When Hamas released hostages, no one called the Hamas operatives “humanitarians.”But when Russia released a hostage, President Trump’s envoy Steven Witkoff called Vladimir Putin a humanitarian. The character of Hamas was measured by the fact that it kidnapped hostages to begin with. Putin’s character is measured by the fact that he arrested Stephen Hubbard to begin with.
We don’t know who will win in America’s upcoming midterm elections, Nov. 3. We don’t need to know who will win Israel’s national election, Oct. 27. Benjamin Netanyahu will still be prime minister. It’s not prophecy. It’s how Israel’s parliamentary system works.
Denver’s Rabbi Kagan Israel Meir Hakohen Kagan — the dean, rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Toras Chaim, whose soul ascended upward this week —bore the precise name of the Chofetz Chaim. And he was held in that same esteem in our community. Respected and beloved — universally.
Melat Kiros, Democratic candidate for Colorado Congressional District 1, told senior Politico reporter Dasha Burns on Oct. 18 that she condemns the Boulder bombing “at every juncture that I have the opportunity to.” Actually, Kiros has avoided a number of opportunities to condemn the attack, because she appears to be refusing to engage with her Jewish constituency.
The inventor of modern terrorism, the chairman of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, Yasir Arafat, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994. The justification was Arafat’s consent to the Oslo Agreements to make peace with Israel.
Three years is hardly enough time for the psychic wound to the Jewish people, the physical wound to the State of Israel, and individual wounds to bereaved and hostage families to heal. This was to be expected, though not eased thereby. Unexpected was the avalanche of anti-Jewish and anti-Israel hatred spurred by the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7, 2023.
The cards are stacked against Israel no matter what it does, but that doesn’t excuse the Israel government’s failures on the West Bank.
If journalists value the free press and are troubled by attacks on it, journalists must live up to their own standards of curiosity, rigor and accountability; they must pursue the real story and not a token one, and a substantiated story and not a sloppy one.
Each of the Four Species is symbolically connected to a part of the human body — etrog the heart, lulav the backbone, myrtle the eyes and willow the lips. Accordingly, Moving Traditions has drawn a Sukkot chart: “Embodying Sukkot.”
Omer Shem Tov, 20, was held by Hamas for 505 days in underground tunnels in Gaza, mostly in the dark. About 100 days in — he can’t be sure since he couldn’t keep track of time — the Israel Defense Forces fought above ground, where he was held, and left behind various items.
The 1970s gave us some ridiculous things, although some thought they were pretty cool back then — the fashions, the decor and this meme from the sappy movie, “Love Story”: “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.”
In the aftermath of the Six Day War, Israel took control of the Jordan River Valley and built settlements there. The Jordan River was the favored entry point of Palestinian terrorists into Israel. The Jewish settlements there — literally on the West Bank of the Jordan River — protected Israel against Palestinian terrorism.
From the micro to the macro: I pray for my heightened focus on each and every word in our prayers and for health for our whole family — and for the excision of the hatred that besets our people and the end to weapons that threaten our people.
When is an apology an apology? When it’s made by fashion designer John Galliano. When is an apology not an apology? When it’s made by US Senate Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed. He offers a non-apology apology.
“Hurt people hurt people.” This was the considered reaction of Abdul El-Sayed to the attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield last March 14. A car rammed the temple. That it killed no one was a miracle, doubly so because it rammed past the preschool.
At age 99, Holocaust survivor Cantor Zachary Kutner led yizkor with the zest of his youth. He had survived seven selections at Auschwitz yet emerged with a contagious joie d’vivre.
For those who allege Israel is committing genocide, a Jewish state and Jews living in the Middle East is the original poison.
The colonialist claim against Israel would lead to the absurdity of Zohran Mamdani and his family needing to go back to Uganda and South Africa.
For Hamas, disarmament is a euphemism. If Hamas were interested in the welfare of Gaza, and the welfare of Gazans, it would have disarmed, by itself, long ago.
And you thought politics was expensive. Next time you read how much money it took for a political candidate to win a local race, keep in mind: It was only one race. No matter how expensive, the win doesn’t hold a candle to the New York Mets, circa 2026.
A little over two decades ago, an event took place whose repercussions are felt today — in Israel, in the Middle East, and globally. At 6:40 a.m. on June 25, 2006 (Israel time), the Israel Defense Forces was informed that one of its soldiers, Gilad Shalit, had been kidnapped by Hamas and other terror groups into the Gaza Strip.
In New York City, 2026, the mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary excludes Jews, even though Jews are approximately 10% of the population. New York City welcomes Jim Crow.
Say it plain: If Israel did not have offensive weapons to counter Iran’s enormous capacity, Israel’s defensive weapons would run out. Would the United States be better off if it did not have Iron Dome, anti-missile, self-defense technology? That technology has saved thousands of lives both in Israel and around the world — including the lives of American allies outside of Israel.
David French is not a US Senator. Too bad. He has principles, unlike Senators Charles Schumer and Bernie Sanders, who are both Jewish, and who both rationalized away Graham Platner’s Nazi Totenkopf tattoo — which he kept for 18 years and which, one of his (many) ex-girlfriends told the NYT, he called “my Totenkopf.”