Eli Kowaz, at The Blogs

Eli Kowaz

Sep 25, 2026, 12:21 AM

Yizkor with Rabbi Khalil and Cantor Lander

I used to live on 7th Avenue in Park Slope. I loved how close it was to Prospect Park. The main entrance was just around the corner at Grand Army Plaza. That’s where I started my morning runs and...

Apr 13, 2026, 12:00 AM

What Ezra Klein Gets Wrong about Anti-Zionism

Ezra Klein is right that anti-Zionism is no longer a fringe position. He’s wrong about why. His argument, stripped down, is that Israel made this happen. The occupation, Gaza, the settlements, the casualties — reasonable people drew reasonable conclusions. Anti-Zionism...

Apr 10, 2026, 6:39 AM

Netanyahu’s War, Trump’s Deal

President Trump at the Israel Museum. Jerusalem May 23, 2017

Iran's bar for victory was survival. It survived. Approximately 440 kilograms of enriched uranium — enough, if further enriched, for ten or more nuclear weapons — remain in Iranian hands, reportedly stored in hardened underground facilities at Isfahan that...

Apr 1, 2026, 8:22 PM

The Champagne and the Noose Pin

There is a concept in Jewish tradition called pikuach nefesh — the sanctity of human life, so supreme that it overrides nearly every other commandment. It is, in many ways, the ethical spine of Jewish civilization — and the...

Aug 26, 2020, 12:15 AM

Israeli elections are off, for now

Yesterday, a last-minute bill delaying Israel’s budget deadline by 120 days passed with reluctant support from Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz. Under the coalition agreement, failure to approve a national budget would have triggered new elections,...

Dec 11, 2013, 3:04 PM

Netanyahu was absent, Israeli hearts were not

South African President Nelson Mandela, left, talks to former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, in front of President Mandela's official residence in Cape Town, Sunday, Oct. 20 1996. (AP PHOTO/Sasa Kralj)

Too expensive. Yes, that was really the reason given for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision not to attend Nelson Mandela's funeral at Soweto Stadium in Johannesburg on Tuesday. High costs have not stopped Netanyahu in the past. Earlier this year...

Nov 26, 2013, 11:30 PM

The ‘historic mistake’ belongs to Netanyahu

Netanyahu at his victory speech in Tel-Aviv. Photo Credit: Reuters

Benjamin Netanyahu has declared Iran’s nuclear program a global problem. For years, he was right. Now, Israel stands alone. Despite opposition to the interim agreement, the Israeli government should have welcomed it with open arms, at least in public. Israel’s condemnation...

About Me

Eli Kowaz is a Middle East analyst and writer, and Senior Policy Director at the Economic Cooperation Foundation (ECF), a Tel Aviv-based think tank focused on track-two diplomacy. He writes The Middle Ground on Substack and has bylines in Haaretz, JTA, and Times of Israel. He previously served as Communications Director at Israel Policy Forum. He is based in Tel Aviv.

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