Polish-Jewish relations during the German occupation of Poland were tortuous at best. As the Nazi occupiers ruthlessly exterminated Polish Jews in a methodical campaign of genocide, the vast majority of Polish Christians lay low and reacted with indifference. Still others collaborated with the Nazis, or risked their lives to save Jews. The predominant response of […]
Richard J. Evans, in Hitler’s People: The Faces Of The Third Reich (Penguin Press), focuses on a rogue’s gallery of Nazis who created a fascist dictatorship and drove Germany into war, genocide and defeat in World War II. “Only by examining individual personalities and their stories can we reach an understanding of the perverted morality […]
Much to Israel’s detriment, Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir pulled off an asinine and embarrassing stunt that never should have happened. A video he released on May 20, in which he mocked pro-Palestinian detainees from the Freedom Flotilla Coalition as they were manhandled, handcuffed and pinned down on the deck of a ship […]
Ilse Koch, a symbol of barbarism in the Third Reich, spent almost 24 years in prison, even as Nazi perpetrators who committed far greater crimes during the Holocaust received relatively light sentences or often escaped prosecution altogether. The wife of Karl Koch, the commandant of the Buchenwald concentration camp, she acquired notoriety for allegedly having […]
Israel’s relationship with the United Arab Emirates is like no other in the Arab world. Israel has forged peace treaties and normalization accords with several Arab states since it signed a peace treaty with Egypt in 1979. But the bilateral ties Israel has formed with the UAE remain unique, as a recent news story indicated. […]
When the third round of U.S.-mediated Israel-Lebanon talks ended at the State Department in Washington on May 15, the United States announced a 45-day extension of the April 16 ceasefire in Lebanon. State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott sounded an upbeat note, describing the two-day talks as “highly productive.” “We hope these discussions will advance lasting […]
Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of the Likud Party, is Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, having held his post, on and off, for 18 years now. First elected in 1996, he went down to defeat in 1999, only to regain his job in 2009 after serving as foreign and finance minister. Swept out of office in June […]
The United States and Israel appear to have reached diametrically opposed conclusions regarding the outcome of the still unsettled war in Iran. The conflict erupted on February 28 when the U.S. and Israel jointly attacked Iran, targeting its leadership and military assets in daily air strikes. The war wound down on April 8 following a […]
To Lithuanian historian Algimantas Kasparavicius, the greatest tragedy of 20th century Lithuania occurred not when it lost its statehood following the Soviet Union’s invasion in June 1940, but a year later, when Nazi Germany stormed into the country and proceeded to murder nearly all of its Jewish citizens in the Holocaust. It goes without saying […]
It was surely a distressing sign of the times in Canada. Josh Matlow, the councillor who represents the Toronto district of St. Paul’s in city hall, sounded an alarm in his latest newsletter. His informative monthly bulletin usually deals with local community topics ranging from design in public spaces to ravine protection. But in this […]