International

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — headline in The Economist: “One side gets even lonelier . . . Binyamin Netanyahu gets brickbats from Palestinians and Israelis” http://www.economist.com/node/21536644 Visiting American relatives told us that their rabbi was saying “Israel is on a precipice,” and that members of the congregation must increase their political and economic support. Those […]

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Currently the most prominent discussion is whether to discuss the prospect of Israel attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities. On one side of this argument are extremists who think the public should be involved in a detailed debate about everything: the threat, the way Israel should meet it, perhaps leaving the timing

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — “If you want a friend in this town, buy a dog.” That was Harry Truman’s way of saying that politics is a matter of pursuing interests, not friends. Another expression meaning about the same thing: If “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” prevails in heaven,

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–Ilan Grapel is not Gilad Shalit. Grapel is an immigrant from the United States who served in the IDF, and was wounded during the Second Lebanese War of 2006.  Egyptian authorities seized him in June of this year during the protests in  Tahrir Square, and accused him of spying for Israel. Descriptions

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Amid the public news dealing with the grand issues of Muammar Qaddafi and Gilad Shalit, our personal weekend brought me to recall my various experiences with the Russians of Israel. It began at an Absorption Center outside of Jerusalem in the Summer of 1975. It was the tail end of