperson, on Monday night released this statement: The United States opposes all unilateral actions, including West Bank settlement activity and housing construction in East Jerusalem, as they complicate efforts to resume direct, bilateral negotiations, and risk prejudging the outcome of those negotiations. This includes building in the E-1 area as this area […]
On Friday, Nov 30, the RCA and the OU issued the following statement, criticizing the statement made by Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas at the United Nations General Assembly yesterday, and expressing disappointment in the vote that raised the status of the Arab Palestinians to that of nonmember observer state. The Rabbinical Council of America […]
Watch the transformation...
"No decision by the UN can break the 4000-year-old bond between the people of Israel and the land of Israel."
This past week should teach us one thing; in the eyes of the enemy, Israel is one Israel.
By Moshe Herman
Yishai recently joined Rabbi Mottle Wolfe on his show to discuss the conflict with Hamas and then presents an interview he had with Yehuda HaKohen to discuss the situation between Israel and Hamas and also potential solutions.
Israel should continue to try and avoid civilian casualties as much as possible - but basically bomb Gaza into the stone age.
Hamas is not interested in being engaged. Its goal is the destruction of Israel.
It’s that time of year again. Turkey, cranberry sauce and a harsh lesson in the reality of “land for peace” deals.
What is the solution to the constant missile attacks in southern Israel? Those with a solution are the people who warned against signing the Oslo Accords in the first place. These people continue to be sidelined. Clearly, the Oslo advocates have no intention of giving up the profits and perks of the “peace industry” that they have created.
For the most part, we Jews have always accepted the obligation to ward off disaster as best we can. For the most part, we generally understand that all humans have free will. Saadia Gaon included freedom of will among the most central teachings of Judaism, and Maimonides affirmed that all human beings must stand alone in the world “to know what is good and what is evil, with none to prevent him from either doing good or evil.”
Obviously, the Palestinians have been radicalized to a point where they are not ready to hear about any concessions to Israel or tolerate the presence of an Israeli businessman in a Palestinian city.
Not long after Qatar's leader paid a visit to Hamas, this latest war began.
Tomorrow, Friday, Jerusalem police plans to limit entrance of Muslim worshipers to the Temple Mount to men ages 40 and older, carrying blue identity cards only (Israeli citizens). Women of any age will be permitted to enter. Police will increase the forces staged around the Temple Mount and the Old City by several thousand policemen, […]
The Ma'an News Agency reported that Canada's Foreign Minister John Baird said Wednesday that his country backs Israel's right to defend its citizens from air assaults by Hamas.
Israel, with an understandable desperation, still seeks to discover some discernible correctness and reassuring clarity in the theatre of world politics. However, the polite diplomatic meanings with which it is pressed to "make peace" remain squalid and elusive. Ominously, these meanings continue to seethe menacingly.
By any measure, our newly reelected president has a great number of issues that will compete for his attention and among which he will have to prioritize. During the presidential campaign we repeatedly voiced concern that Mr. Obama might reprise the full-court press treatment he accorded the Israeli-Palestinian conflict early in his first term, and we can only hope he will focus elsewhere.
By J. E. Dyer
Attacks from Gaza on Israel have ramped up significantly in the last several days. An Israeli patrol was hit by what was thought to be a roadside bomb on Tuesday (three were wounded), near the border fence with Gaza. On Saturday, terrorists in Gaza fired an anti-tank missile at an Israeli jeep with four infantrymen in it, as the patrol operated in the area of the roadside bomb attack. The four soldiers were wounded, one severely. More than 80 rockets have been launched from Gaza into Israel since the attack on the jeep on Saturday, 10 November. At least three Israeli civilians were injured in the rocket attacks. Geography is beginning to rear its head again, as Israel has also sustained incursions into the Golan from Syria in recent days.
By Adam Levick
Imagine if Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced a 10-month partial freeze on incitement and antisemitism in the West Bank in a bid to restart stalled peace talks with Israel.
