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.

• SERMON: A Message of Hope for Israel’s Future

  Choosing hope over fear: A Zionist argument in favor of the two-state solution.

• 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.

Israel’s Supreme Court Grants Lara Alqasem’s Appeal; She Will Be Allowed to Enter the Country, Haaretz

Noa Landau and Jonathan Lis report, “US student Lara Alqasem will be allowed to enter Israel after the Supreme Court accepted on Thursday her appeal against the decision to prevent her entry….Alqasem’s attorney, Yotam Ben-Hillel, told Haaretz that the ‘The Supreme Court’s decision is a victory for free speech, academic freedom, and the rule of law. Israel has the right to control its borders, but that right does not give the [sic] Ministry of Interior unchecked power to turn away anyone it deems unwanted.” Ben-Hillel said that by taking a stand, “Lara has ensured that no one else should be denied the right to enter Israel based on sloppy Google searches and dossiers by shadowy smear groups. We argued that the state’s decision is a gross misapplication of the law, and the Court agreed. Lara’s case proves that thought-policing has no place in a democracy.”

Israel torn between Saudi Arabia, Turkey on Khashoggi affair, Al-Monitor

Ben Caspit writes, “It is hard to find Israeli leaders commenting on Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist who disappeared (and was apparently murdered) in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul Oct 2. Cabinet ministers, members of Knesset and officials in the Foreign Ministry — they all avoid the subject like the plague. That’s because Israel is caught between two polar extremes that suddenly turned upside down. On the one hand, it is an ally of Saudi Arabia, and on the other, its bitter rivalry with Turkey is legendary. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is seen in Israel as an almost liberal reformer, who is leading his country toward a new era, while Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is regarded as a benighted dictator, who jails journalists and suppresses democracy. And now that’s all turned upside down. In the Khashoggi incident, the Saudis are the villains, while Erdogan is having his turn as a mature and enlightened leader who shows responsibility and defends democracy.”