Israel
The World’s Biggest Stage
When the European Broadcasting Union rejected two songs Israel submitted for the 2024 Eurovision, saying its references to Oct. 7 were too political, President Isaac Herzog intervened and told the composers to change the lyrics. For 51 years, the song contest has been a critical component of Israel’s public image.
Among the Drowning
I walk past beds of children in bandages, children with metal rods poking out of tiny legs and arms, children with burns, children with necrotic tissue. Like many others, I watched Gaza’s horror unfold on TV and social media and lacked the words to express it. I am here; I am seeing it for myself. I understand so much more, and yet I find myself even more incapable of articulating the extent of what I am witnessing.
The Cost of Leaving Gaza
Palestinians desperate to leave Gaza have one way out, through the Rafah crossing. But Egyptian brokers require a bribe of up to $10,000 per person, while Israeli authorities demand astronomical fees from registered citizens for their legal right to repatriation. The bureaucracy takes weeks, the bombs fall and hunger rages.
Making It Work From the River to the Sea
Negotiations and wars have demonstrably failed to bring any resolution to Israel and Palestine. But while history is littered with failed partitions, there is another way. The challenge is to decouple peace from land, and recognize that security depends not on territory but on equal treatment.
Israeli Raids Rekindle Memories of War in South Lebanon
Israeli warplanes recently conducted 10 raids on Wadi Saluqi in southern Lebanon, the valley nestled between the villages of Chakra and Hula. This valley holds a peculiar place in my memories, serving as a conduit for impossible events and strange tales, and the attacks rekindled long-dormant memories of the area.
The Erasure of Palestinian Society
Israeli leaders, and Western discourse at large, have long reduced the Palestinian national struggle to particular leaders or factions. Palestinian people, according to this perspective, are little more than puppets manipulated by those leaders, human shields behind which they hide or collateral damage of Israel’s military campaigns.
Jordan Peterson Visits Al-Aqsa Mosque
Governments all over the world have been courting the more extremist elements in their society, bringing them into the mainstream, legitimizing their demands and grievances, and Israel is no exception. Peterson’s popularity with far-right audiences and pundits shows that he understands the power of the extremes, but more, his writings and broadcasts show how aligned he is with their thinking.