Can we trust Haaretz reporting on polls? After Eldar and Levy on those "apartheid" stories? Here's the latest, "For the right man, Israelis would make peace" which makes the claim that "The consensus is moving to the right, but that doesn't mean Israeli Jews won't support a deal with the PA if the right leader comes along, a new study shows."
When Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, the redactor of the Mishnah known as “Rebbi,” lay dying, he made his sons promise him that after his death they would set the Shabbat table and light the candles for him every Friday night.
Nuclear weapons and nuclear war. This is not a new subject for my column in The Jewish Press. What is new is the urgent need to confront, head on, an expanding international movement to eviscerate Israel's nuclear posture – and at precisely the precarious moment when this critical posture should actually be made more visible, and hence, more compelling.
In a 5-page handwritten letter sent to then Agricultural Minister Ariel Sharon on 2 Kislev 5740, or November 22, 1979 by Daniella Weiss on stationery of the Kedumim-Elon Moreh group who were then battling a government decision, in the wake of the High Court of Justice decision that ordered them moved, Weiss demanded that Sharon resigned. She claimed that moving the site it would be a victory for the PLO, and that the legal status of the settlements in the territories should be changed before Israel transferred the oil fields in Sinai to Egypt, according to the peace agreement.
One-hundred and thirteen years ago, Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem about the American enterprise in the Philippines. The title of that poem has since become a byword for racist colonialism and yet its text is a sardonic recitation of the dim virtues of the "Savage wars of peace." "Go bind your sons to exile, To serve your captives' need;" Kipling wrote. "To seek another's profit, And work another's gain. Fill full the mouth of Famine, And bid the sickness cease." This moral imperialism has never gone away, though it is no longer thought of in racial terms. For over a hundred years, the United States has gone on trying to feed and cure the world, sacrificing for others and seeing nothing in return.
In his daily column, Al-Ahram's Dr. Osama Al-Ghazali Harb referred to a MEMRI TV clip showing Egyptian President Muhammad Morsi at a Friday prayers, October 19, nodding his head and answering "amen" as the preacher curses "the Jews." According to Harb, the clip was an embarrassment for Morsi, who must reconcile his commitment to the peace agreement with Israel and the fact that he, basically, would like to wipe out Israel. Watch the clip and read excerpts from the Harb article, published by MEMRI.
By Jason Maoz
There was at least one prominent figure in the Bush administration whose support for Israel was up front and genuine – the much maligned vice president, Dan Quayle.
Jimmy is back, and once again he's telling us it's all our fault.
By Ron Kampeas
WASHINGTON – During his 30 years in the clubby confines of the U.S. Senate, Arlen Specter never lost his acerbic prosecutorial zeal, friends and associates say.
While events — the Hamas takeover of Gaza, the Second Intifada — have convinced the great majority of Israelis that a practical two-state solution is a fantasy based on wishful thinking, this has generally not penetrated the US media or political establishment. So Mitt’s remarks in May came as a breath of fresh air. Unfortunately, it seems as though Romney has now changed his mind.
By dvora
Three thousand years ago, King David reigned over the Jewish state in our eternal capital, Jerusalem. I say that to all those who proclaim that the Jewish state has no roots in our region and that it will soon disappear.
Transcript of Prime Minister Netanyahu's speech in the UN on Thursday, September 27, 2012.
By JTA
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asked Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi to improve ties with Israel. Clinton made the request during a meeting Monday with Morsi in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. Morsi reportedly told Clinton that Egypt intends to uphold the 1979 peace treaty between Israel and Egypt, […]
By Ron Kampeas
WASHINGTON – Mitt Romney’s less than optimistic take on Israeli-Palestinian peace prospects drew some media attention but not much noise from centrist Jewish groups.
With Muslims attacking American embassies in the Middle East and rioting all over the world over an obscure youtube video, the U.S. State Department and the E.U. can no longer seriously contend that anti-Americanism, anti-Westernism are due to support for Israel or the fact that a Palestinian state has not been established or an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord has been signed.
