Opinion

There is no doubt that if this government comes together, it will be something never seen before in Israel. And it will be hard to manage, with daily political fires and crises.

The Arabs understand the pain of the ultra-Orthodox. They experience the same contempt from the police and the minister of public security.

Judaism was never static in its self-understanding of the nature of God or God’s relationship to the Jewish people.

The Meron misfortune reflects a larger problem that Israel has with haredi politics, in which Arye Deri is a key culprit.

Movers and shakers in Israeli society.

There was something biblical about both the scope and nature of the disaster that took the lives of 45 people in the early hours of Friday morning, April 30.

How many more rockets, riots, elections and stampedes can someone endure?

All along, and as recently as this week, PA officialdom under his rule has been consistent in its support for the cold-blooded murder of innocent Israelis.

No progress ever stems from lies, violence and cowardice. What elevates and what destroys is the question that every generation has faced, and right now we are allowing the destroyers free rein.

Jewish norms forbid tossing sacred writings into the trash. A worn Torah scroll should be buried with a sainted person

Rivlin has often spoken about Israel’s four tribes. In reality Israel has far more than that. If, however, we stay focused on what divides us we will never be able to unite.

We must return to the framework of two major political parties that will be the home of political struggles, allowing the government to govern.

Haredim cannot be expected to respect secular culture. Secular people, meanwhile, cannot be expected to respect the haredi way.

Our students never blamed the police or the hassidim. They showed concern for everyone.

As fires rage around the world – COVID, race wars, antisemitism – we are again privileged to be precisely here, fighting our own battles instead of being caught in the crossfire of others’.

There are serious reasons behind the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Most Israelis are blind to the realities of occupation.

No country other than Iran has ever voluntarily agreed to put such extraordinary restrictions on its nuclear activities, and understood that its lack of compliance would revive economic sanctions.

I hope that today’s troops are far better trained and infinitely better led than in my day.

Rabbi Lau: ‘The message is not to remain indifferent; to resolutely fight antisemitism. God saved us from them, but we should not hope for a miracle again’

The lack of clarity over the status of the Palestinians living in Jerusalem and the lack of a vision making Jerusalem a truly undivided city remains elusive.

When we go out to the polls again, be it in 2021 or 2025, the Center-Left will still need to face the Arab public and convince them to vote and to give them their support.

Perhaps this horrific moment can become that kind of turning point for haredi integration into Israeli society. But it will only happen with leadership.

No one narrative is fully correct, and the truth (whatever it may be) will often upset the partisans among us. So let’s try to set the record straight (or further complicate it) on a few issues.

Readers of The Jerusalem Post have their say.

Movers and shakers in Israeli society.

The model of coexistence in the city of Jerusalem can be the model for coexistence between Arabs and Jews living together throughout the country.

The government in recent weeks yielded its authority both at the Damascus Gate and in Meron, concerning decisions it deemed necessary to preserve public order at both sites.

As the international community negotiates with Iran over its reentry into the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA), it’s important to take into account the new China-Iran strategic relationship.

Many are calling for a full government investigation into what exactly caused the incident. Others are answering the question by looking inward in spiritual reflection.

There is no reason and no justification for the victims’ deaths. There is no good that came from their deaths. No lesson for the collective Jewish people.

I haven’t been able to bring myself to read a single article about what happened, though I see the headlines and I hear people talk about it.

By the end of the war, more than 90% of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire were gone, and many traces of their presence had been erased.

It is clear that J Street and its fellow travelers like Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow view Israel through the prism of the American Jewish experience.

Twelve years ago, the Montefiore Hotel became the first boutique hotel in the city that doesn’t sleep. The past year saw it struggling to survive but now the hotel and its iconic restaurant are back.

The Human Rights Watch report accusing Israel of apartheid could have a negative impact on the Jewish state's international legacy.

It is hard to fathom how in a country that boasts about its technological advancements, economic prosperity and military prowess, 23% of its population lives under poverty line

Yesterday was declared a day of mourning for the 45 victims but lowering flags and lighting candles are not enough. This was the country’s worst-ever civilian disaster.

The legal complexities of who controls what land and which buildings at the Tomb of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai on Mount Meron have for years stymied efforts to develop the site.

Readers of The Jerusalem Post have their say.

Post-Saddam Iraq has suffered from poor governance. The new, democratic Iraq is rife with bribery, kickbacks, and embezzlement, a routine part of its corrupt politics.

The event is a national tragedy, and should be treated as such, irrespective of whom the victims are, and how loyal or disloyal they were to the state.

Not only does it pave the way for Jews of all streams to be eligible for Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return, it also sends a message that the Orthodox monopoly on Israel is not sustainable.

As the number and severity of Palestinian and Iranian attacks against Israel increase, US President Joe Biden moves quickly to restore former president Barack Obama's Iran nuclear deal.

An office dedicated to the Jews of the world sends a message to those Jews that Israel cares about them and that they have an address to come to discuss issues that concern them.

The Biden administration might be prepared to sacrifice a strong strategic alliance with Israel if it were to oppose the US return to the Iran deal.

France is home to the world’s third-largest Jewish population, at around 500,000. But with rising antisemitism across the country, it is no surprise that French Jews are packing up and leaving.

Though this handful of demonstrators is not representative of ultra-Orthodox society as a whole, it reflects a growing trend among young ultra-Orthodox men who find an outlet in right-wing protests.

