1,531 words
When I’m trying to gauge whether a person is a friend or an enemy, I usually ask him to describe to me his victory state — which is to say, what will the world look like when he has won and no longer has to engage in politics (or at least, that of the radical revolutionary kind)? (more…)
John Lyons
3,308 words
John Lyons
Balcony Over Jerusalem: A Middle East Memoir
Sydney: Harpers Collins Publishers, 2017
Dateline Jerusalem: Journalism’s Toughest Assignment
Clayton, Victoria: Monash University Publishing, 2021 (more…)
2,930 words
It’s been said that the greatest political divide in America is urban vs. rural, with Democrats controlling cities and Republicans controlling small towns and villages. Beyond this political divide, there’s also a deep cultural divide between Red and Blue America. Hell, there’s even a physical divide, manifested in the physiognomy of the people. (more…)
3,624 words
On June 8, 1967, unmarked Israeli surveillance aircraft were spotted observing the Liberty several times. Without warning, the ship was attacked by three unmarked Dassault Mirage III fighter planes, equipped with rockets, thirty-millimeter cannons, and machine guns. The tattered American flag was replaced, under ruthless and constant heavy fire, with the ship’s oversized holiday flag, seven by thirteen feet, and when this flag was destroyed, a sailor raised a third flag. There was never a time when the American flag was not flying. (more…)
2,878 words
Joan Mellen
Blood in the Water: How the US and Israel Conspired to Ambush the USS Liberty
Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books, 2018.
Joan Mellen’s Blood in the Water is the most comprehensive account available on the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty, and deserves national recognition. Ms. Mellen, a professor at Temple University, is a poor writer; she repeats herself in several places, and fails to adhere to her organizational structure. (more…)
Hannah Arendt
6,036 words
Hannah Arendt (1906-1975), the German Jewish thinker who emigrated to America from Germany in the middle of the last century, is well-known for her studies of The Origins of Totalitarianism (with its three sections on “Antisemitism,” “Imperialism,” and “Totalitarianism”) (1951), The Human Condition (1958), and her work on the American and French Revolutions, On Revolution (1963). Arendt had studied under Martin Heidegger in Marburg, under Edmund Husserl in Freiburg, and Karl Jaspers in Heidelberg before she was forced to leave Germany for France in 1933. (more…)
Reps. Rashida Tlaib (left) and Ilhan Omar, the leaders of the Democratic faction that is skeptical about America’s support for Israel.
1,804 words
Democrats are showing skepticism towards America’s Greatest Ally.™
Freshman Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, a hijab-wearing Somali, ignited debate on Israel this year simply by noting the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s (AIPAC) tremendous influence. In February, Omar tweeted that AIPAC controls politicians with its financial contributions. “It’s all about the Benjamins baby!” she said in a since-deleted tweet. (more…)