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![]() Sam Lehman-WilzigThe Times of Israel (Blogs) |
For someone who knows how to speak very well to citizenry and media alike, it is disconcerting that PM Netanyahu almost never conducts a press...
I’m willing to bet that the above title made you stop short: “what a strange question” you’re probably asking yourself – and an even weirder...
With the anti-judicial reform protest demonstrations continuing well into its fourth month (except for last week’s Gaza campaign respite), more and...
All the latest polls show that Israelis prefer Benjamin (“Benny”) Gantz to Binyamin (“Bibi”) Netanyahu as the next prime minister. Physically,...
A seemingly ancillary issue raised by the Israeli government’s recent “Judicial Reform” program is the question of whether the state can really...
Under attack for the radical “Judicial Reform” program, PM Netanyahu has once again resorted to what he knows best: throwing a derogatory nickname...
As Mark Twain supposedly said (no source was ever found): “History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes.” Take Israel’s 1948 War of...
Israelis love to complain (a Jewish trait) – about what the country doesn’t have, or what it has “too much” of. But sometimes it pays to step...
It’s now “official”: Israelis will find an overall compromise to resolve their Judicial Reform brouhaha. Thanks to whom? Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran....
The recent (temporary) victory of the protesters against the government’s Judicial Reform program was accompanied by another sort of success:...
There’s a likely, future, revolutionary scenario that few are talking about. First, some background. If there is one element of the Israeli...
With Israel’s massive, protest demonstrations and other actions already in their third month of intense activity against the government’s...
Can a democracy facing serious, domestic, Constitutional pressure, survive? Surprisingly enough, in the 21st century it depends on where the military...
As the title above could lead to misunderstanding, let me be clear up front: there is no (I repeat: no!) moral equivalence between the Israeli...
History has known exemplary orations that mark the beginning of a new era. Other “memorable” speeches signify the end of an era. Such was MK Dudi...
Years ago, when I taught the course “Introduction to Political Philosophy” at Bar-Ilan University, my biggest challenge was to convince the...
Here’s a head scratching, Israeli paradox. An increasing number of Israeli Arabs have entered the middle class in professions such as medicine...
No, that’s not a typo in the headline. Israel’s Treasury (Finance) Ministry has become disastrously bifurcated. In fact, that’s the case from...
Major political issues tend to raise profound questions of political philosophy. The current, ongoing controversy in Israel over “judicial reform”...
An increasing number of voices in Israeli society, and even within the new government, are calling for transmuting the country into an “authentic”...
In Jewish law, saving a life (pikuach nefesh) is virtually the highest value. Indeed, for this purpose we can transgress almost every commandment...
Some of Israel’s leading ultra-Orthodox and Orthodox rabbis have lately attacked homosexuality in very aggressive terms. Indeed, with Israeli...
Is bald, significant lying about one’s past or future enough to disqualify an elected official? Quite coincidentally, this question has arisen the...
The word “halakha” (Jewish Law) stems from the root “to walk.” And indeed, for the past 2000 years since it began to expand (some would say...
Imagine opening your favorite newspaper (Times of Israel?) and catching this leading headline: “9.5 million Israelis yesterday enjoyed their...
In my post last week, I argued that Israeli politics (similar to that of other countries) is driven first and foremost by “identity” and not...
With Israel’s Left recently suffering an electoral debacle, the knives are out, and punditry is running riot. The problem with almost all the...
The title of this essay might be a bit strange, but it expresses an astounding fact. This month the entire world’s population just reached the 8...