Hamas

The Challenge of Sovereignty

On the eve of Israel's independence, David Ben-Gurion sat alone, questioning whether a people so long accustomed to being the victims of sovereign power could take responsibility for themselves.

Coming Home

I’ve visited and lived in Israel since then, but mostly I’ve been in London and the United States.  By most measures, every city in which I’ve put down roots in is an easier place to live than just about anywhere in Israel.

Why Israel’s Gaze Has Turned Inward

“It takes two to tango,” goes the oft-quoted idiom.  Without a reliable Palestinian partner, the Israeli public seems to have chosen to dance with itself. 

America and the Muslim Brotherhood: A Romance

One of the most consistent and depressing aspects of U.S.-Middle Eastern relations is the determination of our intellectuals and officials to defend Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood.

Warfare on Shabbat: The Legacy of the Maccabees

Ezra and Nehemiah were so successful in instilling Shabbat observance that Jews refused to take up arms on Shabbat to defend themselves—with disastrous results.

A World Without Enemies

In Isaac Babel’s 1931 short story "Argamak," a Jewish intellectual "thirsting for peace and happiness" joins a Red cavalry division made up of Jew-hating Cossacks.  The division commander understands the Jew’s strange choice—and has contempt for it.

Israel’s Friends in Gaza

Hamas was quick to declare victory in the latest conflict with Israel.   A closer look at the price it paid in terms of personnel and equipment shows that its bravado was false.

Peter Beinart, I Quit.

Peter Beinart's new blog on the Daily Beast titled Open Zion (formerly Zion Square) is dedicated to an "open and unafraid conversation about Israel, Palestine, and the Jewish future."  But after several weeks of Open Zion, one writer has concluded that its conversation is not, in fact, open—and is not one in which he can continue to take part. Here, he resigns his position. 

The Mossad

Last week, Israel successfully deployed its fourth orbiting spy satellite, hailed by the country's intelligence community as delivering better than expected surveillance of "areas of interest." At the same time, Israel's human-intelligence apparatus, essential as ever to the Jewish state's survival, has come under severe criticism for two of its recent missions: the presumed liquidation of the senior Hamas operative Mahmoud Mabhouh in Dubai and the ill-prepared interdiction of the Gaza-bound Turkish flotilla. Meanwhile, Lebanese authorities continue to sweep up reputed Israeli agents for spying on Hizballah.