Every year it feels the same. As soon as we have finished with the Passover holiday marathon, there is a secondary wave of commemorative events and days.

Last week we marked Memorial Day, followed immediately by Independence Day. Every year it is a jarring experience, by design. Back in 1951, it seemed like a good idea to someone that we immerse ourselves in mourning and honoring those who fell in creation and defense of the fledgling state and then jolt immediately into celebrating independence. (The back-to-back thing began in 1951.)

This year, the Eve of Memorial Day began on Monday at sundown. On Tuesday at sundown we shifted gears, uncomfortably, to celebrate our independence. Well, some of us did.

Independence Day in Israel this year was a muted affair.

I thought it might be interesting to look back on a different time, and not so long ago. In 2018, I joined the community of Kibbutz Nahal Oz (on the border with Gaza) for their big, boisterous annual Independence Day BBQ, celebrated as only Israelis do; with all the energy in their being in the moment. Below is a link to a column I wrote in the National Post about Independence Day, 2018. Had anyone predicted then what would befall that kibbutz five years later, well……

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I first found my way to Kibbutz Nahal Oz in 2015, I believe. I was serving as the Canadian Ambassador to Israel and had met with a then up-and-coming (now superstar) journalist, Amir Tibon. He was in his late 20s. Down-to-earth. Sharp as a tack. Personable. And very open to discussing any topic. I mean – really thrashing it out. Old school.

Amir and his wife, Miri, invited me to see the kibbutz and I jumped at the chance. They were so proud of their new home on the border with the Gaza Strip. I was seduced by the beauty and tranquility of the place. And the purpose. People don’t just live in a place like Nahal Oz. They are there for a reason.

In the ensuing years, I visited Amir and Miri now and then. Kids came along.

Amir also introduced me to other kibbutz members, among them Yael Raz. Her parents had been among the founders of the kibbutz and she was managing external communications for the community. I sat with Yael when I joined the Independence Day dinner hosted by Nahal Oz in 2018.

Kibbutz Nahal Oz was hit very, very hard on October 7. Within weeks of the tragedy, I hosted a live-stream event at which Amir provided testimony of that day. You can watch it here:

On the first anniversary of the October 7 attack, Amir’s superb book/memoir – The Gates of Gaza – was published. A documentary film based on the book has also been made. In fact, it was premiered in September, 2025, at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) . And, boy oh boy, was there ever a flap about that.

At the 11^th hour, TIFF management announced that the film - The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue - would not be screened due to “copyright and licensing” issues.

True story.

TIFF basically took the position that by showing footage of the October 7 barbarism – filmed live by Hamas terrorists and uploaded (again, much of it live) to social media – there might be a breach of copyright.

OK – let me rephrase that. TIFF management took the position that by using Hamas footage from the October 7 savagery – they may be liable to Hamas for a breach of copyright. Seriously. Apparently, the film’s producers did not have signed licenses from Hamas to use the footage, long in the public domain.

Can’t make this stuff up. And TIFF’s CEO and board issued a press statement saying as much.

The real story – which seeped out after the ensuing brouhaha – is that TIFF staff fancied themselves righteous warriors for the oppressed of Palestine – and decided that it was wrong to air the film. The public backlash (and fury of some major TIFF donors who withdrew their pledges) seemed to assist TIFF management in re-orienting and allowing the screening to go ahead. Only one showing. Shameful but typical for Canada these days.

I wrote about the TIFF issue in State of Tel Aviv and Beyond at the time. See the link below. The stuff about TIFF is about two thirds of the way down, under the heading “September 10.”

Eve of Memorial Day, 2026

On Monday evening, I attended an intimate ceremony on the central lawn of the kibbutz where I reside. It is not too far from Nahal Oz.

Tragically, Israelis are too experienced in organizing such events. Such ceremonies are almost always well run and those in attendance are quiet and respectful. These qualities - quiet and well-run - are anomalous in this country.

All over Israel, at 8 pm on Memorial Day Eve, a siren blares. Everything stops and everyone stands. What follows is a somewhat formulaic half hour but it is never static or dull. Each kibbutz member who has fallen in battle is eulogized anew. On my kibbutz, too many men gave their lives in the earliest years of independence. All were too young. Many had survived the Holocaust. Each story is a fresh heartbreak.

The kibbutz kids sit on the ground in the front. Mesmerized. They see the photos of these men who are no longer with us and in them they surely see their teachers and uncles and brothers and fathers and family friends. Because every person in this country has been touched. Profoundly.

In the area where I live – not far from the Gaza Envelope where Hamas attacked - devastation was everywhere. These children go to school with peers from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, Be’eri, Netiv Ha’asara, Mefalsim. Sderot. Many families from Kfar Aza have been living in temporary housing on my kibbutz now for almost two years. A new school was built to accommodate the much larger cohort of children. Even the kids who were not directly exposed to the horror of that day, they hear about it all the time. Their classmates saw unimaginable things. Some of the children were hostages. They live among us, we live among them. They talk. There are no boundaries. This is life. Our lives. I attend a sewing workshop weekly with many women from Kfar Aza. We keep things light. “Normal.” And then, suddenly, you realize that this intense discussion is ongoing, about who is going to return and when and who is not and why. What should be done with the homes that were incinerated? Should they be left as memorials or razed? Or moved to a place adjacent to the kibbutz? Do we want our children and grandchildren growing up in the midst of these physical reminders?

I just sew. And listen.

But these children at the Memorial Eve ceremony, no one forces them to sit in rapt attention. They are innocent and silly one moment, and the next they are re-living the unbreakable historical experience of Jewish people everywhere. As much as we wish we could shelter them, for just a few more years, we cannot. This is our reality.

The unbroken thread of our identity, nationhood, lifeblood.

It is always a modest, simple and meaningful affair. Everyone shows up.

We end, always, singing the national anthem. HaTikvah. “The Hope.”

For those who may not be familiar with HaTikvah, I include here a recording with the words translated into English in subtitles. The tune, incidentally, was lifted from a 19th century Romanian folk song. The video below is a formal version of the anthem, complete with subtitles in Hebrew, transliterated Hebrew and English.

Ok – so now I’m having too much fun. As I wrote this I vaguely remembered that Barbra Streisand also recorded the anthem……and here it is. Magnificent…..with a few minutes at first of Babs having a live – equivalent of a modern-day real time video chat – with Golda Meir, former Prime Minister of Israel. Enjoy.

The following morning, at 11 am, a two-minute siren sounded throughout Israel. Formal ceremonies are held at military cemeteries, monuments, so many places. Every municipal cemetery has a separate military section, where those who fell in defense of Israel are laid to rest. The names, years of death, country of origin, are typically carved into the headstones. And they tell the story of the Jewish people for the last century. If you find yourself visiting Israel, at some point, in a smaller town or city, I suggest you visit one of these military cemeteries. It is always a moving experience and you will learn a great deal. No matter how much you already know.

Independence Day, Wednesday April 22, 2026

At sundown on Memorial Day (Tuesday night this year) we move abruptly to what is meant to be a joyous celebration. Independence Day. This year the vibe just wasn’t there. It feels as if the entire country is mildly depressed. There is low energy and high anxiety.

Typically, Independence Day is spent in parks and nature, enjoying outdoor parties and bar-b-q’s. Israelis are crazy about meat and charcoal grilling.

Each year, on the eve of Independence Day, an official state ceremony is held in Jerusalem, attended by dignitaries, diplomats and members of the public. The latter are seated behind the huge VIP section. They should be up front.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, of course, sat in the front row, with his wife and other key officials as dictated by established protocol. Granted, he has a lot on his mind, but he looked dreadful. Drained, tired, and very preoccupied. When his pal, Argentinian President Javier Milei (who happened to be in town) got up on stage to sing with some performers, Bibi lit up, briefly. It’s a pretty great clip (below) showing Milei walking on stage at the event and at about the 40 second mark taking a microphone offered to him and getting down.

A pre-recorded address by PM Netanyahu was also played at the event. Bibi spoke of the challenges Israel faces but also the much-lauded national strength in difficult times. Whoever drafted the remarks was tone deaf. And the tone was clearly dictated from the Prime Minister’s Office. The Israeli media used one word repeatedly to describe the canned remarks made that night by all elected officials in various locations in Israel. Bellicose. True. They were also stupid.

In his statement, Netanyahu presented a picture of a unified Israel. He enumerated areas of life where we all link arms and sway in bliss and harmony. Culture. Schools. Hospitals. Workplaces. But he did not mention one critical sphere: security. Because what is tearing this country apart is how this government that he leads continues to throw money and grotesque entitlements at the ultra-orthodox, even as they refuse to serve in the IDF. Even as so many have sacrificed so much. As we are experiencing a dire shortage of troops. A true existential crisis.

The ultra-orthodox are anti-Zionist. They should neither be in the coalition nor the beneficiaries of the state’s over-the-top largesse.

But this, Prime Minister Netanyahu does not mention.

“We are one people,” he intoned, repeatedly.

But we are not. We are a very divided people.

Also on Independence Day, this happened:

I was interviewed six-ish months ago by a reporter from N12 - the largest media platform in Israel. Truthfully, I had forgotten about it. And then, the day before Memorial Day I received a message from the reporter. An article featuring me was going to run in the special online Independence Day edition of N12.

Wow. “I thought you had forgotten about me,” I wrote to him.

“Never,” he responded. “As a patriotic Israeli what can be better than publish your interview on Independence Day?”

Feel free to put the piece into Google Translate - I’m sure it’ll be comical in spots (limitations of AI) but I am told that it is a very well-written piece that people found interesting. I never read stuff about me in print, nor do I watch myself on TV. Or read my own stuff once published. It’s a thing. Many writers are like that.

Thanks so much to Yoghev Karmel, who first approached me a few years ago. We met for coffee. We spoke on the phone now and then. But I was really tickled that he put so much work into profiling me. I also think that because Canada is such a flaming disaster these days - and the world is finally noticing - there is more interest in that cold country. People are curious. Like - what the heck happened to Canada?

Random Media Updates

Below - my column in the National Post last week. As always, we put the first few paragraphs in here……click on the link to read the rest on the NP website.

SDEROT, ISRAEL — On Wednesday, the two-week ceasefire between the United States and Iran ended. Late Tuesday night in Washington D.C., President Donald Trump announced that the truce would be extended indefinitely.

Shortly after the ceasefire was announced, Vice-President JD Vance met with senior Iranian officials in Islamabad in a 21-hour marathon negotiation. The U.S. red lines were clear: access to the Strait of Hormuz must be opened to all maritime traffic and Iran must abandon its ambition to develop nuclear weapons.

Both demands were rejected outright by Iran, which has illegally claimed (but not always asserted) sovereignty over Hormuz for decades.

This impasse over a 165-km-long narrow waterway linking the Persian Gulf to the open sea is choking maritime commerce and the global supply of oil and natural gas, 20 per cent of which is carried through the Strait.

Bordered on its northern shore by Iran, the southern edge of the Strait abuts numerous Gulf and Middle Eastern states: Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, the UAE and Iraq. For all but Oman and Saudi Arabia, the Strait of Hormuz provides the only access they have to the open sea. It is a critical lifeline for global maritime commerce.

Continue Reading

And on Thursday, at the end of a lovely day in Tel Aviv, I popped into the i24 studio at the Jaffa Port to talk about - well - we covered a lot of ground. Iran. Lebanon. Hezballah. Pakistan. And then some. Clip is below.

I was feeling bold. Hence the VERY RED shirt.

A Special Art Opening

In keeping with our weekly habit, I am closing this dispatch with something nice and light(er).

On Independence Day, my daughter who lives in central Israel was visiting me, and we skipped the bar-b-q’s and nature outings to show up for her friend and work colleague, Gali Lutski, who was opening an exhibition of her work at a lovely space in Old Be’er Sheva.

The Trumpeldor Gallery is supported by Ben Gurion University, and is a gem.

Gali’s work is amazing. Here, she is pictured (eight months pregnant with her second child) with the curator of the show, Ariela Shimshon.

Gali moved to Israel with her parents from the Former Soviet Union at age 11. She holds a BSc. in Biology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and did post-graduate work in art.

Her day job is at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, and as with all motivated creators, she finds time to paint. Gali’s five-year-old daughter was dressed like a fairy princess in a tulle skirt and all the appropriate sparkly accessories, and she was very proud of her mom.

I thought I’d share with you a few of Gali’s works that I was particularly drawn to.

Under the Bridge is the exhibition title, taken from the painting, below. Gali explained to me that it was meant to capture many aspects of our complicated lives in Israel…..one being that we often find ourselves seeking shelter from incoming missiles and rockets……under bridges. But they are actually not safe places when we are under attack. Many searching messages are written on the grimy walls of the bridge, contrasting with the bright color just outside and seeping into the tunnel as well.

“Veteran Guardian”

The painting below was done from memory. Growing up in the Tel Aviv suburb of Bat Yam, where many Soviet immigrants lived, Gali walked by this older man with his canine companion. Every day, for years, they sat on the bench, watching the world go by. There is a copy of the Russian newspaper Izvestiya on his chest, his head falling into it. Gali said that he seemed to be snoozing much of the time. He also had the look of a WWII veteran, she said. Hence, the name. She could not forget this image and years later put it to canvas.

“Gandir”

This fanciful painting drew me in and did not let me go. I love everything about it…..and if I had a wall that was big enough I’d buy it. It was based on a scene she had visited in Norway. I can’t find “Gandir” on Google…..so I’m going to assume it’s a fanciful name to suit the image.

You can see more of Gali’s work on her website and Instagram.

