Tensions between two bitter old enemies, Israel and Syria, have flared up again. On March 17, Israeli F-16s struck a Syrian military site near the city of Palmyra, reportedly bombing a convoy of vehicles carrying Scud missiles to Hezbollah bases in Lebanon. Syria retaliated by firing several S-200 missiles at the Israeli jets flying back to […]
Israel’s relationship with China is no longer just about trade, but also about geopolitics. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was China between March 19-21, leading a trade mission that included five ministers in his government. Netanyahu met with President Xi Jinping, Prime Minister Li Keqiang, and the head of the country’s parliament, Zhang Dejiang, as the two countries […]
Tomer Heymann’s Mr. Gaga, a fast-moving and absorbing documentary about one of the world’s finest choreographers and dancers, takes flight from almost the moment it begins. As the camera pans on the protagonist, Ohad Naharin, he coaches a dancer in his studio. “Really beautiful,” he says before instructing her to loosen up and “let go.” A man […]
Hoping to boost trade, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu headed to China on March 19 for a three-day visit to the Asian economic giant, along with Israel’s largest-ever business delegation. The mission included five ministers in his government. This was Netanyahu’s second visit to China in four years. Prior to his trip, Netanyahu, who’s also the country’s foreign […]
Women have always served in the Israeli armed forces and are an integral part of it, but in the past few years, they’ve played an increasingly important role in Israel’s defence. From training new recruits and flying aircraft to manning outposts and driving tanks, they form an indispensable component of Israel’s defence shield. “Since the […]
Three U.S. senators — Ben Cardin of Maryland, Richard Durbin of Illinois and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut — were absolutely right to call for an investigation into of one of President Donald Trump’s top aides, Sebastian Gorka, who may have links to a notorious antisemitic Hungarian organization. Gorka, Trump’s adviser on counter-terrorism, was photographed at […]
Canadian historian Paul Brykczynski has written an authoritative account of a long-forgotten incident in Poland’s early 20th century history that altered its political landscape and undermined its large Jewish community. The “December Events,” as he describes them, unfolded in 1922 against the backdrop of a closely-fought election, anti-Jewish street riots and the assassination of a president. Until […]
Aficionados of classical European architecture are bowled over by Konstanz, the southern German city adjacent to the Swiss border. Niederburg, its oldest neighborhood, is a revelation, an open air museum of building styles ranging from Renaissance to Gothic. During World War II, a profusion of historically important buildings in Germany were destroyed by Allied bombing raids. Konstanz […]
Since the start of the new year, an ominous wave of antisemitism has roared across the length and breadth of the United States. Jewish community centres, schools and institutions have received about 150 bomb threats, while two Jewish cemeteries have been vandalized. These incidents, unprecedented in scale, have caused anxiety and alarm around the country. President […]
In the spring of 1945, as World War II was winding down, the British government commissioned a documentary about the horrors of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany. The supervising director would be the Hollywood auteur Alfred Hitchcock. The screenwriter would be Richard Crossman, who would go on to become a British cabinet minister. The […]