Credit: Tulio Bertorini, CC BY-SA 2.0

The most recent Israeli elections, like all election campaigns, can be analyzed on the tactical, short-term level or in regard to longer-term trends. On the tactical level, the elections did not result in a decisive victory to any of the political camps. This deadlock could lead to a fifth election cycle, or alternately, to the piecing together of an ideologically…

Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) centrality to the Israeli experience is a surprising development: at the time the state was founded, Israel’s Haredi community amounted to a handful, mainly from the Old Yishuv and a small number of immigrants, refugees from the European Holocaust.

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed the way Jews practice and express their Jewishness. Because the possibility exists that things will not return to the pre-pandemic norm, measures must be taken to assist Diaspora Jewry address the recent developments and their impacts, turning them into opportunities for renewal and growth. The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically changed the way Jews practice and…

Creativity means change and innovation, generating new products and ideas. In modern times, Jewish creativity exploded when discrimination ended, but creativity existed even in biblical times. Anxiety, education, and multicultural views are drivers of creativity. The COVID-19 pandemic and anti-Semitism are now increasing anxiety and are, thus, likely to boost Jewish creativity.   What is Creativity? The COVID-19 crisis could…

Blinken’s remarks on the Israeli-Palestinian issue are cause for concern.

A bizarre phenomenon of nature, known as “beaching,” occurs from time to time when large pods of cetaceans—whales or dolphins—strand themselves on dry land and effectively commit suicide. Perhaps envious of whales, our Knesset members “beached” themselves when they voted to move up their expiration date even before a third of their term had passed. By this act of suicide,…

Published in Haaretz Many in Israel are expressing concern that the administration of President-elect Joe Biden will be a repeat of the Obama administration. But Biden is not Barack Obama and 2021 is not 2009. Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris are traditional Democrats, with a fundamental commitment to Israel whose roots are in part emotional in nature (in contrast…

A 2019 Rand Corporation Study reviewed Israel-China relations from the perspective of the American national interest.