Leonard Fein
By Leonard Fein
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Opinion Why Exactly Are We So Exceptional?
Several weeks ago, in a New York Times op-ed piece, Vladimir Putin wrote, “It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation.” It did not take long for President Obama to assert the contrary, in his address to the UN General Assembly: “Some may disagree, but I believe America…
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Opinion The Numbers Show an Intolerant Israel
Suddenly, there’s a torrent of data — polls of American Jewish opinion (Pew), of Israeli public opinion (Israel Democracy Institute) and illuminating reports on sundry aspects of life, here and in Israel. One such report, one that has lamentably garnered less attention than the public opinion results, is a report published by Peace Now, an…
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Opinion Feeding the Bad, Not the Good
David Barash, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Washington, tells an instructive story in a recent New York Times OpEd essay. The story, he tells us, is believed to be of Cherokee origin. “A girl is troubled by a recurrent dream in which two wolves fight viciously. Seeking an explanation, she goes to her…
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Music A Tale of Two Nights
In late September, a meeting was sponsored by Encounter, a wonderful organization that wants to ensure that all voices in the Israel-Palestine conflict are heard, to listen to Sam Bahour, a very successful Palestinian entrepreneur. Bahour, born to a Palestinian father and a Lebanese-American mother in Youngstown, Ohio, in effect made aliyah to Palestine in…
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Opinion How Will Benjamin Netanyahu Confront Iran’s Charm Offensive?
A nasty altercation looms. No issue has been more central to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s policy and his rhetoric than the threat of Iran. For years now, Iran has been the touchstone against which all else has been measured, as also the heart of Netanyahu’s representation to the nations of the world. Now comes President…
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Opinion The ‘Unsavory’ Among Us
My neighborhood association is disturbed by a recent and ongoing surge in the number of “unsavory” people who use the neighborhood’s plentiful benches for sleeping. It proposes installing bench railings every three feet, which would render stretching out for sleep impossible. In 1968, the federally established minimum wage was $1.60 an hour. That works out…
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Opinion Justice Calls for Boycott of Ariel
In a recent column, I concluded with a passing reference to the city of Ariel, a Jewish enclave that juts into the West Bank 10 miles beyond the Green Line. The column dealt with boycotts, and specifically with the EU’s recent announcement that it will withhold any scientific collaboration, investment or the awarding of grants…
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Opinion Israel’s Illogical Grudge Against the European Union
A mystery: At first blush, Israel’s irritation with the European Union is perfectly understandable. The EU has informed Israel that it must explicitly state that any EU-Israel partnership agreements are not applicable to the West Bank, Gaza or East Jerusalem. The new guidelines restrict any scientific collaboration, investment or the awarding of grants to institutions…
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