Larry Derfner

The wrong Zionist response to refugees

Published on July 12, 2007

If Israel goes ahead and sends 1,000 southern Sudanese refugees back to live under the Pharaoh, after what they went through in Sudan, then once and for all we Jews ought to get off our high horse about how "the world stood silent" when we needed help.

Israeli Electoral Reform Dream: What a Headache

Published on April 5, 2007

Attention Israelis: Please stop kvetching

Published on March 1, 2007

Could it be that Israelis just need to kvetch about whoever's in the headlines?

Bibi Netanyahu ranks high ...  as racist demagogue

Published on January 18, 2007

Imagine if any non-Jewish government official in the world cited the lowering of the Jewish birthrate in his country as an accomplishment, then recommended that his country's founding institution raise money to help poor non-Jewish families but not poor Jewish families.

The big con about Iran

Published on October 5, 2006

There is no military option in Iran. If we didn't learn this from the Americans' ongoing experience in Iraq, we should have learned it from Israel's recent experience in Lebanon.

Direct Hezbollah rocket hit leaves Israeli/Arab ‘peace school’ in pieces

Published on September 21, 2006

The only school in Acre that serves both Jewish and Arab pupils -- the el-Mahaba, took a direct hit from a rocket during the war.

Good for the Jews

Published on March 30, 2006

In the last two decades, most Israelis have arrived at two conclusions: 1) territory and security are separate issues, and 2) the Palestinians are politically dysfunctional; not only can't they be trusted to keep a peace agreement, they can't be coerced into keeping one, either.

Israel Tames but Doesn’t Halt Torture

Published on March 23, 2006

Last November, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), while campaigning to ban the U.S. government from using torture, told the "Today" show: "The Israeli Supreme Court outlawed torture, outlawed cruel and inhumane treatment. And I have talked to Israeli officials, and they say they do very fine without it."

Olmert’s Conversion From Pol to Leader

Published on January 19, 2006

You have to judge politicians, especially those running for prime minister, without sentiment. And if they've changed direction, you have to give more weight to what they've done lately than what they did before. Unless the candidate is a truly malevolent character, you have to judge him or her on two things: leadership ability and political direction. And on that basis, I think Olmert is better suited to be prime minister than anybody else around.

A Solution to Israel’s Demographic Peril

Published on July 21, 2005

When Israeli Arabs protest that talk of the "demographic threat" is racist, can Israeli Jews blame them? If non-Jewish professors and politicians anywhere on earth spoke of a Jewish demographic threat to their countries, what would Jews call it? What, for that matter, would decent non-Jews call it?

Raising the specter of the Arab demographic threat to Israel is, in fact, racist -- if you believe that Zionism is racism, that a Jewish state is a racist state.

I don't believe that (even while I know there is no shortage of Jews whose Zionism doesn't amount to anything more than racism). Although the Jewish state by definition "belongs" to the Jews more than it does to its non-Jewish citizens, I don't consider it a force for racism, but the opposite: Whatever racism exists in Israel, the Jewish state came into being as an answer to racism of a rather larger magnitude -- the habit of anti-Semitic oppression.

Hope for At-Risk Youth at Yemin Orde

Published on June 2, 2005

One of the notorious ways that overwrought Israeli parents get unruly kids into line is by threatening to send them to a pnimia -- a boarding school.

Jewish Split Marks Armenian Genocide

Published on April 21, 2005

There's always been a strong Jewish angle to the story of the Armenian genocide, whose 90th anniversary is commemorated this weekend

Unilateral Withdrawal

Published on February 17, 2005

I, along with what the polls say is 60 percent of Israelis -- and maybe even Ariel Sharon, too -- trust Mahmoud Abbas' good intentions. More than that, I'm impressed by what he's done on the ground -- by prevailing on Hamas and the other terrorist groups to "cool down" the violence a week after he took office, and reading them the riot act after their rockets started flying again a day after the hopeful Sharm el-Sheik summit.

International Left Rooting for Barghouti

Published on December 30, 2004

Progressives of the world, including those in Israel, have a thing about Marwan Barghouti and with good reason: He's so cool. He's the coolest

Palestinian since Yasser Arafat first turned up in a keffiyeh and Ray Bans.

Journalist Patrick Bishop put it just right recently in England's Daily Telegraph, writing Barghouti up as a celebrity revolutionary:

Rocket Threat Casts Shadow on Kibbutz

Published on October 14, 2004

Kibbutz Nir'am, which is slightly closer to the Gaza Strip than Sderot, seemed dead that morning. The air was hot, harsh and still. Hardly anybody was outdoors.

Tricked Into

Published on September 16, 2004

Like everyone else, I used to divide the prostitutes smuggled into Israel from the former Soviet republics into two categories -- the good ones who were tricked into it, and the bad ones who knew what they were getting into.

I think differently now. After meeting one of the "bad" ones for a story I'm doing, I see them all, both the knowing and unknowing, as victims, as innocents.

