Ehud Barak’s cautionary tale about wealthy connections

Ehud Barak’s legacy just got a lot more complicated. The former prime minister is attempting political combat at the age of 77, in which he hopes to unseat Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the next Knesset elections in September. But his already shaky hopes of making a comeback after sitting out the last several years of political combat on the sidelines have been further diminished by reports of his connections to American financier/convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Read more

Palestinians need to rethink the ‘nakba,’ not refight it

The debates about Holocaust references made by US politician Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) are starting to die down. Read more

What if there’s no way to stop another synagogue shooting?

Who caused a madman to enter a synagogue in Poway, Calif., and begin shooting? And what can we do to stop another such extremist from committing the next atrocity? Read more

Despite UN vote, Palestinian terror is still a losing strategy

The U.N. General Assembly narrowly defeated a resolution last Thursday that would have condemned Hamas for its terror campaign against Israel…writes Jonathan S. Tobin/JNS. Read more

Jewish labels are meaningless to anti-Semites

Israel’s Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau didn’t intend to say anything that would wound American Jews in the wake of the mass slaughter at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha Synagogue…Jonathan S. Tobin/JNS. Read more

The problem with B’Tselem

The U.N. Security Council heard testimony on Thursday about Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians from B’Tselem…writes Jonathan S. Tobin/JNS. Read more

Why we still need heroes like John McCain

Even in this era of cynicism, honoring heroism and national service remains essential. Without it, the ideas that bolster America and Israel suffer…writes Jonathan S. Tobin/JNS. Read more

Leonard Bernstein’s century

Throughout the last year, American cultural institutions have been celebrating the life of Leonard Bernstein. The celebrated composer, conductor and educator who died at the age of 72 in 1990 would have turned 100 on Aug. 25, and his centennial has produced a torrent of retrospective praise and appreciation for one of the musical giants of the 20th century. Read more

Is Trump being tricked into war with Iran?

According to Fox News prime-time star Tucker Carlson, the mainstream media is characteristically missing the big story…writes Jonathan S. Tobin/JNS. Read more

When a rock falls in a plaza . . .

In ancient times, people looked to portents involving the heavens and earthbound events in order to try to understand the baffling world in which we live, as well as to discern the will of their Creator…writes Jonathan S. Tobin. Read more

A Gaza problem without a solution

U.S. President Donald Trump’s belief in his negotiating skills was so great that at one point, he claimed that achieving peace in the Middle East wouldn’t “be as difficult as people have thought”…writes Jonathan S. Tobin. Read more

What do we expect from a Jewish state?

When the sun rose over Israel the day after a new basic law officially designating it as the “nation-state of the Jewish people,” the country was no different than it was the day before…writes Jonathan S. Tobin/JNS. Read more

What’s the matter with a Jewish state?

The primary reaction from most people to the news that the Knesset may soon pass a bill defining Israel as a “Jewish state” is likely to be incredulity…writes Jonathan S. Tobin/JNS. Read more

‘Pay to slay’ and why the ‘occupation’ continues

To Israel’s critics, there really is only one issue to discuss with respect to the conflict with the Palestinians: the “occupation”…writes Jonathan S. Tobin/JNS. Read more

Must Jews and Poles keep fighting about the Holocaust?

It’s never wise to get into an argument about the Holocaust with Yad Vashem…writes Jonathan S. Tobin/JNS. Read more

Learning the lessons of Gaza

In the view of many Israeli security experts, the results of the 2014 Gaza war were decisive…writes Jonathan S. Tobin, Read more

Anti-Semitism at the United Nations can’t go ignored

It was just another day at the office for U.N. officials. As it has done innumerable times in the last 50 years, on June 12, the General Assembly devoted an entire day of debate, procedural wrangling and voting to an effort to condemn Israel. As was the case with almost every previous effort of this kind, it succeeded…writes Jonathan S. Tobin/JNS. Read more

The significance of the embassy move

For decades, it was a consensus issue. Israel’s supporters of all political stripes agreed that the refusal of the United States to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital was an anachronistic outrage…writes Jonathan S. Tobin. Read more

More than just bad optics on immigration?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has had a lot of bad days recently…writes Jonathan S. Tobin/JNS. Read more

Gaza and the worthlessness of international opinion

Was the Palestinian “March of Return” a propaganda success for Hamas? If you think Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is a reliable barometer of international opinion, then maybe the answer is “yes.”…writes Jonathan S. Tobin/JNS. Read more

How to separate chaos from policy

Another day, another Trump outrage…writes Jonathan S. Tobin/JNS. Read more

Must Israel do America’s dirty work?

Whenever Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu uses props for his speeches, his critics pounce…writes Jonathan S. Tobin/JNS. Read more

Let’s talk truthfully about the issues behind mass shootings

Jewish groups don’t hesitate to weigh in after the mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla., but the futile nature of the discussion about guns points toward more culture-war bitterness rather than solutions…writes Jonathan S. Tobin/JNS. Read more

Spare us your Holocaust hypocrisy

Last Saturday was International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The date, which commemorates the liberation of Auschwitz in 1945, is the one most of the world uses to remember the Shoah, even if Israel and most Jewish communities primarily employ another date a week after Passover in the Hebrew calendar for Yom HaShoah. Read more

What did you hear when Mike Pence spoke to the Knesset?

In Monday’s New York Times, columnist Max Fisher treated Vice President Mike Pence’s visit to Israel as just another expression of what he considers the divisive policies of the Trump administration…Jonathan S. Tobin/JNS.org. Read more

Why Trump’s Palestinian aid cut threat makes sense

We didn’t need the publication of a new book filled with behind-the-scenes gossip to know that Donald Trump is an unconventional and, at times, inappropriate president…writes Jonathan S. Tobin/JNS.org. Read more

Defining ‘occupied’ and the semantic battle for peace

In a demonstration of how completely at odds his views are from those of the foreign policy establishment, U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman reportedly asked the State Department to stop using the term “occupied territories” and instead refer to the “West Bank.”…writes Jonathan S.Tobin/JNS.org. Read more

How Balfour explains why the peace process failed

It was a minor news story when it broke in the summer of 2016. Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas announced he was suing Great Britain over the Balfour Declaration, issued on Nov. 2, 1917…writes Jonathan S. Tobin/JNS.org. Read more

Interpol and the Palestinians: Where’s a cop when you need one?

The good news is that it turns out Interpol isn’t the international police agency that movies and television shows have led us to believe. The bad news is that the international community just gave the Good Housekeeping seal of approval to those who traffic in terrorism…writes Jonathan S. Tobin. Read more