Yesterday, 7.8., the publisher (Edition Achgut in Berlin) and the editors (Simone Schermann in Bavaria and I in the Negev desert) completed the book about the aftermath of October 7, 2023, which will be published in Berlin on October 7, 2026. Eighteen Jewish authors (from Germany, Israel, U.S.
The following appeared yesterday in the Israeli newspaper Yediot Acheronot: “Cristiano Ronaldo’s partner and the mother of his children shared a striking video from the Spanish island of Mallorca during their family vacation, but it was the caption she added that caught everyone’s attention: ‘Healthy,’ written in Hebrew.
Literary Transformations of a Landscape Besides the Earth’s natural deserts, there are those created by humans, and this process of fertile land becoming desertified, usually referred to by the English term desertification, is documented early in literature. Even in ancient Babylonian cuneiform texts, the ambivalence of arid regions with
In my 2020 book, "The Desert," I addressed the problem of "desertification," the process by which formerly fertile land becomes barren. At the time, this didn't fit into the one-sided, ideology-driven concept of the left-wing Greens, who believed that "climate
Last Shabbat afternoon, 30-year-old Bar Asraf shot himself at the gravestone of his girlfriend, who was killed by Hamas terrorists at the Nova Festival on October 7, 2023. Even three years later, he had not yet gotten over her loss. The wounds run deeper than we thought. We
What the German-Persian writer Navid Kermani demonstrated in his speech at the swearing-in ceremony for recruits at the Bendlerblock in Berlin—repeating the old mantra of pacifism and thereby demotivating and discouraging young German recruits even before they had to fight at all, telling them that refusing to
Surprising information in newspaper Jerusalem Post, 1st of August, 2026 : "Despite fierce rabbinic opposition, haredi (ultra-Orth0d0x) enlistment (in Israeli Army IDF) is rising. The numbers suggest changing incentives may be altering the draft calculus. According to a Yediot Aharonot report on Wednesday, at least 4,000 haredim enlisted
In the Journal du Dimanche, Dr. Gudrun Eussner, a blogger living in Perpignan and a reader of these notes, found, after some searching, information about the arsonists of the forest fires in southern France "that goes beyond the one Tunisian from CNews (...) Laurent Nuñez reported on Friday about 308
The young Berliner Abdul B., who deliberately drove a rented van into the crowd at Christopher Street Day on the evening of July 25th, injuring 29 people and killing one woman, is presented to readers of the German magazine Stern as a young man "with the heart of a
When I posted my short notice about "Queers for Israel" in the morning, I hadn’t yet looked at the German newspapers and knew nothing about the Islamic attack on participants in Berlin’s Christopher Street Day. What was intended as a showcase of tolerant, "colorful"
(In the following text I presented my thesis on the "flexible ego of Israelis". It was written for an American Jewish magazine, below you will find a German version, published in print magazine Opus (Nr. 101, Nov. 2024). An extended German version was published on Achgut.com on
"Queers for Israel" appeared in my Facebook feed, which is why I googled them last night. It's predominantly Anglo-Saxon community, Americans, Australians, Brits. The idea of creating a pro-Israel counter to the "Queers for Palestine" movement (founded by potential suicides), seemed sensible
After a week packed with work and exciting affairs, I stumble into Shabbat half-conscious and confused. I couldn’t even recite the Kaddish properly in synagogue, although I’d said it a hundred times before. Now, on Saturday evening, after the Torah reading, lunch with my wife, and a
Today is Tisha B'Av, the ninth day of the Jewish month of Av, our day of mourning. It commemorates the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple of Solomon by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.—an event that took place over two and a half millennia ago. According
Anti-Semitism is, from the very beginning, a destructive attitude. Its essence is rooted in rejection and aversion. Throughout history, anti-Semitism has often been the starting point for broader attitudes of contempt and rejection; in most cases, it did not stop at the Jews, but began with them only
It's reasonable that we fight anti-Semitism. And try to get rid of it. But I don't truly believe in a world without hatred against Jews. For the extraordinary achievements of the Jewish people in the past, in the present, and—hopefully—in the future will
Probably biggest mistake made by current Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in his bid for re-election: “The prime minister is repairing his partnership with the blackmailing ultra-Orthodox political leadership at the terrible cost of destroying equality before the law and—despite the echoes of the year 2023—weakening Israel’
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(Text first in English, than in German) The relationship between Germany and Israel is of necessity a complex one. Given the fraught historical and political context one can easily get over-emotional. It would appear that this relationship, always fragile, is now close to breaking point. German by birth and
Yesterday I was surprised by hundreds of birthday wishes on Facebook, WhatsApp, and email. There was hardly any time to celebrate—I had to proofread a new book and unpack boxes containing books and pictures from our house in Berlin, which we’re now selling—amid the usual delays caused
The question of whether—and to what extent—European funds have helped finance terrorism against Israel remains unanswered. Moritz Körner (35, FDP), a German member of the European Parliament, wants to force the agency headed by Ursula von der Leyen to release all “Gaza files,” including bank statements (...) There is
Venezuela was among the most hostile countries in the world toward Israel. For decades, the "socialist" dictators Chávez and Maduro actively supported the Iranian regime and its terrorist activities against the Jewish state. The spectacular arrest of drug lord Maduro by US special forces offered the country a
In the anthology with 17 Jewish authors that Sima Schermann and I are currently preparing for publication by Edition Achgut, Berlin, Eldad Beck writes, based on research in nine European countries, that the situation of Jews in many European cities is more precarious than in certain Muslim countries: "Some
I’d like to recommend my charming new (and not-too-long) novella, “Therapy,” which will be published by XS Verlag Berlin in October 2026. Read what the publisher has to say about it: A cold, wet May morning at the Berlin airport changes everything. Natan—an Israeli historian who
Hatred is raging in Tehran; the regime is mobilizing millions of supporters, and the streets and squares are teeming like black anthills. Will they be enough to carry this impoverished, crumbling, parched country through the coming years? Even the German news outlet Spiegel Online is entirely devoted to hatred the