The ultra-Orthodox Hassidic community is extremely tight-knit and takes care of its own in a cradle-to-grave arrangement. Conformists who abide by the rules and obey the commandments of the rebbes can expect a reasonably stable, fairly predictable life. Rebels who opt out for the secular world are treated as outcasts and often pay a price […]
The recent fall of the northern Syrian city of Raqqa is one more indicator that the days of the Islamic State’s caliphate in Syria are numbered. Raqqa, its self-proclaimed capital since 2014, was captured by U.S.-backed Arab and Kurdish forces on October 17 after four months of intense battles, which reduced much of it to rubble […]
Nazi Germany, in the greatest theft in modern history, plundered Europe of priceless paintings, drawings, etchings, tapestries, sculptures, rare books and priceless furniture. The collections of Jews, in particular, were targeted. To this day, hundreds of thousands of stolen pieces remain unaccounted for. Where they might be could be anyone’s guess. Hunting Nazi Treasures, an […]
President Donald Trump’s risky decision on October 13 not to certify Iran’s compliance with the 2015 nuclear agreement raises several troubling questions. Is he recklessly playing with fire by jeopardizing an accord that placed strict and verifiable limits on Iran’s budding nuclear program? Is he giving Iran a pretext to resume its quest for a nuclear arsenal? […]
The Palestinians have signed yet another reconciliation agreement, but will it last? In the past decade, the two rival factions of the Palestinian national movement, Fatah and Hamas, have reached multiple unity agreements, only to see them dissolve in mutual acrimony within weeks or months. Can the latest one, brokered by Egypt’s General Intelligence Service […]
There are two shining beacons in the bleak darkness of the Holocaust. Amid a miasma of cruelty and violence, a pair of Nazi-occupied countries shielded Jews. Bulgaria, an ally of Germany, passed antisemitic laws and sent 11,000 foreign Jews from Macedonia and Thrace to Nazi extermination camps. Bulgaria, however, resisted German pressure t0 deport its […]
The Holocaust in Poland unfolded in three horrific phases. First, Jews were herded into crowded ghettos and subjected to starvation and disease. Second, in Operation Reinhardt, Jews were annihilated on an industrial scale in German extermination camps like Auschwitz and Sobibor. Third, Jews who had fled into the countryside in the desperate hope of finding […]
Israel is emerging as the most crowded country in the Western world, according to one of its leading environmentalists. “The elephant in the room is over-population,” says Alon Tal, the former chairman of Israel’s Green Party and the founder of the Israeli Union for Environmental Defence and the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies. Tal, the […]
Harvey Weinstein, the Hollywood mogul, has taken an indefinite leave of absence from his film company following a front-page expose in The New York Times claiming he had conducted himself horrendously in encounters with actresses and employees over several decades. Weinstein, one of the most powerful figures in the industry, repeatedly invited women to his hotel room for […]
Rio de Janeiro is known as cidade marvailhosa in Portuguese. In English, this translates into marvellous city. The appellation is richly deserved. Rio exhausts superlatives. Famous for its frothy tropical exuberance and joie de vivre, Rio is crammed into several verdant valleys and defined by the Serra da Carioca, a steep green mountain range, and […]