The Rabbinical Congress for Peace which comprises over 350 of the most prominent rabbis in Israel have sent a message to Governor Mitt Romney lauding him for his common sense remarks made in a released video last week. The rabbis wrote to Mr. Romney that his remarks reflect the Torah view as delineated in the […]
Israel, of all nations, can’t let the Arab street set policy for it.
By Linda Gradstein and Felice Friedson
Just eight weeks before the American presidential elections, Palestinians are furious over comments by Republican candidate Mitt Romney. The private remarks were made in May to wealthy donors but released only now.
In the video, published by American magazine Mother Jones on Tuesday, Romney is seen telling donors that Palestinians have no interest in peace and are committed to the destruction of Israel. "And I look at the Palestinians not wanting to see peace anyway, for political purposes, committed to the destruction and elimination of Israel, and these thorny issues, and I say, 'There's just no way,'" Romney said.
By Barry Rubin
Of course, Romney was correct in what he said. Indeed, he was merely stating the obvious. In the current upside-down era, telling the truth is heresy, or at least there are powerful establishment figures who try to make it seem so.
By Moshe Herman
Yishai and Baruch Widen discuss the true meanings of Rosh Hashana and how respect and love are needed to achieve true peace in the Middle East.
Citing high costs and a sharp reduction in reservations, El Al has announced that it is about to stop its regular flights to and from Cairo, Egypt. Israel and Egypt have kept aviation ties since the signing of the peace treaty more than 30 years ago.
In a candid video at a fundraiser earlier this year, Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney doubts the logic of establishing a Palestinian state. state would remain demilitarized.
It’s election season, so Republicans can’t be blamed for expressing outrage when the political platform at last week’s Democratic National Convention removed support for Jerusalem being the capital of Israel.
Israelis have been forced to accept that just because you want something, does not mean that you can have it. And the United States will have to either accept that as well or end its relationship with Israel.
Despite President Obama's assertions at the 9-11 memorial that the fight against terror is only against al Qaeda, it was still good to hear him speaking about the enduring nature of a nation’s memory of its terror victims. Here in Israel, we (the bloggers behind This Ongoing War) waged a campaign for years to require the Jerusalem municipality to remember Jerusalem’s victims of terror.
In two weeks millions of Jews will cry out, "Next Year in Jerusalem" and millions more will cry out, "Vote for Obama." And we shall see whose faith will prevail.
The political culture of the council is such that the U.S. was the only one of 47 nations to vote no.
The Oslo peace process had “more failures than advantages,” French Ambassador to Israel Christophe Bigot told a delegation of pro-Land of Israel rabbis.
Also missing is what had been a solid commitment to isolate Hamas. Instead, the only pre-conditions imposed are the same for all Arabs in the area - "we will insist that any Palestinian partner must recognize Israel's right to exist [not to exist as a Jewish State, just to exist], reject violence, and adhere to existing agreements." That's it. There have also been changes regarding Israel between the 2008 Republican Party Platform and the one just passed in Tampa at last week's Republican Party Convention - and those appear to be more favorable to Israel.
By Anav Silverman, Tazpit News Agency
According to Dr. Eldad Pardo, a senior researcher at IMPACT-SE, (Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education) and a teacher at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, hateful language against Israel is characteristic of the themes taught in Palestinian Authority school textbooks. “Jewish holy places in Israel are not recognized. They are presented as Muslim holy sites taken over by Jews. There is no recognition of Jewish people as a nation. Israelis are depicted as criminals and thieves.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to speak at the U.N. General Assembly next month in order to speak “the truth about Iran’s regime of terror,” which he said “constitutes the greatest threat to world peace.”
The land of Canaan was only gained in stages by the Israelites, who had to overcome many internal divisions in order to progress. The same holds true in our day, as Jewry struggles to maintain internal unity while vacillating in its attitude toward the Land of Israel. Though the Jewish right to a sovereign state in its ancestral homeland is incontestable – biblically, historically, morally, and legally – too many Jews and Israelis are self-shackled in the chains of constraint, still mired mentally in the vulnerabilities and fears of the last two millennia, unable to discard the Diaspora.
