Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel » Lenny Ben-David

Was a 19th Century American Preacher Really Watchmaker Mendel Deniss, Jerusalem’s 1st Photographer?

Lenny Ben-David — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 19:44:51 +0000

In 1988, John Barnier visited a garage sale in St. Paul, Minnesota. There he found and purchased eight boxes of old photographic glass plates. Fortunately, Barnier is an expert in the history of photographic printing. He had little idea that he had uncovered a historic treasure. Later, he viewed the plates and saw that they included [...]

The post Was a 19th Century American Preacher Really Watchmaker Mendel Deniss, Jerusalem’s 1st Photographer? appeared first on Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel.

Who killed Rachel Corrie?

Lenny Ben-David — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 15:06:29 +0000

The parents of Rachel Corrie deserve Israel’s condolences and sympathy for the loss of their daughter on March 16, 2003. But, like their daughter, they misdirected their anger and crusade for justice against Israel. Their anger is now focused on Israel’s judicial system. But Israel’s courts are known as independent and liberal (to a fault, in [...]

The post Who killed Rachel Corrie? appeared first on Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel.

For the Palestinians’ sake, it’s time to kill off Arafat

Lenny Ben-David — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 05:20:42 +0000

There’s a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive. With all dead, well, with all dead there’s usually only one thing you can do: Go through his clothes and look for loose change. – Miracle Max, “The Princess Bride” Yasser Arafat was poisoned in 20004 with polonium, a dangerous [...]

The post For the Palestinians’ sake, it’s time to kill off Arafat appeared first on Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel.

Ulpan in Gaza

Lenny Ben-David — Wed, 30 May 2012 09:36:19 +0000

Media reports last week tell of Hamas’s leadership in Gaza opening up Hebrew lessons for high school students. No doubt, some will look at the reports with deep suspicion. The New York Times‘ Jodi Rudoren quoted a Hamas official as saying, “We look at Israel as an enemy. We teach our students the language of the enemy.” The Times‘ story is accompanied by [...]

The post Ulpan in Gaza appeared first on Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel.

With Iran, watch the play away from the ball

Lenny Ben-David — Thu, 10 May 2012 12:07:18 +0000

Basketball mavens do take their eyes off the ball. A lot. In fact, 90 percent of a basketball game is played “away from the ball” on both defense and offense. Players’ movements and positioning on both sides of the court set up the actual shot at the basket. Coaches tell about a basketball star who scored 31 [...]

The post With Iran, watch the play away from the ball appeared first on Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel.

Could Syria be harvesting human organs?

Lenny Ben-David — Sat, 05 May 2012 17:58:21 +0000

I thought I’d seen it all: random shooting and shelling of civilians, children executed by Assad’s thugs, bodies thrown off of roofs, teenagers’ tortured corpses. Then this week I saw on YouTube a man being buried alive by Syrian soldiers. Today’s cell phone cameras capture everything, and the human rights organizations, if they’re doing their [...]

The post Could Syria be harvesting human organs? appeared first on Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel.

Catherine Ashton and the Iran ‘freebies’

Lenny Ben-David — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 11:24:52 +0000

A detailed account of the last week’s nuclear talks with Iran appears in “How Iran Talks Came Back From Verge of Collapse” by reporter Laura Rozen in yesterday’s al-Monitor. After interviewing several diplomats and behind-the-scenes sources, she presents a picture of negotiations that were deteriorating if not for the leadership role of the EU’s Catherine Ashton and the [...]

The post Catherine Ashton and the Iran ‘freebies’ appeared first on Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel.

Establish a field hospital on the Israeli-Syrian border. Now.

Lenny Ben-David — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 07:27:30 +0000

The field hospitals exist in storage. The experienced medical personnel are available. Demands for Red Cross access to Syrian wounded are being made. The Arab League, Turkey and two-thirds of the American public all favor the establishment of safe havens in Syria. But the war criminals ruling in Damascus won’t hear of it. They’re probably [...]

The post Establish a field hospital on the Israeli-Syrian border. Now. appeared first on Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel.

Is the Sinai the new battlefield against the West?

Lenny Ben-David — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 10:57:03 +0000

Middle East observers usually don’t read Uruguay’s press to follow events in the Middle East. But in the last two days, Uruguayan reports suggest a troubling development in the Sinai that could impact on the region in unexpected ways. Uruguay peacekeepers in Sinai surrounded by protesting Bedouins That was the headline in Mercopress. The 35 Uruguayan soldiers [...]

The post Is the Sinai the new battlefield against the West? appeared first on Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel.

What Bibi didn’t say at AIPAC: Scuds falling in 1991

Lenny Ben-David — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 12:34:51 +0000

Not everyone was impressed last week when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu displayed to his AIPAC audience a 1944 letter urging the United States to bomb the railways to Auschwitz and a letter with the American War Department’s refusal. “Such an operation would be of such doubtful efficacy,” was the American response. “Such an effort might [...]

The post What Bibi didn’t say at AIPAC: Scuds falling in 1991 appeared first on Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel.

Iran: It’s Time to Negotiate the Terms of Your Surrender

Lenny Ben-David — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 23:17:27 +0000

Iran announced Tuesday that it will grant UN inspectors access to its Parchin military compound, previously off-limits to international inspection. Parchin is believed to be the location for advanced nuclear weaponization testing. But – and there’s always an Iranian “but” in such cases – Iran insists that the conditions for the inspection must still be [...]

The post Iran: It’s Time to Negotiate the Terms of Your Surrender appeared first on Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel.

Obama’s Seder at AIPAC — dayenu?

Lenny Ben-David — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 08:25:15 +0000

In a few weeks’ time Jewish families will be sitting around the Passover Seder table, reciting the popular song “Dayenu”: If You had taken us out of Egypt, dayenu — that would have been enough. If You had given us the manna, dayenu. If You had given us the Torah … the Sabbath, dayenu. If [...]

The post Obama’s Seder at AIPAC — dayenu? appeared first on Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel.

More on Syria’s Weapons of Mass Destruction

Lenny Ben-David — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 15:03:41 +0000

Publication here last week of “Syria’s Arsenal of Weapons of Mass Destruction Must Be Destroyed,” seems to have grabbed the attention of reporters and officials in the Pentagon and State Department. Foreign Policy’s Josh Rogin reported on Friday that the State Department is quietly warning Middle East countries about Syria’s WMD. CNN has a strange story from the [...]

The post More on Syria’s Weapons of Mass Destruction appeared first on Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel.

Syria’s arsenal of unconventional weapons must be destroyed

Lenny Ben-David — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 12:34:49 +0000

When I was in the Israeli army’s basic training and medics courses we had to endure a simulated chemical weapons attack. We entered a room that suddenly came under (tear) gas attack and we had to quickly don our gas masks and sit for a set period. Later, as medics during Iraq’s Scud attacks on [...]

The post Syria’s arsenal of unconventional weapons must be destroyed appeared first on Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel.