Sorrow and Hope

Current Issues

Government Report on UK Anti-Semitism “Does Not Pull Its Punches”

October 20, 2016

Friday, 21 October 2016 | From critiques of the Labor political party to Twitter, a report on anti-Semitism from the British Parliament offered a strikingly honest look at the bias against Jews in the United Kingdom, while sounding the alarm about where that prejudice is most troubling—including the percentage of the nation’s population. “While the

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God Answers Prayer

  Friday, 26 August 2016 | For a number of years the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanction) movement was like a pesky fly buzzing about the heads of Israeli politicians… irritating but certainly not life-threatening. But, as the movement grew and garnered global support, that perception began to change. Gradually it became apparent that if

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To Kippah or NOT to Kippah

“Cover your head in order that the fear of heaven may be upon you” (Shabbat 156b). In the religiously, culturally and ethnically diverse regions of the Jewish Diaspora (the Jewish population outside Israel), kippot (plural of kippah) are often worn simply as outward symbols of Jewishness. On the other hand, Jewish sages teach that the

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Second-Class Citizens? Israel’s Legal Realities and Responsibilities in Judea–Samaria

What to do when nearly 400,000 of your people are legally disenfranchised from other citizens? That is the question that faces Israel regarding those living in Judea and Samaria (commonly referred to as the West Bank). Currently Judea and Samaria are not considered part of Israeli territory to which Israeli civil law applies. At the

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31 Countries Adopt New Definition of Anti-Semitism

Thirty one countries voted to adopt a new working definition of anti-Semitism, a move hailed by human rights activists as an important milestone in countering hatred. The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance [IHRA]—an intergovernmental group comprised of 31 nations—adopted a definition based on the 2005 European Monitoring Centre (EUMC) Working Definition, which describes anti-Semitism as “a

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The World’s Plan for Israel

Global leaders are coming into agreement with a French proposal to revive peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. The proposal is based on the adoption of a 10-point initiative, authored by Saudi Arabia in 2002, which calls “for an Israeli withdrawal from all of the West Bank [Judea and Samaria], Gaza Strip and east

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Warming Up: Regional Tensions Thawing the Cold Israel–Egypt Peace

Ever since the days of the patriarch Abraham thousands of years ago, Israel and Egypt have had a complicated relationship. At times, they have been deadly enemies—at times they have been allies. And in the last three dozen years, they have been at peace. It is sometimes called a “cold peace”—but recently there have been

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An Intifada by Any Name

From September 2015 to the writing of this article in April 2016, 34 people have been killed across the nation of Israel in what some are calling “random acts of terror.” Another 413 have been wounded, some seriously, including four Palestinians who were mistaken for Israelis. There have been 213 stabbing attacks, 83 shootings and

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Dangerous, Defiant, and Declining?

A Look at Saudi Arabia and Their Fight with Iran Money can’t buy you happiness, but it can buy you guns. The Saudis have been spending plenty of their oil money on weapons, wars and more. There are even rumors the Saudis have already put money towards nuclear weapons. Yet, time and again, the Saudis

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David’s Sling: Will Handle Multiple Threats

March 31, 2016

During Operation Protective Edge the world became aware of Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system used to intercept and destroy short-range rockets, artillery shells and mortars to protect its civilians. In just 50 days, Hamas militants fired nearly 5,000 rockets and mortars from the Gaza Strip at Israeli targets. The Iron Dome proved invaluable, achieving

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