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Yochanan Schimmelpfennig

Jul 27, 2026, 10:10 AM

The Agreement We Were Never Shown

Three days before the Knesset formally dispersed, Bezalel Smotrich announced that the security cabinet had approved NIS 1.3 billion for the establishment of 34 West Bank settlements. He also pointed to a further NIS 1.075 billion for settlement roads—the...

Jul 26, 2026, 12:52 PM

An Armed Fringe Is Not Defending Israel. It Is Hijacking the State

A sovereign state alone determines where its soldiers fight, which civilian presence it can defend and how it resolves the political future of millions of Palestinians. No faction may manufacture danger, commandeer the army, convert casualties into political authority...

Jul 24, 2026, 9:09 AM

Shabbat Nachamu: Two Forms of Comfort and Consolation

The opening words of this week’s haftarah are among the most comforting in the Bible: “Comfort, oh comfort My people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and declare to her that her term of service is over, that her...

Jul 22, 2026, 8:42 PM

A Meditation Before Laying Tefillin On Tisha B’Av

I believe that it has been close to twenty years that I lead a Tisha B’Av pilgrimage reading passages of Lamentations where either Jews or non-Jews have suffered khurban (destruction) in our day, or are in danger of khurban....

Yochanan Schimmelpfennig

Jul 22, 2026, 5:46 PM

If We Decide Smotrich’s Grammar of Absolute Victory Bezalel Smotrich has defined absolute victory. Not as a general promise to defeat Hamas or as a formula attached to a continuing war, but as a specific sequence of actions. Israel is to...

Steven C. Wernick

Jun 30, 2026, 3:08 PM

On the Eve of 1,000 Days, a Cornerstone

This week I am in Tel Aviv for the Jewish Agency Board of Governors meeting. This afternoon, our delegation visited the Gaza Envelope. I want to tell you what we saw and what I think it means. But first, let...

Jun 28, 2026, 6:29 PM

More Than a Real Estate Opportunity: The Ideology Driving Anglos to Ashkelon

I grew up in LA, so driving is part of my DNA. Now that I live here in Israel, I am blessed to be able to work on homes all over the country and get to know many different...

Jose Lev Alvarez Gomez

Jun 11, 2026, 1:27 PM

Hamas Disarms for Cameras, Kills for Power

The latest United Nations report on Gaza exposes the fraud at the center of every negotiation with Hamas. The terrorist group tells diplomats it may disarm while its own enforcers execute, maim, and beat Palestinians to preserve power. This...

Jun 11, 2026, 4:35 AM

Did The Sinai Deal Really Work?

For decades, Sinai has been treated as the crown jewel of the land-for-peace argument. Oftentimes, in the argument surrounding “land for peace,” opponents will claim that Israel exchanging land for peace has never historically worked or held up. Those in...

Jun 7, 2026, 1:56 PM

When a Community Has to Be Built Again: Designing Homes for Beeri

Every once in a while, one project comes along that shifts everything. This is the Beeri project. In November 2023 just a month after October 7, I got on a plane with a few hundred evacuated residents from the towns...

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