Ariel sharon

Israel’s election is being cast as a historic showdown - but four trends tell a different story

POLITICAL AFFAIRS: From rivalries within political blocs to polls that shape voter choices and coalition red lines, four trends reveal the challenges facing Israel’s next government.

‘Politicians should leave room for compromise before the election, rather than making absolute promises they may have to abandon afterward for the good of the country.’ Will the challenge of building Israel’s next coalition government fall to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or Gadi Eisenkot?
Palestinians hurl rocks at Israeli security forces during clashes in the West Bank town of Hebron October 16, 2000.

On this day: Second Intifada triggered following Ariel Sharon's visit to Temple Mount

Yisrael Beytenu leader MK Avigdor Liberman leads a faction meeting at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, July 6, 2026

Will Israel's 2026 election represent Liberman’s swan song? – opinion

Shaul Mofaz at a Kadima rally, 2009.

'My Israeli Journey': Shaul Mofaz recounts battles, politics, and family - review


A festival of Jewish learning reinvigorates Belarus

Once a city bustling with Jewish life, Vitebsk again witnessed the spirit and excitement of renewal at last month’s Limmud FSU gathering.

A MARCHING BAND opens the exhibition of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda’s bust in Glubokoye

Climb every mountain

Any connection between the story of former prime minister Ariel Sharon and Notzar Theater company’s ‘Har’ is purely circumstantial.

‘Har’ is a combination of three short plays written by Yaron Edelstein and directed by Dalit Milstein.

Limmud FSU to kick off festival of Jewish learning

Nonprofit helps young Russian-speaking Jews all over the world find their religious roots.

Limmud FSU Belarus conference

Media Comment: The vacuum of critique

In 2005, Israel’s media was largely exuberant about the upcoming unilateral retreat, for Sharon was implementing one of its dreams: the end of part of the “occupation”

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon addresses the nation on the disengagement from Gaza, August 15, 2005

Was Sharon right after all?

If the Gaza pullout doesn’t kill us, it may well have saved us from a far more lethal West Bank one.

Avi Farhan, a Gaza evacuee whose life was turned upside down by prime minister Ariel Sharon, spreads an Israeli flag over his grave.

Restraint is not strength

Sharon’s disengagement plan was perhaps the most deceitful, manipulative and shameful move by any Israeli leader.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, unable to achieve a satisfactory ceasefire agreement without having to commit ground forces, was forced to send in the troops; here IDF APCs maneuver outside the northern Gaza Strip, July 18

Israel and Gaza: The existential conundrum

Gaza only poses problems of Current Security to Israel, the West Bank, however, constitutes a Basic Security problem.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon addresses the nation on the disengagement from Gaza, August 15, 2005

The long view?

The Arab Spring is better understood as a ‘Second Arab Awakening’ that has the potential to build a political culture and political institutions that promote checks and balances on government power, diversity, toleration, human rights and economic growth, writes Marwan Muasher.

A site hit by what activists said was shelling by forces loyal to Syria’s President Bashar Assad in the al-Myassar neighborhood of Aleppo this week.

Grapevine: Italian empathy

Grasso promised to raise his voice all over Italy, with the aim of gaining support for the safe return of the abducted youngsters.

Carving fruit at Thai Embassy event, June 24, 2014.

Candidly speaking: Our Islamic fundamentalist adversaries are inhuman barbarians

If these barbarians have the capacity to behave so cruelly toward their own kinsmen, one can only shudder at what they would do to Jews if they had the opportunity.

ISIS fighters