We give our three children enormous love and energy and guidance, and at the same time, we also discuss the fourth child that we nurture and guide alongside them: the Jewish community.

Whereas acts of sadness, grief, and mourning tend to be more specific and delineated, Judaism really has no concrete guidelines on how to be happy – it depends on the nature of each individual.

The Israeli government and public are unaware of the change in US attitudes toward Israel, especially in the American Jewish community. The lack of attention in Israel towards J Street proves this.

As Israel started opening up, we headed up North to see what we could find. With such beautiful landscapes, why bother going abroad?!

It is sad to say, but Netanyahu today is a danger to the State of Israel. Even his longtime supporters must recognize that this country is more important than this prime minister.

Kerry might very well be telling the truth. But he would do well to reflect on why accusations surrounding his attempts to undermine Israel, not to mention the US, are completely plausible.

Why are there not clearer guidelines? Do we not care about olim and their families? Does the government not understand that there are olim here who are alone?

Financial and romantic advice for newlyweds - or anyone married!

This is highly relevant to international business and investment, as well as immigrants.

Fool me once, shame on me. Twice? Also shame on me.

In moral terms, the answer should be yes, given the demand that Arabs living in property claimed to belong to Jews in Sheikh Jarrah should vacate.

It’s a known fact that Palestinians are no responsible for most terrorist attacks take place in Jerusalem not responsible for any terrorist activity – this responsibility falls solely upon us.

Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai was not a “commissioner” and certainly not a firefighter, but the fact that already on the day he leaves the cave we find him putting out fires tells us a lot.

It is plausible, alas, because deviousness characterizes Kerry and he has been willing to curry favor with adversaries to prove his own mighty wisdom, while punishing Israel.

A government priding itself as being national, democratic, Zionist, relies on haredi cynical anti-Zionist parties aiming to extract state funds, enforce religious coercion and erode democracy.

Movers and shakers in Israeli society.

Salt & Vinegar-flavored crisps should have been a major story this season. But the news has been dominated by rockets, violence and politics.

OUT THERE: Various ads here in the Jewish state play on guilt.

RUNNING UPHILL: I’ve been running since I was in high school. The sport has become an addiction, like writing or Coke Zero or quality red wine.

As Hollywood wakes up to disability inclusion, Israel should follow

The truth is that the blame lies with the PA and Hamas. The problem for Israel is it allowed the slouching toward elections to occur without bothering to consider the various train-wreck outcomes.

One crucial lesson learned throughout the last year is that the pandemic knows no borders. Rising numbers in India pose a severe threat to populations worldwide.

It is this small piece of contested land that has the cosmic power to transform the political Israeli-Palestinian conflict into a religious conflict between Islam and Judaism.

Post-election wheeling and dealing is actually built into the system. But even if these political maneuvers result in a working majority, voters’ interests are sacrificed.

What prompted the Lebanese decision to further complicate matters?

The rejection of Ethiopian-Israelis’ Jewish identities is antithetical to Israeli thinking of the past 40 years, including that of Israel’s leading rabbis.

Washington will cast a dark shadow over Israel’s status as a key ally.

Biden is not the best president (yet), but Republicans and Trump are working hard to make it seem like he is.

Thanks to the Abraham Accords, Israel and the US can not only export but help implement much-needed know-how in empowering and integrating people with disabilities.

The Kurdish people in Iraq and Syria are being punished for cooperating with the US and defending “Western” values such as democracy and women’s rights, and what does the US do? It lets Iran attack.

HRW’s exploitation of the apartheid image in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a cynical appropriation of the suffering of the victims of the actual apartheid regime.

As their grip on power fades, aging, ailing, failing leaders often become snarky, snarling, forgetting the light touch, the empathy, the vision, that once made them more appealing.

Is it wise and moral to seek exclusivity of our own genocide – the Holocaust?

Readers of The Jerusalem Post have their say.

What Benjamin Netanyahu showed on Tuesday is that there is no line he is not willing to cross when it comes to undermining, weakening and sabotaging Israel’s democratic character and rule of law.

Movers and shakers in Israeli society.

HRW allegations, also mirroring the other NGOs, exploit the inherent flexibility and political essence of international law, with claims based on far-fetched interpretation of the Rome Statute.

Turkey has pulled every lever of influence at its disposal to prevent formal acknowledgment by the United States that Ottoman Turkey slaughtered 1.5 million Christian-minority Armenians.

In Jewish history, there have often been fanatics who tried to hijack the religion and exclude others. Up to now, they have failed.

In fact, the institution of a get was biblically initiated as part of a series of laws to preclude spousal abuse – the first laws of this nature in human history.

Herzl sought the formation of the KKL-JNF for the explicit purpose of purchasing and developing our ancestral lands for Jewish reestablishment.

Israel’s delicate situation with Turkey is not nearly as important as it was, especially with Israel’s growing ties in the Arab world.

Active US involvement is needed to arrest these trends and begin reversing the slide toward the tragedy of one state between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River.

There is no apparent reason other than personal interest to explain Netanyahu’s stubborn refusal to fill this critical position.

As Israel did back in 1984, Montenegro’s new government needs to learn from its failures.

Iranian leaders have repeatedly declared that Israel should be destroyed. Therefore Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasizes that Israel will not let Iran have nuclear weapons.

But the reason that Congress is the critical linchpin in the relationship is because it is Congress that allocates US aid – not the president, not the administration.

Readers of The Jerusalem Post have their say.