By JTA
Republican senators plan to introduce a non-binding resolution pledging military, economic and diplomatic backing for Israel should it strike Iran.
Survival of a Jewish state requires both geographical and demographic domination of the area between the river and the sea
The Egyptians have never proven themselves to be particularly open or honest in their dealings with Israel. At least four wars have been fought between our countries. Peace is a fragile thing that must be nurtured. It must be built on honest dealings and trust. Moving tanks and anti-aircraft missiles violates not only the agreement, but the trust as well.
After Egypt has dispatched tanks into the northern Sinai area over the past few weeks, as part of its attempt to combat Islamist terror cells in the peninsula, the Prime Minister’s office has decided that this must stop. Using the White House, Netanyahu sent a sharp message to Cairo to withdraw the tanks immediately.
Senator Lautenberg, how exactly has our President demonstrated his friendship to Israel? He declared Israel's settlements to be illegitimate, put near-unilateral pressure on Israel to make peace without any expectations from the Palestinian side, declared that Israel should return to the arbitrary 1967 borders, and treated Prime Minister Netanyahu shamefully at a March 2010 meeting where he refused even a photo op with the elected leader of the Middle East's only democracy.
The Israeli media portrays Israeli brass and ex-brass who oppose Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak on the Iran issue as a group whose assessment is based solely on a cold hard analysis of the situation. Unfortunately, there is a reasonable possibility that the Israeli brass and ex-brass themselves have piggy-backed their agenda to the Iranian debate.
When Israelis say, “I worry about my grandchildren’s future,” it has a radically different dimension than similar concerns expressed in many other countries.
PM Benjamin Netanyahu: "The index sheds light and helps us prepare ourselves and avoid the mistake of not understanding with whom we are dealing with, who cooperates with and initiates this awful incitement. The Palestinian leadership is bequeathing this incitement to the coming generations and...it itself is incapable of adopting a dialogue of peace."
Tears don't protect against murder. They don't stop killers from killing. They don't prevent the authorities from looking the other way when the killings happen because there is something in it for them. They don't bring the terrorists to justice. They don't even ensure that the truth will be told, rather than the lie that rationalizes the crimes.
“Israel’s moral standing” is not necessarily enhanced by failing to stand up for its legal rights and by, in effect, selling out the Jewish people.
The Gaon, Rav Yisrael Hopstein, known as the Maggid of Koznice, was the prototype of Aharon HaKohen. He loved peace. When the dispute arose between the Chassidim and the Misnagdim he refused to participate in it. When asked to help the cause of the Chassidim, he replied: “Not through quarrels or excommunications can Chassidim hope to win, but only through showing their strength in the study of Torah, prayers, observing mitzvos and doing the work of Hashem.”
Imagine this: two Jews, one opinion! Who accomplished this miracle? None other than former US president Jimmy Carter.
By JTA
Romney, the presumptive GOP nominee, has said he needs to see the relevant intelligence material accessible to a president before deciding.
A ban by some Orthodox Brooklyn shopkeepers on customers’ cleavage and bare shoulders has raised the ire of some local consumers.
The 4th Geneva Convention does forbid government deportation or "individual or mass forcible transfers" of population into territory it occupies. But neither the Geneva Convention nor any other law prevents the establishment of voluntary settlements on an individual basis if the underlying purpose is security, public order or safety, and as long as the settlements do not involve taking private property. It is absurd to suggest that Israel "deported" its own citizens to the territories.
For weeks now, I've been posting and writing about the International Olympic Committee's pathetic, disgusting and disturbing decision not to grant one moment, sixty seconds, of silence in memory of the Israeli athletes murdered in Munich - not once...in forty years. And today, I read an article about the heightened security concerns.
During Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent visit to Israel, his Israeli counterpart, Shimon Peres, emitted the following pearl of wisdom: “The peace treaty with Egypt saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of soldiers from both sides.”
