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Travel

Warsaw’s Jewish Landmarks

Warsaw was virtually a Jewish city before World War II, with Jews accounting for about one-third of its population. The Nazi occupation of Poland left Warsaw in ruins and all but decimated its Jewish community, but a traveller who visits Warsaw today will find landmarks of the past and buildings attesting to the modest revival of […]

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Middle East

Open Letter To Green Party

I‘ve voted for the Green Party of Canada in the last two federal elections, even as I realized that its chances of  forming a government were realistically nil. I cast my ballot for the Greens because, as a tree hugger, I liked its sincere and earnest approach to politics and its fresh and progressive ideas […]

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Middle East

Gaza War: An Assessment

The guns have finally fallen silent in the Gaza Strip. After a 29-day war, the fourth pitting Israel against Hamas in eight years, Israel has unilaterally withdrawn from Gaza and repositioned its army along the border in case of a flareup. Both sides are observing a 72-hour truce and have sent delegations to Cairo in […]

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Arts

“Mr. Middle East”

Robert Ames, a Central Intelligence Agency operative, conducted the first clandestine talks between the United States and the Palestine Liberation Organization, the representative body of the Palestinians. By opening this secret back channel, writes Kai Bird in The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames (Crown Publishers), he “planted the seeds” of a […]

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Middle East

Erdogan’s Latest Rant

If nothing else, Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is consistent. On Aug. 3, in his latest anti-Israel rant since the war in the Gaza Strip erupted, he compared Israel to Hitler and accused Israel of deliberately killing Palestinian mothers. Speaking to supporters at a rally in Istanbul about a week before the Aug. 10 […]

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Middle East

This Is Genocide?

Spanish movie stars Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem may be fine actors, but their understanding of current events in the Middle East is nothing short of abysmal. Recently, they added their names to a vitriolic open letter, signed by dozens of artists in Spain, denouncing Israel’s just military campaign in the Gaza Strip. Calling the […]

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Arts

Robert Altman Retrospective

Movie director Robert Altman (1925-2006) was an original. Casting an astute and acerbic eye on American society, he was the antithesis of the conventional Hollywood filmmaker. The Toronto International Film Festival’s Bell Lightbox is presenting a retrospective on this fairly prolific auteur. Company Man: The Best of Robert Altman will run from Aug. 7-31. Ron […]

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Middle East

U.S. Goals In Gaza

A few hours before a 72-hour humanitarian truce in the Gaza war was supposed to start, followed immediately by talks in Cairo with the aim of achieving a more durable ceasefire, White House spokesman Josh Earnest scolded Israel. An Israeli artillery strike that had mistakenly hit a United Nations school in Gaza, causing 15 fatalities, […]

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Arts

Magic In The Moonlight

Woody Allen bores into the mystery of the occult and revels in the passion of love in his latest film, Magic in the Moonlight, set mainly on the French Riviera in 1928. A romantic comedy enlivened by scenic backdrops, opulent sets, imaginative costume design, magical tricks, chicanery galore and a great musical score, it’s one […]

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Middle East

Hamas’ Sacrificial Lambs

More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the current war between Israel and Hamas, the third in six years. As the Canadian branch of Amnesty International notes, Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip have borne the brunt of the fighting.   While innocent Palestinians die needlessly, their homes and businesses pulverized, Hamas leaders and […]