Reasons for Hope about Syria
Replacing an enemy with an asset.
May 16, 2025
Why Islamism’s Ideology of Resentment Focuses Its Anger on the Jews
While betraying the Islamic view of history.
In the best-case scenario, Syria could be seeing a lifelong jihadist putting away his AK-47 and presiding over an orderly state that tolerates religious minorities and has good relations with Israel and the West. Of course, one could hardly expect Syria to become a Western-style liberal democracy, but one can reasonably hope for something better than the secular totalitarianism of Bashar al-Assad or the Islamist totalitarianism of Islamic State. Meanwhile, President Trump praised the Saudi crown prince Mohammad bin Salman for his transformative effect on his country—a transformation that includes turning it from a major incubator, exporter, and funder of the most extreme forms of jihadism to a force acting against them.
May 16, 2025
Why Islamism’s Ideology of Resentment Focuses Its Anger on the Jews
While betraying the Islamic view of history.
John Fetterman’s Concern for Jews Drives His Party, but Not His Voters, Crazy
A sane man in an insane world.
The Origins of the Lag ba-Omer Bonfire
And its rabbinic critics.
The Biblical Owl as Symbol of Destruction and Loneliness
“I am like a desert owl of the wilderness.”