Sheldon Adelson is Israel's reigning newspaper baron. He owns one, Israel HaYom, which is the largest daily in the country and is known as Bibi's mouthpiece. It's nickname is "Bibi-Times." He also bought two other failing papers, Maariv and Makor Rishon. The latter was formerly owned by a settler tycoon, and retains its ultra-Orthodox/settler ideological … [Read more...]
Western Wall: Nexus for Gender and Religious-Nationalist Conflict
This week, Israel's far-right government acceded to its ultra-Orthodox coalition partners and torpedoed a compromise years in the making, which had been intended to offer Israeli women a means of worshipping at the Western Wall in an egalitarian manner. Women of the Wall have long protested the segregation and second-class status of women who choose to pray … [Read more...]
Sean Spicer’s Historical Revisionism: Nazis ‘Didn’t Use Chemical Weapons’
"That's another fine kettle of fish you've gotten us into this time, Ollie" --Stan Laurel Poor Sean Spicer. No sooner has the brouhaha died down over his previous major gaffe than a new one breaks wind. Today, Spicer made the inevitable error of confirming Godwin's Law in a big way: seeking to paint Bashar al-Assad as the worst dictator in the … [Read more...]
Aliyah Down from France, U.S.; Social Rifts Widening Within Israel
Haaretz published new figures concerning Israeli immigration which show that in the first three months of 2017, aliyah decreased markedly from both the U.S. and France, two of the largest Jewish Diaspora communities. It was down by 25% in the U.S. and 29% in France. This contrasts with vocal predictions from Israeli leaders that not only the French … [Read more...]