Politics – January 2023 – Democracy on the Defensive
I prefer bridges to walls.
Of all liberal values and principles – personal autonomy, liberty, equality, tolerance, pluralism, rule of law, justice and human rights - the latter two, justice and human rights, are the most important.
The triumph of humanity is to recognise diversity and difference yet having the ability to bring people together and to create bridges between them.
The Democratic Catch: One of the dangers in any political system is that the principles that underlie and characterize it may, through their application, bring about its destruction. Democracy, in its liberal form, is no exception.
You can gauge the viability of a democracy by how it treats its minorities.
A stable democracy needs a strong government but no less importantly also a strong opposition. Without the latter, the road to corruption is wide open.
Raphael Cohen-Almagor
Cry beloved country
15 January 2023
Cry beloved country
As long as it is possible
As long as there is a soul in us
Warn against your destroyers
Protest against those who bring about injustice.
Cry beloved country
Because there is no other country
Those seeking to mine any good plot
The splendor of power is in their hands
Promote dark interests.
Cry beloved country
Stand against narrow politics
Silence serves those who oppress
Provide tools to reverse what was built
Undermine justice, equality, peace, morality.
Our beloved country cries out for its vigil
Young and older come together
Against the fervor of violent and raging rule
Rise up and correct injustice
Before it is too late.
For many months I have been calling on the Israeli government to do whatever it can to bring home Avraham Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed as well as the remains of Hadar Golden and Shaul Aaron.
It is no less than state duty and, of course, the just and decent thing to do.
There are some positive developments in this regard. According to well-informed sources within the Israeli security services, negotiations are underway with Hamas to secure the release of the bodies of two Israel Defense Forces soldiers, Hadar Goldin and Oren Shaul, as well as two civilians, Avera Mengistu and Hisham Al-Sayed, who are currently being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
In return, that Israel would release several Hamas prisoners who were given lengthy prison sentences and will transfer them to Jordan where they will serve between 5 and 10 years in a Jordanian prison. Upon their release, they will be granted a royal amnesty but will not be allowed to return to the West Bank or Gaza and will instead remain outside the region. The plan was reportedly formulated by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), Mossad (Israel’s intelligence agency), and representatives from Aman military intelligence.
Blessing for the New Year
May the sky be blue and clear
And our heart always filled with joyful tear
May peace and tranquillity prevail
Keys for resolving conflict unveil
May we create more than destroy
Making dreams a reality to savour and enjoy
May we all be free of worry
No need to hear or say “I am sorry”
May we have time to delight in museums and parks
And mind to glee when adventure embarks
May we visit in hospital only the maternity ward
Visit our doctors only when they receive another award
May we sleep like a log
And captivate listeners like a funny cat or dog
May we surround ourselves with people we love
To enable growth and see all thrive
May we add one true friend to our life
Be with us at moments of strife
May we wish to sing as we wake up with a laugh
Love what we have and our second half
May we know what our loved ones wish and pray
Before a word is uttered, knowing what they want to say
May her lips be welcoming and red
Embrace and ready when sad.
Reflections on Last Newsletter
AIS Statement regarding the Planned Judicial Reform Proposed by the Israel Government
Lund
MESC presents Professor Lester L. Grabbe
MESC presents Professor Eugene Rogan
Israeli Democracy under threat
Itamar Ben-Gvir
Netanyahu’s further Concessions
New Chapter between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA)
Almost 2 Million Israelis Live in Poverty
Israel's Population Near 10 million
New article: Raphael Cohen-Almagor, “A Reply to Thomas Sealy’s “Just and Reasonable, but Is It Multiculturalism? A Review of Raphael Cohen-Almagor’s Just, Reasonable Multiculturalism (2021, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)”, International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society (published online 14 July 2022).
Did you know?
The best books in contemporary political philosophy that shaped my thinking about justice, liberty, and equality and my own beloved book.
Movie of the Month – The Trick
Monthly Poem
Light Side ?
Reflections on Last Newsletter
Thanks to all who congratulated me on winning the Olof Palme Professorship. I appreciate your warm sentiments. I hope to see some of you in Sweden.
Professor Amos Guiora from Utah wishes to share the following:
Over the past years I have been overwhelmed by responses from survivors---world-wide---who have shared their stories with me, noting that the opportunity to discuss the enablers-bystanders, rather than the perpetrators, has not been previously afforded to them. I am honored they trust me in sharing their experiences.