Israeli Tourists ‘Ugly’ No More

Published on June 17, 2004

Leafing through travel books on Turkey at Tel Aviv's L'Metayel (For the Traveler), veteran sojourner Ronen Lazar suggests how to curb the phenomenon of the "ugly Israeli" -- the obnoxious Israeli tourist.

Barbaric Acts Kill Palestinian Sympathy

Published on May 27, 2004

know there are many Palestinians out there who are sickened and ashamed by what happened in Gaza to the remains of the six dead Israeli soldiers.

I don't hold them responsible; I don't associate them with those acts just because they are Palestinians or Arabs, not in any way.

In fact, I think it's important now to remember Arabs like the Palestinian man who drowned in the Sea of Galilee a couple of years ago trying to save a drowning Israeli boy. I remember a Jaffa Arab who was killed in 1992, I think, trying to stop a wild man from Gaza who was slashing at Jewish children with a saber.

Showdown Nears in Settlements Battle

Published on January 8, 2004

It would be hard to exaggerate how fateful, how historic is the drama about to begin at the settlement outposts. Here's where things stand:

Within a few months, we will pretty well know if Israel's 36-year occupation of the West Bank and Gaza will be on its way out or here to stay.

Geneva Pact Generates Ray of Optimism

Published on December 11, 2003

Some thoughts, optimistic ones, on the effects already felt from the Geneva agreement:

1) The view from the Israeli street is that the agreement is another trick, another Palestinian trick to fool Israel into believing that they really want peace, and then, when our guard is down, they'll swallow us whole.

Yet if that's the case, why is the Palestinian street up in arms? Yasser Abed Rabbo and his Palestinian delegation to Geneva have been branded traitors and collaborators by Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and thousands of furiously protesting Palestinians. This is as good as a death sentence.

Palestinians Face Hamas Dilemma

Published on June 19, 2003

The three young Fatah guerrillas in the West Bank city of Tulkarm, wearing masks and holding AK-47s, had just received advance payment to start a second career -- as Palestinian policemen fighting terror, according to an Arab journalist present.

Going Through Hell For The Dead

Published on August 29, 2002

Natan Koenig was blotting up blood from the floor of the cafeteria named for Frank Sinatra at Jerusalem's Hebrew University. Koenig worked for two hours on that 95-degree afternoon on July 31, arriving soon after a Hamas-made bomb exploded under a table, killing nine people, including two Americans, wounding some 90 others and shattering the lunchroom.

The Irrelevance of Arab Hatred

Published on August 22, 2002

The consensus view of the intifada among Israelis, Diaspora Jews and American conservatives -- that it's caused by Arab hatred and rejection of Israel -- is nothing but a lousy excuse.

A Confident Failure

Published on August 15, 2002

Talk about cognitive dissonance. The mood in Israel may never have been so hopeless, the indices of quality of life may never have pointed so sharply downward, and yet the calmest, most content person in the country appears to be Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Tilting Away From Israel

Published on March 21, 2002

Since Sept. 11, the administration has stood solidly behind Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's battle against the Palestinians, while ostracizing Yasser Arafat.

Cycle of Bloodshed

Published on March 7, 2002

There is a new rhythm to the terror attacks against Israelis: They are coming in one-two punches, leaving the country staggering.

In or Out?

Published on February 14, 2002

"We have no intention of reconquering the Palestinian areas," Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer told a news conference this week, repeating a common refrain of the Sharon government.

Refuseniks in the Ranks

Published on February 7, 2002

The "officers' letter" came out on Jan. 25 in Yediot Aharonot, Israel's largest newspaper -- 52 reserve army officers declared that they would not serve in the West Bank or Gaza for moral and political reasons.

Israel’s Emigration Problem

Published on January 31, 2002

More than any other Israeli politician, Yossi Beilin has a knack for saying things that many other people are thinking but will not say, and he has just done it again.

Israel’s Mayors Threatened Daily

Published on January 24, 2002

Adi Eldar, mayor of Tiberias and head of the Union of Local Authorities in Israel, counts 140 acts of violence against Israeli mayors in the last five years.

Economic Emergency

Published on November 22, 2001

On top of being in a military state of emergency for over a year, Israel is now in an "economic state of emergency" as well, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced last week. He was about the last person in the country to say the words out loud.

Enemy or Friend?

Published on November 15, 2001

Israel's 1 million Arab citizens have been going through a process of radicalization for the last generation, but since the Al Aqsa Intifada broke out nearly 14 months ago, that process has taken a bitter leap forward. Days after the intifada began and rioting Palestinians were shot to death by Israeli troops, Arabs across the Galilee also rioted, and 13 were killed by police. In a few cases since then, Arab citizens of Israel -- nearly all Islamic fundamentalists -- have been involved in terror attacks.

Closed for the Duration

Published on November 1, 2001

Whenever there's a wave of terror in Israel, the nation's hotels come up against a wave of cancellations, and the country's entire tourist industry -- from five-star hotels to souvenir hawkers -- goes into a slump. But in a few months the terror and fear subside, and the tourists come back.

