Israel
September 19, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
The near dead heat in Israel’s election militates strongly in favor of a “unity government” in which power is shared between the center-right Likud party of Benjamin Netanyahu and the center-left Blue and White party of Benny Gantz. Earlier this week, Netanyahu reportedly wasn’t interested in such a government. However, with the reality of the election results now sinking in, the prime minister has changed his tune. The Jerusalem Post
»
September 18, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
The vote counting in the Israeli election is well underway now. According to the Jerusalem Post, with most votes counted, the center-left party leads Benjamin Netanyahu’s center-right party by one Knesset seat — 32-31. When the Post added the seats of other parties, it estimated that parties likely to join a Netanyahu coalition would reach 56 seats, compared to 55 seats for the opposition. However, one outlet was predicting that
»
September 17, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Voting in the Israeli election has been completed, and exit poll results have been released. The polls appear to range from giving the edge to Benjamin Netanyahu’s opponents to showing essentially a dead-even race. It’s important to note that this was roughly true of the exit polling in April of this year. Back then, some exit polls were favorable enough to the opposition that its leader, Benny Gantz, declared victory.
»
August 30, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Hezbollah has stated that it intends to produce missiles capable of striking Israel with pinpoint accuracy. Iran is assisting Hezbollah in this enterprise. It is helping Hezbollah construct and develop facilities at which precision missiles are manufactured. Israel has responded by attacking targets in Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq. Attacks in the latter two countries are a recent development, prompted by stepped up Iranian efforts to assist Hezbollah’s missile development. The
»
August 23, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
In his book Why Are Jews Liberals?, Norman Podhoretz argued that the real religion of a great many non-Orthodox American Jews is liberalism, not Judaism. There’s a lot of truth in this, I think. However, it’s one thing for a serious Jew like Norman to say so. It would be inappropriate for a non-Jew to say it, and especially so for an American president. But President Trump’s recent comment about
»
August 20, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Paul Mirengoff wrote here about the vile group that organized and underwrote the trip Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib planned to take to “Palestine.” The Miftah factor (i.e., the nature of Miftah) of course remains a deep secret to readers who get their news from the mainstream media. Writing for the opinion page of the New York Times, Bari Weiss is the only prominent exception of which I am aware.
»
August 20, 2019 — Scott Johnson
We continue our preview of the new (Summer) issue of the Claremont Review of Books hot off the press. It went into the mail on Monday and is accessible online to subscribers now. Buy an annual subscription including immediate online access here for the modest price of $19.95. If you love trustworthy essays on, and reviews of books about, politics, history, literature and culture, the CRB may be for you.
»
August 19, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib and friends have seized the moment to hold a press conference in the Minnesota State Capitol peddling the PLO/Hamas line on the state of Israel and its “occupation” of the West Bank. Their reference to the “Palestine” that exists only in the genocidal imagination of their allies says it all. While they decry the impingement of the freedom of West Bank Arabs in various
»
August 18, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
When Barack Obama was in office, Benjamin Netanyahu had a terrible relationship with the American president. Back then, as Herb Keinon reminds us, liberals and their media pals insisted it was crucial that the Israeli prime minister have a strong relationship with the president of the U.S. These days, Netanyahu’s relationship with the American president could hardly be stronger. So what’s the liberal/media line now? Netanyahu is too close to
»
August 17, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Joe Biden has weighed in on the controversy over the nixing by Israel of a planned visit by Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. Biden tweeted: I have always been a stalwart supporter of Israel—a vital partner that shares our democratic values. No democracy should deny entry to visitors based on the content of their ideas—even ideas they strongly object to. And no leader of the free world should encourage
»
August 16, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
In thinking about the aborted visit to Israel by Reps. Omar and Tlaib, it’s helpful to know who organized the trip. The trip was planned by an outfit called Miftah. Miftah is an anti-Semitic organization. It promotes hatred of Jews and celebrates the terrorists who massacre them. No surprise, then, that Omar and Tlaib chose Miftah to plan their trip. The most egregious manifestation of Miftah’s anti-Semitism was its publication
»
August 16, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Yesterday, Israel reversed a previous decision and determined that two Israel-hating congresswomen — Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib — would not be permitted to visit the country. It relied on a law that forbids the entry of people calling for and acting to place a boycott on Israel. However, it seemed clear, at least to me, that President Trump’s hand was the decisive factor in Israel’s decision. Tlaib responded to
»
August 15, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib want to enter Israel, a nation they despise and would like to see destroyed as a Jewish state. Israel initially agreed to their visit. Today, however, the government changed its mind. The two Israel-haters will not be allowed in. Prime Minister Netanyahu released a statement that explained his decision this way: As a vibrant and free democracy, Israel is open to any visitor and
»
August 4, 2019 — Steven Hayward
It hardly needs mentioning that enlarging government power to “fight climate change” is nowadays a central purpose of the left. Well, the Jerusalem Post reports on a scheme that just might change this: Climate Change Is a Jewish Issue [T]here’s a much more immediate and dire threat to our future against which Jewish federations and advocacy organizations have not devoted nearly enough resources. By “our” future I mean not only
»
July 23, 2019 — Scott Johnson
In his Wall Street Journal column “Thelma and Louise go to Israel,” Bill McGurn looks at the vacation plans of Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar. “The Democratic Party’s Thelma and Louise—Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar—are taking their act to Israel,” McGurn writes. “In a great gift to Donald Trump, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is going to let them in.” This Thelma and Louise are on a mission. They seek
»
June 17, 2019 — Scott Johnson
The Tikvah Fund has posted an intensely interesting podcast with Jerusalem Post editor Yaakov Katz here; I have embedded it below. Katz is the author of Shadow Strike, a new and deeply reported account of Israel’s strike on Syria’s nuclear reactor in 2007. The story remains of current interest in various aspects. Tikvah introduces the podcast as follows: On September 6, 2007, shortly after midnight, Israeli fighters advanced on Deir
»
May 31, 2019 — Scott Johnson
In his Commetary essay “The Gaza conundrum,” Jonathan Schanzer describes a senior Israeli official in Tel Aviv speaking to him in private. “He was in a foul mood. He looked as if he hadn’t slept much,” he writes. “He rubbed his eyes, scratched his stubble, and blurted suddenly, ‘Gaza is a problem from hell.’” Hamas and Iran are the source of this particular problem from hell. The original Hamas charter
»