And that, dear readers, is a wrap.

Have a safe and fun week.

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The war between America and Iran was intended to be swift and decisive, or so we were told. Almost two months since America and Israel first attacked the Islamic Republic of Iran, a peaceful resolution - either through negotiation or defeat - remains elusive. Compounding the tension is the weaponization of the Strait of Hormuz in recent weeks; a small channel of water connecting the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and open seas. Unfettered access through the Strait of Hormuz for all merchant ships and vessels is and should be the norm, but Iran has decided that it alone can and must control this international waterway. By doing so, they choke the movement of oil and natural gas supplies, threatening and constraining economic activity everywhere.

And America says: “No.” You cannot do this. Not on our watch.

As with all things geopolitical - especially in the Middle East - it’s complicated. To help us understand the issues I speak at length in this podcast with (Retired) U.S. Admiral Mark Montgomery, a man who has served extensively at the highest level in the Middle East and around the world. It’s a fascinating discussion.

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Podcast Notes

Rear Admiral (Ret.) Mark Montgomery serves as senior director of FDD’s Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation (CCTI) and as an FDD senior fellow. Mark served for more than three decades in the U.S. Navy, held senior leadership roles in Congress, and is a recognized expert on cyber and technology policy.

At CCTI, Mark leads efforts to advance U.S. national and economic security through technology innovation, counter cyber threats against the United States and its allies, and combat adversary cyber-enabled economic warfare (CEEW) campaigns. He also directs CSC 2.0, an initiative focused on implementing the recommendations of the congressionally mandated Cyberspace Solarium Commission, where he previously served as executive director. Additionally, Mark co-leads FDD’s Air and Missile Defense Program.

Prior to joining FDD, Mark was policy director for the Senate Armed Services Committee under Sen. John S. McCain, where he coordinated efforts on national security strategy, force posture, capabilities, and cyber policy.

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The Weekly Wrap:

Lebanon

One of the most overlooked minor miracles went down this week, with the Lebanese PM and President digging in on getting Hezballah out of their country. For good.

They have stated repeatedly and in very direct terms – “no more”. We want to take Lebanon back. We are beyond fed up with being used as a stomping ground for Iran’s proxy fanatics.

In the mid 20^th century, Lebanon was truly the jewel of the middle east. Beirut? It was nicknamed “Paris of the middle east”. The country’s population was majority Christian with a mix of Sunni Muslims and others. The small Jewish community was concentrated in Beirut and numbered somewhere between 2,000 and 4,000 in 1975. Almost all remaining Jews left Lebanon at the outset of the civil war. At its peak - in 1948, approximately 20,000 Jews lived in Lebanon, always concentrated in Beirut.

To overly simplify, the Lebanese Civil War – which officially began in 1975 – marked the beginning of what has been 51 years of pretty much unbroken conflict. After Yasir Arafat and his PLO terrorist force were expelled from the country in 1982, Iran began eyeing the vacuum. Hezballah – the Shi’ite militia beholden to Iran for financial and all manner of support – was founded by Hassan Nasrallah and two other clerics in 1982. The movement was powerful and controlled large areas of Beirut – particularly in the south – as well as much of southern Lebanon. Eventually – Nasrallah came to be the leader of Hezballah. He was killed on September 27, 2024, in a targeted assassination by the Israeli Air Force while meeting his top advisers in Beirut.

Over more than forty years, Hezbollah developed into a fearsome military force believed to have an arsenal of hundreds of thousands of missiles and other weapons, intended to destroy Israel. The group was well-financed, disciplined and trained. They adhered to a Shia fundamentalist ideology: Muslim supremacy; anti-western; anti-Zionist.

A variation on the October 7 attack had long been planned by Hezballah’s elite Radwan fighting force. For many years, Hezballah has been boring tunnels through the hard rocky mountains in southern Lebanon with the intention to launch a surprise attack on Israeli civilians. This short video (produced by the IDF and edited by Reuters) gives you an idea as to what Hezballah has accomplished and planned over decades:

When Hezballah did not attack Israel’s northern front on October 7, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was deeply disappointed. Had Hezballah done so, history may have unfolded much more catastrophically for Israel.

Two and a half years on, President Trump has been working tirelessly to get Israel and Lebanon to expand upon the wobbly peace treaty that was negotiated between them by President Biden’s special envoy for the issue, Amos Hochstein. Most importantly, the Lebanese people have had enough of Hezballah and Iranian destruction of their country. Lebanese PM Nawaf Salam has stated repeatedly and unequivocally that Hezballah must be disarmed and expelled from the country.

PM Netanyahu and Lebanese PM Salam have been invited to meet next week with President Trump at the White House. Hopefully, that will go ahead.

Bottom line? Lebanon is fed up. And Israel cannot continue without neutralizing the Hezballah military threat that has made life in the northern part of the country impossible.

Jonathan Conricus and the Strait of Hormuz

It was great to catch up with State of Tel Aviv and Beyond friend and regular guest, Lt. Col. (Res.) Jonathan Conricus, to hear his take on the ceasefire/not ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran. As he makes clear in our podcast discussion from last week, the Iranian regime seems not to have fully understood that negotiating with Trump is unlike any of his predecessors. Iran has become accustomed to western leadership that tends to pander and appease. Not Trump.

Here’s the podcast episode in case you missed it.

A source of mine who has excellent access to information regarding the Iranian regime said that when the Iranian negotiating team returned empty-handed from Islamabad, President Pezeshkian flipped out. He reminded his negotiators that within days the regime would run out of cash – already in frighteningly short supply – and IRGC and Basij officials would no longer be paid. That would be the death knell for the regime.

Speaking to this cash squeeze in Iran during a conversation we had last Thursday, retired US Admiral Michael Montgomery said: “One thing about thug autocracies, they need money. People don't sign up for that quality of life unless you're paying them.” In other words - if the cash flow dries up - the IRGC and Basij enforcers may lose their zest for doing the dirty work of a brutal dictatorship.

The full podcast interview with Admiral Montgomery is coming in the next day or two.

More Hormuz

Saturday morning in Israel and it is difficult to ascertain what is actually happening in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran says that they have opened up the Strait to maritime traffic, unrestricted. The United States says it is maintaining its blockade.

On Friday, the US military released this video clip on social media, showing a US naval officer interacting with an Iranian vessel requesting passage through the Strait of Hormuz into open water. As you will hear, the American officer denies passage and directs the Iranian vessel to return to the port from which it departed. The Iranian captain confirms that he understood the message and is returning.

As I was catching up on events this. morning, I saw that President Trump stated that the negotiations are going well. Iran denies this.

I mean, it’s a certifiable gong show at this point. President Trump has insisted in recent days that Iran has agreed to hand over all enriched nuclear material to America. Iran denies this. If I had to bet I’d say that the chances of Iran surrendering its nuclear advantage to be zero. Everyone has a price, yes, but for Iran it is the survival of the regime. And for that to happen, the salaries of the IRGC and Basij must be paid. And for that to happen, it seems, Iran needs an immediate and significant infusion of currency so that it is able to pay its enforcers.

There has clearly been a lot of heated discussion in recent days.

On Friday, President Trump explained his hoarse voice as being the result of an hours-long yelling match with the Iranians the day before.

In the few hours since I wrote the paragraphs above, I have been to my local pool for a fabulous workout. Upon leaving, I had received a flurry of notices from various news sites:

“20 Omani tankers refused passage through Strait of Hormuz.”

“Strait of Hormuz now closed in response to ongoing US naval blockade.”

“IRGC fires on passing ships.”

Over the course of the day things became very heated.

After having been given permission by Iran to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, an Indian captain spoke with an Iranian official, panicked because his ship was being shot at by - Iran. “Sepah navy” is a reference to the Iranian navy. Have a listen:

By attacking a merchant vessel the IRGC has very directly challenged the United States.

A theocratic, absolutist regime like Iran is constitutionally (in the biological sense) incapable of compromise or negotiation. Pretending otherwise will just prolong the agony and conflict.

President Trump was reported to have been in the Situation Room a few hours ago. Iran’s actions are leaving the Commander-in-Chief with little choice. If he does not respond powerfully then Iran will continue with its illegal conduct - both firing on merchant ships and managing an extortion racket allowing certain ships to pass through.

Ok - it’s midnight in Israel, meaning 5 p.m. EST. I just saw this notice online:

Reuters is reporting:

Iran’s IRGC Navy broadcast over maritime radio frequencies today:

“Iran declares the Strait of Hormuz completely closed again. No vessel of any type or nationality is allowed to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.”

The message cited “the failure of the U.S. government to fulfil its commitment in the negotiation.”

I’d peg the chances of a resumption of war in the very near future to be very high. There seems to be a power struggle ongoing in Iran. But that aside - no faction in Iran will negotiate in a pragmatic, western way. This regime is and always has been absolutist - even the so-called “moderates.”

We’ll see…..

PM Carney, Canada and the Jews

On Wednesday my latest piece was published in the U.K. Jewish Chronicle, looking at how deeply antisemitic Canada has become under Prime Minister Mark Carney,

You can read the piece here.

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New Car Time

Ok – as always, we finish off with something fun and light.

This week we’re doing cars.

First off – I’m a girl. One of the most important things for me is color. Style. Of course, I care about functionality, but the details bore me.

I’ve had my car for 12 years. Huge point of pride. Canadian girl here. We drive through ice and snow and slush and blizzards. Salt corrodes everything. We go through cars quickly.

Not so in Israel. The climate is easier, overall, on cars…..but tougher on tires. The heat from the asphalt takes a toll and the require more frequent replacement. Then again, no need to switch tires with the season (I don’t know about you but the whole “radial” all season thing never cut it in a Canadian winter.)

I bought a great car – it’s considered small in Canada and large in Israel – and it has served me well; 12 years and could go another 12. German car. But I’ve decided to go electric, and the market has exploded in recent years. In Israel, 20% of new vehicles sold are electric (as of Q4 2025 - which are the most recent statistics available). Of new EV sales in Israel 80-85% of those sold in Q1 2026 are made in China.

As in many countries, there is concern in Israel regarding the cyber safety of vehicles made in that market. The Israeli security establishment has prohibited senior ranking officers and officials from driving Chinese-manufactured vehicles out of concern that the cars may be a back-door way to facilitate intelligence gathering and operations. Just last week, in one of the car showrooms clustered in Herzliya – a city in central Israel – a salesman told me that the class of people being limited by the Israeli government and security and military establishments from purchasing Chinese-made vehicles is growing. Rapidly.

A few months ago I was certain that I’d go hybrid. I was skittish about putting all my eggs in the EV basket. I wanted certainty regarding reliability and energy supply. If we have no oil then I can go electric. If the cost of electricity spikes then I can rely on oil.

For various reasons I’ve surrendered to the EV trend here. If there is one country where it makes eminent good sense to drive an EV it’s Israel. Battery ranges fully charged are around 450 km, give or take. There is no extreme cold in this climate – which drains batteries rapidly. Charging infrastructure is well-developed. So accessibility really is not a concern. And I have a charger installed in my driveway. So – I can be fully charged every morning and drive all day long and still have power to spare. And I do like the idea of not having to fill up on gas all the time and saving a few shekels. And reducing my carbon footprint (which is minuscule, anyways). Having said that – I am well aware that the procurement of cobalt – a critical component of EV batteries – introduces a whole whack of other environmental and ethical issues.

I’m still open to being swayed – so if you have good knowledge or strong views – chime in.

I am leaning towards an EV – produced by a joint German-Chinese venture. Very smart. Maximize the branding advantage of German design and engineering and then bring in Chinese efficiency and cost of production. I sure fell for it.

It’s a big car – biggest I’ve ever driven. Family size SUV. Why? Why not. I like it. It’s spacious. I feel safe and it does have top ratings in that category. I can throw my sports equipment and dry cleaning in the trunk, and it won’t mess up the back seat. It can hold piles of luggage (I am not known for traveling lightly – even on domestic road trips).

Perhaps most importantly - this car can handle roads in the south – which can be a little rougher than in Tel Aviv. In two years living in these parts I’ve blown out three tires. In my previous decades of driving I had one flat. One. Here? Every time has been when I am in a remote area and the events have all been dramatic. Not a puncture. Not something repairable. Full on tire devastation. I even wrote about one such episode last year.

I’m told that flats are a way of life here. So, I surrender. `I want and have decided I can justify a bigger, more rugged vehicle.

Here are some photos of one of my worst tire moments.

It literally just exploded. Everything was fine one moment - and then - kapow! At the side of the highway between Be’er Sheva and my kibbutz. Of course, it was a brutally hot day. No shade. And a fine young man pulled over to change the tire for me. This should be exceptional but is not. It’s an Israeli thing. People always stop to assist with roadside issues. My savior happened to be a young Arab man. Just a nice guy doing a good deed.

Back to the present.

The coup de grace?

The kids – my daughter and her partner – receive a fabulous vehicle as a gift. It has another eight years of life in it - and it is safe and far more roadworthy than the cute little jalopy they scrimped and saved to afford. I love the independence. They did not ask for help. It’s a cute little purple thing which I christened “the grape.”

Kids win. I win. China and Germany split the win. Environment? You tell me.

Have a great week.

I was fortunate to catch up with State of Tel Aviv and Beyond regular guest, Lt. Col. (Res.) Jonathan Conricus, former IDF spokesperson and senior fellow at FDD, to discuss these developments on Sunday night, Israel time. As you will hear, Conricus believes that the Iranian regime has egregiously miscalculated the resolve of President Trump to end their unilateral bullying and control of the vital shipping route. Iranian leadership has become too accustomed to western governments that are inclined to appease and pander rather than stick to principle. Conricus likens Iran’s conduct to an organized crime syndicate - brazenly resorting to extortion and bullying.

