Uri Avnery CAN A law be both ridiculous and dangerous? It certainly can. Witness the ongoing initiative of our government to enact a law that would define the State of Israel as “The Nation-State of the Jewish People”. Ridiculous 1 – because what and who is the “Jewish people”? The Jews of the world are [...]
Uri Avnery THERE WAS this Israeli man who from time to time put a slip of paper in the cracks between the stones of the Western Wall, asking God for favors – as Jews have been doing for centuries. They believe that the gates of heaven are located directly above the Wall, making it easy [...]
Uri Avnery “THE TWO-STATE solution is dead!” This mantra has been repeated so often lately, by so many authoritative commentators, that it must be true. Well, it ain‘t. It reminds one of Mark Twain’s oft quoted words: “The report of my death was an exaggeration.” BY NOW this has become an intellectual fad. To advocate [...]
Uri Avnery WHEN THE huge immigration wave from the Soviet Union arrived in 1990, we were glad. First of all, because we believe that all immigration is a good thing for the country. This, I believe, is generally the case. Second, because we were convinced that this specific group of immigrants would push our country [...]
Uri Avnery SO, FINALLY our Prime Minister has apologized to Turkey for “operational mistakes” that “might have” led to the death of nine Turks during the attack on MV Mavi Marmara, the ship which tried to break the Israeli blockade on Gaza. It took him two years and ten months to do so. Hallelujah. But [...]
Uri Avnery Note: This text was written on Wednesday, a day beforePresident Obama made his historic speech in Jerusalem. It appears that my text came much closer to his actual speech than I had dared to hope. Some passages are almost identical. Readers may want to compare the texts, to see what he left out. [...]
Uri Avnery THIS DOES not happen every day: a Minister of Culture publicly rejoices because a film from her country has NOT been awarded an Oscar. And not just one film, but two. It happened this week. Limor Livnat, still Minister of Culture in the outgoing government, told Israeli TV she was happy that Israel’s [...]
Uri Avnery IS THIS the third intifada? This question was raised this week by a number of Israeli security experts. And not only by them – their Palestinian colleagues were almost as perplexed. All over the West Bank, Palestinian youth threw stones at Israeli soldiers. All the 4500 Palestinians in Israeli prisons took part in [...]
“COMPARED TO the Knesset it could have been, this is a very good Knesset!” I heard this, in so many words, from at least ten former Knesset members and others, as we were drinking orange juice in the Knesset foyer. I could have said it myself (and probably did). It was the opening session of [...]
“VAE VICTIS!” was the Roman cry. Woe to the vanquished. I would alter it slightly: “Vae Victori”, Woe to the victor! The outstanding example is the astounding victory Israel won in June, 1967. After weeks of approaching doom, the Israeli army beat three Arab armies in six days and conquered huge stretches of Egyptian, Syrian [...]