Recent Blogs

• The Two Way Street: Mar Cheshvan — The Bitter Month

  How bitter to read about prominent American Jews like Peter Beinart being detained at Ben Gurion Airport for voicing views contrary to Israeli government policy. These and other bitter policies and practices offend our morals and move Israel further from peace and from us. More and more, our rabbis are summoning the courage to condemn these outrages -- formerly discussed and informally debated at onegs and in Jewish homes -- from their pulpits. Rabbis Franken, Zemel and others care deeply about Israel and so they speak up, despite the factions that wish everyone would look the other way, while Israel, like brother Esau, sells its birthright.

• Trump’s Latest Blow Against Unaccompanied Children is Unbelievably Cruel

  This President and all his enablers must be stopped. We cannot stand silent when thousands of children are abused by our government in our name. This callous treatment of innocent and defenseless children has already blackened the international reputation of the United States. We owe it to the victims -- and to ourselves -- to end this abuse.

• The Real Lesson

  I see the lasting legacy of the Yom Kippur War in the set of national and strategic issues that Israel grapples with most acutely today. These large-scale, definitional challenges are beyond the scope of the IDF and intelligence officials. They deal with the kind of country we, Israelis, are building -- and the kind of country we aspire to be.

• The Two-Way Street: Reflections for Rosh Hashanah

  On the eve of this season of renewal, we look honestly at Israel through the lens of the possibilities inherent in the New Year that is dawning. We turn to a blank page in the Book of Life and commit to writing the next chapter filled with deeds of holiness that will bring peace, security and justice to all the inhabitants of the land of Israel.

Israel Strikes Gaza After a Rocket Is Fired, in a Sharp Escalation of Tensions, The New York Times

Isabel Kershner reports, “Israeli fighter jets attacked targets in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, the military said, hours after a rocket fired overnight by militants in the territory struck a house in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba, a sharp escalation after months of simmering tensions along the Israel-Gaza border. The residents of the house — a woman and her three young children — were treated for shock, according to the Israeli emergency services, and the Israeli military said a second rocket fell into the sea after it was fired overnight toward the crowded coastal area of central Israel. The Israeli military said it had struck 20 targets in the Gaza Strip, including Hamas sites, but Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the other main militant group in Gaza, issued a joint statement soon after the first Israeli strikes denying responsibility for the rocket fire against Israel.It would be unusual for a smaller, rogue group to fire longer-range rockets that can reach the central coastal area and, in any case, Israeli officials said they held Hamas responsible for the attacks.”

ICC prosecutor issues warning on Bedouin village demolition, Associated Press

“The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor has issued a warning that if Israel goes ahead and destroys a Palestinian Bedouin village on the West Bank that could constitute a war crime. Israel’s Supreme Court recently rejected a final appeal against plans to demolish the village, Khan al-Ahmar. In a statement Wednesday, ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda says ‘evacuation by force now appears imminent.’ Bensouda adds that the ‘extensive destruction of property without military necessity and population transfers in an occupied territory constitute war crimes’ under the Rome Statute treaty that established the ICC.”