We also discuss the peculiar coverage of this ongoing war by much of the western media. And we touch on the situation in Lebanon, which is very much linked to Iran’s power. So much is in flux and uncertain and the stakes are, as always, very high.

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Podcast Notes

Jonathan Conricus is a senior fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington D.C.-based think tank. He served in the IDF for 24 years, four of them as spokesman during the intense 11 days of the Guardian of the Walls Operation between Israel and Hamas. Now a reserve officer with the rank of Lt. Col., he is a sought-after speaker internationally and is frequently seen on major television news shows. Jonathan was born in Jerusalem to a Swedish father and an Israeli mother and spent his formative years in Sweden.

Before we get to Crazy Canada…….some late breaking drama as we finalize this weekly wrap.

President Trump is off to a roaring and early start to his Sunday. After 21 hours at the table in Islamabad, his negotiating team - led by VP J.D. Vance - called it quits. Iran reportedly refuses to agree to abandon its nuclear ambitions and it also seems to be unbending on its chokehold on the global oil supply that requires safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz. Among other cute stalling tactics, Iran pretended to have lost track of if and where they had laid mines in the Strait and Persian Gulf.

The day began with this social media post from President Trump. It’s long, so instead of reproducing it in full I’m including the link below…..it takes the Fox News anchor just under five minutes to read it aloud plus she provides quick context to the quickly developing events:

I’m going to be dropping a podcast with State of Tel Aviv and Beyond regular guest and familar pundit on international media, Lt. Col. (Res.) Jonathan Conricus…..focusing on this turn of events tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Now, from the middle east to……

Crazy Canada.

That is Leah Gazan in the video. She is a Member of Parliament in the New Democratic Party – or NDP. Historically, they’ve been soft socialists and drove many policies that have become sacred cows in Canada – like universal medical care.

(The problem is that the health care system in the country has been managed disastrously and accessing basic primary care is now a huge challenge. Depending on which data one chooses to accept, the best scenario is that 20% of Canadians have no direct access to either a primary care physician or nurse. The most recent studies peg that number closer to 50%.)

Leah Gazan has been spoofed the world over in the last week, but I thought this clip was one of the cleverest. As with any good satire, the really sad part is that it’s mostly true. Canada has become a really wacky place.

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It would be disrespectful if I overlooked the Godfather of Canadian identity politics, former PM Justin Trudeau. Here he is at his smug finest:

This joke is serious business in Canada. And it is an apt metaphor for the state of the nation in every way these days. It’s a certifiable mess, by any metric.

The NDP was, once upon a time, a serious political party with an important voice and message in Canadian politics and society. What remains is a crazy rump of extremist “progressives”, but there is also significant policy overlap with the ruling Liberals.

Here’s a fabulous clip where Canadian journalist, Adam Zivo, does his best to explain to these British journos what all the letters in Leah Gazan’s alphabet soup mean and why she feels compelled to recite them. Zivo knows his stuff….he’s made a name for himself on intelligently explaining this madness that has seized the minds of so many in Canada…..and he does it with a sense of fun as well. At the end of the clip Zivo says that this kind of extreme word salad tendency is promoted by a fringe element of the NDP party. I respectfully disagree. This kind of nonsense is prevalent among NDPers and Liberals - the party helmed by current Prime Minister Mark Carney.

These identity acknowledgements have become pretty de rigeur since Trudeau took the helm in 2015 and are complemented by ubiquitous “land acknowledgements,” which recognize the ancestral title and right of indigenous people.

Canada has also grabbed significant attention globally in recent weeks due to a spate of shootings of synagogues and a popular Jewish-owned restaurant, as well as the US Consulate. All in Toronto.

I’ve been doing a lot of work on that issue and will be dropping two in-depth podcasts in the coming days – looking at the failures of law enforcement in Toronto – and Canada – to, well, enforce the law; particularly when Jews or Israel are involved. And we have some strong interviews with Israeli cabinet ministers expressing their deep concern with the transformation of Canada from a quiet, stable place to a hub of Jew-hatred and Islamist violence.

Now – back to Israel.

I am back from a much needed “time-out.”

And after a day or two of unplugging, somewhat, I realized just how badly I needed it. It has been a very long two and a half years, with no let-up on the horizon. Compared to so many, I am very fortunate. And when you live in a place where the tensions are so heightened, you are constantly mindful of those around you. Your family, community, country, region, the world. The hostility is unrelenting. Trauma so pronounced and life altering.

Sitting, peacefully, as I am doing now, with a morning coffee in a comfortable home reminds me of all those whose lives have been shattered. It’s not a masochistic guilt-addictive trait. It shows, I believe, that I am a sentient being aware of my surroundings. And this reality takes a toll on all of us. Nothing about this war is abstract for Israelis. Nor are the consequences.

Passover in Israel was muted. In the afternoon hours leading up to the eve of Passover – when the seder is celebrated – Iran sent a barrage of missiles our way. It was jarring, as intended. Many people decided at the last minute to stay home and skip the large, festive gatherings they had planned to attend. My daughter and I drove one hour to be with close friends and their extended family. Half the invitees did not show up. They all had young children.

We have been living in a state of war for close to three years now. People are worn out.

On the day before Passover began, four young men serving in the IDF fell in action in Lebanon. At least one was hit by “friendly fire.” He was 21.

Also in the days before Passover, Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, celebrated the passage of a Knesset law permitting capital punishment for convicted terrorists. The whole event was a charade, engineered to give Ben Gvir an opportunity to create a public moment. He revels in controversy and attention. A week before the law was passed he made a whistle-stop in Netivot – a city of 50,000 in southern Israel that overwhelmingly votes hard right in elections. Ben Gvir came to excite the locals. His pockets were stuffed with gold colored nooses – which he handed out like candy - pandering to a violent and extremist tendency among some.

He even came with stickers. Here’s a photo of one affixed to a street lamp post.

The visuals are self-explanatory. The text reads: “Support the law. Capital punishment for terrorists.” Between the noose and the photo of Ben Gvir is the name of his party: Jewish Power.

What Ben Gvir forgot to mention on his roadshow is that there is already a capital punishment law on the books but it has only been used once since the state was founded – to end the life of convicted Nazi and architect of The Final Solution – Adolf Eichmann.

Ben Gvir, clearly, fantasizes about hanging any terrorist he can snare. This law reportedly also requires that the convicted terrorist be put to death within three months of a conviction. That leaves no time for appeals, due process and all that stuff for which Ben Gvir has no time.

What he does not seem to have processed is that the law will also apply to Jewish terrorists. And there are more than a few of those who have been marauding quite freely in the West Bank – especially since October 7. In his former life, Ben Gvir acted as legal counsel for many Jews who were charged with violent crimes that were often terrorist in nature. Not surprisingly, he has been less than diligent – as Minister of National Security – in prioritizing the legal prosecution of such persons.

But just before Passover, he created an ugly spectacle in the halls of the Knesset; popping a bottle of champagne to celebrate this “new” law. Below is a portion of a video that went viral internationally. Asked what he’s celebrating, Ben Gvir responds (as he pours champagne in the halls outside the Knesset plenum) that he is happy that terrorists will now be subject to the death penalty. He refers to this law repeatedly as being “historic” and invokes G-d to support his intention that one by one the terrorists shall be dead.

(Moments earlier, Ben Gvir had been removed physically from the Knesset by security officers as he tried to perform his champagne stunt inside the plenum.)

Ben Gvir does not contemplate the hanging of Jewish terrorists in his glee.

Even PM Netanyahu, who wooed Ben Gvir to join his government in the lead-up to the last election, made a disingenuous attempt to distance himself from the Minister, saying, incredulously, that in his government (meaning in the future, one presumes) that Ben Gvir would not be appointed to a Ministerial portfolio.

Come again? I mean – Ben Gvir not only sits as a Minister in Netanyahu’s government today; but he has held a portfolio that was created specifically to meet his demands. Without Ben Gvir, Netanyahu would have no coalition.

The piece below- published in State of Tel Aviv at the time – may be of interest. They expose Netanyahu’s very aggressive courting of Ben Gvir and his right-wing colleague and current Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich.

(There is a lot of material in the STLV archives that is helpful in understanding the environment prevailing today. Access to archival material is available to premium subscribers only.)

Shortly after the latest episode of the Ben Gvir Show, PM Netanyahu’s government approved a budget bill, which allocated 800-million shekels to the ultra-orthodox educational system.

Below are excerpts from the excellent op-ed written by our regular podcast guest, Ya’akov Katz and published in The Jerusalem Post on April 3. (If you wish to read the piece it is at this link.)

Imagine, for a moment, that you are one of the thousands of IDF soldiers currently deployed deep inside Lebanon. You have left your family, your job, and your life and crossed the border into enemy territory, sleeping in abandoned buildings, some without running water, without the ability to shower, and without fresh food. Nights are cold. The ground is wet. Everything smells like mud and exhaustion….

So, you pick up your rifle, and you fight. But then, somewhere between operations, you get an update on the news back home. In Jerusalem, you read, the government has passed the annual budget, which is usually good news. But then, between the lines, you see that at the last minute, an additional NIS 800 million was allocated to ultra-Orthodox educational institutions.

You look around at your friends huddled in the Lebanese cold without understanding. How does this make sense? How can money go to a sector that is not there with you? To people who are not in the mud, not in the cold, and not under enemy fire? To people who did not have to leave their families, put their lives on hold, or cross into enemy territory.

Hours before the country shut down for the Passover holiday, the government slipped another 800-million NIS to the ultra-orthodox communities to fund their religious institutions. They dodge and shirk the draft. (Well, 97% do.) Most do not support their families financially, preferring to rely on state support. But they demand – and receive – massive amounts of money.

On Friday, April 3. Israel’s most watched television channel – 12- aired a special feature; a road trip with two regular commentators. Retired generals Israel Ziv and Dedi Simhi drove from central Israel to the north, which has been pounded by Hezballah rockets for the last month. These people – who live in small agricultural villages abutting the Lebanese border – were forced by the government to abandon their homes and livelihoods for 14 months after October 7. They were scattered all over Israel. Everything about their lives was disrupted. In recent months the government decided that the area was again safe to inhabit, declaring that the IDF had effectively destroyed Hezballah’s missile arsenal and fighting ability.

Turns out that they were wrong. Tens of thousands of northern residents returned home and are living through sheer hell.

Of the 24,000 residents of Kiryat Shemona, 16,000 returned. But many are leaving again and they are unlikely to ever return. Kiryat Shemona is a hardscrabble town which is dominated by Jews of north African and middle eastern descent. Life there is hard. Most people are religious, but the kind of pious that work and serve in the army.

One woman who was interviewed lives in an apartment that has become a shrine to her son who fell in battle since October 7. She has no safe room and the government allocated to her a an amount that covers two thirds of the cost of building one. “Where am I supposed to get that kind of money”, she asks, rhetorically.

She feels she has been abandoned by the state. In the meantime, she runs up and down flights of stairs every time a siren sounds, which is frequently.

There is money for ultra-orthodox education of draft dodgers but not for this woman’s physical safety?

At a nearby café, the Generals speak with locals. “Why did the government tell us it was safe to return?”

Four women living on Kibbutz Kfar Giladi, all with young children, also returned recently. They are dismayed at the complete disconnect between the government, IDF and the local population.

“What is it you want”, the Generals ask.

“They don’t even see us,” says one. “They don’t even come to visit us. Speak to us.”

The others chime in with similar comments. They feel used, forgotten, invisible, dispensable.

And in this environment, where there is no money for safe rooms, where wounded veterans are denied treatment due to budgetary shortfalls, where families are falling apart from close to three years of unending stress, where financial allowances and support for reservists whose businesses are failing because they are never there to run them, who have lost jobs because they are serving in the IDF – into this crazy scenario, PM Benjamin Netanyahu pours oil on an already raging fire and gifts close to $6-billion in Israeli shekels to the ultra-orthodox community that is anti-Zionist and refuses to serve in the IDF. (6-billion NIS is the equivalent of $2-billion USD or $2.7-billion CDN.)

If you missed the podcast discussion I had last week with Ya’akov Katz, I suggest you listen. We spare no one and nothing as we discuss this very dire circumstance. PM Netanyahu prefers to gloat about what he sees as victory. While we acknowledge achievements we cannot look away from reality. We are courting disaster, eyes wide open.

Ok, now to the south.

I live a stone’s throw from Sderot – a sort of companion town to Kiryat Shemona. From 2007, when Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip, until the recent war, Sderot was a punching bag for the terrorists in the Gaza Strip. A city of 30,000, it is also a “development” town, a place where new immigrants are encouraged to live and economic prospects tend to be grim. The population is overwhelmingly Moroccan, North African, middle eastern, Russian, Ethiopian. An astonishing 90% of the people are estimated to have experienced PTSD symptoms.

Everything in Sderot has a big donation plaque thanking a North American community for its generosity, including my fabulous pool where I swim regularly. Most importantly, this fitness center also has a warm water pool that is equipped with state of the art rehab equipment to assist veterans and others with recovery from serious injury.

So – thank you. Profoundly. Without such support these communities would be quite desolate.

These days, however - unlike Kiryat Shemona - Sderot is a boom town. Many younger families are moving south, seeking refuge from soaring real estate prices and an insufferable population density, not to mention the fact that many Israelis living in the center do not have safe rooms.

