ArcaMax

Israel is, as always, caught between a rock and a hard place. It is under pressure from its best friend -- the United States, that is -- to keep trading hostages even as it continues to arrest Palestinians and inflame tensions in the West Bank, where Hamas is being celebrated for bringing home its own prisoners. Formally, the United States is ...Read more

What do Jews talk about when we talk about the war between Israel and Hamas? Obviously many things, including the outing of all the antisemites out there and what's happening on college campuses and how scary the random acts of hate are and then whose friend or family in Israel has been called up or evacuated or grew up with someone whose kid ...Read more

She is the candidate who Democrats fear most, precisely because she is the least scary of the Republicans. Not the most moderate, by far; that would be Chris Christie. But it is hard to see the Republican Party -- and especially its right-wing core -- picking the most moderate candidate in the field. Haley's appeal is that she isn't really a ...Read more

I went to an event the other night in support of the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles. We heard from Jewish leaders about what was going on in Israel, as well as from police officials about what they were doing to protect us here at home.

Everyone had stories to tell -- of random acts of violence and antisemitism and hatred directed towards ...Read more

We need to talk about what happens if Donald Trump wins.

We need to talk about it because there is a real chance that he could, especially if we don't talk about it.

We've heard more than enough about how old Biden is and about how no one likes Kamala Harris. And we've heard more than enough from the left wing of the Democratic Party, and ...Read more

It is part of the 2017 Charter of Hamas, which rejected "any alternative to the full and complete liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea." It is part of the platform of Islamic Jihad, which has declared that "from the river to the sea -- (Palestine) is an Arab Islamic land" leaving no room for "any inch" of a Jewish state. It is ...Read more

For Democrats who are worried about the 2024 election, and plenty of us are, the results on Tuesday had to be encouraging. For decades, Democrats have argued that we were just one vote (on the Supreme Court) away from losing Roe v. Wade. Republicans, for their part, presented themselves as "pro-life" without having to detail exactly what that ...Read more

How long, people wondered, would it be before the new House speaker showed his true stripes caving to the right-wingers in his caucus? Would it be a matter of weeks? Months?

As it's turned out, it was just a matter of days.

Literally within days of taking the speaker's gavel, he is playing politics with aid to Israel.

The president, who has...Read more

In Senate testimony on Tuesday, FBI Director Christopher Wray warned that antisemitism was reaching "historic levels." "In fact," he said, "our statistics would indicate that for a group that represents only about 2.4% of the American public, they account for something like 60% of all religious-based hate crimes."

Consider this: Jewish ...Read more

Who is Mike Johnson?

The new speaker of the House is a far right-winger, an election denier and the symbol of the far right's grip on the Republican Party. The center did not hold in the selection of the new speaker. The more centrist Republicans -- who represent the majority of the Republican caucus -- caved.

Make no mistake. The new ...Read more

In recent weeks, I've written about the open antisemitism at elite educational institutions in America. In doing so, I failed to look at my own alma mater, Wellesley College, itself an elite women's college. Foolishly, I assumed better from a college I deeply care about. I was wrong, very wrong.

What's going on at Wellesley is deeply ...Read more

Hundreds of Palestinians are dead -- a terrible tragedy -- after a rocket exploded late Tuesday at a hospital in Gaza, which was crowded not only with injured patients but with civilians seeking shelter from bombings.

Hamas -- as they always do -- blamed Israel for killing innocents. What else would they say?

It's what the media did that is ...Read more

The statement in support of Hamas by over 30 student organizations at Harvard was nothing short of rank antisemitism. Almost as shocking was Harvard's response, or rather what Harvard did not say.

The student letter blamed Israel for the savage murders of over 1,300 innocent men, women and children -- from babies to Holocaust survivors who ...Read more

Innocent people are suffering in Gaza. That is a fact.

The question is: Who is responsible?

The answer is simple and obvious. Hamas is to blame. And only Hamas.

Hamas had to know when they invaded Israel and murdered innocent men, women and children, when they burned babies alive and raped their mothers, when they slaughtered the young ...Read more

It should not be difficult to condemn terrorism.

It has nothing to do with whether you support the current Israeli government and its policies.

One can sympathize with the plight of the Palestinians, as many of us do. But that has nothing to do with the brutal murders of women and children and the elderly, with the point-blank executions of ...Read more

Democrats have long been trying to paint the Republican Party as a collection of far-right extremists who put their own agenda ahead of what's best for everyone else. Extremists aren't popular in America, which explains Donald Trump's reaction to the ouster of Kevin McCarthy: "Why is it that Republicans are always fighting among themselves, ...Read more

Beginning last fall, Donald Trump's campaign has been embarked on an effort to change the rules of the delegate selection process to make it easier -- and faster -- for the front-runner to lock up the nomination. Never has this been more critical, as the former president faces 91 counts in four different states and the prospect that trial ...Read more

With Donald Trump facing 91 counts, and Ron DeSantis flailing, more attention is being paid to Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador who has turned in two strong debate performances. As reporters noted, even Donald Trump has recognized the threat, with his campaign sending out anti-Haley propaganda on the night of...Read more

Justice Elena Kagan, the former dean of Harvard Law School, weighed in last week publicly on what is really a crisis facing the United States Supreme Court. The crisis centers on ethics and, more broadly, the legitimacy of the court as an institution. The Supreme Court doesn't have an army to enforce its decisions. They are the final arbiters ...Read more

Attorney General Merrick Garland refused to take the bait. Republicans, under the leadership of House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, were determined to turn what should have been a routine oversight hearing into a cross-examination of Garland over the prosecution of former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden's son Hunter. ...Read more