Islamic State, the jihadist organization whose fighters are under currently siege in the Iraqi and Syrian cities of Mosul and Raqqa, has repeatedly broken international norms and conventions since it established a caliphate in 2014. IS has imposed a reign of terror on captive populations, harassed and persecuted Christian and Yazidi minorities and plundered priceless […]
Author: Sheldon Kirshner
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Long On Rhetoric, Short On Substance
U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to the White House on May 3 to discuss the prospects of settling the intractable Arab-Israeli conflict, but their talks were little more than a photo op. Abbas arrived in the United States two and a half months after Trump conferred with Israeli Prime Minister […]
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The Beauty Of Spring
I never cease to marvel at the arrival of spring in Toronto. It’s not a sudden, overnight event, but rather a gradual process that unfolds over several weeks, teasing and tempting us about warmer, sunnier days that lie tantalizingly ahead. Although March 20 is the first official day of spring, the calendar is really playing […]
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The Limits Of Hamas’ Pragmatism
On May 1, Hamas — the Palestinian Islamic fundamentalist group that has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007 — released a new document of principles aimed at softening its extremist image and presenting itself as a pragmatic organization grounded in realism. It was a step in the right direction, but it was only a baby […]
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Unit 8200
Computer hackers, the bane of corporations and bloggers alike, are the heroes of Martin Himel’s documentary, Unit 8200, which will be broadcast by Vision TV in Canada on Monday, May 8 at 9 p.m. Two decades ago, hackers were regarded as common criminals, says Yossi Melman, an Israeli journalist who specializes in intelligence and strategic […]
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Praise The Lard
When one thinks of Israel, one doesn’t usually think of pork, the ultimate abomination in food to Jews who keep kosher. But wait. Pigs are bred, slaughtered and processed in Israel, and Israelis by the thousands consume pork products voraciously. This may come as a rude awakening to Jews in the Diaspora, but anyone who’s […]
Before the advent of German reunification in 1990, two sovereign states, West Germany and East Germany, faced each other as bitter, implacable rivals. West Germany, a democracy formed in 1949, was aligned with the United States and the West. East Germany, a communist state which emerged in the same year, was a member of the […]
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to snub German Foreign Minister and Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel during his visit to Israel this week was impolitic. How wise was it to boycott an important dignitary from a country that has special and unique ties with Israel? Certainly, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin did not make the same mistake, choosing […]
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I, Daniel Blake
Daniel Blake is a 59-year-old carpenter who’s had a major heart attack and is now applying for unemployment insurance. “My marathon days are over,” he says in a reference to his long career. But as he becomes enmeshed in a state bureaucracy that’s supposed to ease his transition to good health again, he sinks to […]
Ferenc Torok’s strong and unadorned film, 1945, opens as a passenger train, its locomotive belching thick black smoke, pulls into into a sleepy station in the Hungarian countryside. It’s a sweltering morning in August of 1945, and a year has elapsed since the end of World War II. As the train hisses to a shuddering […]