Sderot is quite a lovely town; cheap, clean, fully serviced. I mean – fully serviced in a limited way. If you are looking for something other than a shawarama or schnitzel joint with blinding fluorescent lighting, you’re not gonna find it. Lifestyle choices are limited. There are trade-offs.

Before October 7, Sderot was pummeled constantly by rockets from Hamas. People had 15 seconds to run to a shelter. No one wanted to be there. Today, it is revitalized.

A little further south from Sderot is Netivot; the really big city with a population of 50,000 – give or take. That’s where I head to do serious business. Everything is better and bigger, including the branch of my favorite appliance shop. Recently, I had errands to do that I’d been putting off for months. So I headed south.

In addition to being closer to my home, Netivot is targeted far less frequently than the next closest city, Be’er Sheva, by Iranian missiles. So my chance of doing a clean run with no sirens were much better.

Netivot’s population is overwhelmingly Sephardic and middle eastern and votes 50% (50%!!!!) for Shas, unfailingly. Led by Aryeh Deri – a twice convicted felon who served several years of hard time from 1999-2003 – Shas’s fundamental platform is remedying historical grievances. Identity politics.

When he burst onto the political scene in the late 80s, Deri was seen as a wunderkind. Born in Morocco, his family moved to Israel when he was a toddler. He attended a Lithuanian orthodox yeshiva (beyond anomalous for a Moroccan Jew) choosing to learn in the most ascetic religious environment in Israel. It is also the snootiest. Litvackers are the self-anointed intellectual giants of the Jewish world. Their pre-war yeshivas in Vilna (Vilnius today), were renowned for educating thought leaders in Jewish law and life, among them the Vina Ga’on – the genius of Vilna.

It is bizarre that Deri – the proud Moroccan – who rails constantly against Ashkenaz (European Jewish) racism, should have chosen to immerse himself in the educational and living environment of thus particular tribe. But he did. And here I will indulge my inner armchair psychologist and proclaim the obvious; that Deri was desperate for acceptance by those he purported to reject.

Then again, perhaps he was just calculating. Prescient and pragmatic. No one can look down at Rabbi Aryeh Deri from Morocco and say he has an inferior understanding of Jewish law or practice. Not even the great Ashkenaz rabbis.

And it is on this foundation that Deri built his political persona. The Sephardic underdog with impeccable Ashkenaz credentials.

I wrote about Deri and others in this piece a few years ago.

The irony of resentment politics that permeates certain demographics in Israel has always taken me aback.

Jews of European origin (Ashkenaz) are at once loathed and revered.

Moroccan-born Deri – who has built a political persona based in racism directed at Sephardic Jews – chooses to be educated at a Litvack yeshiva.

Menachem Begin – long a hero of the dispossessed and oppressed – was a real-life caricature of an Ashkenaz Jew from Poland; short in stature, pale complexion, bespectacled.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the man who currently dominates political culture among Sephardic and Mizrachi voters – is also a poster boy for Ashkenaz Jews: a combat veteran of an elite IDF unit, well-educated, brilliant. An MIT graduate.

I mean….

The hard-core of the “Bibistim” – the tribe of Bibi devotees – are of North African and middle eastern of descent. “Only Bibi”, they chant. After October 7? “Only Bibi.”

Today? “Only Bibi.”

And therein lies the mystery.

Why?

And if not Bibi then they are likely to vote for Aryeh Deri’s Shas party. Or, these days, many are shifting to Jewish Power leader, Itamar Ben Gvir.

A proud disciple of Rabbi Meir Kahane, Ben Gvir contrives a bellicose, clownish image. His family is originally from Iraq, and he grew up in a Jerusalem suburb. Radicalized at a young age, Ben Gvir was rejected for IDF service because he was viewed as being too politically extreme.

Today, he leads a party that openly advocates for full annexation of the West Bank and Jewish settlement of the Gaza Strip. His supporters tend to be thuggish. When they attack Palestinian villages, burning, looting, sometimes killing, Ben Gvir showers them with praise.

He likes to be under-estimated.

Itamar Ben Gvir has cultivated a disheveled look. His shirt is always untucked, his extra-large yarmulke constantly askew. And he has a thing for gesticulating dramatically. And yelling. He loves staging provocative, theatrical public appearances, and is quite masterful at it.

Here’s another piece I did in the lead-up to the last election. Ben Gvir made a campaign stop in a south Tel Aviv neighborhood that was poor and crime-ridden. He turned it into an opportunity to foment racism and his brand of extremism. And it was very effective.

For many years, Ben Gvir was treated like the Village Idiot.

No longer.

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As always - I close this weekly wrap with a light touch.

On my recent errand day in Netivot, I ducked into this outdoor mall. Yes. That is a faux Eiffel Tower, adding a touch of glamor, I suppose, to the otherwise utilitarian development town aesthetic that prevails in Netivot. It was a slow day at the mall. Many businesses are shuttered permanently or some of the time. The effects of close to three years of war. we see it on the ground.

Alas, the ice cream parlour and smoothie stand were doing brisk business.

Thanks, as always, for being here. Until next time……

On top of the constant war and dubious outcomes, on the eve of the recent Passover holiday, the Netanyahu government slipped an enormous sum of money to the ultra-orthodox for religious education - in addition to what they have already been allocated. Soldiers? Struggling families? Wounded IDF veterans? Zero for them.

And the extreme violence that has continued, unabated, in the West Bank for years now? This government does not seem to be terribly concerned with what can only be described as Jewish terrorism. During the last week, the patience of Israelis was sorely tested. Our regular guest, Ya’akov Katz, is angry, and he does not mince words or thoughts. There is a palpable urgency in Israel to wake up and deal with reality, while it is still possible.

Podcast Notes:

Op-Ed by Ya’akov Katz, published in The Jerusalem Post, April 3, 2026.

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Yaakov Katz is an Israeli-American author and journalist. Between 2016 and 2023, Yaakov was editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post where he continues to write a popular weekly column.

He is the author of three books: “Shadow Strike – Inside Israel’s Secret Mission to Eliminate Syrian Nuclear Power”, “Weapon Wizards—How Israel Became a High-Tech Military Superpower” and “Israel vs. Iran: The Shadow War.”

Prior to taking up the role of editor-in-chief, Yaakov served for two years as a senior policy adviser to Naftali Bennett during his tenure as Israel’s Minister of Economy and Minister of Diaspora Affairs.

In 2013, Yaakov was one of 12 international fellows to spend a year at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.

Originally from Chicago, Yaakov has a law degree from Bar Ilan University. He lives in Jerusalem with his wife Chaya and their four children.

Find Yaakov Katz on X.

For the first six months or so of the war with Hamas, Israelis publicly maintained a unified front/public face. But as the hostilities dragged on, and the hostages remained in captivity, the façade began to crack. We have been living in a state of war for close to three years – and that was on the heels of ten months of extreme domestic tension following the introduction of PM Netanyahu’s judicial reform legislation in early winter, 2023.

Since October 7, Israelis who serve in the IDF have carried an impossibly heavy burden. Many combat soldiers have spent much of the last 30 months in uniform. They are losing their jobs. Their businesses are failing. Their families are under intolerable stress. And in this environment, the government has slashed rehabilitation benefits for wounded veterans. The financial and therapeutic support provided to former hostages and their families is inadequate. Insultingly so.

And in this environment, the coalition government is scheming to finalize legislation that would exempt all ultra-orthodox men from serving in the IDF. Forever.

IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir first told us about one year ago that the army faced an immediate shortage of troops. The number was 12,000. Just last week, he said that the army has a troop deficit today of 20,000. There are 100,000 haredi men of conscription age who dodge and shirk. Zamir said this week that their continued refusal to serve – illegally – will mean that compulsory service for young conscripts who do show up will be extended. And reserve duty for most others will be increased.

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For every government policy there is an inflection point – and Israel has long passed it when it comes to enforcing the shared burden and responsibility of defending the country.

When personal income tax levels exceed 60% in democracies – capital begins to leave the jurisdiction.

In Israel, the demands on a key demographic compound constantly, and the breaking point is near, if not already behind us.

At a security cabinet meeting last week, IDF Chief of Staff, Eyal Zamir, is reported to have told the PM and his top MKs that “the IDF is going to collapse in on itself.” That and another comment made by Zamir have been analyzed without end in recent days by Israeli media: “I am raising ten red flags in front of you.”

Zamir explained that continued expansion of settlements and outposts in the West Bank is straining IDF resources, as is the escalation of Jewish terror targeting Palestinians. We can no longer look away or pretend that this is not happening. On top of that, the refusal of the ultra-orthodox to serve in the military is sheer madness.

“Before long”, Zamir is said to have warned the security cabinet, “the IDF will not be ready for its routine missions and the reserve system will not last.”

The Chief of Staff of the IDF is telling the government that the army will soon be unable to defend the civilian population.

To anyone paying attention in Israel, particularly since October 7, his words come as no surprise. We live this reality every day.

Recently, due to settler violence in the West Bank, a battalion of IDF troops that was intended to be sent to Lebanon was diverted to the West Bank.

It is important to recall that in the days before October 7, soldiers stationed along the Gaza border were deployed on an emergency basis to the West Bank. Speculation then was that the additional troops were needed to deal with constantly escalating violence. Then, as now, the demand for additional security would likely have come through Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich – who also has “authority over civil affairs in the West Bank”. Smotrich has been given a rather free hand in interpreting this vague mandate. The coalition government – and Netanyahu – seem unperturbed by Smotrich’s extremist tendencies.

This is the new Israel.

“Netanyahu…is tearing the State of Israel apart,” former PM Naftali Bennett said a few days ago. He was referring specifically to Netanyahu’s continued prioritization on finalizing legislation that will exempt the ultra-orthodox from the IDF draft. In order to preserve his governing coalition, PM Netanyahu is prepared to capitulate to almost any demand made of him by the ultra-orthodox MKs and other extremist coalition members, among them Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir.

And the majority of Israelis, the Prime Minister presumes, will just step aside and accept it all.

It is a very high stakes gamble.

Since October 7, there has been a steady and growing increase in emigration from Israel.

One of many cases with which I am familiar, personally:

I have Tel Aviv based friends, a same-sex couple with two young children. One parent is a physician, the other a lawyer with extensive international experience in the high tech sector.

When their second child was born six months ago, they moved into a rental property. It is a beautiful, new, large penthouse apartment in a prized Tel Aviv neighborhood. The family that had intended to live there have since moved to the United States. For good. They are well-educated high-tech professionals who had no difficulty finding excellent jobs that included a relocation package. The father has had enough of serving most of his life in recent years in military reserve duty. The family see no future for their three young children in Israel. The parents have lived abroad previously but were committed to raising a family in this country. They no longer see this as viable.

My friends who are leasing the penthouse - with two very young children - also plan to relocate abroad once the new baby is a little older. They will have no difficulty finding work. In one fell swoop, nine of Israel’s finest citizens will leave. They would prefer to stay, but the price demanded of them by the state is just too high.

These reluctant emigres are random samples from a growing cohort that the government prefers to pretend doesn’t exist.

People are depleted and discouraged. The promotion of extremist interests by this government has pushed many Israelis beyond their limits; ideologically, politically, financially. Decision making and policy are skewed to ensure the survival of the coalition at any cost. And to do that, support of the ultra-orthodox and extreme nationalist parties is essential to preserve the razor thin majority coalition governing the Knesset.

When speaking of Israel and its people and challenges, “resilience” is a word that is too often invoked to laud the national fortitude of this country and its people. But the reservoir is draining.

Resilience is a trait that is fortified of and through necessity. But the supply – as with everything in life – is limited. Fatigue is setting in, even among the hardiest. I have watched too many people depart Israel with heavy hearts, and many more are contemplating doing so. Despair comingles with determination. Yes. We are still here. We soldier on. But the strains on this society are extreme and mounting.

We really must pay careful attention.

Ok. The challenge that I set for myself is to end each weekly wrap on a light note.

For much of the time since this most recent round of war broke out my daughter – who lives in the Tel Aviv area – has relocated to my place in the northern Negev desert. It’s actually not desert-like at all. As you’ve seen from photos posted in the past and mentions now and then, it is fertile, verdant, gently rolling hills. Breathtakingly beautiful. Especially in winter.

It is also way less densely populated than the central area of Israel, so everything is easier. And, in my little corner of the world, we have fewer missiles and sirens. Life is less disrupted and much calmer.

All of which lends itself to our new family past-time: doing puzzles. And the first one, completed a few days ago? Moraine Lake in Banff National Park, Canada. I picked it up on sale at a book and toy store in Sderot (city of 30,000 close to my kibbutz) a few months ago. I had to. Seeing Moraine Lake in Sderot was just so – random.

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Everything about this story is mind-blowing. That it happened. How it happened. And the beyond happy ending. Dr. Tuvia Book also wrote a book about this crazy turn of events. He spoke with State of Tel Aviv and Beyond recently about this experience and we thought it was time for an uplifting podcast. This episode contains some incredible video footage - of Amedi and Tuvia meeting last summer at a Jerusalem concert…….as well as live footage of unit 669 at work in the Gaza Strip. Extraordinary.

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Podcast Notes

Tuvia Book has a doctorate in education and is the author and illustrator of the internationally acclaimed Israel education curriculum; “For the Sake of Zion; A Curriculum of Israel Studies,” “Jewish Journeys, The First Temple Period, 1000 -586 BCE,” and, “Jewish Journeys, The Second Temple Period to the Bar Kokhba Revolt, 536 BCE-136 CE,” all published by Koren. Most recently, his memoir detailing his first-hand experiences in Gaza, “Heroes of PALMAR: How one IDF unit in Gaza Revolutionised Combat Medicine,” Was published by Gefen.

