The 100th anniversary of the death of Ludwik Zamenhof, the creator of the Esperanto language, was observed on April 14 of this year. Zamenhof, a Jewish physician, was born in the northeastern Polish city of Bialystok in 1859 and died in Warsaw in 1917. Bialystok belonged to the Russian Empire at the time and, as […]
The Age of Jihad
Since the fall of the Ottoman Empire a century ago, the Middle East has fallen into a dismal state of chronic instability, lurching from one coup d’état to another, from one war to the next. But since the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq in 2001 and 2003 respectively, the stability of the region has […]
Marine Le Pen Distorts Reality
Jean- Marie Le Pen, the founder of the far-right National Front party in France, was known for twisting and distorting historical reality. Some years ago, he airly dismissed the Holocaust as “a detail” in the annals of World War II. This cavalier comment showed Le Pen to be a fool, an antisemite or, perhaps more […]
Palestinian School Texts Poison Minds
The Palestinian Authority, led by President Mahmoud Abbas, keeps harping on its intention to end the Palestinians’ protracted dispute with Israel through a two-state solution based on the pre-1967 border and land swaps. Abbas’ assertions are a bold repudiation of the Israeli government’s flimsy claim that the PA is not a negotiating partner. This line […]
Trump Turns Against Assad
The burning question following the United States’ cruise missile strike against the Al Shayrat air force base in Syria on April 6 is whether the Trump administration has fundamentally changed its policy toward the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Less than a week before two U.S. destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean Sea fired 59 […]
Is War With Russia On The Horizon?
Are the neoconservative jingoists in Washington pushing for armed conflict with Russia? Their charge that an April 4 chemical gas attack by air against civilians in the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun was ordered by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, supported by Moscow, is, very conveniently, giving them further ammunition to create war hysteria. Two days […]
A Commendable Decision
Until quite recently, the student union at Ryerson University in Toronto appeared cool, if not hostile, toward Jewish student concerns. Three years ago this month, the union joined the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel, an outfit whose goal is to delegitimize Israel. Last November, at its semi-annual general meeting, two anti-Israel organizations, Students […]
Israel As A Partisan Issue
One of the strengths of Israel’s special relationship with the United States is its bipartisan character. Democrats, Republicans and third party politicians regard Israel as a valued ally whose values and pro-Western foreign policy are completely in line with theirs, notwithstanding the disputes arising out of Israel’s extremely controversial settlement project in the West Bank. […]
U.S. Resets Relations With Egypt
As turbulent a country as ever, Egypt, in the last six years, has seen an uprising topple a dictator, the election of a Muslim Brotherhood leader to power, and finally a coup that brought a former general/ defence minister into office. When Barack Obama came to Washington in 2009, he promised a “reboot” in relations […]
Leipzig Steeped In Musical Lore
It’s safe to say that Leipzig’s rich musical tradition cannot be matched by any other city in Germany. This is where Johann Sebastian Bach was employed as a choirmaster and composed the St. Matthew’s Passion, where Robert Schumann wrote the Spring Symphony, where Richard Wagner was born and where Felix Mendelssohn lived and worked. Leipzig, […]