Carlo Strenger

First of all Mazaltov to us all: Israel is celebrating its 64th independence day. We will all go to parties, see friends, and probably eat too much at tomorrow's barbecues.

The festivities will make us forget for a day that, at 64, Israel's internal discourse is haunted...

Dear Peter Beinart. I read your book "The Crisis of Zionism" with as much interest as I read your New York Review of Books essay on the failure of the U.S. Jewish establishment two years ago. Both struck a deep chord in me because you and...

I have great respect for Israeli author A.B. Yehoshua; I have enjoyed many of his books immensely, and benefited greatly from conversations with him. But I disagree with him about what it means to be Jewish and the relationship of Jewishness and Israel. In particular, I take issue with his...

Between the rockets from the Gaza strip and the endless debate about Iran, last week I participated at an event that showed where Israel could be heading: the first Israel Singularity Convention held at the Academic College of Tel Aviv-Jaffa. The inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil and the space entrepreneur...

The last days have brought another round of violence between Gaza and Israel. Most commentators assume that neither Hamas nor Israel in interested in further escalation of the hostilities that have been initiated by Islamic Jihad this time, ostensibly to jockey for position vis-à-vis Hamas. Iron Dome has...

There are obvious points of consensus in the Free World: the Iranian Regime is not nice; in fact, it's pretty horrid, both to its own people and in its support of violent actors in the Middle East. A nuclear Iran is bad, very bad; not just for Israel, but for...

It is time to have a clear-headed, hard look at reality: the two-state solution is dead.

Early in this fateful year 2011, leading Palestinian intellectual and President of Al Kuds University Sari Nousseibeh published his deeply disturbing book What is a Palestinian State Worth?....

A few weeks ago a little noted event occurred. Germany has six political foundations funded by the German foreign ministry. They are identified with all major German parties, including, of course, the CDU, Angela Merkel's party, that is right of center.

In an unusual step, the...

A few days ago I was struck by a statement by MK Yaakov Katz of the Ichud Le'umi party about the law that will allow Justice Grunis to be Dorit Beinish's successor as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court:

"This Law returns control to the people...

Dear Mr. Abbas,

Generally I write to my fellow Jews and Israelis for our high holidays. For you, Yom Kippur is, of course, not a day of reckoning, but I hope you will accept these words from an Israeli who has sponsored your cause for years with all his...

The Jewish year 5771 brought two diametrically opposed developments in Israel. One was the flood of anti-democratic laws passed and proposed in the Knesset. The other was the social justice protest movement, in which Israel's democracy suddenly came alive. On the eve of Rosh Hashana we should reflect on what...

In his speech at the UN General Assembly, Netanyahu scolded the UN for singling out Israel unfairly for decades, quoting the Lubavitcher Rebbe calling the UN house of lies. This was obviously not meant to gain him friends in the UN, but to show how connected he was...

It is a platitude to say that 9/11 2001 became a historical date immediately. We all remember where we were; and the images of the towers crumbling are etched into our souls.

Ten years later, we need to take stock of how 9/11 shaped history. We...

Israel is in the midst of a fascinating process. On the one hand, for the last two years, the governing coalition has proposed, and partially passed, an unprecedented series of nationalist laws in the Knesset. On the other hand, in the last six weeks, a wave of protests has swept...

The Arab Spring is far from over; it's only picking up. The Syrian people's heroic stance against Assad's terror regime is deeply impressive. Even though Assad's military has probably killed more than two thousand so far, the people do not stop. Assad is now threatened by potential indictments for crimes...

Benjamin Netanyahu has, for many years, argued that Israel's economy is independent of politics. Seemingly, he has a point: the driver of Israel's economy in the last two decades has been the high-tech industry, responsible for more than 16% of Israel's GDP and 40% of its exports. The high-tech industry...

This Friday former Chief of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Dominique Strauss-Kahn (generally called DSK in France -- and now in the international media) has been released from the house arrest under which he has been for more than a month. The prosecution has found significant credibility issues...

Benjamin Netanyahu, Avigdor Lieberman and company are selling Israel's citizens an illusion: they are positioning themselves as Rambo-heroes who will win against the world. They present Bibi's visit to the U.S. as a great success that has beaten down Obama and convinced the world that our government is righteous. Their...

A new species is born: Homo globalis, defined by its intimate connection to the global infotainment system. This is the first human generation that has access to facts, stories and images around the world. The global infotainment system, in turn, thrives on global celebrities. It needs them if...

Israel is facing a showdown with the national-religious messianic movement as international recognition of a Palestinian state moves closer.

In the Middle East's chaotic reality it is difficult to gain wider historical perspectives, but it is necessary to do so in order to understand our ongoing reality. Netanyahu, very belatedly,...