Today, two days after I posted a lament about the rightward tilt of Israel’s Labor Party, Ehud Barak announced that he was quitting Labor and forming a new party, “Atzmaut,” that would be “centrist, Zionist and democratic.” He took four Knesset members with him. Good riddance. While this blog obviously doesn’t keep track of the […]
Ehud Barak
Ehud Barak finally uses the A-word
Ehud Barak has now joined an illustrious throng of Israelis who are coming to terms with the fact that unless there are dramatic changes in the status quo, Israel will become an apartheid state. When I read about that, I wondered how many demonstrators would have stalked him had he done a book tour and […]
“Stevey reads Ha’aretz? Oh no!”
Q: Sorry to wake you. We have an emergency A: It’s OK. I’m here to serve the community. Q: It’s about Stevey, my son. A: So sorry. He’s sick? Q: No, he’s started to read Ha’aretz on-line. A: Oh, no! A: He’s started to surf the Web and find out what’s really going on. And […]
More challenges for the Gaza assault’s spin machine
Yesterday, I reported on the frenetic efforts of Israel’s p.r. volunteers to defend what most of the world views as an over-reaction to Hamas’ provocations. Now there are even more troubles ahead, because the would-be spinmeisters are getting different messages about the goals of “Operation Cast Lead.” I bet you a hundred dollars that, right […]
What would you do if you were Israel’s Defense Minister?
There has been no shortage of commentary about the prospects –or lack therof–for successful negotiations after Annapolis. I have yet to read much that is not predictable. But Yediot Aharonot’s military correspondent, Alex Fishman, wrote an original piece today about the concrete challenges facing Israel’s security establishment. It is, of course, politically incorrect in some […]