Alan Furst’s novel, Midnight in Europe (Random House), is the first I’ve read by this author, and I’m quite impressed. Furst, an American, writes spy novels set in Europe on the eve of World War II. Previous works have included The Spies of Warsaw and The Foreign Correspondent. Judging by his latest offering, one can appreciate […]
Israel’s strained relationship with Turkey has grown considerably colder since Israel and Hamas went to war 11 days ago. After the Israeli armed forces launched Operation Protective Edge, Turkey urged Israel to immediately halt its offensive, warning it would jeopardize ongoing efforts to normalize bilateral ties. With Turkey’s plea having fallen on deaf ears, Turkish Prime […]
A few days ago, a diplomat said, “The missiles that are now being launched against Israel, each and every missile, constitute a crime against humanity, whether (they) hit or miss, because (they) are directed against civilian targets.” He added that Israel issues a warning to Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip before a particular site […]
On July 11, during the opening phase of Operation Protective Edge, Israel’s current cross-border war with Hamas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finally came clean. He cited the war as a prime example of why he will neither make significant territorial concessions in the West Bank nor allow the Palestinians to exercise full sovereignty within […]
Did you know that the great Polish violinist Bronislaw Huberman was the founder of a world-class Israeli orchestra? Huberman (1882-1947) was the prime mover behind the formation of the Palestine Symphony Orchestra, which in 1948 changed its name to the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Josh Aronson’s documentary, Orchestra of Exiles, explores Huberman’s career and his lasting […]
Israel’s just military response to Hamas aggression has not found favor in South Africa’s ruling circles. The deputy secretary-general of the African National Congress, Jessie Duarte, issued a blatantly one-sided statement a few days in which she compared Israel’s response to Nazi atrocities. As she put it, “The African National Congress condemns in the strongest […]
As my field of research and teaching is in comparative politics, I have kept files on virtually every country in the world for decades. They consist mainly of magazine and newspaper articles, and students find them handy when researching term papers. My filing cabinets would soon have no room for new pieces if I didn’t […]
We have been there before. For the third time in five years, Israel and Hamas are fighting a cross-border war, with no end in sight. Now entering its fifth day, it may yet turn into a lengthy and bloody conflict, since both sides are hell-bent on attaining certain objectives and are certainly in no mood […]
Have you ever heard of a movie that took 12 years to finish? The very idea seems ridiculous, if not downright silly. Why should an actor or a director commit to such an interminable project? And what about the issue of continuity? What if an actor dropped out in mid-course? Or died? What then? These […]
Now, more than ever, the Middle East occupies front and center in the daily news cycle. Israel is waging war against one of its arch enemies, Hamas, and an Israeli ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, Hamas’ stronghold, remains a possibility. The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, a more extreme version of Al Qaeda, […]