Mark L. Levinson, at The Blogs

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Mar 6, 2023, 3:52 PM

Good Suggestion, Wrong Suggester

נשיא המדינה יצחק הרצוג ונשיא צרפת עמנואל מקרון בפריז

Photo by Kobi Gideon / GPO

There are long-standing kinks in Israel’s governmental power structure. For example, a small Knesset majority may declare that the law it’s enacting — a Basic Law — can’t be reversed except by a larger majority than enacted it in the first...

Sep 29, 2021, 8:05 AM

Spinning the War of Independence

Avi Nesher coaches actress Joy Rieger: Publicity photo by Iris Nesher

Avi Nesher’s new movie Image of Victory I didn’t realize, until the cinematheque showing of Image of Victory was over and Avi Nesher the director spoke to the audience, that I should have done more homework. It turns out that...

Feb 18, 2020, 1:24 AM

Watching “Mary Magdalene” as a Jewish Israeli

I hadn’t known that according to Pope Francis, “It is certain that Mary Magdalene formed part of the group of Jesus' disciples.” I’d expected the 2018 Mary Magdalene movie to be just a Hollywood-generated retcon driven by the same...

Sep 9, 2019, 7:51 PM

Notes on a new Israeli movie: Peaches and Cream

It’s said that the difference between Israeli cinema and Hollywood is that Hollywood likes to tell the story of a determined individual whereas Israeli movies like to portray a small collective — a family or a circle of friends. Earlier this...

Mar 1, 2019, 11:12 AM

You Have the Right, But…

I grew up watching cop shows on American TV, where the arresting officer would tell the criminal, “You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you.” In Israel, that would...

Aug 1, 2017, 10:15 PM

The Burglar and the Biruana

There was an unusual Mark Twain quotation that circulated during the Vietnam War — unusual in that Mark Twain actually wrote it. He was referring obliquely, and with typical sarcasm, to an earlier American military adventure: “‘Even if the war...

Jul 21, 2017, 6:46 PM

Cyber Week and Election Day

For Cyber Week, at Tel Aviv University last month, experts from some fifty countries came to discuss computer-based threats to the economy, population, and government. As speaker Menny Barzilay pointed out, these threats aren’t accompanied on the evening news...

Sep 9, 2015, 8:37 PM

First we take Oahu…

This summer saw the appearance of a book titled Palestine, by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei the Supreme Leader of Iran. Its pages do not envision the redemption of Palestine from Jewish hands in terms of violent conquest. Instead, as described...

Jul 30, 2015, 11:41 PM

Disengagement Plus Ten: The Conference

If we award our sworn enemies the wherewithal to lead a better, peaceful life, then their own self-interest will bring them around. That seems to be part of the rationale for the nuclear deal with Iran today, as ten...

May 29, 2015, 1:04 PM

Don’t District Us

Only in Israel. Moments before presenting the new government for its swearing-in, the Speaker of the Knesset inveighed from the rostrum against the system whereby that very government had gained power. The prime minister thereupon took the rostrum and...

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About Me

Mark L. Levinson, in Israel since 1970, has worked as a writer for hi-tech companies and, now primarily, as a Hebrew-to-English translator.

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