The Israeli left is an alliance between Israeli and American oligarchs who would be perfectly happy with a country the size of Singapore, a city-state stretching across the Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area, a place with a bustling stock exchange, a lot of good restaurants and start up companies. A properly liberal place at peace with its Muslim neighbors, with gay bars side-by-side with mosques and experimental theaters putting on the latest revolutionary plays.
No matter what, some people simply cannot face the brute fact that there is no possibility of peace with the Palestinian Arabs and the larger Arab world in the foreseeable future. They have convinced themselves that yet another partition of the land of Israel will end the conflict. It won’t. It will only damage Israel’s ability to defend herself while providing a platform for more demands. Soon we will be hearing about “Arab Haifa, Yafo and Acco,” and then perhaps “Tel Arabiyya.”
By Moshe Herman
Jewish Press Columnist Yishai Fleisher is joined by alternative peace activist Baruch Widen. Together they discuss the findings of the Plesner Committee and discuss a recent piece from NPR.
By Barry Rubin
Why are the Palestinians—their leaders’ intransigence, the radicalism of a public opinion nurtured in this direction for years, the effect of the competition from Hamas, and so on—left out of the equation?
Jabotinsky once warned that it came down to ending the exile or the exile will end you. The ashes prove the truth of his words. Now Israel has another choice, either it will end the peace process or the process will end it.
Abbas is not interested in reaching any deal with Israel: he knows that such a move would require him to make concessions. Abbas knows that Israel will never give him 100% of his demands; that is enough for him to refuse to sign any historic agreement. Like Arafat, Abbas does not want to go down into history as the first Palestinian leader to make concessions, especially on sensitive issues such as refugees and Jerusalem.
By JTA
The National Jewish Democratic Council, citing peace among Jewish groups, has taken down a petition calling on Republicans not to accept money from Sheldon Adelson, stating: "…we regret the concern that this campaign has caused. And in the interest of shalom bayit, we are going to take down our petition today." The Jewish Federations of North America, the Anti-Defamation League, the Republican Jewish Coalition and Alan Dershowitz called the allegations unconscionable, noting that all had yet to be proven.
Muslim integration into Europe is going swimmingly, much like the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and the Arab Spring. It’s going like a house on fire, not to mention a bus, a lot of cars and two towers on fire—on the other side of the Atlantic. Whatever problems there are, as with the peace process and the spring process, are undoubtedly the fault of someone who isn’t a Muslim.
Forty-five years after the Six Day War, declassified transcripts of the Israeli cabinet and government committee meetings in the days after war that ended on June 10, 1967 were released this June. The documents provide a breathtaking insight into the efforts of Israeli leaders to reach a peace settlement with the countries and groups which had been at war with Israel.
The AP reported that on Thursday night, the largest Presbyterian group in the United States rejected by a razor-thin margin a proposal to divest from three companies that do business with Israel. According to AP, the Presbyterian General Assembly voted 333-331, with two abstentions, against the divestment plan. The assembly voted instead in favor of […]
By dvora
Former Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Shamir passed away last weekend. In the course of my career as a correspondent for The Jewish Press at the UN and in Israel, as well as a parliamentary aide and spokesman for Israel’s first science minister, Professor Yuval Ne’eman, I met with dozens of world leaders, ministers, high-ranking officials and ambassadors. None of them left as indelible a mark on me as did Shamir.
The victory of the Zionist movement was won despite long odds, desperate hardships and grievous costs in blood. The men and women who battled those odds did so in the face of the conventional wisdom of their day that told them they had no chance of forcing the British Empire to make good on its promise to create a National Home for the Jews or to defeat an Arab and Muslim world determined to crush the newborn state of Israel. They needed not only courage but also an iron will and the patience to bear great suffering while never losing sight of their goal.
I came to know Mr. Shamir quite well when I hosted him at the University of Oxford in the mid-90’s. He seemed all but forgotten even then and told me that his dramatic drop in popularity in Israel had been due to the euphoria over the premiership of Yitzchak Rabin and his dramatic overtures for peace. He told me this with a touch of resignation. It seemed he did feel underappreciated. More importantly, he seemed to divine the coming catastrophe.
