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July 2, 2009

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The hallmark of a person

Abe Novick: Up, up, and aliya

July 1, 2009

Rabbi Avi Shafran: The Road Taken

The Kosher Gourmet by Marialisa Calta: Get into the holiday spirit with these Star-Spangled desserts

June 30, 2009

Rabbi Binyomin Ginsberg: What makes a great parent?

Caroline B. Glick: Ideologue-in-Chief

June 29, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Beware of 'Caveat Emptor'

Steven Emerson: ACLU pushing for more money for Hamas

June 26, 2009

Rabbi Yoni Posnick: Learn the secret to a healthy marriage from a scriptural villain

Caroline B. Glick: Barack Obama vs. International Law

June 25, 2009

Rabbi Shimon Apisdorf: The Absurd Power of Truth

Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkle's strip: Everything's Relative

June 24, 2009

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Advancement of technology is a wake-up call for humanity

The Kosher Gourmet by Andrea Weigl: Summer on a stick: Making frozen treats can be easy, creative and fun

June 23, 2009

Martin M. Bodek: 'On Surnames': And so, We Begin

Caroline B. Glick: The Obama Effect

June 22, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Working for a corrupt firm

N. Richard Greenfield : Where are American Jews?

June 19, 2009

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: Emotion v. intellect

Caroline B. Glick: Israel's rare opportunity

June 18, 2009

Jonathan Rosenblum: Sometimes it is more essential to define the nature of evil than good

Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkle's strip: Everything's Relative

June 17, 2009

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The Language of Confusion

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: Nothing pleases Dad more than a thick, juicy onion-smothered steak. Add home-Baked Potato Chips and …

June 16, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Career v. Careersism

Caroline B. Glick: Obama's losing streak and Israel

Richard Z. Chesnoff: ‘Palestinians’: Never Missing an Opportunity …

June 15, 2009

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu: How Judea and Samaria can become 'Palestine'

Daniel Pipes: Where Netanyahu's speech failed

June 12, 2009

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: Some big thoughts about not acting so big

Caroline B. Glick: Obama's High Commissioner

June 11, 2009

Victor Davis Hanson: Our historically challenged President

Mitch Albom: Beware the True Believers

Lewis Grossberger: What we learn from the new Hitler photos

June 10, 2009

Mort Zuckerman: What Obama and his advisors won't -- or refuse to -- grasp about Israel and the Muslim world

The Kosher Gourmet by Steve Petusevsky Lotsa pasta: Tips, techniques and (amazing) taste

June 9, 2009

Anne Bayefsky: Obama's stunning offense to Israel and the Jewish people

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: America's first Muslim president?

June 8, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Merchant must take responsibility for careless shopper?

Mark Steyn: A superpower that feeds on mediocrity cannot survive for long on leftovers from the past

Richard Z. Chesnoff: How do you say 'kumbaya' in Arabic?

June 5, 2009

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: In quest of spirituality

Caroline B. Glick: Obama's Arabian dreams

Charles Krauthammer: The Settlements Myth

June 4, 2009

Paul Greenberg: The War Comes to Little Rock

The Kosher Gourmet by Judy Hevrdejs: Splash it on! Tap your inner jazz musician and improvise when stirring up a vinaigrette

June 3, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q. Should terrible teacher be exposed?

Jonathan Rosenblum: The Israel Lobby: Missing in Action

June 2, 2009

Dennis Prager: The Speech President Obama Won't Dare Give in Egypt

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Pressure on Israel raises war risk

Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review August 28, 2006 / 4 Elul, 5766

Time for Olmert to go: Citizenry right to want a new PM,but it's a dangerous call

By Richard Z. Chesnoff


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | The fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah is holding — more or less. But full-scale political war has broken out in Israel. Before it's over, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, an able politician with little military background but a well-earned reputation for arrogance, his inexperienced defense minister, Amir Peretz, and his army chief of staff, Dan Halutz, could find themselves out of their jobs.


A recent poll in the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper shows 63% want Olmert to go. Peretz appears even more vulnerable, with 74% calling for his resignation, while 54% want Halutz to resign.


