In Israel, the military is by far the most trusted institution. And though it terrorizes Palestinians daily, the fealty it gets from Jewish Israeli society serves as a shield against taking it to account.
Benjamin Netanyahu has announced he is giving up on his mandate to form a new government following elections. The baton will now be passed to Benny Gantz – but he will likely fail as well. Unless something surprising happens, Israel is most likely headed to yet another national election.
Forward opinion editor Batya Ungar-Sargon’s claims of anti-Semitism at Bard college have been widely refuted. Yet she has doubled down on them – saying the response only confirms the truth of her allegation. This is dishonest, and also strategic, aimed at limiting criticism of Israel inside leftwing circles.
Batya Ungar-Sargon asked students not to protest Ruth Wisse at Bard because she’s a Holocaust survivor, giving her a pass for anti-Arab racism. The panel she did want the students to protest featured Ungar-Sargon and a black Jew, Shahanna McKinney-Baldon, who now seeks an apology for Ungar-Sargon’s error-laden account of the event.
What is the first step for a head of the Israeli Mossad who is considering a future in politics? Boast of their assassinations, of course.
The Netanyahu government paid at least $57,000 toward Demi Lovato’s trip to Israel — and made a strong case for the cultural boycott of Israel.
Israel’s Minister of the Interior says he is taking action to force Omar Barghouti, co-founder of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, out of the country.
The recent Israeli election has been a win for the Zionist right-center. The Joint List which mostly represents Palestinians has endorsed Benny Gantz, but that stance divided the List. That’s understandable because a unity government headed by Gantz would back policies toward Palestinians that are not different from those of a Likud government.
Bari Weiss has written a book about how to fight anti-Semitism, but during an interview with Bill Maher where he was telling anti-Semitic jokes non-stop she just laughed. Jonathan Ofir says this is because they agree on Israel and Zionism.
The Blue White party gave Israelis who used to vote left the option of voting Likud-light with the pretense of being centrist. Blue White is essentially a rightwing party. And there was only one winner in this election, and it’s the one that has always won: Zionism.