SPME
The Israeli defence contractor Elbit Systems has denied producing cluster munitions after two big investment funds banned investment in the company, saying it was involved with the weapons. Cluster munitions are outlawed under Australian law and an international treaty because…
read moreThe month of May 2021 taught us Israelis many unfortunate things—things we hoped were not true (and continue to hope are not true)—about the sad straights of Israeli democracy; the relentlessly authoritarian nature of Palestinian or, for that matter, Arab…
read moreFalling towers Jerusalem Athens Alexandria Vienna London Unreal T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land In world politics, some perils are deservedly worrisome even before they become plausible. Apropos of this general observation, while Israel remains the only nuclear power in…
read moreUntil that steamy day in June, with tornadoes threatening the frontier garrison built on a bluff above the Missouri River, Israel was an abstraction, more ancient kingdom than modern state in the mind of a 10-year-old Irish-Catholic Army brat. My…
read more
The statue of Justice Louis Brandeis, situated on the grounds of Brandeis University in Waltham, MA, can’t take it anymore.Photo Credit: Brandeis.edu, with enhancement by Lori Lowenthal Marcus Of all the absurd positions Brandeis University has taken over the years,…
read moreHIGHLIGHTS I gradually began to be aware of certain malfunctions in the coverage of the Israel story – recurring omissions, recurring inflations, decisions made according to considerations that were not journalistic but political, we sought to hint or say outright…
read moreAnthropologists and legal historians have long identified certain tribal cultures—warrior, nomadic—with a specific set of honor codes whose violation brings debilitating shame. The individual who fails to take revenge on the killer of a clansman brings shame upon himself (makes…
read more
A Palestinian runs in an area damaged in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City. (Hatem Moussa/AP) U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary of State John Kerry and the foreign ministers of Great Britain and France all are rushing to achieve a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. Their…
read morePolitical advocacy NGOs that claim a medical mandate, as well as affiliated individuals, have been active in publicly and falsely condemning Israel’s self-defense measures in Gaza during July 2014. These NGOs and activists: 1) demonize Israel and use hate speech…
read moreThe failure of American-mediated peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians and the likely creation of a Hamas-Fatah government in the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza Strip have cast deep shadows over the Middle East. Harry Truman once said…
read more