Lebanon
Menachem Begin: A New LifeFriday, May 3, 2013 by Asaf Romirowsky | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Ensuring that another Holocaust would never take place was Menachem Begin's paramount concern, even when he was Prime Minister of Israel, pursuing Yasir Arafat in his Beirut bunker.
The Challenge of SovereigntyTuesday, April 16, 2013 by Michael B. Oren | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
On the eve of Israel's independence, David Ben-Gurion sat alone, questioning whether a people so long accustomed to being the victims of sovereign power could take responsibility for themselves.
Leibowitz at 110Monday, February 11, 2013 by Jeffrey Saks | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
A scientist, a philosopher, and a sharp-tongued public intellectual, Yeshayahu Leibowitz was an oracle for some, a crank to others. Two decades since his death, his ideas remain influential on Israeli society.
A World Without EnemiesMonday, December 3, 2012 by Aryeh Tepper | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
In Isaac Babel’s 1931 short story "Argamak," a Jewish intellectual "thirsting for peace and happiness" joins a Red cavalry division made up of Jew-hating Cossacks. The division commander understands the Jew’s strange choice—and has contempt for it.
The PeacemakerMonday, November 26, 2012 by Seth Lipsky | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
About Menachem Begin the thing that I remember most was the way he talked. Begin wouldn’t say that he was born on the eve of the First World War; he’d say, as he did when a group of us from the Wall Street Journal interviewed him in 1981, that he was born “into” World War I.
Editors' Picks
Bordering on Collapse Dore Gold, Israel Hayom. As a result of the Syrian civil war, Middle East borders that have lasted since the Sykes-Picot agreement of 1916 are on the verge of erasure—and the vultures are already circling.
Rebels without a Cause Michael J. Totten, World Affairs Journal. Since Israeli forces left southern Lebanon in 2000, Hizballah has lost its raison d'être and its Lebanese support base. Can it survive if Assad falls?
Is Hizballah History? Samuel Helfont, New Republic. A new history of Hizballah lays bare how the self-styled liberation movement has increasingly subjected Lebanon to Syrian and Iranian domination—and alienated its Sunni former allies.
I Led Three Lives Karin Assmann, Felix Bohr, Gunther Latsch, Klaus Wiegrefe, Spiegel. Former neo-Nazi and PLO collaborator Willi Voss was prosecuted for his role in the Munich massacre. He went on to become a valuable CIA informant in Lebanon.
Israel's Fallen Warrior Dan Margalit, Israel Hayom. Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, the IDF's 15th chief of staff, has died. He survived the battles of Karameh and the Lebanon coast only to succumb to the more formidable foe of leukemia.
License to Drill Frank Jacobs, Foreign Policy. This is one Hanukkah when Israel doesn't have to worry about running out of oil. But there are diplomatic minefields to cross before it can exploit its offshore reserves.
From the Front Lines Jonathan Spyer, World Affairs. "It is quite possible that the Syrian insurgents may choose to strike back at Hezbollah in Lebanon itself at some stage . . . Hezbollah and the FSA are already at war." (Interview by Michael J. Totten)
Lebanon’s Unholy Bedfellows Hilal Khashan, Middle East Quarterly. In Lebanon the Maronites are Christian liberals, while the Shiites are Islamic theocrats. The contradiction hasn’t kept them from an alliance based on resentment of Sunni domination.
Hizballah’s Holiday Home Nicholas Kulish, New York Times. Europe has cultivated a tacit détente with Hizballah, whereby if Hizballah does not stage attacks, European governments do not interfere with its fundraising and organizational work.
Losing the Shadow War Christopher Dickey, Daily Beast. Despite last month’s attack on Israeli tourists in Bulgaria, Iran’s covert operatives are being foiled at virtually every turn by their Israeli and American counterparts.