Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel » Robert Werdine http://blogs.timesofisrael.com The Marketplace of Ideas Fri, 24 May 2013 20:29:36 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 Delegitimizing Israel’s Founding http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/delegitimizing-israels-founding/ http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/delegitimizing-israels-founding/#comments Thu, 11 Apr 2013 20:18:54 +0000 Robert Werdine http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/?p=116982 It is only natural that the 65th anniversary of the First Arab-Israeli War (War of Independence to the winners, Nakba to the losers) would occasion some fairly provocative retrospectives on the subject, and it is a certainty that we have not seen the last of them. (Just wait till “Nakba Day”). Anyone who has read [...]

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]]> http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/delegitimizing-israels-founding/feed/ 20 The Real Lies About The Iraq War http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-real-lies-about-the-iraq-war/ http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-real-lies-about-the-iraq-war/#comments Thu, 28 Mar 2013 22:31:01 +0000 Robert Werdine http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/?p=113322 I really have to stop watching MSNBC. It’s bad for my blood-pressure, and bad for my wide-screen HDTV, which has absorbed and withstood more Chris Matthews and Rachel Maddow-provoked thrown objects by me than I care to remember. The latest outrage and source of my distress is a wretchedly mendacious sampling of political pornography titled: [...]

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]]> http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-real-lies-about-the-iraq-war/feed/ 4 The Lie that Won’t Die: the USS Liberty Attack Slander, Continued http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-lie-that-wont-die-the-uss-liberty-attack-slander-continued/ http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-lie-that-wont-die-the-uss-liberty-attack-slander-continued/#comments Fri, 22 Feb 2013 00:49:37 +0000 Robert Werdine http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/?p=104300 Last June, I had written a post here commemorating the 45th anniversary of the attack on the USS Liberty. The post, in which I argued (in defiance of every conspiracy theory), that the Israeli attack on the American ship was a mistake, has been giving me considerable heartburn as of late. In the last several [...]

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]]> http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-lie-that-wont-die-the-uss-liberty-attack-slander-continued/feed/ 25 Remembering the heroic saga of Gush Etzion, and the Lamed Heh http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/remembering-the-heroic-saga-of-gush-etzion-and-the-lamed-heh/ http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/remembering-the-heroic-saga-of-gush-etzion-and-the-lamed-heh/#comments Thu, 17 Jan 2013 05:29:39 +0000 Robert Werdine http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/?p=95334 The days following the partition vote of November 29, 1947 found the folk  of Gush Etzion in celebration leavened with sorrow. The diaries of those inside the bloc tell the story:  ”There is the sound of rejoicing and salvation among the hosts of Israel. The dream of many generations is being realized before our eyes. [...]

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]]> http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/remembering-the-heroic-saga-of-gush-etzion-and-the-lamed-heh/feed/ 13 Observing the gun-control debate here at the Times of Israel: some thoughts http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/observing-the-gun-control-debate-here-at-the-times-of-israel-some-thoughts/ http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/observing-the-gun-control-debate-here-at-the-times-of-israel-some-thoughts/#comments Mon, 24 Dec 2012 05:06:31 +0000 Robert Werdine http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/?p=87852 The gun-control debate following the Newtown tragedy here at the TOI has been robust and spirited. Of the eleven people who have taken political stands on the issue, eight identify the problem with lax gun laws, and three saw other factors at work. Rina Ne’emen, the first to address the issue, wrote that America’s gun [...]

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]]> http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/observing-the-gun-control-debate-here-at-the-times-of-israel-some-thoughts/feed/ 13 Please, remember Pearl Harbor http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/please-remember-pearl-harbor/ http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/please-remember-pearl-harbor/#comments Thu, 06 Dec 2012 23:27:37 +0000 Robert Werdine http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/?p=84620 The morning of December 7, 1941 found Pearl Harbor under a brilliant blue sky and bathed in sunlight and warm breezes. Church bells ringing in the Sunday mass could be heard by the sailors of the forenoon watch taking their breakfast, and sailors on the battleship U.S.S. Nevada hoisted the morning colors while the band [...]

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]]> http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/please-remember-pearl-harbor/feed/ 11 The day the war began http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-day-the-war-began/ http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-day-the-war-began/#comments Fri, 30 Nov 2012 05:10:43 +0000 Robert Werdine http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/?p=83234 Sixty-five years ago today, after the passing of Resolution 181, the United Nations partition that created a Jewish and an Arab state in Palestine on November 29, 1947, the Arabs, both in and outside Palestine, rejected it and declared it illegitimate, something they had been saying from the beginning. Arab UN delegates warned that any [...]

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]]> http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-day-the-war-began/feed/ 6 The Fire This Time: How the IDF must avoid the pitfalls of the 2006 and 2008 campaigns http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-fire-this-time-how-the-idf-must-avoid-the-pitfalls-of-the-2006-and-2008-campaigns/ http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-fire-this-time-how-the-idf-must-avoid-the-pitfalls-of-the-2006-and-2008-campaigns/#comments Wed, 21 Nov 2012 01:07:30 +0000 Robert Werdine http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/?p=80776 Following Hezbollah’s cross border kidnapping in July 2006, Israel responded by attempting, to the greatest possible extent, to destroy Hezbollah’s infrastructure and weaponry, neutralize them as a military force, and force their removal north of the Litani. They also hoped that a favorable political diminishment of Hezbollah within Lebanon would follow the successful military campaign. [...]