My efforts these past years, with the extraordinary support of students (past and present) has created forums for survivors to be heard. The importance of that cannot be overstated. It is in that spirit that the U of Utah College of Law’s Bystander Initiative, https://tinyurl.com/3dfxsmp8 is dedicated to studying the enabler-bystander, including working with legislators (US and internationally), articles, podcasts, and a book.
There is an enormous amount of work yet to be done; the more survivors reach out to me, the clearer it is just how many survivors have yet to be heard regarding the enabler-bystander and the brighter the light that needs to be shone on those who stood by when another individual was in harm’s way.
I welcome direct interaction with any of your readers; my email is amos.guiora@law.utah.edu.
AIS Statement regarding the Planned Judicial Reform Proposed by the Israel Government
I wish to bring the following to your consideration. Perhaps your center/institution can issue a similar statement.
The Association for Israel Studies views with grave concern the recent developments in Israel, including the looming changes in the state’s political and legal system, and the growing support for racism and incitement. As an academic association, we are committed to intellectual integrity and academic freedom—necessary foundations for any healthy and free society, and to the values of freedom, equality and pluralism, which must exclude any discrimination on the basis of religion, ethnicity, or gender. We believe that all efforts should be made to ensure that the rights and responsibilities upon which freedom of expression and the free exchange of ideas are based, and the checks and balances that are the underpinning of democracy—the precondition for free academic discourse—will continue to flourish in the academic study of Israel, in Israeli society, and in the Israeli body politic.
Lund
Lund is a small, quite charming city. Our apartment is 3-minute walk from my office. This is the closest I have ever lived to my place of work. Both apartment and office are spacious. The people are nice. The atmosphere pleasant. I aim to make a substantive progress with my writing. At present I have 24 articles and two books in the pipeline. I hope to see the majority of my articles published by the end of the year, and to advance with the writing of my two books. I try to remain focused, declining invitations to review/judge/serve on committees etc. I have enough duties as is, serving on some twenty exec and editorial boards. I am grateful to Lund for providing this golden opportunity to focus on what I love most: thinking, researching and writing.
MESC presents Professor Lester L. Grabbe
Middle East Study Centre (MESC)
Wednesday, 1 February 2023, 5:00-7:00pm LONDON TIME
Lester L. Grabbe
Professor Emeritus of Hebrew Bible and Early Judaism, University of Hull, and MESC
“Is Shulgi also among the Prophets?”:
Israelite Prophecy in its Ancient Near Eastern Context
Link to register:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1283864967737611534
Chair: Professor Thomas Lundmark (MESC)
Some will be familiar with the prophetic books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. These writings have been keenly studied for their understanding of issues relating to theology, morality, and ethics. What many will not know is that prophets and prophetic pronouncements were not unique to ancient Israel and Judah. Contemporary with the Israelite prophets and even long before them, prophets had been active elsewhere in the ancient Near East. This lecture will look at prophets in Mesopotamia in the second and first millennium BCE and compare the resulting picture of them with those in ancient Israel. These cross-cultural comparisons give important insights into the phenomenon of prophecy in Israel.
Biography
Lester Grabbe lectured and researched at the University of Hull for twenty-nine years, after eleven years teaching in the USA. His classes included the history of ancient Israel, the Jews in the Second Temple Period, an Introduction to the Hebrew Bible, and Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust. He founded and chaired the European Seminar for Methodology in Israel’s History which met for seventeen years and produced eleven volumes of scholarly papers (all edited by Grabbe). He continues to research and publish in retirement. His forthcoming Prophets and Prophecy in Ancient Israel: A Cross-Cultural Perspective is his twentieth authored volume; he has also published more than 150 articles. He is a founding member of the MESC.
Wednesday, 1 February 2023, 5:00-7:00pm LONDON TIME
Please register directly with the online platform:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1283864967737611534
All are welcome to attend
MESC presents Professor Eugene Rogan
Middle East Study Centre (MESC)
Wednesday, 22 February 2023, at 17:00 LONDON TIME
Professor Eugene Rogan
University of Oxford
The 1860 Damascus Massacres: A Genocidal Moment?
