Extreme acts are sometimes exonerated by history. When we view the world through our insular prism, we can easily lose perspective. Things may be swiftly magnified to grotesque proportions, like our trepidation of world censure, for instance. Frantically exaggerated anxieties then send us into a panic of self-reproach. Most often our self-inflicted alarm is unwarranted. Occasionally exploits sure to get Israel into hot water internationally may be the right thing to do. Losing our collective head isn’t only unnecessary, it’s downright harmful. Continue reading →

Most of us Israelis were literally dumbstruck by the imbecilities which our latest Nobel laureate, Ada Yonath, spouted. No sooner had she made us proud, Yonath proceeded to slap us hard across our collective face. We’re still smarting from the supposed smart one’s slurs, which is perhaps why it’s better to pretend that she never advised we forthwith liberate all convicted terrorists – regardless of Gilad Schalit’s ongoing captivity and certainly regardless of whatever atrocity they committed and were duly tried and convicted for. Continue reading →

In my very early childhood I used to let out a whoop of joy whenever the radio reported yet another UN condemnation for another Israeli anti-terrorist retaliation. As it turned out, I had lots of opportunity for elation. When my bemused parents admonished me with increased exasperation, I explained that I was happy because the UN had again rewarded our battlefield triumph. Continue reading →

French author Andre Gide, laureate of the 1947 Nobel Prize for literature, defined “the true hypocrite” as “one who ceases to perceive his deception, one who lies with sincerity.”

When it comes to our next-door neighbors of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, however, Gide’s characterization may be judged as grossly over-generous. Continue reading →

How sweet the vision: our world nuke-free and menace-free, enveloped in harmony and goodwill. Lofty sentiments without a doubt – assuming they are sincerely subscribed to and remotely attainable.

That’s a whopping assumption, though. Continue reading →

‘To avoid being mistaken for a sellout, I chose my friends carefully. The more politically active black students. The foreign students. The Chicanos. The Marxist professors and structural feminists and punk-rock performance poets.” – Barack Obama, Dreams of My Father Continue reading →

It’s hunky-dory to kick off another year with comforting reassurances of stability. There are no unsettling changes in the wings. What was is what will be, albeit with slight superficial variations. For instance, Yossi Beilin will keep on tinkering with our existential interests as he did so assiduously hitherto. Although he announced his retirement, indefatigable Beilin is still out there avidly looking for E.T., still trying to broker that intergalactic encounter between alien life-forms, the one that will bless us with universal bliss. Continue reading →

We’re all familiar with holier-than-thou anti-Semites whose much-touted “best friends” invariably are Jews. Well, the good news is that Jane Fonda is awfully fond of us. She says so in her blog. Given all that fondness, Fonda feels persecuted for no fault of her own. She cannot fathom why she must “wake up in the morning to a barrage of e-mails” about “a petition protesting the Toronto International Film Festival’s decision to feature a celebratory ‘spotlight’ on Tel Aviv… By doing this the festival has become, whether knowingly or not, a participant in a cynical PR campaign to improve Israel’s image, make her appear less warlike.” Continue reading →

“Tra-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la happy birthday sweet 16,” Neil Sedaka crooned his way to pop-culture immortality in those antediluvian days of 1961. Sixteen years are indeed a milestone. Any girl born this week in 1993 is, to borrow from yesteryear’s hit-song lyrics, “not a baby anymore.” She might well have “turned into the prettiest girl” and into “just a teenage dream.” Continue reading →

Without historical context there can be no real understanding of existential issues, certainly not of essential continuities. That’s why those who seek to obfuscate and skew do their utmost to erase telltale fundamental perspectives and present whatever they focus upon as cogent isolated concerns. Continue reading →