Guest Commentaries | Israel's News & Views Blog

Category Archives: Guest Commentaries

Posts by guest contributers, whether political commentary or personal experiences.

Rioting Peasants Shake Up the Royal Court

10-May-09

The Israelite king, Benjamin I, was deeply troubled. Following his economic decrees from the Royal Court in Jerusalem, his loyal subjects were on the verge of rioting – even to the point of marching on the Royal Palace with buckets of tar and sacks of feathers.
“What have I done to deserve this outrage?”, he [...]

Also filed in Daily Israeli | Tagged economic crisis, Humor, Politics, recession | Comments (0) »

Zvi Sela & The Good Sheikh Yassin

19-Apr-09

If any of you read an article in Friday’s Haaretz about an interview with former police psychologist Zvi Sela, now turned writer, you may have been as surprised as we were to read Sela’s remarks about deceased Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, whom Sela met with many times during Yassin’s imprisonment in Hadarim Prison, south [...]

Also filed in People | Tagged Danny Haran, Hamas, Hezbollah, Nasrallah, Palestinians, Samir Kuntar, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Yasser Arafat, Zvi Sela | Comments (0) »

Don’t take the Sun for granted

13-Apr-09

Have you ever wondered why the sun is considered as being so important that it has often been worshiped as having god-like powers – even like being a god? The answer is simply that because the sun’s importance to life on earth is so obvious, since life itself is impossible without it’s light and [...]

Also filed in Video Log | Tagged bible, book of Genesis, God, passover, sun | Comments (0) »

Gilad Shalit’s 1,000th Day

23-Mar-09

“Only a miracle ” now appears to enable captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit to soon be released from his nearly 3 year captivity by Hamas militants in Gaza.
Shalit, whose army armor corps unit was attacked on June 25, 2006 while on patrol alongside Israel’s Kerem Shalom border area; was taken back to Gaza [...]

Also filed in Daily Israeli, People | Tagged Gilad Shalit | Comments (2) »

Hopes rise for release of captive Israeli soldier

22-Feb-09

There appears to be increased optimism that captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit may soon be released from his nearly 3 year captivity by Hamas militants in Gaza. Shalit, whose army armor corps unit was attacked on June 25, 2006 while on patrol alongside Israel’s Kerem Shalom border area; was taken back to Gaza by his [...]

Also filed in Daily Israeli | Tagged Cast Lead, Ehud Olmert, Gilad Shalit, Hamas | Comments (1) »

Opposition Reconstruction

11-Feb-09

These were strange elections. The “Right Block” (of political parties) and the “Center Block” have achieved a problematic tie, while the “Left Block” has been brutally crushed by its (lack of) voters.
Ehud Barak, a former Prime Minister, current Minister of Defense, and chairman of the Avoda (Israeli Labor Party), was the first party leader to [...]

Also filed in In the news, Political Crap | Tagged Avoda, Coalition, Elections, Meretz, Opposition, Zehava Gal-On | Comments (4) »

Sexist Politics

21-Sep-08

Ehud Barak is playing hard to get with Tzipi Livni, being the last politician to avoid her so far. But we’ve seen how hard to get he had been with Olmert, despite all his promises to resign the government. (hard as a *****)

Image via Wikipedia

What has suddenly changed? Tzipi will proceed exactly where Olmert left [...]

Also filed in In the news, People, Political Crap | Tagged Ehud Barak, Ehud Olmert, Kadima, Paul McCartney, Sexism, Shaul Mofaz, Tzipi Livni | Comments (2) »

Jenin is Back in Business

05-Jun-08

The second Intifada, which erupted seven years ago, had developed into the worst period of violence in the history of Jewish-Arabs relations in Israel. In September 2000, Ariel Sharon’s controversial visit to the Temple Mount was followed by Palestinian riots and protests in Jerusalem.
During the riots in Jerusalem, 7 Arabs civilians were shot to death [...]

Also filed in In the news | Tagged Ariel Sharon, Israel, Jerusalem, News, Palestinian, USA | Comments (1) »

The Kotel: My Personal Reflections

02-Jun-08

With Jerusalem Day being on Monday, June 2nd, I thought it would be nice to pay a visit to the Holy City, especially to what is known as Ha’Kotel Ha’Ma’a’ravi — or the Western Wall to non-Hebrew speakers. Accompanied by my wife and my mother-in-law, we set out for Jerusalem on Tuesday, a week before [...]

Also filed in Trips in Israel | Tagged Israel, Jerusalem, Palestinian, USA | Comments (2) »

Social Health

30-May-08

Stephen Wilshire, an autistic savant from England has visited Israel this week. Being an autistic savant is a mental condition that describes an autistic person who is exceptionally gifted. The autistic savants comprise around 10 percent of people who are generally diagnosed with autism. Autistic savants often exhibit rare talent for numbers like in the [...]

Also filed in Daily Israeli, Education | Tagged Israel, Jerusalem, News, USA | Comments (0) »

Hurray! Peace with Syria – Political Commentary by Ashley

22-May-08

Wait a second – Weren’t we at war with them? What does it mean to announce peace talks with a regime that we vastly outgun in military matters and totally humiliate on an economic level (Israel’s per capita GDP is $30,000 and climbing; Syria’s is just scraping $4,000)?
Israel recently entered Syrian airspace after disabling Syria’s [...]