Link to register:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6858269073794522383
Chair and Discussant: Chair: Mr Ahmed Zaky (MESC)
Discussant: Sir Tom Phillips (MESC)
Abstract In July 1860, a Muslim mob attacked the Christian quarters of Damascus intent on killing all men, assimilating women and children into the Muslim majority, and razing all shops, houses and places of worship belonging to the Christian community. Thanks to the intervention of a small group of Muslim notables, some 85 percent of the Christians were rescued. Yet the survival of Damascus’s Christians imposed a major challenge for the Ottoman government: not just reconstruction, but reintegration of the Damascene Christians after a deeply divisive trauma. In this lecture, Eugene Rogan explores the measures the Ottoman government pursued to bring the society of Damascus back from the brink of genocide.
Biography Eugene Rogan is Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History at the University of Oxford, where he has taught since 1991. He is author of The Arabs: A History and The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East.
Date: Wednesday, 22 February 2023, at 17:00 LONDON TIME
Please register directly with the online platform:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6858269073794522383
All are welcome to attend
Israeli Democracy under threat
The Israeli Knesset passed a law allowing the leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party Aryeh Deri, who in the early 2000s was convicted of tax fraud and served a 22-months sentence, to assume a ministerial role in the incoming government. Deri resigned from Knesset as part of a plea deal earlier this year, avoiding legal proceedings that would prevent him from seeking future elections. He is now slated to become interior minister for a second time and, in two years, finance minister in rotation with the far-right Religious Zionist Party leader Bezalel Smotrich.
The Knesset also passed a bill that would allow Smotrich to appoint an independent minister within the Defense Ministry to oversee construction in Judea and Samaria.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin has a consistent track record of attacking the judicial system and, specifically, the Supreme Court. He is a doer, a man of action. Levin does not waste time in executing his judicial overhaul.
According to his plan, the government will be given complete control over the selection of new judges and end the selection panel’s independence. The composition of the Judicial Selection Committee will change drastically. The committee under Levin’s plan will include 11 members. The two members of the Israel Bar Association who are currently part of the committee will be removed. With the committee requiring seven votes to approve new judges, the changes will effectively give the coalition complete control over the selection process. Currently, the three judges on the panel essentially hold a veto as at least one of their votes is required to approve a candidate. The new arrangement will put an end to their control.
The plan will be executed very soon by a series of bills that will diminish significantly the independence of the Judicial system.
Itamar Ben-Gvir
I have devoted a large part of my research to study political extremism, Fascism and Nazism. At Oxford I wrote my DPhil dissertation on The Boundaries of Liberty and Tolerance: The Struggle Against Kahanism in Israel that was later published in English (Gainesville, FL: The University Press of Florida, 1994) and in Hebrew (Nevo, 1994). I surveyed the measures that the Israeli establishment, including Likud members, utilized in the fight against Meir Kahane who was perceived as a Jewish fascist.
One of Kahane’s closet followers was a teenager by the name Itamar Ben-Gvir. He took an active part in the incitement campaign against Rabin. Ben-Gvir excelled over his rabbi. He uses his immunity to promote the Kahanist agenda with no qualms, creating havoc and inciting against Arabs. Ben-Gvir’s agenda is the trinity of Am Israel, Torat Israel, Erez Israel. The Arabs do not belong.
On November 27, the Kahanist Itamar Ben Gvir stated that security forces’ open-fire regulations should be relaxed to permit them to shoot anyone holding stones or Molotov cocktails representing a potential threat. Current rules are more stringent, requiring the threat to be immediate and serious. “Whoever holds a Molotov cocktail needs to be shot,” Ben Gvir told Army Radio. “What does ‘hold’ mean? A stone is murderous. A Molotov cocktail is meant to murder. “I’m not saying they should be shot in the head, but at least shoot them in the leg,” he added, confirming that he plans to advance the policy point in the next government.
Ben Gvir also said such rules should only apply to those who “hate Israel,” indicating he did not want to loosen regulations in the case of settler extremists who clash with police.
Netanyahu agreed to Ben-Gvir's demands to pass legislation that will end a ban on MKs who incite racism. The coalition agreement between the Likud and Otzma Yehudit will change parts of clause 7a in Basic Law: The Knesset - which states that incitement to racism or rejecting Israel as a Jewish and democratic state is grounds for disqualification of a list or candidate from running for parliament.
