History & Politics
Military Virtue, and VirtueMonday, February 28, 2011 by Aryeh Tepper | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
On February 14, Benny Gantz was appointed the twentieth chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). It wasn't supposed to be that way. Yoav Galant, a decorated soldier and former head of the IDF's southern command, had been named to the position at the end of 2010.
The Athens & Jerusalem Two-StepTuesday, February 22, 2011 by Aryeh Tepper | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The eastern Mediterranean is in a state of serious flux. Historically, under such volatile conditions, old bonds tend to dissolve and new partnerships to emerge. The present is no exception. One example of this is Greece's surprising new friendship with Israel and its outreach to the American Jewish community.
Thankless in Turtle BayFriday, February 18, 2011 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
After more than six months of internal squabbling, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud) and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman (Israel Beitenu) have, at last, agreed to dispatch the seasoned diplomat Ron Prosor as Israel's ambassador to the United Nations. But what, realistically, can any Israeli ambassador hope to achieve at the UN?
The New York Times Revises the Peace ProcessMonday, February 14, 2011 by Sol Stern | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
"The Peace Plan that Almost Was and Still Could Be": blazoned over the entire cover of the February 13 New York Times Magazine, the sensation-seeking headline comes accompanied by a photograph from the back of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, each with his arm around the other.
Qatar’s GameTuesday, February 8, 2011 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
On the map of the Middle East, it is easy to overlook the peninsular state of Qatar, bordering Saudi Arabia and jutting into the Persian Gulf opposite Iran. Yet, as the dominant exporter of liquefied natural gas, it is one of the world's wealthiest countries. Nor is it easy to pigeonhole.
Who is Uri Avnery, and Why Does He Matter?Friday, February 4, 2011 by Aryeh Tepper | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Jerusalem's decision in the early 1990's to admit Yasir Arafat and his fellow thugs into the heart of the land of Israel proved to be one of the country's major political blunders, paid for in the coin of a five-year terror war that traumatized Israeli society and transformed the dream of Israeli-Palestinian peace into an extended nightmare. How did it happen?
Calling David Ben-GurionThursday, February 3, 2011 by Yehudah Mirsky | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Times like these tend to remind us what a rare thing is great statesmanship. How many leaders are capable of wedding long-term vision with the nuts and bolts of politics and institutions, let alone an understanding of great historical forces with the will to shape them and the wisdom to know the will's limits?
Frail Reeds?Wednesday, February 2, 2011 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Observing Egypt's current upheaval, a writer for the Hebrew daily Makor Rishon has ventured the thought that whatever happens there, and no matter who takes power, "the lesson for Israel is clear: Arab regimes cannot be trusted."
Is Israeli Democracy Finished?Tuesday, January 25, 2011 by Benjamin Kerstein | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
In a now somewhat notorious story published on January 11, Time magazine announced that Israeli politics was taking an ominous "rightward lurch," and concluded that the Middle East's only democracy is on the slippery slope toward something like . . . fascism.
The Hamas-Fatah Two-StepFriday, January 14, 2011 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Frustrated by the diplomatic deadlock over negotiations with the Palestinians, many Westerners, and some Israelis themselves, have focused on the need to accommodate the demands of Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority (PA).
Editors' Picks
E Pluribus Unum? Ashley Rogers Berner, First Things. The United States requires all publicly funded schools to be secular, but several European governments provide public funding to religious schools. Which model is better?
The First Hellenist Stephen Gabriel Rosenberg, Jerusalem Post. The Maccabees warred against the Seleucids and their Hellenized Jewish allies. But Judaean Hellenism began earlier, under the Ptolemies—and was not so bad for the Jews.
Dr. Atomic Jon Turney, Times Higher Education. Ray Monk’s new biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the “father of the atomic bomb,” is the first to cover all aspects of his life—including his German-Jewish background.
How We Freed Soviet Jewry Allison Hoffman, Tablet. Twenty-five years after 250,000 Americans gathered in Washington to demand freedom for the refuseniks, participants reflect on how momentous their march turned out to be. (Oral history)
Kuwait's Palestinian Expulsion Steven J. Rosen, Middle East Quarterly. Arafat called what Kuwait did to its Palestinians “worse than what has been done by Israel to Palestinians in the occupied territories.” But the international community said nothing.
Reading Kant to Kissinger Shlomo Avineri, Jewish Review of Books. In 1976, Shlomo Avineri met with Henry Kissinger to discuss Syria and Lebanon. But they ended up talking about Kant and Hegel—to the confusion of any Soviet eavesdroppers.
Akko's Shipwrecks , Phys.org. The sea around the city of Akko is full of preserved shipwrecks, from the Hellenistic period through the Egyptian-Ottoman War. And excavations have just begun.
Preconditions to Murder Timothy Snyder, New York Review of Books. It is no accident that the Final Solution took place in territory where first the Soviets had destroyed independent states, then the Germans had destroyed Soviet institutions.
Norway’s Jewish Problem Julie Bindel, Standpoint. The far-right Anders Breivik made news with his murderous assault on multiculturalism in 2011. But Jews are leaving Norway because of pressure from the country’s liberal anti-Zionist elite.
Balfour and the Bolsheviks Eddy Portnoy, Sh’ma. History remembers 1917 for the Balfour Declaration’s support of Zionism. But Jews in 1917 were more interested in another event of that same week: the October Revolution.