Calev Ben-Dor, at The Blogs

Apply for a Blog

Jun 24, 2021, 2:22 PM

Bennett is poster child for modern religious Zionism

The new Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett waves during a joint photo with the new government ministers at the President's residence in Jerusalem, Israel, 14 June 2021. The Knesset members on 13 June 2021 voted for the eight-party alliance led by Bennett from the far-right Jamina and Jair Lapid from the Future Party, the Knesset vote ends the historic 12-year rule of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Photo by: JINIPIX via Jewish News

It’s difficult to see from the official photograph but the new cabinet includes five kippah wearers belonging to four different parties. Opposition too comes from knitted kippot, with Bezalel Smotrich of the self-proclaimed Religious Zionist Party charging the government with excluding Jews and being dependent...

Feb 26, 2021, 10:48 AM

Israeli elections: Cakeism and its discontents

Cake. (Photo by Cristina Matos-Albers on Unsplash)

Shortlisted by the Oxford English Dictionary in its 2018 ‘word of the year’, cakeism first shot to fame in 2016 when then Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson explained that his policy on cake was ‘pro having it and pro eating it’. The idea that – contrary...

Sep 8, 2020, 1:35 PM

Do Sharon’s guiding principles explain Netanyahu’s recent decisions?

Ariel Sharon and Bibi Netanyahu, during the inauguration of the railroad line from Ashkelon to Jerusalem. (Credit BICOM via Jewish News)

Despite serving assiduously in each other’s cabinets, Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu intensely disliked one another. David Landau, author of Arik, The Life of Ariel Sharon details how Netanyahu publicly ridiculed Sharon during Bibi’s first stint as Prime Minister. One Likud figure tells Landau that...

Jun 9, 2020, 1:59 PM

A dangerous policy of annexation: Why now?

Benjamin Netanyahu during a press conference announcing the planned annexation, in September 2019 (Jewish News)

Current Israeli deliberations over the future of the West Bank, especially balancing the competing values of security, historical connection, demography and the prevention of diplomatic isolation, is an extension of a 50-year long argument. Dennis Ross and David Makovsky’s book Be Strong and of Good...

Jul 14, 2019, 11:47 AM

Ehud Barak: National saviour or false messiah?

Former defense minister Ehud Barak in Tel Aviv, on December 22, 2017. (Flash90)

Lightning, the saying goes, never strikes the same place twice. But might it strike three times? After entering politics and joining the Labor party in the mid-1990s, former IDF Chief of Staff Ehud Barak (whose surname means lightening in Hebrew) beat the incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu...

Mar 28, 2019, 1:09 PM

Gevalt campaign is already in full swing

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, December 4, 2018. (Photo by: JINIPIX/ Jewish News)

In 1929, Lt-Col J L Schley of the US Corps of Engineers issued a warning: armies spend peacetime preparing to fight the last war rather than the next one. While the American’s comment turned into a soundbite, much less discussed is the political equivalent: the...

Sep 12, 2018, 1:26 PM

Oslo and the failure of ‘constructive ambiguity’

The Oslo Accords are 25 on September 13, with Fathom Journal publishing a host of perspectives from different players involved in the negotiations such as Joel Singer, Yair Hirschfeld, Hussein Agha and Orna Mizrahi. Much ink has been spilled analysing what went wrong (with significantly...

Apr 4, 2018, 4:18 PM

Israel and Hamas play the blame game

As the blame game continues over Friday’s events that left 17 Palestinians dead, 11 of whom reportedly belong to Hamas or jihadi organisations , it is important to step back and consider the context within which the so-called ‘Great March of Return’ occurred. Gaza’s humanitarian...

Dec 6, 2017, 3:18 PM

Can Trump’s Jerusalem speech strengthen the two-state solution?

US President Donald Trump delivers a statement on Jerusalem from the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House in Washington, DC on December 6, 2017. (AFP PHOTO / SAUL LOEB)

It IS possible, but the relevant parties would have to act like they want peace

Feb 16, 2017, 12:44 PM

Can Trump and Netanyahu give peace a chance?

The impact of the Netanyahu-Trump meeting depends on which Donald Trump shows himself. Less than a month after inauguration, and without a national security adviser, the US administration must design a Middle East policy and decide on its role in the region. This provides a...

Load more

About Me

Calev Ben-Dor is Deputy Editor of the Fathom Journal