It was in 1896 that Theodor Herzl published his groundbreaking book, The Jewish State, which launched the modern Zionist movement. Though his project was, as he noted in his book, “very old” and indeed rooted in the prayers of Jews for nearly 2,000 years, it would only be 52 years later that his vision was brought to life with the birth of modern-day Israel in May 1948.

It was one of the first things President Joe Biden did once he assumed office in January 2021. Though it has gotten almost no notice, it is almost certainly one of the most consequential acts of his presidency, and its impact will likely be felt long after he leaves office.

It’s the most popular Jewish holiday of the year. Though the fastest-growing and perhaps soon to be the largest sector of American Jewry is the one demographers call “Jews of no religion,” Passover is still the one holiday that is widely observed. Surveys show that more of those who identify as Jewish – regardless of their belief in God or Jewish law, willingness to be affiliated with organized groups, synagogues and movements, or feel any sense of Jewish peoplehood – attend a seder than those who take part in any other act of observance.

It’s the most popular Jewish holiday of the year. Though the fastest-growing and perhaps soon to be the largest sector of American Jewry is the one demographers call “Jews of no religion,” Pas…

How many deadly terrorist attacks must take place inside of Israel before it starts being called another intifada? The April 7 incident in which a Palestinian gunman killed three and wounded several others in downtown Tel Aviv left Israelis wondering about whether the fourth such atrocity in the last few weeks is merely the beginning of a new security crisis. But what this series of murders is called is less important than whether the world reacts as it always has to violence against Israel with more sympathy for the killers than their victims.

After three Arab terror attacks in a week that cost 11 lives, Israel’s government and citizens are in a heightened state of alert and worrying about the possibility of a series of individual attacks turning into a third intifada. But security officials spared a moment amid their mobilization to ramp up efforts to combat terror on the streets of Israel’s cities with another concern. According to Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, the country’s leaders were also considering the possibility that Diaspora Jews might also be targeted by Palestinian radicals and/or their foreign sympathizers.

Convening a summit with Arab states on Israeli soil is something to savor for anyone who cares about the Jewish state. After being isolated from its neighbors for most of its 74 years of existence, and being subjected to cruel boycotts and campaigns – both military and diplomatic – aimed at eliminating it, Israel has in many respects assumed its proper place as a nation to be reckoned with in the Middle East and the world.

It has long been axiomatic that Israel – a tiny country whose people comprise a tenth of a percent of the world’s population and whose land mass is an exponentially smaller fraction of a perce…

Like politics, wars can make for strange bedfellows. In the Second World War, even a staunch anti-Communist like Winston Churchill saw no problem with an alliance with the Soviet Union. Making common cause with a totalitarian state led by a mass murderer like Josef Stalin was difficult to swallow, and would lead to future tragedies. But with the future of civilization at stake in 1941, Churchill had to embrace the Soviets so as to defeat a more immediate threat: Nazi Germany. As he put it at the time, “If Hitler invaded hell, I would make at least a favorable reference to the Devil in the House of Commons.”

Should Jews welcome the support of both Democrats and Republicans for the cause of Israel? That used to be a bedrock principle of American Jewry. But it isn’t true anymore for many on the left. Instead of seeking to promote bipartisanship on this issue, they are now doing their best to kill it on the altar of a partisan tribal culture war. It remains to be seen how successful they will be.

The future of the Democratic Party was summed up in two things that happened last week. One was the announcement by Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla., the man who had stood up for Israel and against antisemitism, that he was leaving the U.S. Congress.

Sometimes realpolitik must bow to international sentiment. The state of Israel’s instinctual response to the war launched against Ukraine by Russia’s authoritarian leader, Vladimir Putin, was …