Jewish Halloween: On Dressing in Drag in the Holy Land…writes Gidon Ben-Zvi

Should you suddenly find yourself surrounded by a bunch of young girls dressed up like Catwoman during the month of March, you may well have stumbled into a Purim street party. Read more

The unbearable cost of a unity government

Ever since Israel’s snap election drew to a close on September 17 the country’s chattering class has ginned up its campaign to convince Israelis that what they really want is a national unity government. Read more

Are International Human Rights stifling people’s freedom?

What’s striking about the international community’s reaction to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent pledge to apply sovereignty to Jewish communities in the West Bank and the government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to revoke the autonomy of Indian-administered Kashmir is the sound of crickets. Read more

The Curious Case of Israel’s Invisible Election

With the great election redo of 2019 less than two weeks away Israelis across the political spectrum are meeting up in living rooms, pubs and coffee shops around the country to discuss the great issues of the day…not. Read more

Now What? UN Votes to Expel 400,000 Jews…writes Gidon Ben-Zvi

The United Nations Security Council vote regarding Israeli settlements, made possible to by the Obama administration’s historic decision to abstain, has effectively nullified the Oslo Accords that had been based on the concept of bilateral negotiations between Jerusalem and Ramallah. Read more

Israel announces August BDS Ambition Tour (one true satire)

In response to the furore unleashed by the Israeli government’s decision to block entry to two U.S. congresswomen, a hastily produced tour of the Jewish state has been announced. Read more

 AOC, his name was Dvir Sorek

Freshman  U.S.Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently revealed her true feelings about Israel. During a radio interview, AOC concurred wholeheartedly with the program’s host that “…what’s going on with Israel and Palestine…is very, very, criminal, and it is very, very unjust.” Read more

Israeli helicopter parents send instructions

Dear Sheila,

How’s Melbourne? The girls can’t wait to spend a whole two weeks with you. I receive daily updates about all they’ll be seeing and doing during their upcoming August adventure. Read more

Gay Conversion Therapy: should some thoughts be a fireable offence?

Israeli Education Minister Rabbi Rafi Peretz’s recent comments about gay conversion therapy have unleashed a firestorm. Read more

Raging at Rabbis: When rights collide in Jerusalem

This week, the Jerusalem municipality authorized the naming of five alleyways and narrow streets within the Baten Al-Hawa neighbourhood of Silwan after rabbis. Read more

Obi-Wan Kenobi’s guide to an evaporating Israeli government

“You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious.”

– Obi-Wan Kenobi, referring to the lawless desert planet of Tatooine                              (Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope) Read more

Why apologize? The danger of driving anti-semitism underground

The Harvard Lampoon student-run magazine recently published a photoshopped image of Anne Frank’s face on the body of a woman wearing a bikini. Read more

Fiction: The Ido

Let me tell you about a different kind of hotel no tell. The Ido, pronounced e-DOH, in downtown Jerusalem is a charming nook that doesn’t pop up on any hotel review website or generate any buzz, on or offline. Read more

Who are the Palestinians in Gaza protesting against?

U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar has unleashed a firestorm of controversy for empathizing with the plight of an oppressed people. Read more

Top 10 Plagues of Passover 2019: A father’s journey into and out of Egypt

Passover. The Jewish holiday of freedom. You know the story of how the Israelites, led by that beau hunk Moses, threw off the shackles of bondage, faced off with Pharaoh, unleashed 10 plagues on Egypt and were finally allowed to return to Las Vegas…I mean the Promised Land. Read more

Tolerance Museums: A Failing Franchise? 

The monumental US$250-million building for the Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem (MOTJ) is scheduled to open sometime in 2020. Read more

Schizophrenic: An American Zionist in Israel

The Jewish Agency, Nefesh B’Nefesh, Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and other organisations charged with convincing world Jewry that its destiny is intertwined with that of Israel fail to mention, on their glossy websites and in their slick public relations toolkits, the single greatest sacrifice one makes when embarking on an open-ended Zionist adventure: cultural DNA…writes Gidon Ben-Zvi. Read more

Israel’s First World Problems: On Aerosmith and security prisoners 

Israel’s much touted economic miracle, given official sanction when the country joined the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 2010, has brought with it a slew of first world injuries…writes Gidon Ben-Zvi. Read more

Job to the left of me, crazy girls to my right: Israel Festival blends artistic lines

The Israel Festival, taking place from June 1st to June 18th, 2017, is a sensory delight..writes Gidon Ben-Zvi. Read more

Art of the Deal: Is Trump’s Bestseller the Secret to Peace in the Middle East?

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Who killed the Holocaust?

Ever dream of winning an Academy Award?…write Harry Ben-Zvi and Gidon Ben-Zvi. Read more

The Bible: The Folly of Quote Mining, The Virtue of Fact Finding

What gets lost in the din of competing narratives between Jewish and Arab claims to the land currently known as Israel is the historicity of the holy books these groups cite as evidence that God is on their side…writes Gidon Ben-Zvi. Read more

Israel up in smoke: middle class myths about marijuana use

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An American resits his driving test in Israel

It’s akin to déjà vu on acid, being a 43-year-old driver’s student. The last time I sat through a lesson on defensive driving, the Los Angeles Police Department was caught on video behaving badly – firing a taser into Rodney King’s spine and beating him down with batons for good measure…writes Gidon Ben-Zvi. Read more

Compromise Deficiency Disorder:  Latest Settlement Dust Up is Symptom, Not Cause

The crisis over the looming December 25 deadline to implement the Israeli Supreme Court’s order to evacuate the Jewish Amona outpost has provoked a bout of national soul searching with regards to how the government treats native population groups…writes Gidon Ben-Zvi. Read more

Israel: Confronting Fake News, One Camera at a Time

While today’s widespread use of the term fake news can be traced to Donald Trump’s first press conference as President-elect, Israel has long had to grapple with the phenomenon of media outlets bending the truth for political gain. Read more

UN Resolution 2334: Death Knell for Israel’s Middle Class?

Little noted in the media firestorm surrounding the passage of UN Security Council Resolution 2334, commanding Israel to stop all settlement activity, is the potentially deadly ramifications for Israel’s struggling middle class. With one vote, the United Nations outlawed most Israelis’ only way out of living from paycheck to paycheck….writes Gidon Ben-Zvi. Read more

In Israel, Yelling Out ‘Fire’ is Considered Free Speech

Picture if you will, a member of the U.S. Congress getting caught smuggling cell phones, SIM cards and documents to the Black Liberation Army, Aryan Nation or some other domestic terrorist group. Would house arrest and suspension from Congress be an adequate punishment for what looks, walks and talks like an act of treason?   Read more

Killing the Messengers: The Democratic Party Embarks on Path of Personal Destruction

Up until last week, I had always thought that Adolf Hitler was the worst person who ever lived…writes Gidon Ben-Zvi. Read more

Not Fake News: Remember the Time Obama Tried to Oust a Foreign Leader from Power?

With all zeal of a convert, Barack Obama in the waning days of his presidency has abandoned the Russian ‘reset’ policy and reprised the Cold War rhetoric that he mocked back in 2009, when he said that “great powers do not show strength by dominating or demonising other countries. The days when empires could treat other sovereign states as pieces on a chess board are over.” Read more

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