Isaac Gerstman

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Mar 1, 2023, 1:00 PM

The inimitable magician Netanyahu

We all know that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is one of Israel’s most gifted orators whose aptitude for persuasion could easily make a used car salesman blush while selling his whole lot of useless jalopies in a single afternoon....

Feb 20, 2018, 1:35 PM

An Open Letter to Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki

Dear Mr. Prime Minister, Let me just clarify something right off the bat – Jews were in no way, shape or form ‘perpetrators’ of the Holocaust. It’s absurd to accuse the victims of perhaps the most heinous example of genocide...

Apr 14, 2015, 2:50 PM

The rise of a new Persia

President Obama has undoubtedly made his vaunted P5+1 talks with Iran a centrepiece of his putative foreign policy success amid considerable criticism for a dearth of tangible foreign policy achievements during his two terms as President. President Obama was perhaps...

Mar 23, 2015, 4:59 PM

‘Historic’ Changes in the Middle East

The Middle East has always been a volatile region but recent changes initially arising from the Arab Spring, which saw regime change in Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen, as well as ongoing civil wars in Iraq, Syria and Libya, have...

Mar 16, 2015, 5:52 PM

The Robust Israeli Democracy

Israel is not your run-of-the-mill country and for better or worse its citizens are anything but a single coherent group. Israelis are a melting pot of various religions and cultures, and a cacophony of languages. There are Jews, Arabs, Christians,...

Mar 1, 2015, 9:36 PM

The case for Iran or How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb

Like everything in the Middle East, the politics are more complicated here than in other parts of the world and the stakes are far graver. The recent political changes brought on predominantly by the Arab Spring are nothing short...

Feb 27, 2015, 11:58 AM

Return of the S-300 Saga

Back in 2010 Russia tried to sell Iran and Syria the very capable S-300 mobile surface-to-air missile but was forced in the end to scrap the deal due to immense Western and Israeli pressure, which included a visit by...

Feb 26, 2015, 12:23 PM

Israel’s Hail Mary?

Israeli elections for the 20th Knesset and essentially for the next Prime Minister to lead Israel’s next government is hanging in the balance. Israel has long been split between along two main party lines: the Likud and Labor. The former...

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About Me

Originally from New Jersey, Isaac has lived for many years in the UK, Australia and Israel. He trained and worked as an Israeli lawyer but currently runs a legal translation business based in Tel Aviv. He holds a master's degree from King's College London and has spent a lifetime trying to better understand how history develops in this corner of the world.