Cole Porter’s jaunty song, I Love Paris in the Springtime, came to mind as I strolled along Avenue des Champs-Elysees, Paris’ signature thoroughfare. It was early spring, the weather was still cool, and a pale sun shone as I savored the sights and sounds of a great European city pulsating with vitality. I had been in […]
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been shooting off his mouth again. Since Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the Turkish president has been vocal in his denunciations of his move. But while condemning the American president, Erdogan has gone out of his way to demonize Israel, which restored full diplomatic relations with Turkey in […]
A new kind of insidious antisemitism, far different than the familiar variety of old, has emerged as hopes for resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict have been dashed by realities on the ground. Responding to President Donald Trump’s recent decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, pro-Palestinian youths went on a rampage in three European cities, erasing […]
The second season of The Crown, a Netflix presentation, is a heady, entertaining mixture of drama and melodrama crowned by sharply nuanced performances and lavish sets, judging by the first six episodes. Like the introductory season, Peter Morgan’s series hangs on the shoulders of one indomitable character, Queen Elizabeth II, the capable sovereign who still commands the destiny […]
It was one of the strangest incidents in the annals of the Middle East. Middle Eastern politics can often be murky, but the Saad Hariri comic opera was unprecedented in terms of its layered opaqueness. Now, more than a month after the Lebanese prime minister tendered his resignation in Saudi Arabia, only to rescind it […]
She’s supposedly the world’s strongest girl, a weightlifter who broke a powerlifting record at a remarkably young age, and who still holds three records in her masculine sport. “I love being strong, it’s empowering, ” says Naomi (Nahama) Kutin in Jessie Auritt’s fly-on-the-wall documentary, Supergirl, which will be broadcast on the PBS network on Monday, […]
Fulfilling a solemn presidential campaign promise, Donald Trump has recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and instructed the State Department to begin preparations to move the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. His historic decision, which touched off anti-American and anti-Israel demonstrations in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and a host of […]
The sordid Harvey Weinstein affair has spawned a new movement in Canada that seems to augur well for women in the workplace. #After MeToo was officially unveiled at a symposium in Toronto on December 5 and 6 sponsored by The Globe and Mail daily newspaper. It took place two months after the notorious Hollywood movie mogul […]
Arab intellectuals and leaders have long been animated by the holy grail of Arab nationalism, an ideology which proclaims that Arabs are one nation, glorifies Arab civilization, language and literature and espouses the necessity of a single Arab state. This utopian idea was in its heyday during Gamal Abdel Nasser’s presidency of Egypt, but in […]
Arik Rotstein’s moody Israeli film, Antenna, is ostensibly about a minor dispute concerning a cellular antenna. In actuality, it’s about family dynamics. The movie — scheduled to be screened by the Toronto Jewish Film Foundation’s Chai Tea series on Sunday, December 10 at 12:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. at the Cineplex Cinemas Empress Walk, 5095 […]