by Matthew Friedman | Feb 11, 2024 | Commentary, Gaza Journal
My parents visited the State of Israel in 1973 and came back with all sorts of knick-knacks and souvenirs, ranging from a camel carved from a piece of olive wood, to keffiyehs for my brother and me, to a couple of bottles of Sabra liqueur from the Tel Aviv duty free....
by Matthew Friedman | Feb 4, 2024 | Commentary, Gaza Journal
I didn’t comment on allegations made by Israeli intelligence that employees of the UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) were involved in the 7 October Hamas attack on the State of Israel for a few days. I wanted to...
by Matthew Friedman | Jan 28, 2024 | Commentary, Gaza Journal
I was reading Ruth Marcus’s Op-ed in the Washington Post on Friday, and I could not keep from laughing. It wasn’t a particularly cheery laugh, more of a rueful, emotionally bereft, ironic snigger. There was nothing terribly surprising in the column; if you have...
by Matthew Friedman | Jan 21, 2024 | Commentary, Gaza Journal
“Because actually the world is not made up of ‘nations’ and fatherlands that want only to preserve their cultural distinctions, and only if it means not sacrificing a single human life. Fatherlands and nations want much more, or much less: They have vested interests...
by Matthew Friedman | Jan 14, 2024 | Commentary, Gaza Journal
I recognize that one of my great intellectual limitations is that, while I can identify problems and ask questions, I am at a loss when it comes to solutions. That is why I try to listen respectfully to people who have constructive ideas, even if I don’t...
by Matthew Friedman | Jan 7, 2024 | Commentary, Gaza Journal
I am not an optimist by nature. That is perhaps an occupational hazard of being a Jew and a historian. It is difficult to see a bright future through a Jewish historian’s lens. The past, I often tell my students, is full of bad news since history is always the story...
