Viewers are treated to a marvellous culinary adventure in Tran Anh Hung’s The Taste of Things, an ode to haute cuisine. Scheduled to open in Toronto and Vancouver on February 16, this French film, with English subtitles, stars Juliette Binoche as an innovative cook and Benoit Magimel as a master chef. It is set in […]
It is questionable whether the latest U.S. retaliatory air and missile strikes against pro-Iranian militias in Iraq, Syria and Yemen will curb their aggression. Working in tandem with Iran, their wily puppet master, these surrogates remain undeterred and are hell-bent on launching fresh attacks against American military bases and ships, all in the hope of […]
Israel was irretrievably traumatized and changed by Hamas’ murderous rampage on October 7, 2023. Israelis are still grieving and taking stock, but in the meantime, they can look back in reflection. Times of War, a series of very short stand-alone documentaries by the Times of Israel about this unprecedented massacre, delves into that reflective process. It […]
The present-day borders of the Middle East were formed a century ago as Britain and France redrew its map. With the collapse of the far-flung Ottoman Empire, these colonial powers established League of Nations mandates in Palestine (Israel), Trans-Jordan (Jordan), Syria, Lebanon and Mesopotamia (Iraq), paving the way for the emergence of sovereign independent states. […]
Benjamin Netanyahu has defiantly rejected a Hamas counter-proposal to end the current war in the Gaza Strip, dismissing it as “delusional” and “ludicrous” and claiming that “total victory” is “within reach” after four months of fighting. U.S. President Joe Biden appeared to agree with Netanyahu’s dismissive appraisal, saying that Hamas’ offer “seems to be a […]
Upon arriving at Ben-Gurion Airport on the night of December 30, 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, the convicted spy Jonathan Jay Pollard was greeted on the tarmac by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was wearing a long black coat and a mask. Before formally acknowledging Netanyahu, Pollard made a slight motion with […]
As the fourth month of the Israel-Hamas war fast approaches, the Israeli government is seriously considering the possibility of invading Rafah, the only city in the Gaza Strip that Israel’s ground forces have yet to reach and occupy. While the Israeli Air Force has bombed Hamas sites in Rafah, the most southerly city in Gaza, […]
Three years into World War II, with German armies still on the march and intent on conquering the European continent, RKO Radio Pictures released Once Upon A Honeymoon, a romantic drama with dark overtones screened on the Turner Classic Movies channel recently. Directed by Leo McCarey and starring that inimitable Hollywood pair, Cary Grant and […]
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency is clearly an organization under sharp scrutiny after Israel presented donor nations with evidence that twelve of its employees participated in Hamas’ deadly attacks against Israel on October 7, and that ten percent of its staff, or 1,200 individuals, are members of Hamas or Islamic Jihad. As a […]
Italian novelist Primo Levi theorized that ordinary people are more likely to commit atrocities than supposed monsters. As Levi, a Holocaust survivor, aptly observed, “Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are the common men, the functionaries ready to believe and to act without asking questions.” Martin […]