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War & Peace


The New Biblical Archeology The New Biblical Archeology
Monday, July 25, 2011 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Every summer, the Israel Antiquities Authority holds a reception for foreign archeological teams excavating in Israel. This year's reception was attended by over 200 archeologists, who are investigating sites ranging in age from the Paleolithic through Islamic periods.
The Good Fence The Good Fence
Wednesday, July 20, 2011 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Just about anything that makes Israel more secure is opposed by someone: either by its enemies and their enablers, or by its fair-weather friends in the international arena, or by dissident elements within the Jewish community—and sometimes by all three. A case in point is Israel's West Bank security barrier.
David Mamet’s Homecoming David Mamet’s Homecoming
Monday, July 18, 2011 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

A new book by the playwright, director, and author David Mamet is by definition a significant literary event—but to judge from its critical reception, The Secret Knowledge is not only a bad book but possibly an evil one. Why such heat?
A Tale of Two Nation-States A Tale of Two Nation-States
Friday, July 15, 2011 by Diana Muir Appelbaum | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

What made Greece, long a pro-Arab country with a history of anti-Semitism and a notoriously soft line on terrorism, stop political activists from sailing a flotilla to Gaza? What led Greece to rush fire-fighting helicopters to the Mt. Carmel fire?
Capital Crime.  Capital Punishment? Capital Crime. Capital Punishment?
Tuesday, July 5, 2011 by Aryeh Tepper | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Since its founding, the only person ever to be executed by the state of Israel has been the notorious Nazi, Adolf Eichmann. But the brutal murders of Udi and Ruth Fogel and three of their young children this past March has the IDF weighing the possibility of seeking the death penalty for the Fogels' murderers.
In the Wake of the <i>Altalena</i> In the Wake of the Altalena
Thursday, June 30, 2011 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Ships and their comings and goings have lately been a fixation over at Haaretz, Israel's chief left-wing newspaper. One of the paper's advocacy journalists has been writing enthusiastically about joining up with a pro-Palestinian flotilla that intends to smash Israel's naval blockade of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
One Woman Army One Woman Army
Monday, June 27, 2011 by Daniel Johnson | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Andrei Sakharov, the great nuclear physicist and human-rights campaigner, had been dead for two years by the time I came to his Moscow apartment in the early summer of 1991. Elena Bonner, his widow, was there, still defiantly at war with the faceless foe that had slaughtered her family, exiled her and her husband, slandered her Jewish name, and lied about it all.
Following the Strong Horse Following the Strong Horse
Friday, June 24, 2011 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

A Druse physician from the Golan Heights, who works at an Israeli hospital, was one of 24 members of his community arrested for pummeling IDF troops with rocks during so-called Naksa Day protests. Just where do Druse loyalties lie?
The Osirak Precedent The Osirak Precedent
Thursday, June 23, 2011 by Aryeh Tepper | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

In May 1981, eight Israeli fighter jets were on the runway waiting for the go-ahead to execute the most daring operation ever undertaken by the Israeli air force: flying more than 1,000 miles east over enemy territory to destroy Osirak, Iraq's nuclear reactor.
To Ransom or Not to Ransom? To Ransom or Not to Ransom?
Friday, June 10, 2011 by Aryeh Tepper | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

The PLO's first attack on Israel came when Mahmoud Hijazi and five other terrorists attempted to bomb a water-pump station in southern Israel. Once captured, Hijazi received the second death sentence ever handed down in Israel. Though his sentence was later overturned, the story was far from over.
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Editors' Picks
Lawlessness and Terror Zvi Mazel, Jerusalem Post. Egypt's vast Sinai peninsula is turning into a lawless territory in which the Bedouin population is collaborating with terrorist groups to plan and carry out attacks against Israel's southern border.    
Wingate's War Matti Friedman, Times of Israel. For the British military establishment in Mandate Palestine, Orde Wingate's disdain for uniform—indeed for clothes in general—was highly unorthodox. Small wonder, then, that he also supported the Haganah.
National Anthem Philologos, Forward. Israel wouldn't have to abandon "Hatikvah" to have an anthem which Muslim and Christian citizens would be proud to sing: just restore some of Naphtali Herz Imber's original lyrics.
False Memories of the Crusader States Peter Frankopan, Jerusalem Post. Take heed, Israel: where things went wrong for the Crusaders was not in the long-distance messaging to core supporters, but in the muddling of that message among neighbors and near-neighbors.    
Diaspora Divided (Sneak Preview of JRB Spring Issue!) Jordan Chandler Hirsch, Jewish Review of Books. Peter Beinart tries to show how one-dimensional support for Israel is alienating young liberal Jews. The trouble is that his own one-dimensional criticism of Israel alienates everyone else.
Higher Standards Douglas Murray, Jewish Chronicle. Israel's defenders often rebut criticism by contrasting its conduct with that of its authoritarian neighbors. But even when the metric is the conduct of other democracies, Israel fares well.
Invoking Auschwitz David Landau, Haaretz. Although the Right has made insensitive Holocaust comparisons in the past, the Left must realize that another attempted genocide of the Jews is a real possibility.
Syrian Dreams Avigdor Lieberman, Jerusalem Post. Although many expect Syria to degenerate into radicalization if Assad falls, Israel's minister of foreign affairs refuses to give up hope that Syria's middle class could build a liberal democracy.
Proxy War Jonathan Schanzer, Foreign Policy. Although Israelis have come to expect rocket attacks from Gaza, this time the perpetrators are not Hamas agents but Iranian proxies. And however the conflict develops, Tehran will come out on top.
Defending Defense Mitch Ginsburg, Times of Israel. When Amir Peretz commissioned a missile defense system five years ago, he faced blanket opposition from the IDF, who saw attack as the best form of defense. But none doubt Iron Dome now.