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Commentary

Fragmented France After An Inconclusive Election

A multitude of voters, particularly Jews, reacted nervously to the inconclusive outcome of the second round of the parliamentary election in France on July 7. Marine Le Pen’s National Rally, which finished first in last week’s opening round and was forecast to form a majority government before yesterday’s runoff, wound up in third place with […]

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A Palestinian Encampment In Toronto Finally Comes Down

Two months after having planted an unauthorized and illegal encampment in the heart of the University of Toronto, Palestinian students and their coterie of supporters reluctantly dismantled it on a cloudy day on July 3 drenched by high humidity. I arrived at King’s College Circle nearly three hours before the encampment there was legally due […]

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Neither Biden Nor Trump

The first televised candidates’ debate preceeding the next U.S. presidential election in November was a disaster. On June 27, Joe Biden, the oldest president in American history, locked horns with Donald Trump, his Republican predecessor who seeks another four-year term in the White House. Their encounter confirmed widespread fears that neither of them is suitable […]

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An Important Supreme Court Ruling

Justice has been served at last. In a unanimous, long overdue and important decision handed down on June 25, Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that the decades-long exemption enabling ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students to evade compulsory military service and receive government subsidies rests on no legal basis, and that the Israeli armed forces are free to draft […]

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Remembering D-Day

They were the ordinary heroes who turned the tide of World War II against Nazi Germany. Wading ashore in the surf at Normandy on a grey and gloomy day on June 6, 1944, thousands of Allied troops stormed seemingly impregnable Germany defences. Their mission was to pry loose France from Nazi occupation. More than 4,400 […]

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Dismantle The University Of Toronto Palestinian Encampment

The vociferous anti-Israel protesters who have illegally occupied a considerable expanse of land at the University of Toronto’s King’s College Circle are determined to flout the law come what may. Last week, the university issued trespass notices ordering hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators to pack up their tents and leave their encampment, which is filled with […]

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Israel Should Not Halt Its Offensive In Rafah

Israel is doing what it absolutely must in Rafah, Hamas’ last urban bastion. Despite a ruling by the International Court of Justice on May 24 ordering the Israeli government to immediately halt an air and ground offensive in that city in the southern Gaza Strip, Israel is pushing ahead with its plan to capture much […]

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False Equivalence From The International Criminal Court

Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, was confident he had reached a judicious and even-handed decision. Having concluded that Israeli and Hamas leaders had committed “war crimes and crimes against humanity” in connection with the October 7 massacre and the current war in the Gaza Strip, he issued arrest warrants for […]

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Jews Are Not Aliens In The Land Of Israel

Zionism is a dirty word and an ugly concept in the eyes of Palestinians and their supporters. This is particularly true on university campuses in the United States, Canada and Europe. Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war last October, anti-Israel protests have erupted in scores of cities around the world. At pro-Palestinian encampments on […]

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Herman Weinstein — The Last Of His Kind

Herman (Chamel) Weinstein, my uncle, was the last member of his extended family to leave this vale of tears. Herman died on May 1, exactly 104 years after his birth in Poland. Having reached a very ripe old age, he lived way past his “expiry” date, at least as far as his Nazi tormentors were […]