NORTH AFRICAN immigrants on the periphery of French cities are torching them. North African immigrants on the periphery of Israel this week carried out a democratic revolution in our country.In the Labor Party primaries, the members of “Eastern” descent voted massively for Amir Peretz and defeated Shimon Peres, who enjoyed the support of the upper … Read more
“Thus saith the Lord: For three transgressions of the Labor Party, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof…” If the prophet Amos were living today, one of the chapters of his book would probably have begun with these words. But the transgressions of the party since the 1967 Six Day War … Read more
A twenty-minute drive is all that separates the Israeli Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem from that of the Palestinian President in Ramallah. But for all practical purposes, the Muqata’ah in Ramallah might as well be on the moon. The day before yesterday, Ariel Sharon declared for the who-knows-how-many-th time, that he had cancelled his planned … Read more
Lecture in Berlin, 20.10.05Conference on “Raising Children without Violence”–Some years ago I talked with a young Israeli writer. I was struck by the fact that in spite of being very successful and acclaimed by the critics, and that at a relatively early age, she somehow exuded an air of insecurity. When I asked her about … Read more
A few days ago, at a conference in Europe, I met a charming young lady. Intelligent, well educated, versed in several languages, and, well, very attractive. After a few hours of shopping, she was as elegant as a model, dressed in the very latest fashion. She happens to be a Shiite from Baghdad, where she … Read more
He is a familiar hero in literature: the compulsive gambler who hits a lucky streak. With every turn of the roulette wheel, the heap of jetons in front of him grows bigger. He could leave the table, exchange the jetons for money and live on it happily ever after. But he cannot stop. He must … Read more
The contest between Binyamin Netanyahu and Ariel Sharon in the Likud Central Committee resembled a duel between two gladiators in the Roman arena. The more so since many of the Committee members behaved like the Roman rabble who screamed, rioted and demanded blood. In this fight, Netanyahu resembled the Retiarius, a gladiator who had nothing … Read more
In “The Second Coming”, the Irish poet W. B. Yeats described chaos thus: “Turning and turning in the widening gyre / The falcon cannot hear the falconer; / Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; / Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, / The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere / The ceremony of … Read more
One day Joha, the hero of popular Arab humor, sold his home. The price he demanded was ridiculously low and he had only one condition: “on one of the walls there is a nail that I am much attached to. I don’t want to sell it.” The buyer readily agreed. Who cares about a nail? … Read more
The day before yesterday the Haaretz headline screamed: “Doctors: Arafat died of Aids or poisoning”. Aids appeared in first place.For dozens of years, the Israeli media has conducted, with government inspiration, a concentrated campaign against the Palestinian leader (with the sole exception of Haolam Hazeh, the news magazine I edited). Millions of words of hatred … Read more