Jerold S. Auerbach, at The Blogs

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May 17, 2021, 5:10 PM

Bernie’s bile

Senator Bernie Sanders, the son of a Polish immigrant father, grew up in Brooklyn and spent a summer working on a kibbutz. That experience seems to have been formative, not only stoking his left-wing politics but poisoning his view...

May 9, 2021, 6:11 PM

President Biden and Israel

President Biden has a long record of discomfort with Israel. Four decades ago, in a meeting of Senators with Prime Minister Menachem Begin, Biden warned that continued settlement expansion could undermine American support for Israel. Begin snapped back: “Don’t...

Apr 20, 2021, 5:11 PM

In the memorable words of American poet Robert Frost: “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.” Perhaps. But a wall may be necessary for safety and, indeed, for the preservation of life. The shining example of a necessary wall,...

Apr 12, 2021, 5:13 PM

President Biden: Israel’s friend or foe?

Donald Trump was indisputably the best presidential friend of Israel since 1948, when Harry S. Truman recognized the fledgling Jewish state moments after its Proclamation of Independence. Trump’s gifts to Israel included transfer of the United States Embassy from...

Mar 22, 2021, 3:41 PM

Mourning Justus Weiner

I was deeply saddened to learn of the recent death of Justus Weiner, a human rights lawyer who made aliya to Israel in 1981 and enjoyed a distinguished legal career in his adopted country. Our paths crossed in the...

Mar 19, 2021, 5:32 PM

The case against Israel

Searching my home library for a book about Israel that I knew to be there, I noticed a small paperback that showed no evidence of ever having been opened. Its author was Michael Neumann, the son of German refugees,...

Feb 17, 2021, 12:21 AM

President Biden and Israel

With Donald Trump gone from the White House and the shame of impeachment as the Senate’s farewell, his most durable achievement is easily overlooked. He is likely to be remembered — without close competition for the dishonor — as...

Feb 12, 2021, 6:29 PM

Museum discoveries

From boyhood into adulthood, I was never fond of museums. Whether it was a grammar-school trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan or, as a young adult, the Louvre in Paris, I found the endless maze of...

Jan 30, 2021, 12:56 AM

Trump, Biden and Israel

It seems likely that Donald Trump will be judged the worst president in American history. Yet, ironically, he is also likely to be remembered as the best president for Israel since Harry Truman recognized the fledgling Jewish state moments...

Jan 19, 2021, 5:30 PM

Israel in memory

As a 15-year-old, I made my peace with the reality that I would not follow my cousin Hank Greenberg to baseball stardom. I chose the next-best alternative: I would become a sportswriter. But by the time I graduated from...

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About Me

Jerold S. Auerbach is author of Hebron Jews: Memory and Conflict in the Land of Israel (2009). His new book, Print to Fit: The New York Times, Zionism and Israel 1896-2016, will be published in February by Academic Studies Press.