Articles written by ira sharkansky

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We've met the enemy

Not much politics here. A long national holiday begins a few days before Rosh Hashanah and extends till two days after Succot. In Jewish tradition, there is a day after a holiday, perhaps to provide for recuperation.  All told, that’s close to a... Full story

 

A stiff-necked people, i.e., us

Israeli politicians and Jewish activists here and there are calling for unity, typically behind whatever point of view they are supporting. In extremis, we hear that it is essential for the survival of Israel or the Jewish people. Yet it never takes... Full story

 

A complex relationship

It isn’t easy summarizing the relationships between Jews and Arabs in Israel, or extending that to Israeli Jews and Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza. Animosity is more apparent than accommodation in most summaries of Israeli and Palestinian... Full story

 

Who are they?

Several of our headlines have dealt with an issue that is always in the near background: Who are the Palestinians and Israeli Arabs? How do they think? and Is there any chance of living in a condition of peace, or at least reasonable quiet? One of... Full story

 

Curse of the absolute

We’re taught to honor principles, and there is merit to that principle. But they are also the traps in which disappear decency and good sense. Those who think and express themselves in absolutes and reject dispute from those who doubt the value of... Full story

 

On the borders of cultures

We’re all on the borders of cultures. We express the condition by where we travel, with whom we deal, and how we deal with those who are different from ourselves. Staying close to home and minding our own business are conventional ways of dealing... Full story

 

What to do?

Not much of anything. This is a time for watching and waiting. The biggest crap shoot is in the United States. Currently it seems wisest to bet the nickel on Hillary, and a dime or even a quarter that the stay-at-homes will have more votes than any... Full story

 

The Olympics

Politics isn’t everything. There’s also sport. Anyone who’s visited Rome’s Coliseum, or the remains of Greek amphitheaters around the Mediterranean, knows that its capacity to divert has been with us for a long time. We’ve moved beyond the... Full story

 

America, Israel in black & white

The pictures are fuzzy. Overt, explicit, and legally enforced racism is no more in the United States. Individual blacks, Asians, Jews, and other minorities, and women, can reach as high as the White House, senior governmental and corporate positions,... Full story

 

Stuck with unpleasant events

A single page in the weekend edition of Yedioth Aharonoth captures the essence of where we are. One article on the page is a rational assessment of recent violence, its decline, and concludes with the point that there is no solution, other than the... Full story

 

Not all pleasant in Promised Land

Our flight returning from Europe occurred with the news of a multiple terror attack on the Istanbul airport, which has so far produced more than 40 deaths and 260 injuries. No organization has claimed credit, but the betting is on the Islamic State,... Full story

 

World organizations, RIP

The headline of this note, letting aspirations for an organized work rest in peace, may reflect more cynicism than reality. Colonialism began its demise with World War I, when the European powers that could carve up the world and color the maps as... Full story

 

La la land

We’ve known for some time that American society looks as much like a Third World country as a First. Sure, it has a GDP that is still larger than China’s, and it is viewed, especially by Americans, as a world leader in just about everything... Full story

 

It ain't done till it's done

There’s been another resignation associated with the appointment of Avigdor Liberman as Minister of Defense. This one comes from the Minister of Environment, who associated his resignation not only with the appointment of Liberman, but with the... Full story

 

Bibi is us

Bibi (Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu) is a caricature of Israel, both as viewed from within and without. He is loved and hated, admired and loathed, perhaps in about the same proportions among Israelis and those who watch Israel. Being the... Full story

 

America's future

‘Sometimes there’s a stink you just can’t wash off, kinda like a venereal disease... That’s the problem Trump’s got.”  It can’t get much worse than that, a quotation in The Economist attributed to a Republican Congressman. Polls are sh... Full story

 

Donald and Hillary

It seems appropriate to call these two contenders for the world’s most powerful office by their first names. Even this far away from their campaigns, where the news is usually about something else, we’ve been listening for more than a year to a... Full story

 

Ideals and reality

Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin are at opposite poles. One comes from a long tradition of idealism, speaking about great values, and usually ending up a long way from what was promised. The other represents the essence of realpolitik, or “if I can... Full story

 

Sound and fury, signifying ??

It is difficult to determine what is most offensive: the Jewish candidate for president condemning Israel’s actions, exaggerating by five times the deaths in Gaza during the military operation in 2014 without anything like an appropriate weighing... Full story

 

The underside of Israel

Four issues in current headlines may be causing some Israelis to avoid the news, and embarrassment for our overseas friends, while they are sending other Israelis to various sides of virtual barricades. One is that young soldier who killed a... Full story

 

Ethnicity

A recent visit with a young Japanese friend, a paratrooper in the IDF, provided an insight into the nature of Israel and other places. He said that fellow soldiers take him for Chinese or Korean, even though he explains that he comes from Japan.... Full story

 

Choices

An American friend, who is almost as old as I am, can’t remember a presidential election with worse choices. An internet friend wrote about a bumper sticker, “I hate them both.” Another likes ABC, Anybody but Clinton. The latter recalls a... Full story

 

Worries

By Ira Sharkansky One of the more problematic stories associated with the present wave of Palestinian violence is that of an attack on a security guard at a shopping mall in Maale Adumim. A video shows repeated blows with an ax, directed at the head... Full story

 

Peace proposals from 1925 onward

Brit Shalom (Peace Treaty, 1925) is a landmark in the continuing activity of Jews talking among themselves about what kind of accommodation they should, and can reach then with Arab now with Palestinian neighbors. What has become characteristic is t... Full story

 

Partners

We’ve had another round of clamoring about who is responsible for the failure of Israelis and Palestinians to reach an agreement ending their disputes. There are two fronts in the recent verbiage. One consists of accusations by Mahmoud Abbas and... Full story

 

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