Categories
Commentary

The Conservative Movement In The U.S. Struggles With Antisemitism

The conservative movement in the United States, which is exemplified by President Donald Trump’s administration these days, is being buffeted by a growing debate over the U.S.’ alliance with Israel and accusations that some of its supporters are unfriendly toward the American Jewish community. The rift on the right between pro and anti-Israel conservatives exploded […]

Categories
Middle East

Saudi Arabia Still Resists Relations With Israel

When he resumed office as Israeli prime minister in December 2022 after an interlude of about a year in the opposition, Benjamin Netanyahu said that one of his main foreign policy goals was to reach a peace agreement with Saudi Arabia within the framework of the 2020 Abraham Accords. In an interview with the Saudi […]

Categories
Middle East

Another Israel-Iran War Could Erupt

Nearly six months after a U.S.-brokered ceasefire ended Israel’s 12-day war with Iran, both sides are on the cusp of renewing the fighting. Judging by the bellicose statements emanating from Jerusalem and Tehran since June, a second Israel-Iran war could well break out. Shortly after declaring victory in Operation Rising Lion, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin […]

Categories
Books

Faces In The Crowd: The Jews Of Canada

There have been no shortage of books about Jews in Canada in the past three decades. What comes to mind are the following: None Is Too Many, by Harold Troper and Irving Abella; The Jews in Canada, edited by Robert J. Brym, William Shaffir and Morton Weinfeld; Coat of Many Colours: Two Centuries of Jewish […]

Categories
Film

Soul Of A Nation

Jonathan Jakubowicz’s Soul Of A Nation leaves viewers with a depressing impression of contemporary Israel. Now available on digital platforms, his somber, thought-provoking documentary can be seen as a wakeup call of the dangers of polarization in this deeply divided nation. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s divisive plan in 2023 to reform the judiciary by weakening […]

Categories
Middle East

The United States Deepens Its Rapprochement With Syria

The United States is normalizing its frayed relationship with Syria, a key Arab state struggling to rebuild itself after a ruinous 12-year civil war. It is bound to be an incremental process, judging by Syrian President Ahmed al-Shara’s visit to Washington on November 10. A former jihadist who seized power after overthrowing President Bashar al-Assad […]

Categories
Television

The Alternative For Germany Party Is On The March

The Alternative for Germany, the second largest political party in the Bundestag, is growing stronger, according to a sober and disturbing PBS documentary broadcast last week. In The Rise of Germany’s New Right, correspondent Evan Williams takes a hard look at this ultra right-wing populist party twelve years after its founding and suggests it is […]

Categories
Commentary

Toronto’s Mayor Fails The Jewish Community

Throwing around barbs falsely accusing Israel of committing genocide during its two-year war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip is an exercise in insensitivity and ignorance. Politicians, in particular, should be careful to reject this vile slander, which has been largely disseminated by Israel’s enemies. If they act recklessly, it may cost them votes in […]

Categories
Film

Nuremberg Recreates A Seminal War Crimes Trial

James Vanderbilt revisits the 1946 Nuremberg war crimes trial mainly through the perspective of two men on opposite sides of the aisle: Hermann Goring, who was Adolf Hitler’s second-in-command, and Douglas Kelley, the American army psychiatrist who was assigned to evaluate his personality and ascertain whether he was mentally fit to stand trial. Vanderbilt’s movie, […]

Categories
Commentary

Mamdani’s Watershed Victory

You never know what lies around the corner. Zohran Mamdani was an obscure New York assemblyman six months ago. Today, he is famous, his name splashed across newspaper headlines. Mamdani is now poised to become New York City’s first Muslim mayor, having won a watershed election on November 4. He roared to victory by trouncing […]