Netflix is currently presenting an eclectic selection of Palestinian feature films and shorts under the rubric of Palestinian Stories. It’s a definite sign of the times, underscoring the strides the Palestinian cause has made in recent years. I watched one feature-length movie, Salt Of This Sea, and two shorts, The Crossing and Ave Maria, all of […]
Jews, having been accused of killing Christ, were generally perceived as criminals and murderers in medieval and early modern Europe. Prejudiced Christians claimed they engaged in ritual murder and sought to defraud and impoverish their non-Jewish neighbors. “While these accusations were, for the most part, unfounded, in other cases the accusations were not altogether baseless,” […]
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s first face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Black Sea resort town of Sochi on October 22 appears to have been a success. Their talks were scheduled to last two hours, but went on for five hours, an unmistakable sign that matters of mutual importance were discussed on a […]
On April 12, 1934, an exceptionally beautiful spring day, Adolf Hitler arrived in Norway aboard the Deutschland, a new pocket battleship, on a brief and unpublicized vacation. It was his first trip abroad since becoming Germany’s chancellor a year earlier. He was accompanied by Admiral Erich Raeder, the commander of the German navy, and Werner […]
Jair Bolsonaro, the president of Brazil, should be ashamed of himself. Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, he has recklessly ingored the best scientific advice and flouted the soundest public health measures to keep it at bay, thereby exposing Brazilians to the full deadly impact of Covid-19. A right-wing populist, he has minimized the […]
Benjamin Netanyahu is having a devilishly hard time internalizing the harsh reality that his days as Israel’s prime minister are behind him. From the moment he stepped down from his post on June 13 and was replaced by Naftali Bennett, his former cabinet colleague and defence minister, Netanyahu has been on the offensive in his […]
The executive director for curriculum and instruction in a Texas school district recently caused a needless, harmful and anguished commotion when she instructed teachers to offer “opposing” views of the Holocaust in accordance with a new state law. Gina Peddy, the administrator in question, was recorded telling teachers in the Carroll Independent School District that […]
The inclusion of an Arab party in Israel’s coalition government already has had a significant material impact on the Israeli Arab community. When Prime Minister Naftali Bennett unveils the budget next month, an unprecedented $10 billion in state funds will be allocated to the generally neglected Arab sector, comprising 21 percent of Israel’s population. The […]
Lamentably, many Jews murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators during the Holocaust offered little or no resistance. Yet a relatively significant number joined partisan bands and fought back ferociously. Their fighting spirit impressed even some Nazis. After the uprising in the Warsaw ghetto was finally crushed by SS General Jurgen Stroop, Germany’s propaganda minister, […]
Raging gun battles in the center of Beirut on August 14 claimed the lives of seven people and raised the grim specter that Lebanon may be returning to the era of sectarian violence that climaxed with the outbreak of the civil war from 1975 to 1990. Fighting erupted after two influential Shi’a Muslim militias, Hezbollah […]