Dr. Book was born in London and raised in both the UK and South Africa. After making Aliya at the age of 17 he volunteered for the IDF, where he served in an elite combat unit. Upon his discharge he completed his undergraduate degree in Jewish history and literature, as well as a certification in graphic design. He then served as the Information Officer and deputy head of security at the Israeli Consulate of Philadelphia, while earning a graduate degree in Jewish Studies.

Upon his return to Israel, Dr. Book graduated from a course of study with the Israeli Ministry of Tourism and is a licensed tour guide. Tuvia has been working in the field of Jewish education, both formal and informal, for many years. He has guided and taught Jewish students and educators from around the English-speaking world for some of Israel’s premier educational institutions and programs. Tuvia has lectured throughout North America, Australia, Europe, and South Africa. In addition, his artwork has been commissioned on every continent (except Antarctica).

Tuvia served as a Shaliach (emissary) for the Jewish Agency for Israel as the Director of Israel and Zionist Education at the Board of Jewish Education of Greater New York (Jewish Education Project). He was a lecturer/educational guide at the Alexander Muss Institute for Israel Education (AMIIE) in Israel. Tuvia has lectured at both Bar Ilan University and Hebrew University. He is a Teaching Fellow at the Tikvah Fund. He is a research associate at the Hudson Institute.

In addition, Dr Book has served in reserves (Milluim) in the IDF as a combat medic in the current “Swords of Iron” war since October 2023 in a medical combat search and rescue unit (Palmar) and is the recipient of a prestigious IDF battalion award for his outstanding contribution to the unit. He has been featured on “Call me Back” and Times of Israel’s “What Matters Now” and many other prestigious podcasts.

I caught up with Ya’akov Katz on Thursday afternoon, and we got into some very sticky issues that are being talked about in Israel. We are one month into this war with Iran and it is not exactly going as we’d thought it might. Then again, political leadership has been anything but clear in communicating with the Israeli people about war goals, how things are going and where they are going. There’s a lot of talk about numbers. Numbers of missile launchers hit, missiles intercepted, targets hit. But the weird part is - the numbers don’t add up. And we had a very similar experience with the war on Hamas. Israelis are famously resilient, yes, but they are also worn out after almost three years of constant war. And there is no letup in sight. The population overwhelmingly supports war with Iran if it will degrade the country militarily and, ideally, lead to regime change. But people are beginning to wonder if we will be “back at it” in another six months or a year. Following the June attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities, we were led to believe that we had diminished the nuclear and general military threat substantially. Now? There are many questions.

This past week there has been a lot of buzz about the U.S. negotiating with Iran…..President Trump says the talks are going very well. Iran denies that there are any talks. The missiles keep coming at us from Iran. The sirens keep wailing. The intercept rate is high but there are always cluster bombs that break up and score direct hits. And we have a terrible shortage of troops in the IDF - but we don’t get into that today. I do write about it in the Weekend Wrap - which we drop tomorrow.

In this podcast, we just try to sort out what’s real and what’s, well, not.

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Yaakov Katz is an Israeli-American author and journalist. Between 2016 and 2023, Yaakov was editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post where he continues to write a popular weekly column.

He is the author of three books: “Shadow Strike – Inside Israel’s Secret Mission to Eliminate Syrian Nuclear Power”, “Weapon Wizards—How Israel Became a High-Tech Military Superpower” and “Israel vs. Iran: The Shadow War.”

Prior to taking up the role of editor-in-chief, Yaakov served for two years as a senior policy adviser to Naftali Bennett during his tenure as Israel’s Minister of Economy and Minister of Diaspora Affairs.

In 2013, Yaakov was one of 12 international fellows to spend a year at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.

Originally from Chicago, Yaakov has a law degree from Bar Ilan University. He lives in Jerusalem with his wife Chaya and their four children.

Find Yaakov Katz on X.

For more than 40 years, Michael Rothman has made a career out of data-driven analysis of the global oil market. He has attended every meeting of OPEC since 1986. His clients are a roster of major industry players and governments. State of Tel Aviv and Beyond spoke with Rothman almost one week ago….just as the tensions over the Iranian chokehold over the Strait of Hormuz flared into a full-blown global crisis. Overnight, it seemed, everyone knew about the Strait of Hormuz and Kharg Island - the Iranian island about 400 miles (660 km) north of the shipping choke point controlled by Iran in the Persian Gulf. Virtually all critical infrastructure supporting the Iranian oil and gas industries are based on Kharg Island, making it a potential target for a U.S. military operation. Occupying Kharg - would be a highly complex adventure (which was discussed in our recent podcast with military analyst, Andrew Fox). Rothman, however, dismisses any talk of occupying Kharg as “fantasy.”

Michael Rothman takes us through a series of slides and explains the fundamentals of the global oil market and why it is almost impossible to predict how high energy prices may go, when and for how long.

This podcast is different from our usual work and will be of interest to those of you who have a business background, and a thing for numbers, graphs, economics, and uncertainty.

Please note that all slides presented in this podcast are the proprietary work of Cornerstone Analytics and are reproduced in this podcast with permission from Cornerstone. These slides may not be reproduced and/or distributed without the permission of Cornerstone Analytics.

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Mike Rothman has researched the global energy markets for more than 40 years. He founded Cornerstone Analytics in 2009, serves as a consultant to government agencies, and has attended Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meetings since 1986.

In 1984, Mike joined Merrill Lynch and became Chief Energy Strategist and Co-Head of the Global Energy Equity Team, which was ranked #1 in the Global Research Survey by Institutional Investor Magazine. Mike was responsible for formulating the company’s outlooks for the petroleum and natural gas markets, which were integrated into the firm’s commodity, equity, debt, strategy, economic and emerging markets research.

In 2005, Mike joined ISI and built the firm’s energy research platform. He was a Senior Managing Director, Head of Integrated Oil Research, and ranked #1 for Independent Energy Research by Institutional Investor Magazine.

Mike earned a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural and Business Economics, and a Master of Science in Applied Economics/Econometrics, both from Rutgers University.

Andrew Fox, combat veteran and one of the most prolific writers these days on the war with Iran, returns to State of Tel Aviv and Beyond to share his assessment of what has gone well in this war so far…..and what has gone less well. Having been on the battlefield and someone who is very familiar with the Middle East, Fox offers sharp insights as to how the Iranian chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz - through which much of the global supply of oil and natural gas passes - can be alleviated. We discuss several scenarios as well as the risks associated with each. We then move geographically to the United Kingdom, Fox’s home. Early Monday morning, there was a serious arson incident in a Jewish suburb of London. Four community ambulances were torched and in the middle of the night the neighborhood was rocked with explosions and massive fires. The IRGC took responsibility for the attack, but Fox doesn’t buy that. As always, time spent with Andrew is enlightening and challenging.

He also wrote a great piece on the London arson attack, which you can read here

Andrew Fox

The Westminster Guide to Doing Absolutely Nothing About Antisemitism

This morning, I awoke to the news that Jewish community ambulances in London were set on fire overnight. Of course, my first thought was with those most affected by this attack: politicians. “Oh my goodness,” I thought. “They’re all going to be ‘sickened’ and ‘outraged’ by this. How will they know what to do about it…

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a month ago · 286 likes · 32 comments · Andrew Fox

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Andrew Fox is a former British Army Major and frontline conflict researcher specialising in modern warfare. A former senior lecturer at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, he is now a senior associate fellow at several international think tanks and a regular media commentator on global conflicts.

He writes the Fox on War Substack and co-hosts The Brink podcast, bringing field reporting and strategic analysis from conflicts including Gaza and Ukraine.

Just as soon as you dare to think that maybe things are calming down…..

I’ll begin with some very good news from this week: the regional fitness center in my neck of the woods is open again. I’m back in the pool. Amazing - what a good workout does for the mind and body….and there are plenty of shelters and safe rooms on site. You see, this is how we plan our lives. Proximity to shelters.

“Do I really need to run that errand today or can it wait?”

In the southern district of Sha’ar HaNegev, where I live, schools reopened this week. On the first day they opened there were several sirens, so they were closed and reopened a day or two later. Honestly, I can’t keep track. I don’t even try. Kibbutz kids are just fine with no school. They run around freely and either play with their friends or participate in the many organized activities in the community.

Tuesday afternoon. It was beautiful and sunny. The small field across the path from my house was teeming with kids. The sounds of everything – their toys, their happy play – was balm. And then there was a siren. Shortly after 4pm. Within seconds the children had all dashed to one of the many small shelters in the area. And everything went silent. When we all emerged from our fortified confines ten or fifteen minutes later, the kids went home.

We have up to 30 seconds to make it to a shelter after the alarm sounds. Children live like this. This is normal. This is not normal.

For city kids – especially those in Tel Aviv and other areas with high-density populations and unceasing sirens and missile intercepts, it’s a whole different story.

I had a Tel Aviv day on Wednesday. A combination of errands that could not be put off and then, as always, I fit in some fun stuff. Like a touch up at the hair salon.

It was like dropping onto another planet. People are bedraggled. Streets are empty. Many shops are closed. Most telling? There is no traffic. Like – none. You can get a parking spot. Anywhere. In Tel Aviv.

Before leaving my home I entered my destination into my GPS, as always.

I figured it wasn’t working properly. Impossible. Just one hour in peak morning traffic time from my home in the south to Kfar Saba? (Tel Aviv suburb – errand run there). One hour? Can’t be. But it was.

Once in Tel Aviv I usually park in a lot and taxi around. Traffic and parking can make you crazy. Mid-afternoon, I was standing outside Tel Aviv City Hall. I called a taxi on my app. It insisted that I was in Amman, Jordan. Me and the app – we went back and forth. I restarted my phone several times. The app was adamant about the Amman thing. Eventually, I went old-school and hailed a taxi by raising my hand. It worked. GPS systems developing minds of their own is a classic symptom of wartime here.

I spent a few hours getting things done in my old neighborhood in central Tel Aviv. I saw friends and acquaintances. To a person they were drained.

During a barrage of missiles that hammered Tel Aviv and area on Tuesday night, a married couple in their 70s was making the mad dash to the safe room in their apartment. One of them used a walker to move about. They were a few feet away from safety when shrapnel debris from a an Iranian missile crashed through the roof of their four-storey building and killed them.

That was all anyone spoke about. A heavy gloom hung over Tel Aviv. People were exhausted and feeling helpless.

“I feel like I’m at the edge,” my hair stylist said. “I can’t take much more of this. I’m beginning to feel like we’re going to be like Ukraine. A war that never ends.”

“Two weeks. No sleep. No school for the kids,” another friend says. She is weary. “No one comes into my store (she sells beautifully curated housewares from the Far East). “This is our busiest month of the year – right before Passover. Who is thinking of buying things that you don’t really need?”

“I have to get out,” says a third acquaintance. She has booked tickets to visit family in Paris on three different airlines, hoping that one of them will fly. “I just need to breathe.”

You get the drift.

Many Israelis have decamped for long semi-permanent stretches to places like India and Thailand. Some have been there since October 2023. With each month and year of this intensity, more leave. Very few return.

Also on Wednesday, I popped into the Ramat Aviv shopping mall in the north end of Tel Aviv. Known for its concentration of high-end retailers, the mall was packed, but not with the usual clientele. Families made a day of hanging out there. You have everything. A supermarket. Restaurants. And the kids can run around. Plenty of shelters and protected spaces there. It just feels safer. Even if it isn’t.

Artificial Intelligence and the War

There has been a surfeit of online content lately portraying life in Tel Aviv as a never-ending party. Young people sharing snippets of their fun lives that never quit. “Just going about my day. No biggie. A siren here and there.”

Full disclosure (shocking, I know): I am not a social media maven. I dabble in “X” (and do so less and less as time goes on). I keep meaning to post more content on Linkedin but – it remains an aspirational thing, mostly. I have someone manage the social accounts for State of Tel Aviv and Beyond. I have less than no interest in changing any of that. And the last few weeks just reinforce my thoughts about this.

During this war I have spoken with some younger people who have been churning out a genre of wartime content that I find peculiar. These are the people who call themselves “influencers.” It’s a concept that I’ve never quite grasped and still do not. It’s the Tik Tok/Instagram generation. They think and speak in clipped sound bites clashing with a barrage of images. The idea, I think, is to influence – or change – the way someone thinks about an issue within 30 seconds or so. Big issues. Complicated issues. All are reduced to content that appeals to herds.

Call me an intellectual snob. I can take it.

What I have learned in the last few weeks is that Iran and all sorts of bad people are flooding the online environment with anti-Israel content. Antisemitic content. No surprise there.

There have been many fake images generated by AI purporting to show Tel Aviv in ruins. And it seems that there are many people who believe it to be true. So, this cadre of influencers generate stuff that is intended to counter the lies. How? They write about life on the beach and in the cafes. A never ending frolic. They see it as hard-hitting psy-ops. But what they post is also a lie. It does not reflect the reality of Tel Aviv and this nation.

And I highly doubt that the Islamists and blue-haired progressives and groypers will be moved by pro-Israel influencer content.

But this past week - even PM Benjamin Netanyahu jumped into the fray.

Responding to multiple Iranian fake social media content that he was dead – Bibi played along and put out a few clips meant to be ironic but – most importantly – show that he is very much alive.

But he did not pretend that this war is a lark or that life is “normal.” That would just be, well, dumb.