While Olmert deserves to be run out of office, it is a dangerous time for internal jousting in the Knesset. There are also few viable or worthy candidates to succeed Olmert. His chief rival, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was hardly a major success in the job.


Even graffiti on an air raid shelter in northern Israel shouts the citizenry's discontent: "ARIK WAKE UP, OLMERT'S IN A COMA!"


"Arik," of course, is Israel's stroke-stricken ex-premier, Ariel Sharon — the once-decisive military genius. His successor, Olmert, is accused by many Israelis of having hesitated and mismanaged the recent war in Lebanon.


There's no doubt the Israel Defense Forces dealt a heavy blow to Iran's Lebanese-based stooge army, Hezbollah.


Israelis are right when they say air and sea bombardments weren't enough to rout the terrorists, and Olmert's hesitation before sending in massive Israeli ground forces could have proved disastrous.


Angered and confused, a growing number of Israelis now demand an official state investigation into the way the war was waged. Some Israelis charge Israel's legendary army — especially its reserve forces, which provided a full 50% of the troops who fought in Lebanon and suffered a high percentage of the casualties — was often badly led and poorly supplied.


"It was a catastrophe," says reserve officer Jack Silverman, part of a small group of reservists who have set up a protest camp outside the Knesset, Israel's parliament, demanding the resignation of Olmert & Co. Other reservists say they were sent into battle missing pieces of equipment and with so little food and water that "we had to break into grocery stores."


The postwar debate coincides with a flurry of nasty political scandals. Labor Party luminary Haim Ramon has been forced to resign his post as justice minister over charges he forced his attentions on a young female soldier. And Israel's President Moshe Katzav is facing charges he not only sexually harassed two women on his office staff, but also sold pardons — charges he vehemently denies.


Even Olmert is under investigation over his purchase of a property in Jerusalem that some allege was underpriced in return for political favors. Not a pretty picture.


Israeli political crises have a tradition of fizzling out. But the ceasefire itself may be in trouble. The idea was to establish a 15,000-strong United Nations force in southern Lebanon to oversee both the ceasefire and, theoretically at least, the disarmament of Iranian-supplied Hezbollah by the Lebanese Army. The whole idea was concocted by the French, eager as always to reclaim their long-lost diplomatic glory. Paris first volunteered to lead the force, then began backpedaling faster than an out-of-control biker on a steep Tour de France hill.


Now the French have agreed to send some 2,000 troops. But before the French and others arrive, fighting could break out again. There's also Israel's second front in Gaza. And there is the ever-growing threat of an Iranian nuclear weapon hanging over the Jewish state.


"We're at the forefront of the battle between the free world and suicidal Islamic extremism," says the Jerusalem Post's savvy editor David Horovitz. "The past weeks have shown we weren't battle-ready. ... We have to find out what went wrong and what has to be done to get it right."


Amen!

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CHESNOFF'S LATEST
The Arrogance of the French  

Sean Hannity
This book will open your eyes!

Bill O'Reilly
Why do the French hate America? Richard Chesnoff has figured it out and informs us with entertaining clarity.

Dennis Miller
France sucks, but this book doesn't.

Michael Barone, Co-author, The Almanac of American Politics
Americans-and the French-will learn a lot from this book.

Clifford D. May, President, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies
Richard Z. Chesnoff insightfully-and entertainingly-explores America's most dysfunctional relationship with America's least reliable ally.

Sales help fund JWR.



JWR contributor and veteran journalist Richard Z. Chesnoff is a contributing correspondent at US News & World Report, a columnist at the NY Daily News and a senior fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for the Defense of Demoracies. A two-time winner of the Overseas Press Club Award and a recipient of the National Press Club Award, he was formerly executive editor of Newsweek International. His latest book, is "The Arrogance of the French: Why They Can't Stand Us & Why The Feeling Is Mutual". (Click on cover above to purchase. Sales help fund JWR. )

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© 2005, Richard Z. Chesnoff

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