A Siberian-Jewish Tragedy

Published on October 11, 2001

The crash of the Air Siberia jet over the Black Sea last week was an Israeli tragedy, but more specifically and acutely, it was a tragedy for Siberian Jewry.

Muslims Against Jihad

Published on September 27, 2001

Here is President George W. Bush on Islam: "Its teachings are good and peaceful, and those who commit evil in the name of Allah blaspheme the name of Allah."

Lessons from Israel’s War on Terror

Published on September 20, 2001

When President Bush talks of fighting a war against terror until victory, of stamping out terror, it's probably worth looking at Israel's decades-long attempt at doing the same.

Israelis Identify With U.S.

Published on September 13, 2001

The contrast between the Palestinian and Israeli reaction couldn't have been more stark -- while crowds of Palestinians were celebrating in the streets of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, Israel was observing an official national day of mourning, with flags flying at half-mast, and blood banks and solidarity Web sites opening up.

Now It’s Jewish Terrorists

Published on July 26, 2001

The settler movement is in serious denial over last week's killings of three Palestinians, including 3-month-old Dia Tmeizi. While all settlers publicly condemn the killings, even the most "mainstream" don't see any connection between the nighttime ambush near Hebron and the incessant cries for "revenge" by settlers at funerals, demonstrations and elsewhere.

Caught Red-Handed

Published on June 28, 2001

Israel has arrested two more Palestinians it said were involved in the brutal lynching of two Israeli soldiers by a Palestinian mob in October, bringing the total arrests up to 15.

The front-page photos in the Hebrew dailies couldn't have told the story more graphically: There was Abed al-Aziz Tzalha, 20, grinning in triumph, raising his bloody hands to the lynch mob in Ramallah. and there he was again, raising his handcuffed hands on command for the camera, expressionless, now in the custody of the Shin Bet.

Arabs Against Arafat

Published on June 21, 2001

With a slight break in the action and a flurry of would-be peacemaking since the Tel Aviv discotheque bombing, a reality check on the Palestinians -- the regular people, not the politicians -- shows that a pall has come over them. They are deeply ensnared by a Catch-22.

Israel’s Wagner Taboo

Published on May 17, 2001

After strenuous protests by Holocaust survivor groups, backed by virtually the entire Israeli political spectrum, the decision was taken last week to look for an alternative to the Wagner concert that had been scheduled for this summer's Israel Festival, the country's annual international cultural showcase.

An Intifada Casualty Named Atarot

Published on March 22, 2001

The Atarot Industrial Park, located at the edge of a Jerusalem Arab village and right on the border of the Palestinian Authority, was meant as a forerunner of the "New Middle East": Arabs and Jews making money together, not war.

The Home Front

Published on March 8, 2001

Standing with the crowd in Netanya where, hours before, a Palestinian suicide bomber had killed three Israelis and himself, local carpenter Ya'acov Ohayon was asked if he thought the public -- the home front -- was ready for more of the same, or worse.

A Rabbi’s Fatwa

Published on March 23, 2000

After Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, ruler of the Shas (Sephardi ultra-Orthodox) party, caused an uproar this week by pronouncing a kind of Jewish fatwa on liberal Education Minister Yossi Sarid, one of Yosef's minions tried to jump into the fray.

But Can Barak Convince the Israelis?

Published on December 16, 1999

At first blush it seemed like a done deal. If Syria and Israel were returning to the negotiating table, and President Bill Clinton was leading them, then it was surely just a matter of time until the two sides reached agreement and declared peace. American, Syrian and Israeli officials sounded confident to a fault, saying a deal might be just a short distance away.

Rich Israeli, Poor Israeli

Published on December 16, 1999

For all the recent hubbub over the worsening lot of Israel's poor, and the growing criticism of Prime Minister Ehud Barak's born-again Reaganite economic policies, it should be understood that in many key misery indices, Israel isn't doing too badly.

Poverty and Unemployment Plague Israel

Published on December 2, 1999

The peace process isn't the news in Israel anymore; it's poverty, unemployment and hunger. The domestic agenda, the one that Prime Minister Ehud Barak focused his election campaign on, has jumped up and bitten him.

The Power of Advertising

Published on October 7, 1999

About 1,000 people crammed into Jerusalem's Kol Haneshama Reform synagogue for Yom Kippur services, while another 500 or so listened in the courtyard outside.

Three Books That Shook the New York Times

Published on September 9, 1999

The New York Times dubbed it "a quiet revolution in the teaching of Israeli history."

Barak’s Hard Road to Peace

Published on July 15, 1999

Now that Yasser Arafat has called Ehud Barak his "friend and partner," and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has pronounced himself pleased and encouraged with the new Israeli prime minister, and President Clinton is just waiting to welcome him to Washington, the old euphoria seems to have arisen again.