Howard Kaplan, at The Blogs

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Apr 17, 2023, 10:39 PM

When Israel Turned Its Back on Saudi Recognition

During these turbulent times I often think of Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg author of THE ZIONIST IDEA. First published in 1959, it remains the most important work on Zionism today. Arthur died in 2006 and had been one of the...

Mar 5, 2023, 9:23 PM

Hebron 2016 from the Palestinian souq

I first went to Israel in 1970-71 to do my junior year at the Hebrew University. I knew no Hebrew, i.e. I went to years of Hebrew school so I could at 20 years old say shalom and ani....

Jan 4, 2023, 6:51 PM

40 Years of Wandering in Jerusalem

In the 1970s the Temple Mount was open all day to visitors and one could enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque I waited a long time to capture this street in the Jewish Quarter without people Up on the Temple Mount in...

Nov 29, 2022, 9:25 PM

The Reminder of Death

I've had three deaths in my Los Angele universe the last three weeks. 65, 73, 75. In order: Sara Flint Greenberg had ALS, 65. I knew her in the 1980s. She cheated on her boyfriend with me once, but...

Oct 23, 2022, 6:08 PM

Lifelong Passion for the People of Syria

I was in Damascus, Syria in 1971 for a day. While a student at the Hebrew University, with a friend we flew to Cyprus, got new passports at the American Embassy and winged to Beirut. In a youth hostel...

Jun 5, 2021, 9:35 PM

Facts About Israel and Palestine Don’t Matter

I often see on social media posts about the Israeli-Palestinian conundrum: "I want to get out the facts." Which means I'm right, your side is wrong and here I've proved it.” Both sides' facts are generally true, just depends...

Jan 4, 2021, 9:12 PM

The Orthodox Are A’Comin in Los Angeles

I live in the Beverlywood suburb of Los Angeles, originally built in the 1940s, two to three bedroom houses adjacent to Beverly Hills, a 30 minute walk. In my 1950s childhood there was a kosher butcher or two on...

Jun 5, 2020, 3:34 PM

Back in the USSR: I was an American college kid turned manuscript smuggler

Howard Kaplan poses in front of the Kremlin, summer 1971 (Courtesy Howard Kaplan)

That time I went to Moscow and all I got was some illicit microfiche to bring to the West

Nov 8, 2019, 5:07 AM

My Father’s 1985 Return to Nowy Sacz, Poland

As I settle next to my father on the flight from Warsaw to Krakow, I think about how I can never remember how many brothers and sisters he had, though their picture hangs in his home. I buckle my...

Jun 6, 2018, 8:12 PM

The Spy’s Gamble

I write novels of Israel-Palestine reconciliation for only with a better peace can Israel truly prosper. I’ve lived in Jerusalem for three years and traveled extensively -- to Syria and Lebanon, through Gaza and to the Palestinian refugee camps...

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About Me

Howard Kaplan's new novel, THE SYRIAN SUNSET: a novel of the Syrian Civil War, the failure of the West to save the Syrian people, and how that inaction against the Russian incursion in Syria emboldened Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine. The film adaptation of his THE DAMASCUS COVER, starring Sir John Hurt in his final film, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and seven Israeli actors is available on Tubi in the U.S.

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