Along with “no daylight,” one of the longstanding principles of the U.S.-Israel alliance was “no surprises.” This meant that if the American president planned on making a major policy statement on the Middle East, especially one that impacted our security, Israeli leaders would be given the opportunity to review it first and submit their comments.…

My first encounter with antisemitism, when I was about nine years old and growing up as the lone Jewish kid in an entirely Catholic neighborhood, was being called by some bully a Christ-killer. I would go on to encounter many other stripes of Jew-hatred: Jews have too much money, power, and influence, Jews are devious,…

Israel has repeatedly outsourced its security to others–the results have always been disastrous The state created in 1948 to ensure that the Jewish people would never again have to rely on anybody else for our security has repeatedly outsourced its security to others. The results have always been disastrous. In the 1950s, we outsourced our…

Whether on the ground, or in the air, the Israeli people must unite   In the midst of a desperate war and on the eve of Memorial Day, a deep schism has opened within the IDF. According to press reports, the Israeli Air Force has complained that the Southern Command, in charge of ground operations…

More than two decades have passed since the publication, in The New Republic, of my review of The Pianist. The film’s star, Adrian Brody, won an Oscar for his portrayal of a Polish Holocaust survivor. This year, Brody gleaned a second Academy Award for Best Actor in The Brutalist, in which he played a Holocaust survivor from Hungary. Brody’s…

After Trump ‘Veto,’ Dealing with Iran is Trickier for Israel Israel must negotiate directly with Washington, secure defense guarantees and prepare for the risks of a potential deal that could strengthen Iran and its proxies. PM Benjamin Netanyahu, President Donald Trump, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (White House / Wikimedia) Subscribe “Who leaked?” That is the question…

My mother, a veteran family therapist, was fond of saying, “the presenting problem is not the problem.” In other words, the issue that appears to be the most pressing often acts as camouflage for a much deeper and far more threatening problem. In the quickly arranged summit meeting between President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu,…

The following are the remarks written for the Wilson Center in Washington where I was recently named The Joseph B. Gildenhorn Distinguished Fellow. Last week, representatives of the Department of Government Efficiency entered the center and all but closed it down. The speech, I believe, still deserves to be read. It’s about the school—not Princeton, not…

The perennial eulogists of Benjamin Netanyahu’s career are having a banner week. Though it lacks a constitution, Israel stands on the brink of what might otherwise be called a constitutional crisis sparked by Netanyahu’s firing of Ronen Bar, head of the Shin Bet national security agency—Israel’s equivalent to the FBI. The government has also begun the process…

During the summer of 2024—because I could no longer bear the thought of not taking an active part in our ongoing war, and thanks also to my stubborn refusal to acknowledge my advancing years—I volunteered for the IDF reserves. For the first time in decades, I put on a uniform, donned a helmet, and picked…