Here is one of PM Netanyahu’s responses to regime propaganda:

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Also on my Tel Aviv day I popped into the i24 TV studio at the Jaffa port to join Natasha Kirtchuk and Owen Alterman for the the daily news rundown. Among other things, by we discussed the wartime mood a bit. Here’s a clip of me addressing a question about how the war is wearing on Israelis:

On Tuesday morning, Israelis woke to the news that the head of the Basij police force in Iran had been killed in a targeted bombing. The Basij are the thugs who beat and shoot civilians protesting for freedom. They drag injured patients from hospital beds to execute them. I wrote about this and more in my National Post column which just went online at noon ET today.

Here’s the link and the first few paragraphs…..you can read the full piece on the National Post website:

On Tuesday morning, Israelis awoke to the news that the head of the Basij police in Iran had been killed in a targeted overnight air strike.

Gholamreza Soleimani led the almost one-million strong force that is feared and loathed by Iranians for its violence and savagery in repressing even peaceful protest and dissent.

The top tier of Basij police are paid a salary, but most are not. They join and carry out their savage enforcement orders out of what is likely a desire for social status and power. Basij forces are the ones removing wounded protesters from hospitals and executing them in their beds. They shoot wildly and drive motorcycles into crowds.

Earlier this month, thousands of Basij members were sent a mass warning by an unknown actor: “You are under our complete surveillance. We know what crimes you have committed against the Iranian people. We have identified you and all your associates. Surrender or flee. There will be no second warning.”

This week, Basij men were filmed changing from their uniforms into street clothes on the streets of Tehran, which may suggest they’re fearful.

This could be the beginning of the moment when regime change moves from fantasy to reality. Typically, when an authoritarian regime loses control of its enforcers, the house of cards begins to collapse in upon itself.

Continue Reading in The National Post

The Hezballah and Iranian response to the Basij attack and others has been harsh and unrelenting. All over Israel.

We have also seen an escalation of critical energy infrastructure being targeted. I spoke today (Saturday) with a top expert on oil markets and movements – but he’s not the type who focuses on the micro issues – he’s a macro kind of guy who advises governments and large organizations. It will be an amazing podcast episode and accessible to premium subscribers only.

Back to the week in Israel. It just doesn’t stop. Was it Thursday? Or Friday? Maybe Wednesday? Does it matter? An Iranian missile scored a direct hit on the largest oil refinery in Israel located in the port of the northern city of Haifa.

America targeted Kharg Island – the beating heart of Iran’s oil and gas industry. In response, Iran attacked a major liquid natural gas refinery in Qatar…just a sampling of the escalation of energy hits. Some have renamed this conflict The Energy War.

And overnight we learned that Iran’s missile reach is beyond what any intelligence service or government disclosed publicly. If they even knew……

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If you missed our mailings this past week featuring podcasts focusing on antisemitism in Canada, we’ve popped in the links, below.

The first one is an interview with The Honorable Pierre Poilievre – Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada and His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition in the Canadian Parliament. Pierre also appeared on Joe Rogan’s podcast last week. The episode was aired on Friday and has caused a minor sensation.

In the State of Tel Aviv and Beyond episode, Poilievre addresses the real and escalating danger faced by Canadian Jews. We spoke just days after three Toronto area synagogues were attacked with gunfire. Here’s the link:

Also this week we dropped an episode with Deputy Conservative Party Leader, Melissa Lantsman. One of the synagogues that was attacked in Toronto is in her electoral riding. Pierre and Melissa are exceptionally principled, articulate and standing up fiercely for the fourth largest Jewish community in the world. If you missed these episodes last week I urge you to make time to watch them. You will not be disappointed.

Ok – I’m going to call it a wrap here. I must get to the pool and work out all that pent up physical energy. It’s a ten minute drive and if any missile alerts sound while I’m in transit there are plenty of ditches and roadside shelters to jump into with thirty seconds notice.

Yes. That’s the reality of how we go about our days here. It is exhausting but you would be hard-pressed to find an Israeli who does not support the defanging of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

This truly is a fight for civilization as we know it, no less so than WWII. There are times when choices are very clear. Binary – to invoke an overused word these days. Good and Evil.

I’m on the side that supports freedom and democracy. Full stop.

Oh – and since I always try to end on a lighter note – I’m going to finish up today with the recipe for my lemon olive-oil dessert bars that I promised a few weeks ago. Stuff happened.

This recipe? Beyond delish. Here’s a not great photo of my most recent batch. (I never claimed to be a food photographer/stylist – this was just for my kids.) I like to decorate with black volcanic salt flakes – yes – it’s a thing. I pick it up at one of my favorite bougie food shops in Tel Aviv. Or – sometimes I cut fresh rosemary stalks from one of the many bushes at my doorstep. This kibbutz is basically one big clump of rosemary. It grows everywhere.

Lemon Olive Oil Salt Bars

Credit where due: This recipe is from the NYT cooking section, but I have modified it over time. And will continue to do so.

Step 1. Prep for prep

Heat oven to 325. Line a 9x9” pyrex or other baking pan with parchment. Leave excess on both sides so that you can lift the bars out of the pan once finished. I never do that, though. I do use the parchment because it makes cleaning easier. But I cut the bars in the pyrex and then leave the edges for whoever is around and wants to eat them. Kind of like licking the beaters when your mom made icing.

Step 2. Make the shortbread crust:

1 and1/4 cups/ 150 g flour

¼ cup/50 g plus 3 tablespoons of sugar – any kind you wish but nothing too fine. I always use golden or demerrara.

1 tsp finely grated lemon zest. No shortcuts.

¼ tsp fine sea salt

10 tbsp/150 g cold, unsalted butter cut into small cubes

Combine flour, sugar, lemon zest and salt. You can pulse in a food processor. Add butter cubes and pulse until it has the texture of a crumbly dough. I use a pastry fork (instead of a food processor) for this step. And at the end I often put on a pair of latex gloves and mash it up well. I’m one of those who thinks that working dough by hand makes it…..better?

Spread the crumble in the pyrex/pan and press it down firmly and evenly. I give it a few pokes with a fork (pressure release) and pop it in the oven until lightly toasted/golden brown. About a half hour.

Voila. Your shortbread crust.

Step 3. Making the Curd. But really, it’s more like a custard.

4-6 lemons

1 ½ cups/ 300 g sugar – I use about half this amount. Do it to suit your taste. I like it tart and find if you use all this sugar it’s kind of sickeningly sweet. Adjusting the sugar will not impact the thickness of the custard. I mean – I’m sure it does but it’s plenty thick with half the sugar.

Two large eggs plus three egg yolks.

1 ½ tsp /5 g cornstarch – I had someone bring me cornstarch from Canada because whatever they say is cornstarch in Israel – trust me – it isn’t.

Pinch of fine sea salt.

4 tbsp/ 55-ish grams butter

¼ c / 60 milliliters extra virgin olive oil with fruity notes. Seriously. It’s a thing. Bougie food stores carry this sort of product. I have to buy it in Tel Aviv. When I asked where I could find it in a local shop, the clerk looked at me like I had six heads.

Stuff for decorating – the best part. I love a visual contrast with these bars. My current obsession is volcanic black salt flakes. But any big flakes of colored salt will do. Dried or fresh blueberries. I often save a little lemon zest to sprinkle hither and thither. You can use peppercorns or very coarsely ground pepper. Go crazy. Serve these on a white dish and let the color pop and talk.

I think I want to try making a dessert with just the lemon curd. Layers of lemon, whipped cream in a clear glass vessel. Maybe drizzle a little strawberry, blueberry or raspberry (except you can’t get raspberries here, ever) sauce (easy peasy to make). Whatever strikes your fancy. Maybe add something with crunch. Stay tuned…..

And that, dear readers, is a wrap…..

Melissa Lantsman is the Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada and a Member of Parliament for the riding of Thornhill, just north of the city of Toronto. She is a fierce and tireless activist for her constituents, many of whom are Jewish as well as Iranian Canadians. I spoke with her days after multiple Toronto area synagogues were attacked with gunfire. One of the synagogues was in her riding.

She is outraged by the apparent disinterest of Prime Minister Mark Carney and his government regarding the extreme and worsening threats in Canada targeting Jews and Iranians in particular. As we discuss in this podcast, Canada has become a haven for IRGC operatives who are very active in their new country. And then there is the thriving and growing population of Islamists who target Jewish institutions, neighborhoods, schools and business with violence and harassment. This has been unceasing since October 7. Many police forces (like Toronto’s) do nothing meaningful to deal with this threat. In fact - they tend to encourage the violence through inaction. Same for the federal government and most - but not all - municipal and provincial governments. Lantsman is always sharp and articulate. In this podcast - she let her fury out. And it’s high time that PM Carney paid attention to this madness proliferating on his watch.

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Podcast Notes

Melissa Lantsman is the Member of Parliament for Thornhill and Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada. Elected in 2021, she previously served as the Shadow Minister for Transport and as a Senior Advisor to leading Canadian political figures.

Melissa believes in breaking the mold and in bringing new ideas and energy to Ottawa. She represents the next generation in Canadian politics.

Born and raised in the community she now serves, Melissa was taught by her immigrant parents to work hard and to stand up for what’s right. Those are values that have guided her in all points of her life and career. Melissa is an award-winning communicator and was amongst Canada’s most sought-after public affairs executives. She has served on various boards of directors, was a regular TV commentator and hosted her own radio show. Her writing has been featured in Canada’s largest circulation publications.

Melissa is not afraid to speak out for the things that matter, and she doesn’t back down from holding the government to account.

The Hon. Pierre Poilievre, leader of the Canadian Conservative Party and the Official Parliamentary Opposition, popped into Austin, Texas and had the Joe Rogan experience. I cannot wait to hear that episode and reliable sources say that it will be out before the weekend. In the meantime, I thought I’d whet your appetite with this classic Poilievre moment - when he spoke with State of Tel Aviv and Beyond on Thursday March 12, just days after three Toronto area synagogues had been shot up with gunfire in middle-of-the-night attacks. The day before Pierre and I spoke, the U.S. Consulate in Toronto was also shot up. Again, in the middle of the night. Canada has become a lawless country, generally.

But for Jews? It’s surreal. Antisemitism is violent and rampant and neither the federal, provincial, or municipal governments seem terribly concerned about it - with very few exceptions. Law enforcement? Nowhere to be seen. They do nothing. This has been going on since October 7. And it is getting worse by the day.

Pierre Poilievre has always been clear, consistent and fearless in articulating his strong support for Israel and he has stood by the Jewish community in Canada unfailingly. In this conversation he does what he does best: speaks the truth and calls out those in power for forsaking the Canadian Jewish community. We discuss these issues and more - including the surreal fact that IRGC operatives live and conduct “business” in Canada openly. As I often post on my “X” account, Canada has become an Islamist’s paradise. Meaning - it has also become somewhat hellish for Jews. Pierre and I had a really informative and meaningful discussion. And if you watch to the end I serve up a real treat……the famous “apple video” that went viral in October 2023. Remember? When Pierre was asked questions by a very befuddled reporter. And as he casually munched on his apple in the orchard, well, it’s classic Pierre Poilievre.

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Podcast Notes:

Pierre Poilievre grew up in Alberta as the adopted son of two schoolteachers. He lives in Ottawa with his wife Anaida and their children, Valentina and Cruz.

As a Member of Parliament and former Minister, he helped the previous Conservative government cut taxes, balance budgets, deliver affordable homes and crack down on crime and corruption.

He shepherded the Accountability Act through the House of Commons to protect taxpayers from waste, fraud and corruption. When he was Housing Minister, the average home cost $450,000 and the average one-bedroom rent was just $970. People could afford homes in safe neighbourhoods and good food on their table.

As Vice-Chair of the Commons Finance Committee, he was the first major voice in Parliament to warn that massive money-printing deficits would lead to inflation, while Mark Carney wrongly predicted prices would go down. Pierre also led the charge against the carbon tax, toughening laws to fight crime, banning drugs and unlocking resources. Liberals who demonized him for these principled stands have now all agreed he was right and claim to agree with him.

In the most recent election, he got more votes than any Conservative leader in our history, the largest share of votes since 1988, adding 2.5 million more votes and 25 more seats than the prior election, all with major gains among youth and working people.

But he has only begun. After Liberals doubled housing costs, inflated food prices and unleashed crime on our streets, Pierre is fighting back. His purpose is a Canada with strong take-home pay, safe streets and secure borders in a self-reliant country.

Since the outbreak of the war on February 28 we have made all of our content available to premium and non-paying subscribers. In these times of crisis I feel it is important to allow wide access to our work. However, as in the past, this is not sustainable….so…a “head’s up” to all, we will be limiting full access to most of our content in the coming week.

Please consider becoming a premium subscriber at stateoftelaviv.com or….make a contribution of any amount at Buy Me a Coffee .

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Note from the Editor: I’m enjoying this Friday wrap feature…..it gives me an opportunity to summarize the week and also share material that may not merit a full pod episode or written article. And….it creates a space for me to share lighter stuff that pops up, even in the midst of a war.

In reverse chronological order, beginning Thursday March 12:

A surprise press conference was held by PM Netanyahu on Thursday, March 12, shortly after 9 pm. It was his first press availability (with Israeli media, which he tends to avoid) since the war began on February 28. His public statements, too, have been very rare.

Why last night? Well, first, have a peek at what I wrote about his appearance shortly after it happened:

Netanyahu loves the limelight. But he made himself scarce since this war began 12 days ago. In fact, he had not once spoken publicly. During a war. But, as we have seen on many occasions, he prefers to make public appearances when he is more confident he will be well-received. And when he can set the terms.

