Archive by Author: Ralph Seliger

This post would have been more timely if written last year in response to Stephen Shalom’s article, “Looking Back at the June 1967 Middle East War,” in the summer 2017 issue of New Politics; but it’s still appropriate a year later for the 51st anniversary of the Six Day War (June 5-10, 1967).  It reminds […]

This should be entirely a good news story for lovers of Israel; sadly, it cannot be.  Two days after Israel’s Netta Barzilai’s first-place finish in the Eurovision songfest, there’s the double whammy of the worst day of carnage at the Gaza-Israel border, as oblivious Israelis and Americans celebrate the official transfer of the US embassy […]

The detail in Peter Beinart’s analysis of how grim things are in Gaza, and how Israel could reasonably ease up to make some things better, is of great value (“American Jews Have Abandoned Gaza — And the Truth“).  Considering what Hamas is like and much Palestinian opinion and behavior, however, it’s hard for most Israelis […]

April 3, 2018: I listened to two conference calls in succession with Israeli journalists, mainly on the Gaza situation: The first was with Haviv Rettig Gur, a correspondent and analyst for the Times of Israel, in a “webinar” hosted by the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA). The second was the Israel Policy Forum (IPF) […]

We should be astounded and saddened by this headline at the website of New York’s Jewish Week: Dem. Primary Could Split Jews Over Israel (with this descriptive subhead: “Cuomo-Nixon race will likely force debate over West Bank policy”).  Cynthia Nixon, the actress and liberal political activist who is challenging New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo for the […]

On March 21st, New York public radio (WNYC) talk show host Brian Lehrer, interviewed  Jonathan Weisman, deputy Washington editor of The New York Times, on his new book, (((Semitism))): Being Jewish in America in the Age of Trump (St. Martin’s Press, 2018).  A couple of days before, he was interviewed by Terry Gross on her NPR program, “Fresh Air”: Attacked By […]

As the son of Yosef Burg, a founder of Israel and leader of the then-moderate religious-Zionist party who served as a cabinet minister in virtually all Israeli governments from 1951 until 1986, Avraham Burg* may be considered a veritable “prince” of Zionism. The younger Burg was also once at the pinnacle of power in Israel, serving variously as: the […]