I remember the first few Independence Days, just after the foundation of the State of Israel. There was spontaneous jubilation, we were all out in the streets, the celebration was real. This year's Independence Day was not a happy affair
A poem by Simon Cockle
When I was 10 years old, my family fled from Nazi Germany. We were fearful that the Gestapo was after us. Then our train crossed the bridge that separated Germany from France, and we heaved a deep sigh of relief.
A poem by Dr Faysal Mikdadi
The insane threats also come from a man who achieved five draft deferments during the Vietnam war, thus has no knowledge even of what one bullet can do, let alone the vapourising monstrosities he seems to think he has divine power to unleash on a whim.
A cartoon by Cris Brooks
A poem by Dr Faysal Mikdadi
This is the second part of a paragraph by paragraph commentary on a recent article posing as journalism in the March 6, 2017 issue of The New Yorker.
Divide et impera - "divide and rule" - since Roman times this has been a guiding principle of every regime that suppresses another people. In this the Israeli authorities have been incredibly successful.
I come from a fairly long line of mercantile family forebears with strong business skills and profit inspired attitudes. Although I chose not to go into business as my brothers did and I became a teacher of English, every emotional nerve in my body believed in wealth creation as being the only way forward for all.