Netanyahu’s further Concessions
More details are revealed about the agreements that Netanyahu made in order to establish his government:
Netanyahu agreed to establish a special unit under the jurisdiction of the Shin Ben to address the violence in Arab society, which will work in cooperation with the Prime Minister's Office and the National Security Ministry. According to the new clause, the Shin Bet, which is generally involved in security matters only, will now also battle criminal activity in Arab society.
Netanyahu agreed that Ben-Gvir will also serve as acting chairman of the ministerial committee for legislative affairs.
Source: Ynet
New Chapter between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA)
Israel and the PA are on an assured path for collusion. Israel suspended Palestinian foreign minister's Riyad al-Maliki’s VIP pass. He was briefly detained when entering via Jordan and his VIP travel card confiscated. The Security Cabinet decided to revoke Palestinian officials’ VIP access if they are leading the political and legal campaigns against Israel. The Cabinet further decided to use around NIS 139 million (£23.6m) of PA tax funds to compensates the families of victims murdered in Palestinian terrorist attacks, and to prevent illegal Palestinian construction plans in Area C of the West Bank.
Source: BICOM
Almost 2 Million Israelis Live in Poverty
The National Insurance Institute’s report reveals that Israel’s poverty rate rose in 2021, keeping Israel as one of the most impoverished states in the developed world, second only to Costa Rica in all the years measured in Israel (2019-2021).
The increase in poverty is linked to cutting the special state subsidies granted during the coronavirus crisis. The sharpest poverty rise occurred among senior citizens, from 16.4% in 2020 to 17.6% in 2021, due to stopping the special grants that were given in 2020 and their small participation in the labor market. According to the 2021 report, there were 1.95 million poor people in Israel compared to 1.87 million in 2020. Some 855,400 of them – 28% – were children. Among the poor families, the rate of ultra-Orthodox families rose by 0.4%, Arabs by 0.7%, and single-parent families by 0.7%.
Source: Haaretz
Israel's Population Near 10 million
Israel's population reached 9,656,000, said a report published by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) ahead of the new year. According to the CBS, 7,106,000 residents of the state are Jews (about 73.6% of the population), 2,037,000 are Arabs (about 21.1%), and 513,000 (5.3%) are defined as other - i.e., Christians who are not Arabs, different religions, and people without religious classification in the Interior Ministry. The major countries from which immigrants arrived this year were, unsurprisingly, Russia (58.1%), Ukraine (21.3%), the United States (4.1%), and France (3.2%).
Source: Ynet
New article: Raphael Cohen-Almagor, “A Reply to Thomas Sealy’s “Just and Reasonable, but Is It Multiculturalism? A Review of Raphael Cohen-Almagor’s Just, Reasonable Multiculturalism (2021, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)”, International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society (published online 14 July 2022).
You can read my reply at
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4164646
Did you know?
There is no tenure in British High Education. Tenure was abolished by PM Tatcher who thought academics are “too complacent”. Tenure is the guarantee of lifetime employment for university professors who are accorded it. It was eliminated in 1988 by the British government’s highly controversial Education Reform Bill.
I am surprised how many academics outside of Britain are not aware of this important fact. Whenever I say to people, including highly respected professors from Europe and North America, that there is no tenure in Britain, they open their eyes in disbelief. Somehow, they assume that it still exists.
But anyone who teaches in most universities in the UK is fully aware of this fact as redundancies and restructuring are common place.
Tenure used to be in Britain since medieval times, and it is a tradition that has carried over to American, Canadian, Israeli and some other universities.
Mrs. Thatcher and the academics had been at loggerheads for years over her attempts to reform the funding of universities. In 1984, Oxford University took the unprecedented step of refusing to give her the honorary degree traditionally accorded to every prime minister as a protest of her funding cutbacks.
Both sides recognize that Britain is losing prominent scholars to American universities. But while the academics say cuts in government spending were to blame, the government argued that what it called largely tenured deadwood was draining away money and clogging up the system.
In 1988, the then government’s education spokesman, Andrew Opie, said half of Britain’s universities offer tenure, making it impossible to impose layoffs. This, he added, ″makes it difficult for universities to meet changing patterns of teaching and research and to dismiss incompetent staff.″
Since 1988, universities can and do impose layoffs. Voluntary Leavers Schemes (VLS) are common and, I am sorry to say, also compulsory redundancies. I saw how universities close departments, impose on departments to fire senior professors and are even able to target individuals, forcing them to take early retirement.
