Monthly Archives : October 2019

A terrifying assault on Israeli press freedom


  On Sunday, press freedom in Israel effectively ended, at least for some. Sunday evening, the police and State Attorney’s Office divulged that they are conducting a criminal investigation against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s top media advisors Jonatan Urich and Ofer Golan. The two are suspects and police investigators have seized their cellphones. Then on Monday,  police revealed that two…

Read More »

Trump, Israel and the Democratic Crack-Up


Nearly every week, the Democrats reach new heights of radicalism. Israel has good reason to be deeply worried. Until 2000, the peaceful transition of power in the wake of elections was a feature of American democracy that everyone took for granted. In 2000, the Democrats shifted. They refused to accept the election results in Florida that gave Bush his victory…

Read More »

Netanyahu, the media and the fate of Israeli democracy


The ongoing criminal probes against Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyhahu are reaching their climax. After conducting a marathon four-day pre-indictment hearing for Netanyahu earlier this month, Israel’s Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit reportedly intends to complete his review of the state prosecution’s cases and decide whether to indict Israel’s longest-serving prime minister by the end of next month. The main charges…

Read More »

Trump did not betray the Kurds


  The near consensus view of President Donald Trump’s decision to remove US special forces from the Syrian border with Turkey is that Trump is enabling a Turkish invasion and double crossing the Syrian Kurds who have fought with the Americans for five years against ISIS. Trump’s move, the thinking goes, harms US credibility and undermines US power in the…

Read More »

American Jewry’s Days of Reckoning


  On September 29, President Donald Trump set out his nationalist political philosophy in his address before the UN General Assembly. Arguing that the nation-state is the best guarantor of human freedom and liberty, Trump set up a contrast between “patriots” and “globalists.” “The future does not belong to globalists,” he said. “The future belongs to patriots.  The future belongs…

Read More »