The escalation that Gaza is experiencing by now is merely resulted by internal disputes between an insufferably repressive government of Hamas and a clique of illiterate, mindless, childish partisans of “mercenary” salafist groups. Yesterday, some Salafists reportedly launched three primitive tiny little micro harmless “rockets” against adjacent Israeli cities, to seemingly harass and pressure Hamas to release some of their imprisoned fellows, without any slightest consideration of the consequences or anything at all. The harsh Israeli retaliation of 30 airstrikes (with
Earlier this month, former Israel Defence Forces (IDF) deputy chief of staff Uzi Dayan testified in defence of an Israeli soldier (Sgt. Elor Azaria) who was captured on film summarily executing a Palestinian man in Hebron who posed no threat. Dayan protested that, in opening an investigation into the incident, the authorities had violated the accused’s “right to innocence”: Azaria’s right to innocence was trampled on. My basic argument is that a fighter, even if he made a mistake and if he
My youngest, always cutely wide-eyed, nine-year-old brother Yousef was given an assignment at school: To write about a personal experience that has taught him a positive virtue or moral value such as love, peace, helping others. Whenever I made a suggestion, he replied, “I don’t have any thing to say on this.” He couldn’t think of any positive ideas even when I tried to give him lots of hints. His own thoughts were: “Could I write about the last war and how I ran into the basement when the next building was
I was in a car yesterday with an Israeli who was reminding me how smart and courageous and brilliant I am. I recommended him to read my PhD thesis. My employees often ask how I got so clever. I explain to them what Saeb told me — the key to being smart is, to always be photographed studiously adjusting one’s glasses: But I warn them, being intelligent doesn’t happen overnight. I’ve been doing it for years and I still get it wrong!
In 1793 a great council was held, to which came the chiefs and headmen of the Delawares, and of twelve other tribes, to meet commissioners of the United States, for one last effort to settle the vexed boundary question. The records of this council are profoundly touching. The Indians reiterated over and over the provisions of the old treaties which had established the Ohio River as one of their boundaries. Their words were not the words of ignorant barbarians, clumsily
Moshe Ya’alon, then-Israeli defence minister (February 2016): Israeli defense minister Moshe Ya’alon told defense officials attending the Munich global security conference this weekend that Iran is the ‘biggest generator of terrorism in the world’, and saying that the recently implemented nuclear deal with Iran posed an ‘existential threat’ to Israel. Moshe Ya’alon, now out of government, attacking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (June 2016): ‘The Iranian nuclear program, which was put on ice following the signed agreement, does not constitute an