The Holocaust was not a single, monolithic event but rather a series of events that unfolded in different places at different times, a theme British scholar Tim Cole deftly pursues in Holocaust Landscapes, published by Bloomsbury. Cole, a social historian at Bristol University who’s written several books about the Holocaust, explores it from various vantage […]
I was a young man when the Six Day War broke out on June 5, 1967, a date stamped indelibly into my memory. In the life of a person, there are only a handful of select events that one never forgets, and the Six Day War is one of them. On that warm, sunny morning in […]
I could hardly believe my eyes. Tucked into a crevice deep in a craggy canyon in a desert adjacent to the Dead Sea was an incredible sight — a natural pool and a gushing waterfall. I came upon them on a hot day after a fairly strenuous hike in one of Israel’s most alluring nature […]
The rhetorical flourishes flew thick and fast during U.S. President Donald Trump’s 28-hour whirlwind visit to Israel. Describing his trip as “unforgettable,” Trump, in sonorous language, hit the right notes. He spoke of the profound attachment of the Jewish people to the land of Israel. He reaffirmed the United States’ close bond with Israel. He […]
I rarely agree with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose brand of right-wing politics and opportunistic regard for political self-preservation alienate me profoundly. But I found myself in agreement with him the other day when he lambasted a decision by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem not to play the Israeli national anthem, Hatikvah, at a […]
In the lead-up to the May 19 presidential election in Iran, most observers maintained that the electorate would be focused on one main issue. Did the lifting of economic sanctions on the part of the United States following the nuclear agreement signed by Tehran with the five members of the UN Security Council, plus Germany, […]
Nearly eleven years after the eruption of the Second Lebanon War, tensions are rising yet again between two old bitter enemies, Israel and Hezbollah. In the past few months, as Israel has fortified its border with Lebanon in preparation for a possible fresh round of fighting and bombed weapons convoys destined for Hezbollah warehouses, both […]
Neither Israel nor the Palestinians are ready to engage in full-fledged peace talks, but in the meantime, the Israeli government should implement a series of unilateral interim measures to preserve the option of a two-state solution, Michael Koplow, the policy director of the U.S.-based Israel Policy Forum, told a luncheon in Toronto on May 17 hosted […]
Donald Trump and Recep Tayyip Erdogan conferred at the White House on May 16 to discuss what is surely the most contentious irritant in the prickly U.S.-Turkish bilateral relationship — the arming of Syrian Kurdish rebels by the United States. Turkey, a key U.S. ally and a member of NATO that shares a volatile border […]
Slawomir Grunberg’s documentary, Don’t Cry When I’m Gone, eulogizes Wanda Sieradzka, a Jewish woman whose life was a mirror reflection of the turmoil that engulfed Poland after Germany’s 1939 invasion and occupation. Premiered at the Polin Museum in Warsaw last year, this absorbing film has since made the rounds of movie festivals and various forums. […]