A Letter to Tom Friedman

By Rabbi David Eliezrie
Published on March 14, 2002

Dear Tom,

I heard you had a great trip to Saudi Arabia. In the privacy of their homes people removed their veils and expressed their true feelings. Even the crown prince, the guy who really runs Saudi Arabia, spent some time with you.

Is This Really a New Bibi?

By David Landau
Published on December 14, 2000

Just 18 months after Benjamin Netanyahu was voted out of office, public opinion polls show that he would decimate Prime Minister Ehud Barak in a head-to-head contest -- if Netanyahu can only get around the legal obstacles to his candidacy.

A Tough Transition

By James D. Besser
Published on December 14, 2000

Presidential transitions are tough even in the best of circumstances. And with the outcome of this year's political brawl delayed by weeks of legal and political maneuvering, the 2001 transition will be tougher than most.

New Urgency for Peacemaking

By Matthew E. Berger
Published on December 7, 2000

For the players in the Middle East peace process, it may seem like the two-minute warning.

Balancing Acts

By David Landau
Published on October 26, 2000

Prime Minister Ehud Barak and opposition leader Ariel Sharon are trying to get their respective parties to join a national unity government before the Knesset begins its winter session Monday.

After the Summit

By Eric Silver
Published on July 27, 2000

Camp David is dead, long live Camp David. That was the slogan as the despondent, disappointed Israelis left the morning after the Middle East peace summit collapsed in the Maryland presidential retreat."The process is not over," said strategic analyst Yossi Alpher, a former special adviser to Prime Minister Ehud Barak. "It is hard to think that Barak will simply say, 'I'm finished dealing with the peace process.' They're going to have to get back to talking."
What, though, would they talk about?

Renewed Hope

By Tom Tugend
Published on July 20, 2000

Despite protest demonstrations, Israelis will overwhelmingly endorse any agreement forged by Prime Minister Ehud Barak at the Camp David negotiations, Israel's minister for Diaspora affairs assured the national convention of Hadassah on Sunday evening.

Hate Crime

By Avi Machlis
Published on June 29, 2000

Images of Holocaust-era synagogue torchings were invoked after a Conservative shul in Jerusalem was set on fire over the weekend.

Selling AWACS to China

By Eric Silver
Published on April 27, 2000

Chinese President Jiang Zemin donned his black kippah and followed in Pope John Paul II's footsteps to the Western Wall last week, confident that the world's biggest atheistic state would soon receive a $250 million airborne surveillance system from Israel Aircraft Industries on schedule. Despite intense American pressure to cancel the deal, the signs are that he will receive the other three or four AWACS he also wants to buy.

Chances for Peace

By Michelle K. Wolf
Published on April 13, 2000

Signing a framework for a peace agreement with the Palestinians by the end of May will help Israel to reshape the strategic equation in the Middle East, according to Israel's deputy defense minister, Ephraim Sneh, who briefed 250 delegates and guests at the recent Labor Zionist Alliance biennial convention.

Credibility Gap

By David Landau
Published on February 3, 2000

Prime Minister Ehud Barak and his closest political allies have been scrambling to limit the damage to their government following a scathing report on the financing behind Barak's election campaign last year.

But Can Barak Convince the Israelis?

By Larry Derfner
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

By Larry Derfner
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.

Talks to Be Held

By Michael Shapiro
Published on December 9, 1999

U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's Middle East shuttle mission has paid off with the announcement that Israeli-Syrian negotiations will resume next week.

Poverty and Unemployment Plague Israel

By Larry Derfner
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.

Changing the Climate of Hatred

Published on November 25, 1999

Over the weekend Prime Minister Ehud Barak came to New York seeking stronger American Jewish support for the accelerating Mideast peace process, and by and large he will get it.
But two recent incidents point to the obstacles he faces in settling the lingering qualms of a significant proportion of the Jews who care about Israel's future in a changing region -- qualms that could eventually undercut the support he desires.

Managing the Bitter Debate Ahead

By James D
Published on October 7, 1999

Next month, Prime Minister Ehud Barak will travel to Atlanta for the General Assembly of the United Jewish Communities, the central philanthropic and service organization in the American Jewish world.

Forging Ahead

By David Landau
Published on September 23, 1999

Prime Minister Ehud Barak's cozy late-night dinner with Yasser Arafat and some of the Palestinian leaders' top aides at a private home near Tel Aviv came as a pleasant surprise to Middle East peace watchers.

The Two Sides of the Street

By Eric Silver
Published on September 9, 1999

The only thing Jerusalem's Jewish and Arab shopping malls had in common when news broke last Friday of the Wye II deal was that no one was dancing in the streets. There was relief that something at last was about to move on the Israeli-Palestinian front, but it takes more than Madeleine Albright playing what she fetchingly called an American "handmaiden" to disperse the suspicions of half a century.

Ehud Barak’s Kind of Town

By Larry Derfner
Published on June 3, 1999

When incoming Prime Minister Ehud Barak needs to talk things over with Gen. Shaul Mofaz, the military chief of staff, he won't have to go far: Mofaz lives 12 houses away from him in the town of Kochav Yair.

Enter the New Prime Minister: Ehud Barak

By Eric Silver
Published on May 27, 1999

Two decades ago, after hearing the then-Col. Ehud Barak deliver a eulogy for a fallen comrade, popular Israeli poet Haim Guri predicted: "One day, this man will be prime minister." On May 17, Israel's voters proved him right. Barak was elected by a landslide, his 56 percent to 44 percent for the right-wing incumbent, Binyamin Netanyahu -- the younger brother of the man Barak eulogized in 1976, Yonatan Netanyahu, who was killed rescuing a planeload of hijacked passengers at Entebbe airport.

AIPAC Adapts

By James D
Published on May 27, 1999

That squeak audible over Washington this week was the sound of the pro-Israel lobby turning on a dime.
Stung by criticism by some Labor leaders of a longstanding pro-Likud tilt, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), began a quick readjustment at this week's annual policy conference in Washington.

Barak’s Tough Choices

By Larry Derfner
Published on May 20, 1999

The tens of thousands of happy secularists who danced Election Night away in Rabin Square may have thought they'd "taken back the country" from the right-wing and religious, but according to all the signs, incoming Prime Minister Ehud Barak has a surprise in store for them.

Seismic Shift

By David Landau
Published on May 20, 1999

Pundits everywhere are calling Israel's election results a "political earthquake." In fact, though, two distinct tremors have overturned the rules and realities that have governed the Jewish state and its policy-making these past three years.

Going Their Ways

By Tom Tugend
Published on March 18, 1999

That squeak audible over Washington this week was the sound of the pro-Israel lobby turning on a dime.
Stung by criticism by some Labor leaders of a longstanding pro-Likud tilt, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), began a quick readjustment at this week's annual policy conference in Washington.