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Jun 6, 2026, 12:12 AM

Gadi Eisenkot and the Politics of Consequence

Illustrative: Gadi Eisenkot, the quiet contender. AI image created by the author.

I was at a wedding in Israel several months ago, sitting beside someone who has served the country for decades. Between the music, the blessings, the dancing, and the small miracle of a wedding meal arriving while still warm,...

Jun 5, 2026, 7:08 PM

Will the Ultra-Orthodox and the Messianic Right Find a Common Enemy?

The shattered windows at the home of the Deputy Supreme Court Chief Justice are more than just an ugly act of vandalism. They should sound a much deeper alarm. They likely signal a dangerous new phase in the evolution...

Jun 3, 2026, 10:18 AM

Israel in the Age of Viral Demonization

Israeli national flag waving at the historic Western Wall in Jerusalem from the Pexels website (https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-the-national-flag-of-israel-6851497/)

How sensational allegations against Israel echo older patterns of anti-Jewish conspiracy and collective demonization. For centuries, anti-Jewish prejudice has often relied on extraordinary allegations—stories so shocking that they bypass skepticism and appeal directly to emotion. Medieval Europe produced some of...

Jun 2, 2026, 5:48 PM

Why Open Societies Argue With Themselves

An old psychotherapy joke says that therapists are excellent at guiding others toward change, so long as the therapist does not have to change. The joke endures because it reflects a larger truth: people instinctively prefer stability to uncertainty,...

Jose Lev Alvarez Gomez

Jun 1, 2026, 8:03 AM

Macron’s Beaufort Blunder Reveals European Decline

French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech next to the submarine 'Le Temeraire' (The Temerarious) at the Nuclear submarines Navy base of Ile Longue in Crozon, France, Monday March 2, 2026. (Yoan Valat/Pool Photo via AP)

French President Emmanuel Macron declared on May 29, 2026, that “nothing justifies the Israeli strikes conducted in southern Lebanon.” He called Israel’s operations unacceptable under international law. Forty-eight hours later, the Israel Defense Forces seized Beaufort Castle and the...

May 30, 2026, 5:02 PM

Beyond Electoral Arithmetic: The Opposition’s Arab Dilemma

If Arab parties are legitimate enough to participate in elections, they are legitimate enough to participate in government. In an earlier essay for The Times of Israel, “The Opposition Must Be Prepared to Form a Coalition with Arab Parties After...

May 28, 2026, 2:35 PM

I wrote for Haaretz, but now I know better

Haaretz publisher Amos Schocken speaks at a conference in Tel Aviv on February 17, 2015. (Amir Levy/Flash90)

On 21 April last year, I published a piece in Israeli left-wing newspaper Haaretz questioning whether the British legal system could handle Gaza war crime allegations against British IDF soldiers. Four months later, on 20 August, I published a second,...

Jose Lev Alvarez Gomez

May 27, 2026, 11:18 AM

Europe Needs Israel to Join the European Union

Europe is careening toward strategic irrelevance as Iranian proxies tighten their noose around its southern flank and radical Islam spreads through its streets and no-go zones. Israel is the hard-power partner the European Union can no longer afford to...

May 26, 2026, 8:34 PM

Who Elected the Attorney General?

Israel’s legal establishment was never elected by the public. Yet more and more Israelis feel that it now behaves as though it sits above the public, above ministers, and even above the government itself. Let’s stop pretending this is normal! Because...

Jose Lev Alvarez Gomez

May 25, 2026, 7:27 AM

Hezbollah’s Criminal Infrastructure Inside Israel

A Hezbollah supporter waves a flag with the portrait of the late Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah during a protest against the Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, in front the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, April 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Hezbollah has weaponized segments of northern Israel’s criminal underworld, converting it into a durable instrument of Iranian hybrid warfare. What began as cross-border narcotics smuggling has matured into a sophisticated, multi-layered apparatus for drug trafficking, intelligence collection, weapons smuggling,...

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