Three years years after the eruption of the third Gaza war, the Gaza Strip remains a tinderbox. The Gaza region has been fairly quiet since the end of the war, with relatively little cross-border fighting having broken out, but both sides are acutely aware that a fourth round of hostilities could easily flare up again. […]
Assimilated Hungarian Jews were in the forefront of shaping the popular culture of late 19th and early 20th century Budapest, one of the capitals of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and one of the major cities in Europe today. Its edgy nightlife and innovative entertainment industry, encompassing coffee houses, clubs, music halls and theatres, were largely the creation […]
Convicted murderer Omar Khadr is laughing all the way to the bank. Or so it would seem. Khadr, a Canadian citizen born in Toronto, hit the jackpot after Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, decided to settle a $20 million lawsuit the Arab Canadian had filed against the federal government in 2013 for having breached his […]
It was, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India effusively described it, a “groundbreaking” visit. Modi, the first Indian prime minister to set foot on Israeli soil, was in Israel from July 4-6, visiting Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa and meeting Israeli decision-makers such as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin, who visited […]
Simone Veil, one of the greatest figures in modern France, died recently in Paris at the age of 89. Some years ago, I had the good fortune of interviewing her. This is what I wrote: There is no other political figure in Europe like Simone Veil. One of France’s first female cabinet ministers, and the […]
We live in age when the media in America is under constant fire by conservative elites. President Donald Trump has led the charge, having accused newspapers and television networks of manufacturing “fake news.” Journalism appears to be under siege, begging the question whether the First Amendment, guaranteeing freedom of the press, is in danger of being […]
The “troubles” in Northern Ireland, which for decades violently pitted Protestants against Catholics, were finally resolved when their respective leaders, Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness, agreed to form a national coalition government. The manner in which these hardened politicians created the conditions for this historic rapprochement unfolds in Nick Hamm’s absorbing film, The Journey, which […]
One of the most serious assassination attempts on Adolf Hitler’s life took place on November 8, 1939, when a time bomb assembled by Georg Elser exploded in a fabled beer hall in Munich, just two months after the outbreak of World War II. Elser, a factory worker and carpenter from southern Germany, was a Communist sympathizer […]
Far from the bustle of Israel’s congested coastal plain is a serene place in the upper Galilee that soothes the soul. The Mount Meron Nature Reserve, two and a half hours away by car from Tel Aviv and a 10-minute drive from Safed, is one of the most picturesque rural areas in the country, tailor-made […]
Three years ago, on July 4, Abu Bakr el-Baghdadi, the leader of Islamic State, ascended a pulpit in Mosul’s historic Al Nuri Grand Mosque and proclaimed himself ruler of its self-declared caliphate in Iraq and Syria. “I do not promise you, as the kings and rulers promise their followers and congregations, luxury, security and relaxation,” […]