Our forefathers passed on to us a Bill of Rights, and we shall pass on to our descendants a Bill. A tremendous Bill which can be unrolled from the mountains to the prairies to the oceans white with foam... and all the way across the ocean to China.
Nobel Prize winner author Günter Grass was asked not to visit the synagogue in Gdansk, his birthplace.
We can walk among presidents and kings all week, but it is only as we ground ourselves on Friday and enter the Sabbath do we approach the True King. These men who spoke have voice but no real power. They do not determine the present and future of Israel. As we entwine strands of dough, we are entwined with our land, our people, our faith and most of all, with God. It is this act, of preparing the challah and caring for our families that Jewish women have done for millennia.
By Ron Kampeas
WASHINGTON – Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi is the declared winner of Egypt’s presidential race and his predecessor, Hosni Mubarak, continues to lie near death in a coma – just like the legacy he tried to craft for himself and his country.
At the recent President's Conference in Jerusalem - though Shimon Peres and others spoke about the dearth of women in professional life in Israel, few spoke about the amazing lack of women presenters at the conference. I counted only about a hand-full. One was Ayaan Hirsi-Ali.
Morsi's election will have tremendous reverberations beyond Egypt's borders, and not least for Israel, as the Muslim Brotherhood has questioned the validity of the 30-plus year peace treaty between Israel and Egypt; and is also the inspiration for and closely affiliated with Hamas, which rules in Gaza, and borders both Egypt and Israel.
By Alex Abel
Despite President Peres’ pleas to continue the pursuit of peace, people are beginning to say out loud that it is implausible. After assessing the situation with greater depth, I realize that I have a better chance of becoming Miss America than the Middle East does at achieving peace. Still, David Ben-Gurion made a good point when he said: “In Israel, in order to be a realist, you must believe in miracles.” Miss America or not, let’s keep that positivity coming.
Recently, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas added two more conditions for resuming the stalled peace talks: first, that Israel allow him to import more weapons for his police forces in the West Bank, and second, the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. Abbas is in fact searching for any excuse not to return to the negotiating table with Israel.
By Alex Abel
People flocked to the auditorium for the second plenary of the evening - and with good reason. The line-up was stacked with notable names including President Shimon Peres, Dr. Henry Kissinger, and Former Prime Minister of the Great Britain, Tony Blair. Peres spoke of his belief that peace was possible and mentioned that he had met with President Abbas and was left with the impression that they also need and want peace.
By Tzvi Fishman
"I've come for my house," the man said. "My family wants to move back tonight." Ehud's voice stuck in his throat. He felt dizzy. He felt weak. Giving up his house was too much. Ehud felt his sons' eyes upon him, watching to see what he would do. "It isn't your house," Ehud said. "Yes it is," the man answered. "We bought it. We have a deed," Ehud insisted. "I have a deed too. The people you bought the house from weren't the legal owners."
By JTA
Receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama, Israeli President Shimon Peres called for a renewal of peace talks with the Palestinians. "Israel and the Palestinians are ripe today to restart" the peace talks, Peres said at the White House ceremony on Wednesday. "A firm basis already exists. A solution of two national states: […]
A recent poll found that 73% of Israelis believe that the two-state solution will not resolve the conflict with the Palestinians, while 64% support expansion of the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.
The Jewish people are survivors, not only of one Holocaust, but of many great and small. We have walked the road from a burning Jerusalem to Europe and back out of a burning Europe to Jerusalem in a mere few thousand years. That journey is the heroism of survival. It is the only heroism that matters in the long run, because it is the only kind that sustains itself.
IDF Deputy Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Yair Naveh said Monday night that “Syria has the world’s largest arsenal of chemical weapons, along with rockets and missiles that can reach all of Israel." But Palestinian officials criticized the amplified Israeli criticism on Sunday as a tactic to deflect attention from Israel's treatment of the Palestinians and the "moribund peace process."
August 14, 2026 
