Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel » Alan Elsner

In Israel, Demography is Destiny

Alan Elsner — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 15:36:35 +0000

Israel’s Independence Day is an occasion for statistics – which as Mark Twain told us can sometimes be akin to lies and damned lies. This year, we learn from the Central Bureau of Statistics that Israel’s population was just over 8 million, of whom are three quarters are Jewish. This sounds quite reassuring but of [...]

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Hagel opponents should look back with shame

Alan Elsner — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 23:48:35 +0000

Now that Chuck Hagel has finally been confirmed by the US Senate as the nation’s new Secretary of Defense, we can look back and take stock of the ugly battle that some of his opponents waged to stop him getting the job. While some of the former Republican Senator’s critics raised legitimate points that deserved [...]

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Obama’s big choice in Israel: to engage or not to engage for peace

Alan Elsner — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 16:41:30 +0000

President Obama’s decision to visit the Middle East this spring has focused new attention on how hard he intends to work and how much time and political capital he might expend on trying to bring about peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Obama can expect to receive a warm welcome both in Jerusalem and Ramallah, despite [...]

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Staying in Love with Israel

Alan Elsner — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 16:03:19 +0000

Washington – When I was 16, I fell in love – not with a girl but with Israel. That summer, my family and I visited for the first time, a three-week trip that left me entranced. On the last day, August 29, 1970, I wrote in my diary: “As soon as I came, I had [...]

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What Monty Python can teach us about the Hagel nomination

Alan Elsner — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 20:50:56 +0000

The furor that has surrounded the nomination of former Sen. Chuck Hagel to be President Obama’s Secretary of Defense has shed a searing light on the way some political lobbies operate these days in Washington. Some seem to take their cue from a classic Monty Python sketch, “Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition!” In that immortal [...]

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Israel’s Election – as Seen from America

Alan Elsner — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 14:03:44 +0000

WASHINGTON – There’s an old Israeli song by Matti Caspi, sung memorably by Yehudit Ravitz, that sums up exactly my view of the upcoming Israeli election: “You took my hand in your hand and said to me, ‘Let’s go down to the garden.’  You took my hand in your hand and said to me,  ‘Things [...]

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Israel’s diplomatic problem in one word: Settlements

Alan Elsner — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 19:45:50 +0000

In the world of Israel advocacy, there is always much anguished discussion on why Israel always seems to be losing the public relations war. Is it ineffective communication techniques, lack of strategic vision, or perhaps the fact that most of the media is unalterably biased against or hostile toward Israel, if not overtly anti-Semitic? After [...]

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