On Being a Progressive Zionist

Since the terrible events of October 7th, some Israelis claim there is no longer any distinction between left and right – Israelis were massacred regardless of political affiliations. At the same time, around the world  there is an increasingly binary view of political identity, which claims that a person can be either a Zionist or […]

Lebanon: A Country Held Hostage by Hizbullah, in Desperate Need of Liberation

Photo credit: REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh.

Lebanon today stands paralyzed, held hostage by a terrorist organization that has entrenched itself into the country’s political and social fabric.  The country was not always besieged by extremism and foreign interference. In the 1970s, Beirut was hailed as the “Paris of the Middle East,” a thriving hub of culture, literature, and intellectualism, home to […]

Who Will Govern Gaza?

Photo credit: REUTERS/Amir Cohen.

Large-scale Israeli military operations against Hamas in Gaza are winding down and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is focused on Hizbullah in the north. Now the Israel government and the IDF face the long-postponed question of postwar planning for Gaza. Two options are under discussion: a multinational mission or an Israeli military administration, both as […]

The Wars in Gaza and Ukraine Are the Same War

Photos: Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS, Official State Department photo by Chuck Kennedy via ABACAPRESS.COM.

The deep partisan divisions in the United States affect many public issues, including the ongoing wars in Europe and the Middle East. The Israeli war of self-defense in Gaza commands strong support among Republicans but elicits less enthusiasm among Democrats. By contrast, Democrats generally endorse Ukraine’s war of self-defense against Russia, following the lead of […]

Strategic Implications of Ukraine’s Kursk Incursion

Lenin statue damaged by fighting in Sudzha, Kursk region, August 16, 2024. Photo credit: Chubotin Kirill/Ukrinform/ABACA via Reuters Connect.

Beijing has argued for a truce and negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv since the Russian invasion began two and a half years ago. Ukraine’s occupation of parts of Russia’s Kursk region could lend new urgency to the Chinese position.  If the Ukrainian offensive is not quickly and completely repulsed by Moscow, the Ukrainian bargaining positions […]

The Hostages

A protest in support of the hostages in Gaza, Tel Aviv, Israel, September 4, 2024. Photo credit: REUTERS/Florion Goga.

There are two sets of hostages in Gaza and both require American leadership to be free. Less than two weeks after their emotional address at the Democratic National Convention on behalf of their son, the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin were told that he was found dead in a tunnel below Rafah.  Hersh was one of […]

Interview with Gadi Taub

Gadi Taub

Gadi Taub: I believed in Oslo [the 1990s Palestinian-Israeli peace process] because I imagined the Palestinians to be like us. I imagined their national liberation movement to be a national liberation movement just like ours. Then reality just exploded outside my window. Tel Aviv is small. So from where I lived back then, when a […]

Interview with Shadow Fatah Leader Samer Sinijlawi

Ksenia Svetlova: You see how time and again people in the West Bank and in Gaza, even more so in the West Bank than in Gaza, say yes, we support Hamas. Samer Sinijlawi: I would not rely on polls very much during these days, not to test the feelings of the Palestinians and not to […]

Out of Division, Strength

Photos: REUTERS/Jonathan Drake, Shutterstock.

In the tumult that always accompanies a US presidential election – with each side fearing the end of “democracy” or “America” if the other side prevails – some Americans have lost sight of what admirers see clearly from afar: A remarkable, resilient country on which turns the hopes and inspirations of the world. Every US presidential election is billed as “the most consequential […]

Turkey’s Threat to Block NATO Cooperation with Israel

Photo credit: Beata Zawrzel via Reuters Connect.

On July 12, at the NATO summit in Washington, Turkey threatened to take steps to exclude Israel from all cooperation with NATO. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that “until comprehensive, sustainable peace is established in Palestine, attempts at cooperation with Israel within NATO will not be approved by Turkey.” This threat should be challenged by […]