Yitzhak Shamir

Palestinian shepherd in Um Faqara prevented from reaching his land by IDF soldiers August 2012 (Activestills)

Overplaying the ‘terrorism’ card

The reaction to this week’s killings of two IDF soldiers showed that Israel’s moral condemnation of deliberate civilian killings is a tactic, no more. The most powerful argument Israel makes in its campaign to paint the Palestinians as the bad guys and itself as the good guy is to point out that Palestinians…

By Larry Derfner September 24, 2013

A car belonging to one of the Yesh Din personnel after it was attacked by settlers at Havat Gilad (photo: Yesh Din)

Settlers assault Israeli human rights workers near West Bank outpost

Yesh Din personnel, who were in the West Bank doing the job that police simply aren’t doing, were attacked last week by settlers near Havat Gilad. And these are the people the defense minister wants to sign a deal with? By Yesh Din (written by Yossi Gurvitz) Three Israelis – and yes, there is the…

By +972 Magazine June 30, 2013

Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Minister Ariel Sharon (photo: Saar Yaacov, Government Press Office / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

‘Nothing will happen. Maybe some more terrorists will be killed’

Declassified documents from meetings held before and during the Sabra and Shatila massacre in 1982 reveal Ariel Sharon’s contempt for Palestinian lives. Published last week by the New York Times, the documents demonstrate the arrogance of Sharon and a young Benjamin Netanyahu in their dealing with American diplomats and officials, who expressed justified concerns over…

By Noam Sheizaf September 21, 2012

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Shamir and Netanyahu: It takes one to know one

Former Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir passed away yesterday at the age of 96. To me he will be remembered as the man who loved the status quo. The man who did nothing, and for years. The man who basically taught Benjamin Netanyahu the art of stalling. Shamir can rest in peace knowing his pupil has…

By Ami Kaufman June 30, 2012

Knesset vote reveals how weak the settlers truly are

How come a decision by the government to built 850 housing units in the West Bank is praised as a move toward peace? The answer has to do with the political theater taking place for decades How bad is this political moment? It’s enough to say that a move in which the prime minister announces…

By Noam Sheizaf June 8, 2012

Is an Israeli cover-up keeping Jonathan Pollard in prison?

The Americans are convinced Pollard – who spied on behalf of Israel in the 1980’s – didn’t act alone, and have made it clear that if Israel gives up the other name(s), he can go free. It’s been a mystery for many years why Jonathan Pollard is still in prison, why U.S. president after president refuses to pardon him. The reason in…

By Larry Derfner April 11, 2012

Will Israel’s rocket defense system help or hurt the conflict?

By David Lehrer Those of us who grew up in the United States in the 1960s may remember that period as one of naïve optimism overshadowed by apocalyptic terror. We were terrified of the possibility that nuclear missiles from the USSR would be launched at us but naïvely believed that if we just crouched down…

By +972 Magazine March 19, 2012

This Israeli PM will not sign a final agreement, especially if it's a long one and he didn't bring his glasses

Netanyahu won’t deliver

This Israeli PM will not sign a final agreement, especially if it's a long one and he didn't bring his glasses

By Noam Sheizaf July 13, 2010