Irish novelist Sally Rooney is looking for a new Hebrew publisher, having decided she can no longer work with an Israeli publishing house. Rooney is entitled to her views, however skewed they may be. And she is not the first foreign author to boycott Israel. Alice Walker and Kamila Shamsie preceded her. But Rooney should […]
Jair Bolsonaro, the president of Brazil, should be ashamed of himself. Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, he has recklessly ingored the best scientific advice and flouted the soundest public health measures to keep it at bay, thereby exposing Brazilians to the full deadly impact of Covid-19. A right-wing populist, he has minimized the […]
The executive director for curriculum and instruction in a Texas school district recently caused a needless, harmful and anguished commotion when she instructed teachers to offer “opposing” views of the Holocaust in accordance with a new state law. Gina Peddy, the administrator in question, was recorded telling teachers in the Carroll Independent School District that […]
Individuals who adamantly refuse to get vaccinated to protect themselves against the deadly coronavirus are simply beyond the pale. These anti-vaxxers are not only utterly selfish and illogical, but a clear and present threat to the community at large. The unbiased scientific evidence at hand conclusively shows that Covid-19 has more or less become a pandemic […]
Helmut Oberlander died at home in Waterloo, Ontario, on September 23 “surrounded by loved ones,” according to his lawyer, Ronald Poulton. “A loving family man, he will be dearly missed.” As far as I’m concerned, he will not be missed. Not today. Not tomorrow. Or ever. Oberlander, an ethnic German from Ukraine, died peacefully at […]
In the lead up to the Canadian election on September 20, a friend of mine voted at an advance poll for Sidney Coles, the New Democratic Party candidate running in the heavily Jewish riding of Toronto-St Paul’s, which is held by Carolyn Bennett of the ruling Liberal Party. Several days on, he regrets his choice, […]
It was a defining and surreal moment in global affairs. On September 11, 2001, 19 Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four American commercial airliners and ruthlessly crashed them into the 110-storey World Trade Center in the heart of Manhattan, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and an empty field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The sight of the iconic twin […]
Lamentably enough, hate crimes in the United States have climbed to new heights, propelled by verbal abuse and physical attacks against African and Asian Americans. According to a report released by the FBI a few days ago, they have risen to the highest level in 12 years. The federal agency reported 7,759 such crimes in 2020, […]
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has finally seen the light and come to his senses. A little more than a month ago, Ford categorically opposed an Israeli-style, province-wide vaccine passport plan. “No, we aren’t doing it, simple as that,” he said. “We aren’t going to have a split society,” he added, refusing to differentiate vaccinated from unvaccinated […]
Iran’s newly elected president, Ebrahim Raisi, has shamelessly filled two senior positions in his government with officials who have been plausibly accused of playing a central role in the worst antisemitic attack since the Holocaust. Raisi is a conservative hardliner whose candidacy was vigorously promoted by Iran’s anti-Western supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Nonetheless, Raisi’s […]