Despite all his troubles, President Bashar al-Assad of Syria can count his blessings. His steadfast ally, Russia, is fully behind him, no matter what atrocities his armed forces commit in the ongoing civil war in Syria. Russian President Vladimir Putin is assisting Damascus militarily and politically. Without Russia, Assad might already have lost the war […]
It was a visit like no other in Israel’s history. Forty years ago, on November 19 at 7:59 p.m., a Boeing 707, code-named Egypt 01, landed at Ben-Gurion Airport, one minute ahead of schedule. Anwar Sadat, the president of Egypt, had arrived in Israel, the first Arab head of state to set foot in the Jewish […]
She was the essence of beauty and brains. She was Hedy Lamarr, the alluring Hollywood actress and brilliant amateur scientist whose secret communication device ushered in the brave new era of cell phones, WiFi, drones, Bluetooth technology and GPS guidance systems. One of the most glamorous movie stars of the late 1930s and early 1940s, she’s the […]
Last week, in Warsaw, 60,000 Poles and foreigners participated in an Independence Day march to mark 99 years of Polish nationhood. It should have been an auspicious occasion. Poland, partitioned by Russia, Prussia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the late 18th century, regained its sovereignty in 1918 and has been independent ever since. Unfortunately, some […]
The Jardim Botanico, one of the loveliest botanical gardens in the Western hemisphere, is a serene refuge in the bustling Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. Set between the tropical splendor of Tijuca National Park and the rugged Serra da Carioca mountain range, it’s one of Rio’s top tourist attractions. It’s a particularly attractive place to […]
Prince Charles, the heir to the British royal throne, has expressed an opinion about an important facet of the Arab-Israeli conflict that could have been taken straight from the mouth of a pro-Arab British official during the Mandate period in Palestine. In a letter to his friend Laurens van Der Post, he dashed off a […]
Earlier this year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu singled out Iran as the source of most of Israel’s security concerns. Speaking at a ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the bombing of Israel’s embassy in Buenos Aires — a terrorist attack which claimed the lives of 29 Israeli diplomats and local workers and which was […]
Regrettably, Poland continues to drag its feet concerning a problem that should have been resolved years ago. To this day, Poland is still the only major European country that has not passed comprehensive legislation for the restitution of property seized by the Nazis during the German occupation and nationalized by the Communist regime after 1945, according […]
You wouldn’t think that Israel, a nation besieged by enemies, lends itself to comedy. Think again. As Jews know from bitter experience, comedy defuses tensions and is tailor-made for people and countries under siege. Which brings us to Holy Air, a film written and directed by Shady Srour, a member of Israel’s large Arab minority. […]
For about 2,000 years, until the early 20th century, Hebrew was virtually comatose. Once the mother tongue of the Jewish masses in their ancestral homeland, it ceased being a spoken language and became the sacred language of the synagogue and of rabbis and scholars studying religious texts. Its restoration as a utilitarian language, driven by […]