Thirty years ago this week, the Israeli army crossed into Lebanon and started the stupidest war in Israel’s history. It lasted for 18 years. About 1,500 Israeli soldiers and untold numbers of Lebanese and Palestinians were killed. Almost all wars are based on lies....
On May 15, the anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel, its Arab citizens observed a day of mourning for the victims of the Nakba (“catastrophe”) — the mass exodus of half the Palestinian people from the territory that became Israel. Like every year, this...
“In blood and sweat / A race will arise to us / Proud and generous and brutal….” Thus wrote Vladimir (Ze’ev) Jabotinsky, the founder of extreme right-wing Zionism, who was also a writer and a poet. Present-day Likud leaders see him as their forefather, much as Stalin...
Marwan Barghouti has spoken up. After a long silence, he has sent a message from prison. In Israeli ears, this message does not sound pleasant. But for Palestinians, and for Arabs in general, it makes sense. His message may well become the new program of the...
“What have you learned in school today, my son?” “There was no school today. There is an emergency!” “And what have you learned from that, my son?” Actually, quite a lot. This week’s “round," as the army likes to call it, followed a well-established pattern, as formal...
A Palestinian village, somewhere in the West Bank. In the middle of the night, banging on the door and shouts in Arabic: "Israeli army. Open up!" Somebody -- most often the mother -- opens the door. The heavily armed soldiers rush in and drag the victim out...
After the founding of Israel, God appeared to David Ben-Gurion and told him: “You have created a state for my chosen people in my holy land. This merits a great reward. Tell me what you wish, and I will grant it.” Ben-Gurion answered: “Almighty God, I wish that every...
“Israel has no foreign policy, only a domestic policy,” Henry Kissinger once remarked. This has probably been more or less true of every country since the advent of democracy. Yet in Israel, this seems even truer. (Ironically, it could almost be said that the United...
