Sorrow and Hope

Dispatch from Jerusalem

Rogue Iran

Over the past few months, Iranian provocation in the Middle East topped headlines worldwide. Tensions have been high since the US withdrew from the 2015 nuclear accord a year ago—and then instituted harsher sanctions in a bid to force Tehran to abandon its nuclear ambitions and toe the line. As the economic vice grip tightened,

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Bluetooth Beacons Prevent Items from Getting Lost

First World sufferers can rest assured knowing one of their biggest problems is well on its way to being solved: lost socks. With new Bluetooth-enabled beacons the size of a postage stamp (for anyone under 20, that’s about the size of the top half of your thumb), frustrated launders can now track their missing socks

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All-in-one Aura Air Intelligently Manages Indoor Air Quality

The seed for the idea was sown 20 years ago when teenage brothers Eldar and Aviad Shnaiderman helped their father with his air conditioner and maintenance business. “We saw what was happening on the inside of the units, and we thought, wow, it’s so dirty,” Aviad told Israel21c. “This is what we’re breathing?” Their experience

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A Permanent Solution for ADHD Sufferers?

An estimated 51.1 million children globally suffer from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a brain condition marked by impaired concentration, hyperactivity and impulsivity with no regards to consequences. While there is at present no cure for ADHD, treatment options like medication, psychotherapy, counseling and lifestyle changes can help reduce the symptoms and improve day-to-day functionality—with

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Anti-Semitism: The Chilling New Normal

Historian Paul Johnson has said, “What strikes the historian surveying anti-Semitism worldwide over more than two millennia is its fundamental irrationality. It seems to make no sense, any more than malaria or meningitis make sense.” It goes by many names: bigotry, discrimination, prejudice, intolerance. Most often, it falls in that broad category of “racism,” which

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Unlivable: Israel’s Efforts to Prevent a Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza

In August 2012 the United Nations (UN) published a report painting a picture of the dismal future awaiting the people of Gaza. Come 2020, the document said, the coastal enclave would be unlivable. In the seven years since the UN tabled its report, the situation deteriorated almost beyond predictions. Some 2.1 million people live in

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A Singular Solution: A One-state Approach to the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict

The two-state solution sounds final—the long-sought answer to the Middle East’s most intractable riddle. But what if it’s not the only “solution” to the problem? What if it’s not even a plausible one? What alternative can there be to the “solution”? There is another possibility, hovering as both a promise and a threat: the one-state

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Life on the Frontlines: Coping under Fire

The siren sounds. You have 15 seconds to reach the bomb shelter. How fast can you run? One, two, three…Were you eating dinner with your family? Driving home from work? In the shower? Perhaps you were asleep? Four, five, six…Run! Run to the nearest bomb shelter. Do you know where it is? Of course you

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Breaking the Barrier: How Israel and Hamas Communicate

“Israel, by virtue of its being Jewish and of having a Jewish population, defies Islam and the Muslims.” So reads Article 28 of the charter of Hamas, the terror organization in political and military control of the Gaza Strip. The charter also reads, “Israel will rise and will remain erect until Islam eliminates it as

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V is for Victory?

August 27, 2014 was a day of great celebration in the Gaza Strip. The day before, a cease-fire agreement signaled the end of seven weeks of fighting between Israel and Hamas, and the terror group ruling the coastal enclave had planned a rally to celebrate the war’s outcome. Throngs of jubilant Gazans—decked out in the

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