understanding politics, considerations

Jewish and Israeli News/Opinion Roundup


February 14th, 2007 · Europe, Iran, Islam, Israel and the Middle East, Judaism, Lebanon, Religion, World Affairs

  • The Pales­tin­ian kaf­fiyeh: When lib­er­als adopt sym­bols as fash­ion state­ments with­out any knowl­edge of the com­plex polit­i­cal sit­u­a­tions behind them.
  • An Israeli rabbi is find­ing dead­beat hus­bands who aban­don their wives with­out divorc­ing them so they can remarry.
  • Olmert’s Third Way: The embat­tled Israeli prime min­is­ter is tak­ing a page from Bill Clin­ton and Tony Blair’s play­book. Can mod­er­ates win in a polit­i­cally polar­ized state?
  • Some money from donors in the United States to Israel may actu­ally go to causes that harm the Jew­ish State.
  • An Amer­i­can olah becomes an under­cover madam in Haifa to find traf­fick­ers in the human sex trade.
  • The U.S. Reform Move­ment hopes the next Israeli pres­i­dent will be more friendly towards Jews of that stream. Imag­ine plu­ral­ism in twentieth-century religion!
  • Elie Wiesel was allegedly almost kid­napped in San Francisco.
  • Tid­har Wald: Cen­turies of sec­u­lar­ism and tol­er­ance in the West pre­vents Euro­peans from under­stand­ing that, yes, some peo­ple will still kill in the name of their religion.
  • So many for­eign­ers are pur­chas­ing prop­erty in Jerusalem that locals are increas­ingly unable to afford to live there.
  • Car­o­line Glick: Israeli lead­ers are unpre­pared for the inevitable war that is coming.
  • Steven M. Cohen: Inter­mar­riage is indeed a threat to Judaism’s future.