Israel’s invariably tense and uneasy relations with the Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip have hit a new low of late. The collapse of U.S.-brokered peace talks in April, ending nine months of negotiations between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority, engendered mutual acrimony, mistrust and bitterness — the toxic ingredients […]
Jan Grabowski’s measured but powerful book, Hunt for the Jews: Betrayal and Murder in German-Occupied Poland (Indiana University Press), caused something of a sensation when it was originally published in Poland in 2011. One can understand why it stirred such intense debate. Grabowski, a professor of history at the University of Ottawa, writes about the […]
They died recently, leaving a legacy of achievement… Gerald Edelman, 84, co-winner of the 1972 Nobel Prize in medicine, explained the process by which antibodies in the immune system defend the body against infection and disease. He launched his research at Rockefeller University. Gary Becker, 83, won the 1992 Nobel Prize in economics, illuminating people’s […]
Canadian support for Israel is on the decline, particularly among Canadians aged 18-34, according to surveys conducted by Forum Research Inc. in December 2012 and May 2014. In this age group, the polling company found, pro-Israel sentiment has dropped from 23 percent in 2012 to 12 percent this year. By contrast, pro-Palestinian opinion jumped from […]
Fighting has intensified in eastern Ukraine after the president, the oligarch Petro Poroshenko, declared an end to a 10-day cease-fire and ordered his forces to attack pro-Russian separatists. The Ukrainian military has been using air strikes and artillery attacks against them. Meanwhile, at his own request, the upper house of the Russian parliament had revoked […]
It was one of the most quixotic episodes of World War II, conceived in utter secrecy and ending in abject failure. On May 10, 1941, Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitler’s deputy, lowered himself into the cockpit of a twin-engine Messerschmitt aircraft and took off on a flight from Germany to Britain. He hoped his solo “mission […]
We’re all familiar with Hermann Goering, the bulky, self-indulgent Nazi who commanded the Luftwaffe, played a role in implementing the Holocaust and served as Adolf Hitler’s second in command. But Goering’s anti-Nazi brother, Albert, remains a cipher, an unknown quantity. Or at least until now. Thanks to Linda Parkhurst’s documentary, Goering’s Last Secret, available on […]
Having read Thomas Keneally’s novel, Schindler’s List, Hollywood film director Steven Spielberg sought to turn it into one of his signature movies. But where would it be shot? Instead of some back lot studio in Los Angeles, he chose the southern Polish city of Krakow, where German manufacturer Oskar Schindler had saved hundreds of Jews by […]
As predicted by Egypt’s newly-elected president, Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi, the United States has begun mending its bilateral relationship with Egypt, one of its most important allies in the Arab world. Less than a year after Washington imposed punitive measures on Egypt after the military-backed Egyptian government ousted the duly elected Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi, and killed […]
The various Sunni jihadist groups, in particular the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), who are battling the Shia regimes in Iraq and Syria, are attempting to carve out a Sunni state in parts of both countries (and possibly also in Jordan). But this should come as little surprise. These countries are all artificial […]