I looked back and read about the debate in 1988 about the Bill that changed British education for worse. Unsurprisingly, The Education Reform Bill had upset many professors who rightly argued that tenure protects them from being fired for airing unpopular ideas.
The government argued that British universities are failing to match international research standards and that by removing tenure, it can force unproductive academics to make way for younger scholars and infuse the universities with a new competitive spirit.
The most respected Professor Elie Kedourie, head of the political science department at the London School of Economics, knew what was coming. He said abolishing tenure ″will make British universities into something very second rate.″ With the exception of a few top universities, Kedourie was right.
Kedourie feared that the elimination of tenure, plus other changes in the Education Bill regarding university funding, will enable the government to siphon money to profitable studies at the expense of liberal arts departments, whose untenured staff will then lose their jobs. Kedourie was right.
In 1988, The House of Lords, the unelected upper house of Parliament, insisted on amendments into the bill guaranteeing academic freedom and prohibiting universities from replacing senior academics with younger, lower-paid professors solely for cost-cutting purposes. These amendments are insufficient to stop this process.
Already then, critics said the amendments can easily be overturned in the elected House of Commons and argue that the commitments are no substitute for centuries-old guarantees written into university charters.
Julius Getman, president of the American Association of University professors, said: ″Without tenure scholars and teachers are ultimately subject to outside control and thus are not free to seek and teach the truth as they understand it″.
See Anne Applebaum, “Thatcher’s Elimination of Tenure Leaves Professors in Outrage”, AP News (July 11, 1988),
https://apnews.com/article/940a913d0a84b91ff72512c4af09386a
The best books in contemporary political philosophy that shaped my thinking about justice, liberty, and equality and my own beloved book.
I wrote...
The Boundaries of Liberty and Tolerance: The Struggle against Kahanism in Israel
By Raphael Cohen-Almagor
What is my book about?
This is my first academic book (I published my first poetry book a year earlier). It's based on my DPhil dissertation, written at Oxford between 1987 and 1991 under the supervision of Geoffrey Marshall. It took me three more years to reshape the dissertation into a book. It's argued that one of the problems of any political system is that the principles which underlie and characterize it might also, through their application, endanger it and bring about its destruction. Democracy, in its liberal form, is no exception. Moreover, because democracy is a relatively young phenomenon, it lacks experience in dealing with pitfalls involved in the working of the system. This is the "catch" of democracy theory.
The books I picked & why
Shepherd is reader supported. We may earn an affiliate commission when you buy through links on our website. This is how we fund this project for readers and authors (learn more).
By John Rawls
Why this book?
If there is a classic, great book in political philosophy that will be discussed and taught for many more years to come, alongside the iconic books of John Locke and JS Mill, then this is the one. When I studied at Oxford during the 1980s, it was near impossible to write about anything in political philosophy without referring to Rawls’ philosophy. Rawls convinced me that of all the values, justice is the most important value in life. And he provided a comprehensive answer to the intriguing question: What is justice? I engage with this book constantly, reread it and refer to its rationale in many of my writings. I keep copies of this seminal book at home and at my office. I was fortunate to meet Rawls at Tel Aviv University.
Explore this book
By Ronald Dworkin
Why this book?
Of all my superb teachers at Oxford, one stood out: Ronald (Ronnie) Dworkin. He was the sharpest scholar I have ever met. I attended most of his seminars and some of his lectures during my four years at Oxford and deeply cherished my private talks with him. Ronnie was a master communicator of ideas, orally and in writing. He would come to class with an empty yellow pad and speak for one hour non-stop. In this book, Dworkin discusses truth in morals, moral skepticism, moral responsibility, dignity, free will, political rights and concepts. I could have chosen any one of his other great books – Taking Rights Seriously, A Matter of Principle, or Sovereign Virtue. I choose Justice for Hedgehogs because this book discusses themes that I also constantly engage with: Truth, social responsibility, dignity, democracy, equality, liberty, and justice.
Explore this book
By Joseph Raz
Why this book?