For a prime minister to ghost his own population for 12 days during what has been a very difficult war — that is an eternity. Then again, Israelis have become accustomed to a leader who prefers to engage with English language journalists who are less knowledgeable about Israeli politics and security and are also far more deferential than any Israeli media professional would be. Even the stars of American media serve up soft lobs if they land an interview with Netanyahu.

But clearly, he felt that his moment had arrived, and it was time to debut.

Just 24 hours ago, Israelis were warned by the Home Front Command to brace for a massive joint attack by Iran and Hezbollah.

The excerpt above is from my National Post column that was published late Thursday afternoon ET.

To read the full column click here .

About an hour after the Wednesday night attack began, I took a screenshot on my phone of northern Israel being blanketed by Hezballah fire.

On Thursday midday, IDF Spokesperson, Nadav Shoshani updated the media about what had transpired on Wednesday night.

Among other things, in the days leading up to the Hezballah attack on Israel, the army had tracked Radwan fighters (members of the elite Hezballah fighting force) moving south towards the Israeli border. That raises specters and fears of October 7. It is no secret that Radwan has long been planning to infiltrate northern Israel, slaughter civilians and, ideally, return to Lebanon with hostages. Prize captives are always IDF soldiers.

As it turned out, the north was hit hard but far less severely than anticipated. The expected barrage from Iran never materialized. There were missiles, to be sure, but not the bombardment that was feared.

And so, feeling buoyed, perhaps, PM Netanyahu decided this was his moment. The press conference was in Hebrew for Israeli media, which the PM tends to avoid, for reasons I get into in the National Post column.

I awoke this morning to read this quite brilliant article by Andrew Fox, in which he cautions against the sudden proliferation of early and strident declarations of victory or defeat in the war. We are in the early stages of a very volatile conflict with many moving parts. Dynamic is an understatement. And the main actors – America and Israel – seem to be diverging in terms of their visions for the outcome. I’ll be doing another podcast next week with Mr. Fox, but I leave you with his thoughts from today. Well worth the read.

Andrew Fox

Stop calling the Iran War too early

This run of updates remains free to everyone. At moments like this, getting clear, sober analysis into as many hands as possible matters more than putting it behind a paywall. If you think these briefings are useful, please share them. One forward to the right person still beats any algorithm. If you haven’t already, subscribe below so the next updates …

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a month ago · 106 likes · 15 comments · Andrew Fox

Random Rant

It has been quite a week. Where I am living, we do not have many sirens, thankfully, but stress levels are peak. This country is so small and everyone has someone they love in active army or air force or navy service. Schools and universities have been closed for two weeks. Childcare centers are closed. Community facilities are closed. Everyone stays very close to home and before venturing out it is critical to map your journey and think about where the nearest bomb shelters are located. Many workplaces are closed, except for the most essential of essential workers.

This is a war.

And in the midst of the ordered chaos, a distinct social media category portraying the war as, well, a bit of a lark has proliferated. There are endless reels of beach volleyball games, folks chilling in the sand, shirtless, buff, men jogging in packs at a brisk pace or doing one armed chin-ups. This subculture basically exists on a stretch of a few hundred meters along Tel Aviv’s beachfront.

It’s cute, now and then but it has become a touch silly. These Tel Aviv beach shots are meant to convey that the indomitable spirit of Israelis very much remains the dominant social quality in this country. “We’re tough and resilient and nothing defeats our spirit.” But it also gets a little tired, and when overdone – as it has been during these last two weeks; it diminishes the very real and serious impact this war is having on millions of Israelis. It’s a war. Not a beach party. People are being injured and killed. Homes are being destroyed. Sleep is disrupted and psychological trauma is very real.

I do a fair bit of media and do not post many of my interviews on my site but my daughter said that this one is a winner….and that I must.

Harrison Faulkner is a young, independent Canadian journalist who generates fantastic content. And, according to my daughter, this interview that I did with him earlier in the week merited inclusion in this week’s wrap. Harrison and I discussed the manner in which Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has presented Canada’s position on this war from day 1. At the outset of our interview, when Faulkner asks me how I view Carney’s position, I say that it is difficult to do so because Carney’s position has changed daily. I genuinely have no idea what he thinks, but I do go on to critique what I believe to be his position.

It was cathartic.

Like U.K. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Australian PM Anthony Albanese, Mark Carney is a leftish wannabe aristocrat who seems to have also decided – contrary to all evidence – that Islamist extremism is not a national security issue in Canada. He is unprincipled, smug and surprisingly incompetent at managing geopolitical issues. Carney is beginning to make former Canadian PM Justin Trudeau look like a foreign policy genius. And that is not a compliment.

For more fire and brimstone, you can watch my interview with Harrison Faulkner below.

In case you missed our emails this week, we put out an analysis of where things stand in the war with Iran, featuring a State of Tel Aviv and Beyond favorite, former IDF spokesperson and FDD senior fellow, Lt. Col. (Res.) Jonathan Conricus:

Later in the week, we dropped a short and sharp interview with Air Force “Major G”, a State of Tel Aviv exclusive, in which we spoke with an air force commander who has been overseeing crews running drone missions over Iran to search and destroy missile launchers.

There are great video clips and photos in both podcasts as well.

Toronto and Canada seem to make the international news these days for all the wrong reasons. One week ago, late on Friday March 12, two major synagogues were shot up with guns. Earlier in the week another large synagogue was attacked in the same manner. And then a few days later at 4 am a vehicle was caught on a CCTV camera stopping in front of the U.S. Consulate building in downtown Toronto. Two men got out, aimed their weapons at the front door, shot a few rounds, got back in and drove off.

Toronto police - who have found themselves on the pointy end of my spear repeatedly since October 7 (and for good reason) - have yet to make a single arrest or say anything much other than that this is bad. Seriously. “This is not who we are,” is a staple comment. Alas, it is who we have become, in Canada; a nation which not only tolerates but emboldens antisemitic hatred and where a smug anti-Americanism has been stoked and encouraged by the top political leadership in the country.

I will be dropping an in-depth podcast early in the coming week taking a hard look at what the heck is going on in Canada, especially Toronto. The episode will feature interviews with Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre (remember the apple video?), his Deputy, Melissa Lantsman, Israeli Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sharren Haskell, as well as other strong and important voices addressing the antisemitic gutter that Canada has become. I’ll be working hard on that this weekend.

But - just for kicks, I’ll give you a taste of the awesome apple video, which went viral around the world…..and word has it that Poilievre will be keeping some high profile media appointments while in the U.S. next week….he may go viral again…..stay tuned.

I chose this news clip from Sky News Australia because. It’s high energy and fun. And because they used the best part of the original 9-minute video of Poilievre with the hapless journalist. Unfortunately, as the Aussie journalist in the clip predicted, Poilievre did not win the last Canadian election…..but there’s always the next one. And, yes, she does butcher his name. Enjoy these two minutes:

I want to finish up this dispatch with something that is not war related. And I have a gem for you this week.

One week ago, on Friday March 6, a neighbor invited me to a spontaneous dinner. A bunch of kibbutz families were coming. Food was covered (so Israeli) so I was assigned to bring white wine. That is largely because I prefer white and my kibbutz friends are well aware of that. Israelis tend to drink red….no matter what they’re eating.

I could not bring myself to buy supermarket wine – which is a thing here – so I set about researching the closest winery and happened upon Galai. It is a short drive from my kibbutz, on a beautiful moshav, Nir Akiva. I phoned to make sure they were open – it being a Friday and a war. Assaf, the owner, assured me they were.

Here he is, as I was leaving with a few boxes of wine – saying “Howdy” as he drove home on his tractor.

And this is his employee, Eran, with whom I filmed a short little tour of their boutique winery. I’ll summarize the main bits because it is in Hebrew:

I exclaim at the beginning that I’ve discovered this fabulous place - and Eran then adds that it is in Nir Akiva. Eran tells me that I’ve discovered the Galai winery…..but before we go into the cellars I ask him to stop and explain this memorial.

I say that we should stop and respect/honor a hero - Dror Or. Eran explains that Dror was a long-time friend and also worked with the winery. A master cheesemaker at Kibbutz Be’eri. Dror was one of many good friends that they lost on October 7, including 17 year old Tomer Eliaz of Kibbutz Nahal Oz. Particularly in southern Israel, which was hit so hard on October 7, we live with it, always and everywhere.

We then enter the backroom of the operation, where the barrels and inventory are stored. The winery hosts tastings when it’s not war-time and you can also see the fridge full of cheeses. Eran shows me a number of framed certificates from competitions in which their wines have been awarded prizes but he is most proud of having been chosen as Boutique Winery of the Year at the recent Terravino competition, held in Jaffa in late February of this year. Eran says that this prize in particular really surprised them and he even allows a modest smile.

That’s the gist of it.

(I also did a video with Assaf the owner but forgot to press “record” on my phone. Seriously. Oops – sorry, Assaf. But I did get this nice photo of him and the tractor video. So….not all for naught.)

Here is a peek at their vineyards.

The wine is fantastic. I bought some reds, whites and roses. All fabulous. My Friday night dinner company last week appreciated the haul.

I want to leave you with a little more good vibey stuff.

On a beautiful afternoon this past week, I went for a long amble in the kibbutz fields with my daughter (she has relocated from Tel Aviv where the constant sirens are unbearable….everyone who can escape the center of the country has come south, where things are much quieter).

Welcome to my backyard:

And more signs of spring on the kibbutz.

Thanks for being here. Have a restorative weekend. Shabbat Shalom.

On Sunday March 8, State of Tel Aviv and Beyond interviewed “Major G”, a 25-year veteran of the Israeli Air Force who has been working around the clock since Operation Roaring Lion was launched on February 28. Major G commands drone crews operating over Iran. Their mission is to identify the location of missile launchers and neutralize or destroy them. Working in very tight co-ordination with the U.S. Air Force, Israel has severely hindered Iranian launch capabilities and missile supply. I was unable to photograph Major G for security reasons, but we do show some videos and photographs in this podcast - some with audio and some are silent and playing during relevant parts of our conversation. Just a “head’s up” for those of you listening…..you may wish to have a peek at the video later.

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Thanks to all of you for stopping by.

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Podcast Notes:

1. Link to FDD report on Iran’s Ballistic Missile Program, referred to in the podcast by Jonathan Conricus.

   

   Fdd Monograph Arsenal Assessing Iran Ballistic Missile Program

   2.85MB ∙ PDF file

   Download

   Download

2. IDF video released on International Women’s Day highlighting the extraordinary contribution of women in the Israeli Air Force, referred to in the podcast by Jonathan Conricus.

Jonathan Conricus is a senior fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington D.C.-based think tank. He served in the IDF for 24 years, four of them as spokesman during the intense 11 days of the Guardian of the Walls Operation between Israel and Hamas. Now a reserve officer with the rank of Lt. Col., he is a sought-after speaker internationally and is frequently seen on major television news shows. Jonathan was born in Jerusalem to a Swedish father and an Israeli mother and spent his formative years in Sweden.

This week’s wrap is meant to give you a peek into real life in Israel during a war.

Here goes.

I am not a morning person. So when I stirred at 8:12 am Saturday morning, February 28, my plan was to roll over and continue sleeping. One minute later the first of a succession of impossible-to-ignore Home Front Command alarms killed the dream. It was happening. Finally.

Within seconds, my daughter called. She lives in central Israel which was likely to be the hardest hit in the days to come. Her partner had already been called up to reserve duty. “Can you come get me?” she asked. My heart said yes, immediately, but my head told me to confirm that it wasn’t a crazy idea.

So I contacted my friend, Jonathan Conricus, who is known to State of Tel Aviv and Beyond subscribers as one of the foremost pundits and military analysts in and on Israel and the Middle East.

His advice had me out the door in no time. Conricus said the magic words: “If it was my kid I’d go.” He then followed up with simple, practical advice; the kind of things we all know but when you’re functioning on high adrenaline, as I was in that moment, hearing it all stated clearly and calmly is reassuring.

I live in southern Israel. It is quite isolated and safe. Not even the Islamic Republic of Iran would want to waste ballistic missiles or drones on our sparsely populated area of the country.

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Traffic was light but purposeful. Everyone was going somewhere. Fast. Minimum speeds were 140 km/hr. I was making a mad dash to Tel Aviv based on the sensible assumption that Central Israel would be battered in the coming days. It was. Living in a safe room or public shelter is no picnic.

I was low on gas but wanted to get to my kid as quickly as possible. Five minutes can make all the difference in these crazy situations. A missile lands and roads are blocked. A million variables are at play. That happened so many times on October 7. People were on their way to save someone and suddenly could go no further.

I kept the radio on to ensure that I would receive any siren notifications. In Israel, alerts override all TV and radio stations as well as cell phones in the impacted area (depends on one’s cell phone settings).

Laser focused, I made it in record time. In the parking lot outside her building young families were loading up their cars and heading somewhere. Most Israelis have bags packed and ready to go during periods of high tension. What do you pack if you may be displaced for a week? A month?

Water. A change of clothing. Basic hygiene supplies. Anti-bacterial wipes. Dry food with energy and vitamins. A pillow. A blanket. Any prescriptions or medicines. Phone. Charger. Extra battery packs. Lights with built-in batteries.

We drove straight to a gas station to fill up and grab coffee. More sirens. We ran to the shelter. It doubles as a food storage area. (Gas stations in Israel are legendary. Mini markets where you can buy almost anything.) The shelter was filled with young families getting out of town. Moms and dads turning this crazy moment into an adventure. Kids smiling. Here’s an audio recording of the chatter in the room…..that’s me musing aloud about taking popcorn.

