Bordering on Normal
Israel is bordered by Lebanon and Syria in the north, Jordan in the east, the Mediterranean Sea in the west, and Egypt in the south. No map, however, conveys the…
Elliot Jager
Israel’s ‘Pearl Harbor’
Spies warned that conflict was imminent. Enemy troops were visibly massing. Yet, when the attack came on October 6, 1973—Yom Kippur…
Israel’s Precarious Situation
On the night of October 24, 2019, all of Israel’s television news programs led with the same foreboding report: Israel’s…
The Great Divide
Why should Israelis and American Jews see eye to eye? Americans and Israelis are not alike. They have different concerns, interests, lifestyles, and even a different calendar…
Israel’s Broken Political System
Many Americans scratch their heads trying to figure out Israel’s political system. Here’s an overview of it from someone who truly understands it…
Six Days In June
When the 1967 Six-Day War erupted, the Jewish state had just celebrated 19 years of independence. Levi Eshkol, 71, was both prime minister and defense minister. Eshkol had replaced the legendary David Ben-Gurion in June 1963. Filling Ben-Gurion’s shoes…
Fifty Years Later
The Six-Day War begot the hackneyed catchphrase Israeli-occupied West Bank. Mindless talk of the “occupation” generally goes hand-in-hand with unvarnished ignorance or a willful disregard of the area’s strategic value.
Inside Yad Vashem
The idea of a Zionist memorial to the victims of Hitler’s war against the Jews came to Mordechai Shenhavi (1900– 1983) before anyone even grasped the horrifying scale of the Holocaust. In August 1942…
Remembering Gush Katif: 10 Years Later
On Wednesday morning, August 17, 2005, some 10,000 Israeli soldiers fanned out across 21 Jewish communities in the Gaza Strip. Their mission, following the Israeli army’s order eight days earlier, was…
Gush Katif Under the Palestinians
Gaza’s Jewish settlements were situated on about 30 percent of the Gaza Strip’s land. Former World Bank Group President James Wolfensohn intended that once the last Israeli left…
Origins of the Pullout
The concept of Israel leaving the Gaza Strip and receiving nothing in return was first floated unofficially by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in an address to an academic conference…
‘Jerusalem of Gold’
Few songs have epitomized the soulful pull of Jerusalem better than Naomi Shemer’s “Jerusalem of Gold.” Its debut at the Israel Song Festival was broadcast live on the country’s…
Promise Betrayed
In 1917, during World War I, the British captured Jerusalem from the Ottoman Turks and governed it from December 1917 until May 1948 when, depleted and detested by Jews and…
A City Divided
On June 30, 1967, the first Friday after the official reunification of Jerusalem, Muslim and Christian Arabs—whom Jordan had banned from the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque, and…
Jerusalem’s Old City
Though I’ve lived in Jerusalem almost 17 years, sometimes I still find the place bewildering. People who don’t live here probably think primarily of the Old City and its…
What and Where Is East Jerusalem?
When we bring visitors to the Sherover-Haas Promenade in our Talpiot neighborhood, with its magnificent vista of the old and new Jerusalem skyline, they often ask…
Mechina Academies: Israel’s Gap-Year Phenomenon
It’s still dark in Upper Nazareth as Nadav Cohen, 19, delivers a pithy, inspirational talk to his comrades—choosing Bob Dylan’s The Times They Are A-Changin’…
A Letter From Jerusalem: Survival Strategies for Ordinary Living
Ever been to an outdoor market or a museum in Jerusalem? Journalist Elliot Jager takes you on a stroll through the city to see what everyday life is like for people who live there.
Israel’s Long and Hard War of Independence
Despite its military victories, Israel still does not enjoy peace. So the country’s anniversary celebration took a different turn this year—for a significant reason.
Security Fence
To protect itself from car bombs and suicide bombers, Israel is constructing a security barrier that runs roughly along the perimeters of the 1949 armistice lines. Unfortunately, huge chunks of the barrier…
Order of Battle
Maj.-Gen. Gadi Shamni, Ehud Olmert’s former military aide, was appointed head of Central Command in June 2007 by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi.
The Home Front
Maj.-Gen. Yair Golan is the recently appointed commander of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Home Front, replacing Yitzhak Gershon who stepped down following harsh criticism of his command’s performance during the Second Lebanon War in 2006.
China & Israel: Inscrutable Relations
Which way does China swing when it comes to Israel? In the past, China has fully supported the Arabs. But it may be moving in another direction.
How China Shifted Toward the PLO
Almost as soon as Jerusalem’s foreign policy apparatus was up and running after the 1948 War of Independence, Israel sought diplomatic relations with China. Since Washington didn’t establish formal ties with Beijing…
The New Wall of Jerusalem
A top Jerusalem Post writer gives you an insider’s look at Jewish life in Israel’s City of Gold and what many feel is the only viable way to protect it.
Traveling the Fence Route
On a hot, dry, Friday morning in July, my wife, Lisa, and I traveled the entire length of the route of the fence that will envelop metropolitan Jerusalem. Starting in Gilo, we headed east toward…