This brilliant book was published one year before my arrival at Oxford and it made a strong, immediate impression. Joseph (Joe) Raz was one of my teachers and his scholarship influenced my thinking greatly. Raz weaves together discussions on law, morals, politics, the nature of autonomy, self-realization, deliberative choice, freedom, and authority. He places the idea of neutrality within the broader concept of antiperfectionism. Raz brought me to think that the conduct of policies can be evaluated on a continuous scale between the two extremes of strict perfectionism and liberal complete neutrality. The policy to be adopted does not have to be either one or the other. It could well take the middle ground, allowing plurality and diversity without resorting to complete neutrality, and involving some form of perfectionism without resorting to coercion. For perfectionism does not necessarily imply governmental exercise of force, nor does it strive to ensure uniformity, as liberal neutralists fear. And if we insist on the importance of autonomy, then resorting to perfectionism is unavoidable.
Explore this book
By Joel Feinberg
Why this book?
This is one of the very few books that tackle the neglected subject of offence, and does a great job in doing this. I have been teaching from this book for many years in my freedom of expression courses, and the book always stimulates interesting conversations as Feinberg utilizes many provocative examples to examine offence, what it is, and to what extent it should be tolerated. I recall a fascinating conversation I had with Feinberg about his thesis at Oxford, which helped me elucidate my own understanding of offence, for which I am most grateful.
Offense to Others is the second volume of Joel Feinberg's most impressive work on the moral limits of criminal law, a four-volume work that explores the kinds of conduct the state may make criminal without infringing on the moral autonomy of individual citizens. The other volumes are Harm to Others (1984), Harm to Self (1986), and Harmless Wrongdoing (1988).
Explore this book
By Simone de Beauvoir, Constance Borde (translator) + 1 more ⌄
Why this book?
This is a classic book. Originally published in 1949, French feminist thinker and political activist Simone De Beauvoir discusses the duality in society where man represents the essential ‘self’ while woman embodies the ‘other,’ inessential sex. De Beauvoir raised a clear voice against any form of oppression. She criticized the tendency of protecting women against their inner weakness. She criticized men for dictating to women what to do, and she also criticized women who accept their status as the ‘other’ in society and who are complacent towards men.
When this book was first published in 1949 it was to outrage and scandal. Never before had the case for female liberty been so forcefully and successfully argued. De Beauvoir’s belief that ‘One is not born, but rather becomes, woman’ switched on light bulbs in the heads of a generation of women and began a fight for greater equality and economic independence. The book remains both relevant and influential.
Explore this book
See https://shepherd.com/best-books/political-philosophy-justice-liberty-and-equality
Movie of the Month – The Trick
This is a MUST see. BBC One’s newest drama, The Trick, tells the story of the 2009 ‘Climategate’ controversy, a scandal that was a major factor in delaying measures that could have slowed down climate change.
The feature-length drama focuses on the story of Professor Phil Jones who was a key figure during the controversy that saw the University of East Anglia fall victim to a hack that saw hundreds of emails and files get leaked by climate change deniers.
It is a very important movie, on a crucial topic that concerns all of us and future generations. A lot of money is involved in this. Major companies continue to pollute our planet irresponsibly, because they are making a lot of money. They go out of their way to pay climate change deniers, hackers and others who are able to delay awareness to the disaster that will befallen on humanity if immediate changes won’t be introduced.
Phil Jones suffered a trauma because he is doing an important scientific work. The struggle goes on against very powerful and irresponsible organisations and people.
**** on Rafi’s scale
Monthly Poem
Simultaneously, I have been writing two books of poetry: one in Hebrew; the other in English. The book in Hebrew is titled Old News and now has 60 pages. The book in English is titled Between Love and Death and is now 92 pages long. I wish to publish both books and would very much appreciate pertinent constructive ideas.
Here is my weekly poem.
Anew
An enchanting smile climbs onto lips
Brighten sparkling eyes
In a pure glow
Difficult to match, match point.
Mask is down, soul is up
As enthralling words rush out
Like a train with a purpose
Climbing hills, dashing valleys
To conquer some more grounds.
As when it comes
Nothing could stop
The sun, the moon, the stars
The lush under pumping hearts
What there is, is today
Think about tomorrow, tomorrow.
Raphael Almagor
Light Side ?
Wall Street
An American newspaper publish this: One of the oddities of Wall Street is that it is the dealer and not the customer who is called broker.
The newspaper published it in October 1929.
Peace and Good Health to you all
Rafi
My last communications with all the photos and illustrations are available on Israel: Democracy, Human Rights, Politics and Society, http://almagor.blogspot.com
People wishing to subscribe to this Monthly Newsletter are welcome to e-mail me at r.cohen-almagor@hull.ac.uk
Twitter at @almagor35
