Avi Shamir

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Mar 27, 2025, 7:29 AM

The Human Shield Strikes

Well, it’s about time that Gazans speak out against Hamas, but that’s easy for me to say. In the second week of the war, I wrote on these pages that this time around Israel has a chance to win...

Jan 22, 2025, 4:36 AM

Israel Owes a Big Thank You to Joe Biden

At a time when many Israelis are saying that the Democrats are bad for Israel, it is worth mentioning that every single US administration since the Six Day War has both ensured our qualitative military advantage in the Middle...

Mar 25, 2024, 12:12 AM

The Disproportion of an Asymmetric War

The ongoing war in Gaza has revived tons of false narratives and misinformation. So, just to clear things up: Contrary to the tall tale that Hamas is a band of “freedom fighters,” they are nothing of the sort. Freedom fighters...

Nov 8, 2023, 9:02 AM

Democracy 101: For Kids in the Back Row of the Class

Author’s note: This article was ready for publication on the morning of October 7th, when we suffered a pogrom in our sovereign Jewish state. I knew that what I wrote was applicable to the events that led up to...

Oct 19, 2023, 7:34 PM

Changing the Wartime Narrative

On October 7th, the darkest day in the history of the Jewish state, we had our own Pearl Harbor, Kishinev pogrom and Babi Yar massacre all at once. Amid the aftershocks of that surprise attack, Israeli officialdom told the...

Jul 10, 2023, 6:30 AM

Protestors: Protect Yourselves!

As a caring parent, I have cause to worry about the looming threat of police brutality at demonstrations against Israel’s antagonistic government: My son, a regular protester, suffered a serious head injury in an unrelated accident a few years...

May 2, 2023, 12:39 AM

A Louisville Slugger on Kaplan Street

I’m not the swaggering type, but I must be the first person who ever swung a bat on the corner of Kaplan Street and Menachem Begin Rd. in Tel-Aviv. This happened at around 11:00 o’clock last Thursday night, the day...

Feb 13, 2023, 5:09 AM

Democracy on Trial

If there is one point all Israelis can agree on in these polarized times it’s that the controversial judicial reform is one hell of a game changer. The massive protests against the proposed reform, which I participate in, cite clauses...

Nov 4, 2022, 12:56 PM

I look around me and I see black – It is not the complexion of people’s skin, But the dark paradox of sacred sin. It’s the specter that tears us all apart, The human stain on a stone-cold heart. It’s the fog of the...

Oct 31, 2022, 5:49 PM

A Clear Choice Between Hope and Hate

Hate stared us in the face last Saturday afternoon on Gesher Ha’Ari, a bridge in Netanya over Route 2 where a group of forward-looking Israelis demonstrated in favor of the Change government led by Ya’ir Lapid. It happened when...

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About Me

Avi Shamir is a freelance writer, editor, translator and the author of "Saving the Game," a novel about baseball. A Brooklyn College graduate with a BA in English, Avi has contributed to the Jerusalem Post, The Nation, Israel Scene, In English and The World Zionist Press Service.