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]]> http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-fire-this-time-how-the-idf-must-avoid-the-pitfalls-of-the-2006-and-2008-campaigns/feed/ 11 Mondoweiss misinformation http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/mondoweiss-misinformation/ http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/mondoweiss-misinformation/#comments Mon, 19 Nov 2012 04:31:19 +0000 Robert Werdine http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/?p=79848 I was most pleased to see Mr. Alex Stein here debunking Mondoweiss’ spurious attempts to absolve Hamas of responsibility for the current conflict. A browse over at Mondoweiss by me caught notice of another tidbit of revisionist history: An attempt by them  to blame Israel and absolve Hamas of responsibility for the last Gaza War of 2008. Said Mondoweiss [...]

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]]> http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/mondoweiss-misinformation/feed/ 2 Before I vote, a defense of Varda Epstein http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/before-i-vote-a-defense-of-varda-epstein/ http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/before-i-vote-a-defense-of-varda-epstein/#comments Tue, 06 Nov 2012 23:51:53 +0000 Robert Werdine http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/?p=76300 The election is today, and I would feel remiss in not registering my response at what was nothing less than a slanderous attack on a fellow, like-minded blogger here at TOI a few weeks back. Though Varda Epstein’s own response to Amy Schiller’s Daily Beast screed dissuaded me at the time from thinking that there [...]

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]]> http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/before-i-vote-a-defense-of-varda-epstein/feed/ 13 A past warning from Afghanistan and Libya: Why Obama will never attack Iran’s nuclear program http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/a-past-warning-from-afghanistan-and-libya-why-obama-will-never-attack-irans-nuclear-program/ http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/a-past-warning-from-afghanistan-and-libya-why-obama-will-never-attack-irans-nuclear-program/#comments Sat, 03 Nov 2012 21:28:21 +0000 Robert Werdine http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/?p=75528 In his speech before AIPAC last March, President Obama had this to say about America’s willingness to tolerate a nuclear Iran: “We all prefer to resolve this issue diplomatically. Having said that, Iran’s leaders should have no doubt about the resolve of the United States – just as they should not doubt Israel’s sovereign right [...]

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]]> http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/a-past-warning-from-afghanistan-and-libya-why-obama-will-never-attack-irans-nuclear-program/feed/ 0 Memo To Mitt: What to say to Obama on Israel http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/memo-to-mitt-what-to-say-to-obama-on-israel/ http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/memo-to-mitt-what-to-say-to-obama-on-israel/#comments Tue, 23 Oct 2012 00:02:09 +0000 Robert Werdine http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/?p=72596 Tonight’s the night, Governor. Please be aggressive, but duly respectful; he is still the President, after all. No mentions, please, of “apology tours,” and “leading from behind”; what’s needed are not canned zingers but a coherent rebuke of this administration’s failures and mistakes, while crediting the things they have done right, or, at the very [...]

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]]> http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/memo-to-mitt-what-to-say-to-obama-on-israel/feed/ 4 The Arabs’ betrayal of the Palestinians http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-arabs-betrayal-of-the-palestinians/ http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-arabs-betrayal-of-the-palestinians/#comments Fri, 12 Oct 2012 03:09:43 +0000 Robert Werdine http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/?p=70580  I have been much moved by Mr. Phillipe Assouline’s most recent contribution here at the Times on the subject of Jewish refugees, much as I have been similarly moved by Lyn Julius’ authorative and thought provoking contributions on the subject. Reading Mr. Assouline’s piece, I see that he has touched on a little-discussed subject that [...]

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]]> http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-arabs-betrayal-of-the-palestinians/feed/ 12 Obama’s first year; the roots of his betrayal of Israel, and his appeasement of Iran http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/obamas-first-year-the-roots-of-his-betrayal-of-israel-and-his-appeasement-of-iran/ http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/obamas-first-year-the-roots-of-his-betrayal-of-israel-and-his-appeasement-of-iran/#comments Mon, 08 Oct 2012 03:07:19 +0000 Robert Werdine http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/?p=69686 Iran continues to defy the world community, and the centrifuges keep spinning as furiously as ever, and the recent Benghazi attack, which the Administration had originally attributed to an anti-Muslim video, and not to a terrorist attack, is finally emerging into the daylight as the well-planned terrorist assault that it was, though we won’t know [...]

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]]> http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/obamas-first-year-the-roots-of-his-betrayal-of-israel-and-his-appeasement-of-iran/feed/ 1 Attention, Please: Israel did not “choose” war in June, 1967 http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/attention-please-israel-did-not-choose-war-in-june-1967/ http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/attention-please-israel-did-not-choose-war-in-june-1967/#comments Tue, 02 Oct 2012 03:01:08 +0000 Robert Werdine http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/?p=68396 A recent article here in the Times by Mr. Emanuel Shahaf posits the assertion that Prime Minister Netanyahu is needlessly escalating tensions with regard to the situation in Iran and their nuclear program, that he has shunned the path of compromise and diplomacy, and that this militant tendency of Israelis to escalate tensions that lead [...]

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