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Biden's terrible turn

(Originally published in The Times of Israel) President Biden’s initial responses to Hamas’ atrocities demonstrated moral clarity, strategic acumen, and clear support for the victim of the attack, Israel. Now, either from strategic errors or out of political concerns, or both, Biden is making some very serious mistakes, both on policy and politics. The Biden Administration is wrong to pressure Israel not to pursue and eliminate Hamas in Rafah, the last refuge of the surviving four or five Hamas battalions. Anything short of the total elimination of Hamas militarily will be claimed as a victory by Hamas, and it will be seen that way in the region.  Israel will have lost its most essential defensive tool: deterrence. The attacks, which went on long before the October 7 th attack and which momentarily got the world’s attention on October 7th, will resume.  Israelis will lose faith in the army’s ability to protect them. The south as well as the north of the country will be uninhabitable. 
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Sanders, Trump, Biden: The U.S., Israel, and the Jews

I cast my ballot in the California primary.  I voted for Joe Biden.  It wasn't the happiest or most enthusiastic vote I ever cast.  But it could be one of the most important. Biden is a bit past his prime.  I don't agree with him on every issue.  But he is a competent, decent man who will govern from the center/left and will act responsibly, and who will surround himself with competent, reasonable people. In contrast, the other two candidates with a realistic chance of taking the oath on January 20th are adverse to the interests of the United States, of American Jews, and of Israel. As Yossi Klein Halevi has written, a race between Sanders and Trump would be a nightmare for American Jews.     Both men are radical, polarizing figures.  History shows that Jews don't do well in radical, polarized societies. Wittingly or unwittingly,  Trump and Sanders are working in tandem to make Israel into a polarizing, partisan issue.  Both are trying to turn the Democratic Party a
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Miracles--It's the season

"Israel is on pace for a 20 percent surge in immigration in 2019 over the year before, according to new figures released on Monday by the Central Bureau of Statistics." "According to the bureau’s figures, 85% of immigrants reported satisfaction with their lives in Israel, which was lower than the 92% reported among other Israeli Jews." https://www.timesofisrael.com/immigration-to-israel-surging-asylum-seekers-no-longer-arriving-state-report/ From 600,000 Jewish residents in 1947 to over 6.5 million today, Israel is an unbelievable success story. Jews who had no certain refuge, who had no place to call home, who were at the mercy of others for 2,000 years, and who suffered terribly for it, have re-created our nation in the land in which we are an indigenous people. It's a story virtually unique in history. And it includes the miracle of taking a language that was relegated to prayer books, synagogues, and study rooms and making it into a flourishing langu
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Bibi and the Nukes

It is long past time for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to leave office. He’s got more baggage than Samsonite. Among many people there is now an unfortunate knee-jerk reaction against Netanyahu on virtually every issue he raises. It is not always deserved, even though there is a good argument that he contributed to this near Pavlovian reaction. Netanyahu has acted responsibly on some issues, particularly when it comes to the security of Israel which, for understandable reasons, is a very high priority here. For example, during the last Gaza War, undertaken to stop the missiles being fired into Israel and to stop the tunnels used to terrorize the south and to attempt to kidnap soldiers, there was much pressure from the right to go further into Gaza and to overthrow Hamas. Netanyahu did what was necessary for Israel’s defense but he resisted the pressure to go any further, knowing that it would create an untenable situation. He took a lot of flak for, in the v
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