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Ruthie Blum

Ruthie Blum, a former adviser at the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is an award-winning columnist and a senior contributing editor at JNS. Co-host with Ambassador Mark Regev of the JNS-TV podcast “Israel Undiplomatic,” she writes on Israeli politics and U.S.-Israel relations. Originally from New York City, she moved to Israel in 1977. She is a regular guest on national and international media outlets, including Fox, Sky News, i24News, Scripps, ILTV, WION and Newsmax.

Gadi Sukenik, January 2020. Credit: Roee Shpernik via Wikimedia Commons.
Senior Contributing Editor
Bolstering Bibi by deriding his backers
Former Israeli TV anchor Gadi Sukenik’s critique was clear: Anyone casting a ballot for Likud belongs in the baboon category.
Jun. 28, 2022
Ruthie Blum
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini (second from right) addresses the pledging conference of the Ad Hoc Committee of the General Assembly for the announcement of voluntary contributions to UNRWA. At right is U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres. Credit: United Nations.
Senior Contributing Editor
Let UNRWA die already
The demise of the United Nations Relief Works Agency for Palestine Refugees is long overdue. Let’s hope that Commissioner-General Lazzarini is right to be worried.
Jun. 26, 2022
Ruthie Blum
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett (left) and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid approach the podium ahead of a press conference at the Knesset to announce its disbanding, June 20, 2022. Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90.
Senior Contributing Editor
The fall of the Israeli government and the upcoming election
The only way around another political impasse, other than an overhaul of the electoral system, is for all eligible citizens to cast a ballot. This means curbing the purism and joining, not hovering above, the fray.
Jun. 21, 2022
Ruthie Blum
Istanbul City
Senior Contributing Editor
Israelis, get out of Turkey right now!
Being in the crosshairs of Iranian assassins should be more than sufficient cause to cut short a vacation in Istanbul.
Jun. 19, 2022
Ruthie Blum
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis addresses a crowd at the 2022 Tikvah Fund's Jewish Leadership Conference. Credit: Courtesy.
Senior Contributing Editor
Reactionary ‘progressives’ strike again
Has anybody actually read the falsely dubbed “Don’t say gay” DeSantis bill?
Jun. 14, 2022
Ruthie Blum
Gaza City residents burn Israeli flags and pictures of Israeli officials after a Jerusalem Magistrate's Court ruled that Jews may pray on the Temple Mount. May 25, 2022. Photo by Attia Muhammed/Flash90.
Senior Contributing Editor
Shavuot, the Six-Day War and the sorry ‘status quo’ on the Temple Mount
The tendency of mostly young male Palestinians to use any excuse to desecrate the site, the holiest in Judaism and third in Islam, has become commonplace.
Jun. 7, 2022
Ruthie Blum
Japanese Red Army co-founder Fusako Shigenobu (center), upon her release from Tokyo’s Hachioji prison, May 28, 2022. Source: Twitter/Screenshot.
Senior Contributing Editor
A Palestinian celebration of ‘empress of terror’ Fusako Shigenobu
Champions of the 1972 Lod Airport massacre’s mastermind don’t think that the newly released convict has anything to regret.
May. 31, 2022
Ruthie Blum
Target practice at a Jerusalem shooting range. April 3, 2022. Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90.
Senior Contributing Editor
Shooting for gun control?
In the wake of the Texas massacre, Americans ought to consider what Israelis have learned the hard way: that firearms aren’t the problem; in the hands of heroes, they’re often the only solution.
May. 29, 2022
Ruthie Blum
Meretz Knesset member Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi arrives for an interview at Channel 12 News in Neve Ilan in the outskirts of Jerusalem, May 19, 2022. Photo by Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90.
Senior Contributing Editor
Rescuing the coalition at Israel’s literal and figurative expense
Even those who dread another round of Knesset elections ought to take into consideration that Meretz MK Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi is a dubious (and dangerous) voice.
May. 24, 2022
Ruthie Blum
Noa Tishby, special envoy for combating antisemitism and delegitimization of Israel, with her 2021 book, “Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth.” Source: Twitter.
Senior Contributing Editor
Noa Tishby’s surprisingly welcome splash on the ‘hasbara’ scene
Given her performance to date, the actress, producer and author deserves not only an apology, but accolades, from those who doubted her abilities to serve as Israel’s first-ever Special Envoy for Combating Anti-Semitism and Delegitimization.
May. 22, 2022
Ruthie Blum
Midge Decter (right) and Ruthie Blum in East Hampton, Long Island, N.Y., circa 1978. Credit: Courtesy.
Senior Contributing Editor
A tough act to follow
A tribute to my mother, Midge Decter.
May. 17, 2022
Ruthie Blum
The funeral of Yonatan Havakuk, one of three Israelis murdered in a Palestinian terrorist attack in Elad on May 6, 2022. Photo by Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90.
Senior Contributing Editor
Defeating the danger from without
Self-reflection in the Jewish context all too often is an exercise in directing accountability inward, rather than where it belongs: squarely on the shoulders of Israel’s external enemies.
May. 8, 2022
Ruthie Blum
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