It’s good-natured banter….one young woman comments on the fact that we could be stuck in worse places. At least we have lots to eat. People talk about where they live, where they’re going and how long we think we’ll have to stay in this place.

As we exited the gas station we drove by a man standing around waiting for his EV to charge. Note to self: Another reason not to buy anything but a hybrid. Imagine sitting around in a war with incoming missiles waiting for your car to charge.

We drove on.

A few minutes later there were more sirens. We pulled over twice more during what would usually be a one hour drive on a Saturday morning. My daughter is a rule-follower. I’m thinking…..let’s keep it kinetic. If we drive, then maybe we’ll just be ahead of the missile. Or behind. But the real danger (as I know and she reminds me) in these situations is the shrapnel, which can take longer to make it to earth than the downed missile. Something to do with smaller pieces and the law of gravity. If you leave the shelter before Home Front Command directs you to do so you risk being hit by flying shrapnel.

If the siren wails while you’re on the road, the protocol is that you put on your hazard lights and pull over to the side safely and quickly. Ideally, windows are rolled down so that if there is a blast nearby, they won’t shatter. (The windshield? Can’t do much about that.) Lie face down on the ground and cover your head with your hands. If you have a blanket in the car lie on that. Place yourself on the ground near the car engine. It is heavier than the passenger compartment or rear of the car (unless, of course, you drive a Porsche or some models of Lamborghini, I understand) and will therefore absorb the impact of any falling shrapnel, minimizing injury to you.

At our third alarm break at the side of the road we were directed by people already there to a solid shelter in what looked like a disused industrial area. It was a quick dash of a few hundred feet. Again, young families were running. They had parked in the gas station nearby. I left my car a little further away, thinking that if a missile hits a gas station my car will be totaled. I mean, it’s all luck. We know that. But everyone does quirky things in moments like this. I think it’s our way of trying to feel that we have some control.

We had about 45 seconds to get to safety. Think that through.

Before walking through the narrow opening to the bare concrete shelter I turned around to see four parents running and carrying toddlers. I let them pass and go inside first. I cannot imagine the anxiety they feel. Again, once inside, we all focus on the kids. They’re cute. In their pajamas. It’s kind of an adventure for them. We all banter “cheerfully”. A reserve soldier is with us in the shelter - he is quite senior in the IDF – you can tell by his lapel rank. He kind of takes charge and stands at the entrance, only allowing us to exit when we get the “all clear” from Home Front Command.

My daughter snapped a photo inside the shelter. A second time, I recorded audio inside the shelter.

You can hear the sirens and intercepts in the recording, nonstop. There are two loud intercepts at 00:42 and 00:51. We were all startled. They were close and loud. Everyone in the shelter kept things light – to preoccupy and distract the kids.

But this is not normal. They know that.

When we exited my daughter got a seven second clip of a series of F 15s that had just taken off and flew overhead. Eastward. They were on their way to a mission in Iran. This clip could be anywhere…it just shows a beautiful big bird and open sky.

We are under very clear guidelines from the military and Home Front Command not to post any operationally related information or images that could help the Iranians target more accurately. In June, there were many issues with international media and individuals posting clips on social media. One American MSM reporter was heavily criticized – deservedly so – for disclosing in his video dispatches on a television station with a global audience information that compromised the safety of Israeli civilians. This time around he is being respectful, thus far, as is pretty much all the international media.

When you emerge from a shelter into the light, with so many young families, small children, and look up and see this….It sends shivers up and down your spine.

From there it was smooth sailing.

Once we arrived back at my place in the south all was quiet. But not in the center of Israel. Or in the north. Multiple sirens and alerts wailed through the day and night.

Within minutes of arriving at home I received a message from the IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani regarding a briefing – 11:45 am. I was on with about 150 other journalists worldwide. Very informative. This was in the earliest stages of the war. We didn’t know what was going on other than that we were at war.

I next had the good fortune to nail Lt. Col. Conricus for a quick podcast interview. Of course, I forgot to hit “record” to get the visual recording. That oversight turned out to be a blessing. It is much quicker to edit and publish audio only. My daughter filled in for my usual editor who does not work or go online on shabbat. And I now realize she can do so much more than I’d imagined!!!! We jammed it out together and only then – did I have another cup of coffee. Sat down. Ate something. Early afternoon Saturday.

I received many notes from well-wishers – which are always appreciated. It makes a difference to hear from people at times like this. Thank you.

For the rest of this dispatch I will share random odds and sods…..and we also include quite a few fabulous social media posts. This country never loses its sense of humor. Or purpose. The video post of a wedding in an underground parking lot – with the bride’s family that had flown in from Argentina for the joyous occasion – well, that one just broke me.

Humor Highlights from Social Media

OK – Here you go. Mirth, joy, heartbreak – a sampling of some of the best bits of Israeli humor and life from this past week. The first two Hebrew language posts are subtitled by the magnificent Maya Naftolin.

The Wedding

This wedding took place at level -4 in the underground parking lot of Dizengoff Center - a massive mall complex in central Tel Aviv, which doubles as a bomb shelter these days. Makes you weep. Makes you smile. Makes you crazy with emotion.

Credit: Channel 12 News

Dress Up Time

This next clip is a clever riff on Purim - the Jewish holiday that fell on Tuesday March 3 this year - as much of the country was being hammered by missiles. Purim celebrates an event that occurred 2,500 years ago - for real - in ancient Persia. A royal decree ordered the murder of all Jews. They were saved by a series of twists and turns and, in the end, their enemies were destroyed. There is a deep meaning to this holiday, of course. If you’d like to know more about it then listen to our podcast on this topic here.

We dress up in costume on Purim - which is why it’s so Hallowe’enish in the clip. (Again - dip into the Purim pod to understand why.)

In this Tel Aviv bomb shelter (which looks like it’s in a typical older, small, low-rise building) the Jews were condemned by a decree from the fanatical ruler of modern day Persia - the Islamic Republic of Iran. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was obsessed with destroying Israel and killing all Jews.

So - that’s the context.

This clip is a hoot. Props to Hadar Shaish, who has made this video and many more. Yes - it is subtitled in English. Hadar’s insta handle is below:

Instagram: @shaish_hadar

Flip vs Smart Phone

I love this one. A bomb shelter in what is clearly a family building. Not sure where. No one can get a signal on their cell phone. Bomb shelters are built with very thick, reinforced walls and roofs. So - who is able to call the Home Front Command to confirm that they have the “all clear” to leave the shelter in their area? Why - the 90-year-old woman with the Nokia flip phone. The smart aleck narrating refers to her as a “tatzpitanit”….a female soldier in the IDF with the job of knowing every detail of what is going on in the surrounding area.

Instagram: @AviaFarhi

Subtitles: Yael Bar Tur

What Else? In no particular order:

Because there was just so much going on, I was unaware until a day or two later of President Trump’s address at 3 am ET on Saturday February 28 – short, sharp, wartime leadership. His main audience was Americans – explaining why this war was so important and necessary. He also addressed the Iranian people directly. Stay indoors. Safe. I’m keeping my promise to you. This will be your opportunity to take back your country.

If you missed this this speech, you and watch it here. Hate him or love him – this 8-minute clip is an important moment in history:

What Trump and Netanyahu have done takes extraordinary courage. Planning. Tenacity. Leadership. Brilliance. Let it be said and recognized.

They have changed the course of western civilization in an epic way and for the better. It is sad that much of the west will choose to savage them for having done so.

As Trump states: If the people of Iran take the reins of power they can restore their nation to greatness.

In my opinion, this event is geopolitically seismic. The most significant single event since WWII. Should it end well. If Iran is liberated from theocratic tyranny and some degree of liberal freedom is restored, it will also reorder the matrix of global power, diminishing the influence of China and Russia. I believe that is a good thing.

Iran is a cornered, desperate beast.

Several weeks ago, I wrote that if attacked by America and Israel, Iran would counterattack wildly. Because they know that they are going down. And they will take as many infidels as possible with them – particularly Jews. The Iranian regime is fanatical. Jihadist.

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Early in the week - I did this interview with Canadian journalist, Brian Lilley. He also includes discussions in this episode with Former American Ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, and Retired Canadian General, Rick Hillier, who also served as Chief of Canadian Defence staff. Here is a clip from my interview:

Click here to watch the full interview on Brian Lilley’s Substack.

My column, below, was published in the National Post on March 2. We’ve set out the first few paragraphs:

On Saturday morning, sirens wailed throughout Israel at 8:13 am. Once they had everyone’s attention The Home Front Command issued an alert that overrides all media and cell phone settings. The written notice is preceded by a horrible, piercing sound that could pierce cement, reminding 10-million people to follow directions from official channels only.

The long-anticipated war with Iran had begun.

We learned later that in the first minute of the initial air attack on Iran, 40 of the most senior members of the regime leadership were killed in multiple locations. Among those felled in those initial 60 seconds was Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

American and Israeli forces had been planning this tightly choreographed attack for months. The intelligence gathering was possibly one of the most complex operations ever, drawing on decades of field preparation and cultivation of “assets,” as human agents are called in that line of work. We also know now that last minute information received by the CIA caused the tightly coordinated militaries to adjust the time of the opening attack.

Surprise is the most critical aspect of the beginning of war. The first air attacks involved approximately 200 combat aircraft flying more than a thousand kilometres from Israel and other bases in the region to Iran. Refuelling was done in the air. On Friday, after an email sent to Embassy staff by U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, was “leaked,” it was clear that war was imminent. Huckabee urged anyone wanting to leave Israel to do so that day, as there may be no commercial flights from Saturday.

Continue Reading in The National Post

In closing – I did make the amazing olive oil lemon squares. Huge hit. But I simply do not have time to include the recipe this week – I have to write down my modifications. But here’s a photo. Beyond intense. The flavor.

Black bits are volcanic salt flakes (seriously) and dried blueberries.

Have a restorative weekend. Shabbat shalom. I’m signing off for a few days.

On Thursday I spoke with Andrew Fox, military veteran, scholar, man of diverse and deep expertise. I wanted to zoom out a bit from the focus on the Israel-Iran aspect of the war and place it in a larger context, where it rightly belongs. America is leading this war effort for many reasons. One is to put an end to Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Also - America is seizing an opportunity to quell China’s long-term planning towards global economic dominance. Andrew and I get into it all and at the end, just for kicks, we discuss the astonishingly vapid leadership prevailing in this critical moment in certain western countries. Guess which ones? Yup! PM Sir Keir Starmer of the U.K. and Canada’s feckless Prime Minister, Mark Carney. It has become impossible to keep up with their rudderless principles and statements. Shocking, really.

We include great video clips and I’m so proud of my team. We’re closing out the first week of the war and managed to put out a full AV podcast. This is it - until today it was just audio. So much quicker and easier.

We have really gone flat out this week - in spite of sirens and missiles - to bring you current information about the real, in-the-moment experience in Israel. Please consider supporting our work with a paid subscription here or, perhaps, a contribution to Buy Me a Coffee.

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Podcast Notes

Andrew Fox is a former British Army Major and frontline conflict researcher specialising in modern warfare. A former senior lecturer at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, he is now a senior associate fellow at several international think tanks and a regular media commentator on global conflicts.

He writes the Fox on War Substack and co-hosts The Brink podcast, bringing field reporting and strategic analysis from conflicts including Gaza and Ukraine.

I thought we’d take a breather from missiles and bomb shelters and reflect on the historical arc into which this wild war fits. Neatly.

I spoke with two fabulous rabbis: my old friend from London, Ontario, Ephraim Shore.....and a new friend from Boston, Mass., Rabbi Bill Hamilton. An interesting and very pertinent podcast.

Tomorrow we will be back with more hardcore straight up war-talk.

We are going flat out. If you have not done so already please consider supporting us with a paid subscription - either on our website or at Buy me a Coffee. It makes a huge difference….allowing us to continue our work and, even more so, knowing that you appreciate what we do.

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Our guests today:

Rabbi Ephraim Shore/Tour Guide Extraordinaire:

Insta: @ephraimshore

Rabbi William G. Hamilton has led Kehillath Israel since 1995. He strives to activate Torah in the service of meaningful living – nourishing growth, solacing grief, and deepening joy.

Empowering learners is at the heart of his leadership approach. Lay-leaders, Jews-by-choice, and rabbinic interns, all take responsibility for creating community and celebrating Judaism. A commitment to inclusion is also central to Rabbi Hamilton. His deep involvement with the Ruderman Foundation’s work for disability inclusion alongside his Board leadership with New England Yachad, complements a principled commitment to gender, ideological, and diversified practice inclusion at KI.

Rabbi Hamilton’s vision for partnership practice now shapes a new century at Kehillath Israel. Establishing a campus that hosts five prayer-communities and several other agencies under his leadership has made KI the subject of a Harvard Business School Case-Study. His impact and influence are strengthened by exceptionally strong engagement with Israel. As a founder of The David Project (Campus advocacy) and the New England Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces, Rabbi Hamilton regularly brings groups on specialized tours of Israel. He sees resourcing Israel as essential to deepening Jewish commitments and furnishing richer inner-lives.

His leadership in civic settings also distinguishes his voice throughout our region. For twenty years he has served as Chaplain of the Massachusetts State Police, on the Board of ADL, and on Harvard University’s Board of Ministry.

He enjoys playing sports and rooting for local teams. His wife, Debbie Block, an accomplished historian and educator, gathered, produced and edited Kehillath Israel: The First 100 Years

.