Conspiracy Theories: It is, it seems, an age-old tradition: The more antisemitic the world gets, the more Jews try to figure out why. Recent headlines have made for many a wrinkled brow: A German parliamentarian calls Jews “a race of perpetrators,” and he’s offered ideological support by a commander of an elite German special-forces army…
Modern Hebrew, as is well known, has had to come up with many new words for concepts and things that did not exist in the language before its late-19th-century spoken revival, or that were themselves 20th-century innovations. There are thousands of such words in Israeli Hebrew today, and dozens more of them continue to enter…
LONDON — British politics just got a lot more interesting. After six years of uncanny good luck, facing only the most lackluster competition, Prime Minister Tony Blair suddenly has a serious opponent — and just at the moment when he has begun to feel vulnerable. Britain’s Conservative Party, in the doldrums since 1997, has anointed…
How “representative” is our House of Representatives? Hardly at all. And if the Texas legislature’s recent decision on the redistricting of its congressional districts is upheld in the courts, the U.S. legislature will be even less representative than it has been. At present, of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives, only about 40…
Israel Introduces U.N. Resolution After facing hostile resolutions at the United Nations for a half-century, Israel this week introduced its own resolution in a General Assembly committee, voicing concern for Israeli children living under the threat of Palestinian terrorism. “Until now we were only playing defense; now we are playing offense,” said Ambassador Arye Mekel,…
Free Jerusalem: Heroes, Heroines and Rogues Who Created the State of Israel By Zev Golan Devora Publishing, 315 pages, $21.95. * * *| Imagining Zion: Dreams, Designs and Realities in a Century of Jewish Settlement By S. Ilan Troen Yale University Press, 341 pages, $35. * * *| In five or 20 years’ time, I…
DNEPROPETROVSK, Ukraine — On a frosty evening last week, 1,200 people gathered around an empty lot on Gogol Street in this former military-industrial city for what some observers said was a long-overdue dedication. Shivering Holocaust scholars, local businessmen and boldface names from Israeli politics and society — including Israeli Minister for Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs…
Thanksgiving is right around the corner, so my thoughts turn to things I am grateful for, before I begin obsessing almost immediately about things I resent and loathe. Because I am just that kind of person. Last year I wrote a story about great gifts for new moms. This year, as a public service, I…
BUENOS AIRES — Tamara Potaz always thought the first important decisions of her young life would come when she had to choose between becoming a violinist, a luthier or a sound engineer. Her parents had good jobs, the family lived in a large apartment, teenage life in bustling Buenos Aires was fun and Potaz figured…
It could have been any Saturday night fraternity homecoming party — almost. Rutgers University’s football team had lost to Pittsburgh that October afternoon, but the students were still in a celebratory mood in New Brunswick, N.J. There was dancing, and booze was being swilled from large red-plastic cups. To the uninitiated, the only thing that…
JERUSALEM — It is a showdown worthy of a Hollywood script, where “The Sopranos” meets “Law and Order” deep inside “The West Wing.” It is a confrontation that is shaking Israel’s law-enforcement apparatus to the core and rocking its political establishment. It is depicted on both emotional sides as a fateful battle between good and…
