Israel
Whither the AlawitesFriday, January 20, 2012 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Time does not appear to be on the side of Syria's minority Alawite-led regime. President Bashar Assad has reportedly been offered asylum in Moscow, which wants an orderly transition that will preserve Russian strategic interests. Other stories have Assad and his loyalists preparing mountain strongholds for a last-ditch stand.
Jerusalem’s Ego and IdThursday, January 19, 2012 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Biography is not the same as history. Biography charts the outer and inner life of a person—character, spirit, morality, emotion, perhaps even soul. History, by contrast, incorporates different narratives and pieces of evidence, seeks out new data, then rises above all the fragments with a synthesis.
Our Defenders at the CIAWednesday, January 18, 2012 by Jonathan Neumann | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
News flash: Top-secret intelligence memos written during the last years of the Bush administration describe covert activities—in intelligence parlance, a "false flag" operation—by Israeli Mossad officers, posing as American CIA agents.
Gender TroubleMonday, January 16, 2012 by Yehudah Mirsky | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Suddenly, it seems, gender segregation is everywhere in Israel—buses, army bases, Jerusalem sidewalks, Beit Shemesh schoolyards and, above all, the front pages. What is going on here? Why is all this happening now? Let's begin with the second question.
Two Palestines, CompleteWednesday, January 11, 2012 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Some saw history in the making. With jubilation and fanfare Fatah and Hamas agreed last spring in Cairo to form an interim technocratic administration, hold parliamentary and presidential elections by May 2012 and, ultimately, to establish a national unity government.
The State of ChristianityThursday, January 5, 2012 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
On a sun-drenched day during the week before Christmas, Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre was crowded with pilgrims from Nigeria. They were taking turns kneeling and praying at a marker on the spot where, sacred history has it, Jesus was crucified, entombed, and resurrected.
The Mughrabi Bridge to NowhereTuesday, January 3, 2012 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
From the southern end of the plaza in front of Jerusalem's Western Wall, a temporary wooden bridge ascends eastward to the Mughrabi Gate, the only one of the 11 gates into the Temple Mount area that is accessible to non-Muslims.
Highlights of 2011:Part II
Friday, December 30, 2011 | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Part II of our round-up of the past year's most popular features on Jewish Ideas Daily. (Part I is here.)
Urban Planning, Hasmonean-StyleWednesday, December 28, 2011 by Elli Fischer | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
In the early 1990s, construction began on Modi'in, Israel's new "City of the Future." Designed by renowned architect Moshe Safdie and located mid-way between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, Modi'in is in many ways typical of modern planned communities.
Apologia for Ben-GurionTuesday, December 27, 2011 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
At this year's yahrzeit ceremony in Sde Boker for David Ben-Gurion (1886-1973), Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with Iran clearly on his mind, emphasized—eight times—Ben-Gurion's capacity for making hard decisions.
Editors' Picks
Out of the Frying Pan Jonathan Spyer, Fathom. With Sunni Islamists increasingly dominating the Free Syrian Army, Israel may soon face a new Syrian regime allied with Hamas and Egypt—and no less hostile than Assad.
Remembering David Hartman Gil Troy, Jerusalem Post. Rabbi David Hartman, who died in Jerusalem this week at 81, leaves a legacy of theological works and educational institutions that will continue to shape Judaism and Zionism for modern Israel.
J'Accuse! Lee Smith, Weekly Standard. Despite pressure from France and Germany, Bulgaria has blamed Hizballah for the July 2012 bombing that killed 5 Israelis—and made the E.U.'s refusal to blacklist Hizballah untenable.
Crying Foul Over Contraception Tamar Sternthal, Algemeiner. Newspapers around the world have claimed that Israel forcibly gave contraception to Ethiopian women making aliyah. But the evidence does not support the accusation.
Haredi Holy War Amir Mizroch, Forecast Highs. Fearing that a new alliance between Yesh Atid and Jewish Home will see haredim drafted into the IDF, Israel's haredi rabbis are mounting a fierce campaign to protect the status quo.
All Quiet on the Gaza Front? Armin Rosen, Atlantic. Since Operation Pillar of Defense, Sderot has been free of rocket fire from Gaza for the first time since 2004. But it will take more than that for the town to return to normal.
How Ike Screwed Up Suez Michael Doran, Washington Post. Defense Department nominee Chuck Hagel says he admires President Eisenhower’s handling of the Suez crisis. But Eisenhower looked back on Suez as his biggest foreign policy mistake.
When the Gatekeepers Won’t Shut Up Rick Richman, New York Sun. The Oscar-nominated Gatekeepers interviews all the living heads of Israeli intelligence. The last time that happened, the result was the Israeli pullout that left Gaza to Hamas.
Isaiah Berlin's Liberal Zionism Arie Dubnov, Jewish Chronicle. An advocate of individual liberty, Isaiah Berlin defended Zionism not for liberating the Jewish nation but for giving individual Jews a choice: whether to live in Israel or the Diaspora.
Behind Lapid's Mask Jameel Muqata, Jewish Journal. Yesh Atid says it defends a united Jerusalem and the settlements. But Yair Lapid is on record supporting a divided Jerusalem and pledging to fight against "our extremists, the settlers."