I cannot say that I ever liked Ehud Olmert. But now I almost feel sorry for him. It is not pleasant to see how they pounce on him, like jackals and hyenas fighting over a carcass. And that also raises some questions. Was Olmert the only fallible human being in this...
The Germans call it die Flucht nach vorne – escaping forward. When the situation is desperate, attack! Instead of retreating, advance! When there is no way out, storm ahead! This method was successful in 1948. At the end of May, the Egyptian army was advancing on...
Every time I hear the voice of David Ben-Gurion uttering the words "Therefore we are gathered here…" I think of Issar Barsky, a charming youngster, the little brother of a girlfriend of mine. The last time we met was in front of the dining hall of...
War with Syria? Peace with Syria? A big military operation against Hamas in the Gaza strip? A cease-fire with Hamas? Our media discuss these questions dispassionately, as if they were equivalent options. Like a person in a showroom making a choice between two cars....
I was reminded this week of the old tale about a Jewish mother taking leave of her son, who has been called up to serve in the czar's army against the Turks. "Don't exert yourself too much," she admonishes him, "Kill a Turk and rest. Kill another Turk...
We Israelis live in a world of ghosts and monsters. We do not conduct a war against living persons and real organizations, but against devils and demons which are out to destroy us. It is a war between the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness, between absolute good...
A wise person once said: "A fool learns from his experience. An intelligent person learns from the experience of others." To which one could add: "And an idiot does not even learn from his own experience." So what can we learn from a book which...
For some days, the country looked like the Place de la Concorde in 1793. The entire public sat expectantly facing the guillotine, waiting for the tumbrel to bring the marquis, for the marquis to lie down, for the blade to fall on his neck, and for a soldier to hold up...
It looked like the fall of the Berlin Wall. And not only did it look like it. For a moment, the Rafah crossing was the Brandenburg Gate. It is impossible not to feel exhilaration when masses of oppressed and hungry people break down the wall that is shutting them in,...
Which of the two men is the leader of the greatest power on earth and which is the boss of a small client state? A visitor from another planet, attending the press conference in Jerusalem, would find it hard not to answer: Olmert is the president of the great power,...
