Imagine if every season was election season. Millions of Israelis felt a sense of deja vu this past November when they cast their ballots for the fifth time in just over two years. Many things were left up in the…
Israel
Why Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Return as Israel’s Prime Minister is Good for the Arab States
Following the election of Likud leader Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu as Israel’s prime minister and the new conservative coalition in the Knesset, Arab leaders from Bahrain, Jordan, Sudan, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Egypt congratulated the incoming administration. Despite the mixed…
Hen Mazzig: Confronting the Rise of “Modern” Antisemitism
When Hen Mazzig came to speak at the UCLA Hillel in late October, I had no expectation of seeing him again ten days later at the Jewish National Fund’s National Conference in Boston, some 2,500 miles away from Westwood. While…
Book Review: The “Titan of Tehran” by Shahrzad Elghanyan
Over the summer, I had the privilege of reading the biography of former Iranian Jewish leader and businessman Habib Elghanyan, “Titan of Tehran,” written by his granddaughter Shahrzad Elghanyan. In her book, Elghanyan traces her grandfather’s rags to riches backstory,…
What Israel’s Newest Laser Interception System Means for Its Safety & Security
On Twitter, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced that the Israeli military has successfully tested its newest laser interception system called the “Iron Beam”. According to the Prime Minister, this new invention is the world’s first energy-based weapon that uses…
The Third Intifada?: An Outline to Last Month’s Outbreak of Terror in Israel
While UCLA students call for an intifada from the comforts of their Los Angeles campus, Israelis and Palestinians suffer the consequences. Last Tuesday, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), a pro-Palestinian student organization with an anti-Semitic history, protested on Bruin…
How the 2022 Negev Summit Has Strengthened The Relationship Between Israel & The Arab World
At a historical summit between Israel and its Arab allies in the southern Negev, the Israeli government hosted the United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken along with foreign ministers from Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).…
COVID Aliyah
In August 2020, despite global lockdowns, travel restrictions, and the rampant spread of COVID-19, I had the unique opportunity to take a gap year and study at a yeshiva, a program for post-high school students to pursue Judaic studies in…
A Coalition to End the Reign of Prime Minister Netanyahu?
Israel’s democratic fever dream has almost broken. After four elections in two years, a coalition government finally seems poised to end the 12 year reign of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The proposed coalition could give Israel a semblance of stability…
Conflict Rises Between Israel and Gaza
Violence intensified between the Israeli government and Hamas on Tuesday, May 11, after Hamas fired initial rockets. More than 83 Palestinians in Gaza and six Israelis were killed as a result of this ongoing conflict, according to “The New York…