I never met Mitchell “Mike” Flint, but before I had even heard of him, I knew about him and his legendary sense of being on the right side of history in the establishment of the State of Israel. When I read about Mitchell, Jewish and Israeli newspapers were filled with accounts of his life in obituaries that heaped praise on his heroism, and that of others like him. There’s a Jewish tradition to comfort the mourning surviving family members of one who dies and I was able to connect with one of Mitchell’s sons, to express my condolences and thanks,…
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Each year I try to think of how to depict Memorial Day in Israel in a way that’s meaningful and juxtapose it in relation to how it’s observed in the US. Many thoughts race through my head. And each year I see Memorial Day through a different prism. This year’s prism is through adopting a chayal boded, a lone soldier, who moved to Israel from the US alone. His home is our home, and while we don’t get to see him every day because he’s in the army, his experiences trickle down and provide a perspective through which we look…
by Jonathan Feldstein Seeing trees blossom and grow fruit in the Land of Israel as I leave my house every late winter and early spring morning makes me realize another way in which I am grateful to be able to live and raise my family here. When we built our house, it was important not only to plant trees, which Jews have done for more than 100 years, and where Israel has become the only country in the world to enter the 21st-century with more trees than it had at the beginning of the 20th century, but also to realize…
Reading about current events and the renewed Gaza demonstration incited by Hamas, I’m reminded of the well-known story recounting the wisdom of King Solomon (1 Kings 3:16-28) judging to whom a baby belonged that two women each claimed as theirs. The women came to Solomon to adjudicate their dispute. One of the woman’s babies had died, and each claimed the surviving baby as hers. 25 “Cut the baby in half! That way each of you can have part of him.” 26 “Please don’t kill my son,” the baby’s mother screamed. “Your Majesty, I love him very much, but give him…
In a seven-decade career packed with historic triumphs and painful setbacks, Shimon Peres took pride in always looking forward. Now, in a memoir completed weeks before his death last year at the age of 93, the former Israeli president and prime minister offers his trademark optimistic blueprint for future leadership – along with some subtle criticism of the country’s current leader. The book offers a rare glimpse into key chapters of Peres’ extraordinary life – from his early days as a protégé of Israel’s founding father David Ben-Gurion, to his covert efforts to smuggle arms to the new state and build its…
Every individual youth, regardless of background, has a chance to be selected for the most prestigious and elite Israel Defense Forces units. By Inbal Arieli While high school seniors in other countries are preoccupied with university-related decisions, Israeli seniors are preparing for mandatory service in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) – approximately three years for men, two for women – and competing for elite units. In a way, their military service is a culmination of their childhood and youth experiences. UNCOVER ISRAEL – Get the ISRAEL21c Weekly Edition free by email Sign Up Now! For some youth, the IDF serves as…
Irina Bokova, the director-general of UNESCO, who last year passed a motion denying the Jewish connection to Jerusalem, shocked many last week when she publicly affirmed the Jews’ historic connection to the Holy City. “In the Torah, Jerusalem is the capital of King David, where Solomon built the Temple and placed the Ark of the Covenant,” Bokova reminded the European Parliament in a session last Thursday. “The protection of the heritage of Jerusalem is part of a broader vision for peace and the fight against all forms of denial of Jewish history, delegitimization of Israel, and anti-Semitism,” she continued. No…
A Palestinian who offered assistance at the scene of a July 1 terrorist attack in Israel, in which a rabbi was killed, has been dismissed from his public service job in the Palestinian Authority. J., whose full name has not been made public, was the first of two Palestinians who provided assistance to Rabbi Michael Mark, who was shot by Palestinian terrorists while driving on Route 60, an intercity road across Israel, Judea and Samaria between Nazareth in the North and Beersheba in the South. Mark’s wife and one of his daughters were wounded in the attack. The Palestinian man…
During a campaign interview this week, presumptive Republican candidate for the US presidency, Donald Trump, used Israel as an example of the kind of racial and religious security profiling he feels is necessary to keep America safe. “I think profiling is something that we’re going to have to start thinking about as a country,” the real estate mogul said. “Other countries do it, you look at Israel and you look at others, they do it and they do it successfully. And I hate the concept of profiling, but we have to start using common sense and we have to use…
Monday March 21, 2016 U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) God bless AIPAC. I’m thrilled to be with you here today and let me say at the outset, perhaps to the surprise of a previous speaker, Palestine has not existed since 1948. On Wednesday night of this week, in synagogues across the world, Jewish people will read the Megillah, which tells the story of Purim, the miraculous rescue of the Jewish people from the hands of a wicked Persian king. When the evildoer Haman plots to kill the Jews, he describes them as a nation that is scattered and spread out.…