Israel

Global leaders and news organizations wasted little time condemning Israel for the raid on the fleet of aid ships headed to the Gaza Strip. But, if they spent half their efforts learning the facts first, perhaps that condemnation would have been directed in a more appropriate fashion — towards the people on the ships and […]

Controversy surrounded questions on Israel’s democratic character this year following multiple news blackouts, confiscation of reporters’ materials, and the imprisonment of a critical journalist. While some of these procedures have been rationalized by citing security concerns, the real character of Israeli democracy emerges during the debate on these issues. Dozens of Israeli newspaper and television […]

It’s not getting very much publicity in the English language Israeli media, but Prime Minister Ehud Olmert sat through hours and hours of questioning in his involvement (and likely leadership role) in a corruption scandal (see the English Google translate version here). When Olmert served as mayor, city officials allegedly received hundreds of millions (and […]

And who said the Palestinians aren’t partners for peace? Assuming the reporting is accurate and that the Palestinians are actually willing (and able) to follow through on their offer, a report in today’s Wall Street Journal suggests the Palestinian Authority is willing to give up double the land it offered in the past to former […]

Israel is set to lose its label as an emerging market and will officially become a developed market later this month. Israel has long been a leader in high-tech and military technologies, which is hard to fathom seeing that the country only began its major transformation over the last 60 years. Further, investors should still […]

I generally agree with Haaretz columnist and Tel Aviv University Prof. Carlo Strenger, who supports democracy and freedoms for all individuals in Israel and the Palestinian territories, often opting to prioritize these values above and beyond any political motives aimed toward the peace process. And, in this vain, I agree one hundred percent with Strenger’s […]

The announcement this morning that Iran will give up the bulk of its low-enriched uranium to Turkey has been met with quite a bit of fanfare. However, the deal is virtually irrelevant. This deal was put in place in an effort to curb sanctions and provide the impression that Iran wants to negotiate and make […]

Alright. I admit it. I probably sound like Dick Cheney on the verge of the Iraq invasion with the amount of war foreshadowing that I’ve referenced repeatedly in recent posts. But, that won’t stop me. I write what I see. Both Iran and Israel are stocking their arsenals to prepare for a head-on collision, with […]

The Israeli economy has defied all odds. A mere 60 years ago, most Israelis were farmers, living on kibbutzim and cultivating the land, transforming swamps and deserts become a world leader in science, with high-tech booming and Israeli companies taking the lead on military technologies. Similarly, Israeli drug maker Teva has become a generic pharmaceutical […]

There’s quite a bit of information out there on Israel-related issues and its often hard to weed out the nonsense from the biased to the legitimate (and, many of this blog’s readers might label me in the former two categories). An assortment of news sites, ranging from the Jerusalem Post to Haaretz to Ma’an to […]

There is a big debate in Jewish/pro-Israel circles on whether being anti-Israel is inherently antisemitic. The basic argument is that no other country has its legitimacy questioned and every other ethnicity/religion has its own country. The concept of Mexico is not generally called illegitimate nor is the concept of New Zealand, albeit some fringe groups […]

Israel has managed to maintain a policy of nuclear ambiguity for decades, refusing to comment on whether it has a nuclear arsenal. It is widely believed that Israel has a couple hundred nuclear warheads, likely scattered throughout the country and ready to launch in the event Israel is threatened with annihilation. Granted, other countries — […]