Aryeh Tepper is a writer and scholar based in Israel who contributed articles to The Weekly Standard between 2014 and 2016. His pieces for the magazine focused on Israeli politics, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and cultural topics including jazz and the legacy of writer Albert Murray.
Someone forgot to tell Albert Murray that progress has disenchanted our world. Or rather Murray—writer, thinker, and philosopher of the blues—never believed in progress, in the strong sense, in the first place. How could he? "Even in the best of times," Murray wrote, "the blues are only at bay."
Someone forgot to tell Albert Murray that progress has disenchanted our world. Or rather Murray—writer, thinker, and philosopher of the blues—never believed in progress, in the strong sense, in the first place. How could he? "Even in the best of times," Murray wrote, "the blues are only at bay."
Yom Hazikaron, Israel's Memorial Day, begins on Sunday night. Israel's Independence Day follows immediately thereafter on Monday night. "Ma Avarech" (English translation: "How Shall I Bless Him") is a song written by Rachel Shapira in memory of her classmate, Eldad Krook, who was killed during the…
So the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks are, predictably, collapsing. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry responded to the frustration of his manic peacemaking efforts by quoting an ancient complaint, "There’s an old saying, you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink. Now it's time to…
In President Obama's blindside of an interview with Jeffrey Goldberg, finely timed for Prime Minister Netanyahu's arrival in Washington and the opening of the AIPAC conference, Obama made the following, revealing remark, "I believe that President Abbas is sincere about his willingness to recognize…
David Ignatius has been writing from Israel recently. His column from late last week included the following passage illustrating why Israeli-Palestinian peace might "still prove insoluble":
Even with al Qaeda making gains across the Middle East and Iran still enriching uranium in its march to a nuclear breakout, John Kerry’s attention is focused on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. He has visited Israel 10 times since becoming secretary of state. The aim of Kerry’s feverish…