It appears that Israel has not learned from its bitter experience in Lebanon, or in Gaza itself. Installing a new power in the Gaza Strip instead of working with the Palestinian Authority could come at a high cost in the future.
With the opening of aid centers, Shin Bet proposed using local gunmen – it worked until Sunday’s incident. But even those who want the Palestinian Authority to replace Hamas must recognize that without dismantling the terror group, no force will step in – and now someone is doing it.
The mindset that led to October 7 also led to World War II and the Holocaust: the belief that our enemy thinks as rationally as we do. We are fighting to ensure Israel exists for Diaspora Jews as well. A response to Bernard-Henri Lévy.
October 7th shattered American Jews' sense of belonging as violent attacks surge from Colorado to Washington, leaving them asking what it truly means to be Jewish in America today.
I arrived in Denver 15 years ago. I always felt safe. The children go to public school wearing necklaces with their names in Hebrew. But now the fear is tangible.
Trump’s recent Middle East policies challenge the other pillar of the unique Israeli-US foundation – shared interests. Prioritizing American national interests, he has sidelined the US-Israel bond. Unlike his first term, today’s dynamics reveal a stark divergence.
The Ten Commandments remain humanity's ultimate moral compass while human-made laws shift with political winds. When God wanted to give the Torah to Israel, He requested guarantors, as before signing a loan. The children of Israel offered various distinguished guarantors, but only when it was suggested that "our children will be guarantors for us" did the Holy One agree.
Shavuot’s date is a mystery even today. The Torah states that the giving of the Torah occurred "in the third month after the children of Israel left Egypt," meaning Sivan, but it offers no specific day.
Israel quickly accepted the proposal put forward by US envoy Steve Witkoff, but things remain unclear on the Hamas side. While there’s no room for over-optimism, signs of the terrorist organization’s collapse continue to mount.
Our Israeli identity is incomplete without traversing the millennia of Jewish creativity, from the foundational five books of Moses (Torah), through the Oral Torah, and into today's burning current events.
