Category Archives: Middle East

Mad as Hell

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I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore. Great line from a great movie (Network, 1976) and a line which perfectly matches my mood.

I am sick and tired of getting into a rage each day, sometimes more than once a day, because of something the monster in the White House has done. I am halfway through writing about one expression of outrage when another matter comes up, and I start all over again. I don’t know who I am most angry with. Donald Trump or the 77 million people who voted for him. I have spent the better part of a month not writing at all. And trying not to pay much attention to the news either.

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Bombing Iran

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It has become routine. Every two- or three-days Donald Trump does something more atrocious than before and it interrupts whatever I was doing and prompts a cycle of disgust, fear, and rage and often provokes one of these blogs, forcing me to put side something I thought was more interesting. I have come to hate the fact that he sucks all the oxygen out of the room.

But despite that, I find myself unable to get upset about Trump’s recent decision to bomb Iran‘s nuclear facilities. In fact, my initial thought was simply, why did it take so long?

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Holiday in Haifa

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This was first posted last year and drew a very positive response. The Holy Land seems fairly quiet at this moment and my fingers are crossed that it will remain that way. In this time of turmoil, I post it again and wish all of you the very best of the holiday season.

This is what coexistence looks like ☮️☪️✡️✝️

This is the town square in Haifa. Haifa is a city where Muslims, Jews, Christians, and Baha’i’s live together in harmony, creating a unique spirit of unity. Celebrating Hanukkah and Christmas, the city’s “Holiday of Holidays” festival celebrates this beautiful coexistence, lighting up Haifa with joy, peace, and shared traditions. Religious symbols of all four religions appear side by side in the square.

Haifa is the third largest city in Israel. No other country in the middle east has a scene like this.

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Here We Go Again

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It was about 3:00am the day after the election in 2016 when I came to the conclusion that Donald Trump would win, beating Hillary Clinton. This time, I knew it at midnight.

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BDS

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A group calling itself “Princeton Israel Apartheid Divest” (“PAID”) submitted a proposal to the university asking that it divest and dissociate from companies and holdings with ties to Israel. The Princeton’s Resources Committee asked members of the community for comments. An abridged version of my response follows.

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October 7

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There are about one hundred hostages still being held in Gaza.

I shouldn’t have to remind anyone of that fact. It should be the first thought for anyone commenting on the conflagration burning though the Middle East. But I do have to remind people because it is often not the first thought. It is often not a thought at all.

There are about one hundred hostages still being held in Gaza.

They were captured one year ago today, October 7, 2023, when a horde of Hamas-led terrorists invaded Israel, coming over, under and through the barrier separating Israel from the Gaza Strip. They marauded across Israel, murdering, maiming, kidnapping and sexually abusing any Israeli they could get their hands on. They slaughtered 1,200. They dragged 250 back into Gaza. They had no goal, other than to destroy the Jewish state. More than 300 victims murdered by Hamas terrorists were teenagers attending a music festival.

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