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Middle East

Benny Gantz Challenges Netanyahu

Two political parties, the first old and established and the second absolutely brand new, are striving for victory as Israel’s general election draws closer. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of the right-wing Likud Party, faces a stiff challenge from Benny Gantz, the head of the newly-formed centrist Blue and White Party and the former chief […]

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Commentary

Facebook Faces Reality

Facebook, the social network hegemon, has finally come to its senses. Within the next few days, Facebook and the company it owns, Instagram, are expected to ban or delete existing white nationalist posts. Facebook, with 2.3 billion monthly active users, made this known on March 27: “Today we’re announcing a ban on praise, support and representation […]

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Middle East

Defeated But Unbowed

Islamic State, the fanatical organization that set the Middle East ablaze and ignited tremors in Europe,  has been militarily defeated but not snuffed out of existence. Last week, Islamic State’s last pocket of territory in Syria was liberated after weeks of battle. Its imminent demise was forecast in January by U.S. President Donald Trump, who […]

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Film

The Death Of Stalin

The passing of Joseph Stalin in Moscow in 1953 precipitated a power struggle among his grasping associates and potential successors. Armando Iannucci imagines what transpired in his satirical film, The Death of Stalin, which is now available on the Netflix streaming service. Iannucci approaches the topic with an irreverent sense of humor. Nothing is sacred […]

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Middle East

Trump And The Golan Heights

He “did it again,” Benjamin Netanyahu gushed a few days ago. Israel’s prime minister was talking about another glittering prize U.S. President Donald Trump had presented to Israel on a silver platter. Netanyahu was referring to Trump’s historic tweet on March 21 recognizing Israel’s occupation of the Golan Heights, captured from Syria in the 1967 […]

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Middle East

Israel’s Peace Treaty With Egypt 40 Years On

Forty years ago, on March 26, Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty, the first between the Jewish state and an Arab nation. It has endured despite an array of challenges — the assassination of an Egyptian president, Israel’s invasion of a neighboring country, the eruption of the first and second Palestinian uprisings, and a […]

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Commentary

New Zealand’s Strong And Compassionate Prime Minister

Until quite recently, Jacinda Ardern’s chief claim to fame was being New Zealand’s youngest and first prime minister to give birth to a child while in office. Her baby girl was delivered in 2018, a year after she assumed power at the age of 36. But since New Zealand was plunged into shock and grief […]

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Film

Sobibor: A Suspenseful Russian Film

Sobibor was a cog in a chain of Nazi extermination camps in German-occupied Poland built to eradicate the Jews of Europe. Upwards of 225,000 men women and children were murdered there in just over a year. In the autumn of 1943, a group of Red Army prisoners of war who had been sent to Sobibor […]

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Commentary

Deny David Irving Entry To Nazi Camps

David Irving, the notorious British Holocaust denier, plans to lead a nine-day guided tour of former Nazi extermination camps in Poland. Due to take place in September, it will take participants to Treblinka, Sobibor, Belzec and Majdanek as well as to The Wolf’s Lair, Adolf Hitler’s headquarters during the latter part of World War II. Six […]

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Middle East

Hamas’ Abysmal Record In Ruling Gaza

Hamas, the ruling authority in the Gaza Strip for more than a decade now, has shown its true face yet again. Responding to recent street demonstrations protesting the high cost of living, Hamas security forces used live fire to break up street protests. Journalists covering these events were beaten and arrested, as were human rights […]