Steve Kramer

Steve Kramer

Steve Kramer grew up in Atlantic City, graduated from Johns Hopkins in 1967, adopted the hippie lifestyle until 1973, then joined the family business for 15 years. Steve moved to Israel from Margate, NJ in 1991 with his family. He has written more than 1100 articles about Israel and Jews since making Aliyah. Steve and his wife Michal live in Kfar Saba.

Elizabeth R Led Her State; Who Will Lead Israel’s Government?

We returned home to heavy campaigning to elect a new government on November 1, the fifth such election in three years. From my viewpoint, it looks like it may be another stalemate, with Bibi Netanyahu, leader of the conservative Likud (the most popular party) failing to form a majority coalition. The current “caretaker” prime minister, Yair Lapid, who heads the leftist Yesh Atid (the second most popular party) has been increasing his clout by performing his interim duties fairly well.  {Steve Kramer]

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International, Israel, Steve Kramer

Iran’s Coming Windfall

Anyone paying attention knows that Iran negotiates circles around its interlocutors. The Iranians needn’t have much skill to accomplish that! Iran follows the same playbook time after time, lying through its teeth, procrastinating, taking “breaks,” while ceaselessly increasing its stockpile of enriched uranium. Contemptuously, Iran continues to foment terror on its own and via its proxies, especially Hezbollah in Lebanon, insisting that it will destroy the Big and Little Satans (the US and Israel respectively). Yet, the West insists on begging and bribing Iran: “Let’s make a deal.” [Steve Kramer]

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Israel, Opinion, Steve Kramer, USA

Sustainability in Israel

By Steve Kramer KFAR SABA, Israel — Colleges began offering “majors” and “minors” in sustainability in the first decade of the 21st century. Sustainability is taught as a multi-disciplinary program to approach complex problems, usually environmental. With that knowledge, it can offer various career possibilities. One of our son Saul’s best friends, Yonathan, majored in

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Middle East, Opinion, Science, Medicine, & Education, Steve Kramer, Travel and Food

The Palestinian Arabs’ False Impression of Zionism

By Steve Kramer KFAR SABA, Israel — The following is my summary of an excellent lecture by Haviv Rettig Gur, a well-known journalist for The Times of Israel. Gur’s lecture brings something new to the Arab-Israeli conundrum. It’s a wake-up call for Palestinian Arabs, explaining that their belief that Zionism is the ultimate reason for

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Middle East, Opinion, Steve Kramer

Presidential Visit to Israel is Hardly Extraordinary

By Steve Kramer KFAR SABA, Israel — President Joe Biden’s recent visit here in Israel was hardly extraordinary. President Richard Nixon visited in 1974, the first American sitting president to do so. That was the year after the Yom Kippur War, when Nixon overruled his Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and made sure Israel was

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Middle East, Opinion, Steve Kramer, USA

Touring Israeli Historical Places With ESRA

By Steve Kramer KFAR SABA, Israel — Michal and I recently enjoyed a day trip organized by ESRA, the English Speaking Residents Association. ESRA provides numerous social activities for Israelis who are comfortable speaking English while funding diverse charitable projects for all Israelis. While not my usual hike with ESRA, this tour, nicely coordinated by

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Middle East, Steve Kramer, Travel and Food

Natural Gas Adds to Israel’s International Acceptance

Israel’s significance as a Middle Eastern powerhouse has reached new levels with the help of two seminal events: the discovery of natural gas in Eastern Mediterranean waters and the success of the Abraham Accords between Israel and some Muslim Arab neighbors. Before, Israel was knocking on the door of the Arab and European countries; now, many of those countries have opened the door or soon will. Israel has what they want. (Steve Kramer)

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Business & Finance, International, Middle East, Steve Kramer, USA

Forget the Two State Solution Already!

By Steve Kramer KFAR SABA, Israel — On May 18, The Jerusalem Post published an editorial entitled “Israel cannot abandon the two state solution.” The subtitle of the editorial is: It is time for Israel to strengthen its ties with moderate Palestinians [actually, Palestinian Arabs] and keep cooperating with pragmatic Israeli-Arabs. Unfortunately there are few

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Middle East, Opinion, Steve Kramer

Traveling Around Israel in the Run-Up to Israel’s Independence Day

By Steve Kramer KFAR SABA, Israel — Israel recently commemorated its 74th year of independence, preceded by the memorial day for military and terrorist casualties. To celebrate Israel’s birthday, which follows Passover by two weeks, we visited a number of places around our small country. All of these jaunts were a half-day or more, with

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Middle East, Opinion, Steve Kramer, Travel and Food

Jerusalem’s Temple Mount: The Epicenter of Violence

By Steve Kramer KFAR SABA, Israel — There’s been a lot of mayhem lately at the Temple Mount (the summit of Mount Moriah) in Jerusalem, which is a magnet for religious Jews, especially during Passover. Because this year Passover, Easter, and the Muslim holiday of Ramadan coincided, more violence than usual has resulted. The current

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Middle East, Opinion, Steve Kramer