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Lee Bender

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, U.S. President Bill Clinton and PLO head Yasser Arafat at the signing of the Oslo Accords, Sept. 13, 1993. Photo by Vince Musi/The White House.

‘Two-state solution’ isn’t best for either side

The dream of generations—the fulfillment of which the Jews in Israel are bringing to pass—was not for a nine-mile-wide coastal strip, sans the Judea and Samaria hill country heartland and historic Jerusalem.

Lee Bender and Jerome R. Verlin

July 2, 2019

Palestinians who support boycotting Israel during clashes along the Israel-Gaza border in May 2018. Credit: BDS National Committee via Facebook.

Haven’t we resolved the ‘Zionism is racism’ debate?

Much is based on envy and jealousy of the success of the Jewish people and their tiny state in the direct face of this persistent onslaught.

Lee Bender and Jerome R. Verlin

May 29, 2019

The city of Ma’ale Adumim, located four miles from Jerusalem’s municipal boundary, Jan. 1, 2017. Photo by Yaniv Nadav/Flash90.

Stop trying to set Israel’s borders … and other suggestions for US Jewry

It’s not for American Jews to tell Israeli Jews how to define their national borders, which is not hyperbole, but an existential decision. It’s for Israelis to do whatever they need to.

Lee Bender and Jerome R. Verlin

May 3, 2019

View of Derech Alon (Alon Road) in the East Samaria Mountains, south of Jerusalem, on January 10, 2017. Credit: Yaniv Nadav/Flash90

Why were two nights this Passover different from all other nights?

There is no sugar-coating the emotional intensity or the Jewish historical ramifications related to the fundamental differences between Israeli and U.S. Diaspora Jews on the State of Israel’s final borders.

Lee Bender and Jerome R. Verlin

April 24, 2019

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) in 2016. Credit: Lorie Shaull via Flickr.

Democrats need to get tough on anti-Semitic, anti-Israel rhetoric in their party

Jews should know better than most that hateful words lead to hateful actions.

March 13, 2019

Breaking the Silence tour of Hebron on Aug. 28, 2015. Cave of the Patriarchs with vehicles of the Temporary International Presence in Hebron. Credit: Oren Rozen/Wikimedia Commons.

What’s in a name? Hebrew origins of Palestinian Arab towns in Judea-Samaria

“The Peoples of Our Land in 1932” states that west of the Jordan River, 277 villages and sites had names that were similar to or the same as Jewish villages in these locations during Second Temple times.

February 8, 2019

A young man proudly displaying the Israeli flag. Credit Shiryn Solny.

10 toxic terms that pro-Israel advocates must fight

The phrases, descriptions and definitions that need to be explained, and the truth that needs to be repeated (over and over again).

Lee Bender and Jerome R. Verlin

January 23, 2019

Palestinian Authority textbooks. Credit: Matzav.com.

Not the right time for the ‘deal of the century’

The Palestinian Authority continues to spew hatred of Jews and Israel in its mosques, schools, camps, media and charters, naming streets and plazas for its murderers of Israelis, and incentivizing its people to kill Jews in a sick program known as “pay to slay.”

December 24, 2018

‘Tikkun olam’: A return to our true mission

There is no concept in Judaism of “social justice,” but there is indeed one of “justice” (tzedek). The word does not merely indicate legal rights but also compassion and humanity, and is the root of the word for “charity” (tzedakah).

Lee Bender and Naphtali Perlberger

December 3, 2018