With the sudden downfall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Iran, Israel’s arch enemy, appears to have suffered a stunning and seismic strategic defeat. In one fell stroke, Iran has lost its sway over Syria, one of the most important Arab countries in the Middle East. According to reports, Iran has withdrawn its military forces in […]
The Houthis of Yemen have morphed into one of Israel’s most relentless and resilient enemies. In the past year, in a demonstrable show of solidarity with the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip, they have attacked Israel on a regular basis with missiles and drones. As well, the Houthis have targeted cargo ships plying the waters […]
By the standards of the day, Pinky was quite a daring movie. Released in 1949 by 20th Century Fox, it dealt with two related themes: discrimination based on the yardstick of race and racial passing, the phenomenon of fair-skinned African Americans masquerading as whites. Screened recently on the Turner Classic Movies channel, it revolves around […]
Israel has exploited the downfall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to strengthen its defences along the border with Syria and to ensure that Syria’s arsenal of strategic weapons do not fall into the hands of hostile jihadist forces. Since the seizure of Aleppo, Hama, Homs and Damascus by jihadist rebels led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, […]
Amnesty International has discredited itself by accusing Israel of genocide, a crime it has not committed during its just, unavoidable and necessary war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Amnesty’s 296-page report charged that “Israel committed and is committing genocide” against Palestinians in Gaza. It added that Israel’s “unlawful conduct throughout its military offensive resulted […]
With bold and stunning strokes, Syrian rebels have uprooted the autocratic Assad dynasty, ended the long-running civil war in Syria, and upended the political order in the Middle East. Yesterday, rebel forces stormed Damascus, the capital, after capturing Aleppo, Hama and Homs in a lightning offensive launched on November 27 from northwestern Idlib province. By […]
Daniel Robbins’ frenetic comedy, Bad Shabbos, unfolds in a finely- furnished flat in New York City’s Upper West Side, long the abode of secular middle-class Jews. There, during a Friday night sabbath dinner, acrimony and chaos erupt, tarnishing what was supposed to be an intimate family gathering. The central figures in this edgy and sardonically […]
With Syrian rebels having captured the cities of Aleppo and Hama in the last ten days, Syria’s civil war is burning brightly again after a fairly lengthy period of dormancy. The civil war erupted in 2011 after the totalitarian Syrian regime violently crushed peaceful nation-wide protests demanding long overdue democratic reforms. The bitter conflict, having […]
It appears that Iran, Israel’s deadliest enemy, has suspended its much-anticipated retaliatory attack against Israel. Iranian leaders from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on down had promised to react forcefully to Israel’s air strikes on Iran on October 26, following Iran’s ballistic missile barrage against Israel on October 1. These tit-for-tat exchanges, the first direct clashes between […]
More than a year after one of the most egregious intelligence failures in Israel’s history, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stubbornly hews to the far-fetched claim that he should not be held accountable for the October 7, 2023 massacre in southern Israel perpetrated by Hamas terrorists. Netanyahu contends that the time for accountability should come only […]