The government has approved the proposal for an amendment to the Citizenship Law, according to which anyone requesting Israeli citizenship will have to declare loyalty to Israel as a “Jewish and democratic” state. This amendment is perceived by many to…
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The Peace Talks: Consensus vs. Consensus
At last it is happening. U.S. President Barack Obama has opened direct talks between Israelis and Palestinians. All American presidents since Carter have tried for peace and failed, each failure resulting in blood. Responsibility is heavy therefore on the shoulders…
Erdogan and Israel: Glitch or Rupture?
The crisis in the relationship between Israel and Turkey reached a head following the IDF raid on the flotilla to Gaza at the end of last May, during which nine IHH activists were killed. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan…
The Trouble with the March for Gilad Shalit
The march for the release of Gilad Shalit, which began from his family home in Mizpeh Hila and is destined for the Prime Minister’s house in Jerusalem, is winning public support for the notion that Israel should “pay the price.”…
The Ghetto in the Ghetto
The past year has witnessed two cases in the religious schools where ultraorthodox Jews of West European descent (Ashkenazis) discriminated against ultraorthodox Jews of darker hues. In August 2009, private religious schools in Petach Tikva refused to admit Ethiopian Jews.…
Guide to Ending the Siege of Gaza
The IDF takeover of the Turkish humanitarian flotilla has shaken everything up. Israel finds itself blockaded too: an unprecedented international diplomatic siege. An apparently local incident lacking any military or political importance has turned into an entanglement of far-reaching strategic…
Abu Mazen Throws in the Towel
Sixteen years after signing the Oslo Accords, the Palestinians have concluded that there isn’t any point in continuing the peace process with Israel. That is the only way to understand the declaration by Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) that he won’t…
Letter to our Readers
After 14 years of publishing Challenge, the editorial board and I have decided to continue the magazine online and to cancel the bimonthly print edition. In October we notified our subscribers of this, and my mailbox has been flowing ever since…