“What have you learned in school today, my son?”“There was no school today. There is an emergency!”“And what have you learned from that, my son?” ACTUALLY, QUITE a lot. This week’s “round”, as the army likes to call it, followed a well-established pattern, as formal as a religious ritual. It started with the assassination (or … Read more
ON THE face of it, it was a trivial incident. In the presence of the entire political and legal establishment, the liberal President of the Supreme Court, Dorit Beinisch, who has reached the age limit of 70, was replaced by the conservative Justice Asher Dan Grunis. At the end of the ceremony, the national anthem … Read more
Click for translation of Uri Avnery’s article which appeared in Hebrew in Haaretz, March 11
IF I were to follow the call of my heart, I would appeal to our government to send the Israeli army into Syria, drive the Assad gang from Damascus, turn the country over to the Syrian opposition or the UN, and go home.That wouldn’t even be very difficult. Damascus is just a few dozen kilometers … Read more
A PALESTINIAN village, somewhere in the West Bank.In the middle of the night, banging on the door and shouts in Arabic: “Israeli army. Open up!” Somebody – most often the mother – opens the door. The heavily armed soldiers rush in and drag the victim out of bed. They throw him to the floor in … Read more
AFTER THE founding of Israel, God appeared to David Ben-Gurion and told him: “You have created a state for my chosen people in my holy land. This merits a great reward. Tell me what you wish, and I will grant it.” Ben-Gurion answered: “Almighty God, I wish that every person in Israel shall be wise, … Read more
THERE SEEMS to be no limit to the troubles caused by the town of Hebron. This time, the reason is as innocent as can be: the organized visits of schoolchildren to the Cave of Machpelah, where our patriarchs are supposed to be buried. By rights, Hebron should be a symbol of brotherhood and conciliation. It … Read more
On Monday, I was honored to receive the Leibowitz Prize for “life’s work”, the prize established by the Yesh Gvul soldiers’ peace organization. I was unable to prepare a speech, so I spoke off the cuff and have to reconstruct my remarks from memory. (The laudation speech by the Nobel Prize laureate, Prof Ada Yonat, … Read more
THE IMPOSSIBLE has happened. The Egyptian parliament, democratically elected by a free people, has convened for its first session. For me this is a wonderful, a joyful occasion. For many Israelis, this is a worrisome, a threatening sight. I CANNOT but rejoice when a downtrodden people arises and wins its freedom and human dignity. And … Read more
“ISRAEL HAS no foreign policy, only a domestic policy,” Henry Kissinger once remarked. This has probably been more or less true of every country since the advent of democracy. Yet in Israel, this seems even truer. (Ironically, it could almost be said that the US has no foreign policy, only an Israeli domestic policy.) In … Read more