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Nov 8, 2019, 10:50 PM

30 years later: The fall of the Berlin Wall and the Jews

The Berlin Wall opens in November 1989. (Patrick PIEL/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

The liberal democracy enabled East Germans to unearth their Jewishness, bequeathing to their children a secret that no longer needed be kept

Jan 11, 2019, 2:10 PM

Israel’s great writer, reader, dreamer

Amos Oz (Jinpix, via Jewish News)

Susan Sontag once defined herself as ‘a writer, reader, and a dreamer’ who dwelt upon ‘how things could be better, deeper, more intense, more wonderful.’ A better summation of a life could not be found for Amos Oz, who died on 28 December at the...

Dec 18, 2013, 7:00 AM

The brotherhood is over but Lapid’s damage is done

When Yair Lapid woke up the morning after winning 19 seats in the 19th Knesset and decided the best thing he could do was drag Yesh Atid into a fraternal alliance with Habayit Hayehudi, he immediately consigned the next government to discord and dysfunctionality. When...

Oct 7, 2013, 7:00 AM

Amos Oz and the meaning of homeland

The title of Yonathan and Masha Zur’s sometimes lyrical, sometimes penetrative, yet always insightful and captivating 2009 documentary Amos Oz: The Nature of Dreams makes reference to a much-used and familiar thought of the author’s. Dreams, Oz states in the film, are destined to remain...

Aug 19, 2013, 7:00 AM

Gush Katif nostalgia is based upon illusion

The Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip, which were evacuated 8 years ago, provided no security for Israel

Jun 28, 2013, 7:00 AM

If Netanyahu believed in peace, he’d leave the Likud

Depending on when you read this, is it possible that the disembowelling of the Likud by the most fanatical and idiotic of annexationists will have been completed. The process has been short and swift. Prior to the last election, Likud primary voters selected a party...

Apr 30, 2013, 9:00 AM

Gideon Levy, single-minded

Gideon Levy has long cut a melancholic figure within Israeli journalism, as if he is carrying the burden of all Israel’s indiscretions upon his shoulders. His work covering the indignities of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank for Ha’aretz has been admirable, and for it,...

Apr 15, 2013, 12:00 PM

In Hebrew, it seems as if there are numerous instructions to live a long and happy life where one’s eye is not dimmed nor natural force abated. Chai, the word for life, becomes l’chaim, ‘to life’, something to be said at celebratory toasts for any...

Feb 20, 2013, 3:30 AM

Tzipi Livni did the right thing

What else was she supposed to do? During the election campaign, Tzipi Livni spoke repeatedly about the need for the three main parties of the centre-left – Labor, Yesh Atid, and Hatnua – to get it together and form an opposition bloc that would do all it...

Jan 21, 2013, 9:00 AM

Yachimovich is concluding Labor’s historic role

Ha’aretz columnist Ari Shavit credits Shelly Yachimovich with two things: “She revived the labour movement and succeeded in channelling the social justice protest into the Labor Party.” Indeed, she and Yair Lapid and his Yesh Atid Party have run their election campaigns entirely on domestic...

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About Me

Liam Hoare, a freelance writer on politics and literature, has written for The Atlantic, The Forward, and The Daily Beast