David Sarna Galdi

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seen in the Knesset plenum ahead of the vote on the Jewish Nation-State Law, July 18, 2018. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

With new laws, Netanyahu is hijacking Judaism as we know it

The leader of the largest Jewish population in the world is consciously abandoning modern Jewish identity in order to usher in a new Judaism. What kind? Just look to the Jewish Nation-State and Holocaust law. By David Sarna Galdi Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu raised the ire of the Jewish world earlier this month when he…

By +972 Magazine July 22, 2018

Elor Azaria, the former Israeli soldier who was convicted of executing an incapacitated Palestinian stabbing suspect, returns to the scene of the crime, Hebron, West Bank, July 3, 2018. (Wisam Hashlamoun/Flash90)

Elor Azaria takes a victory lap in Hebron: He’s still not the problem

Azaria, the Israeli soldier who was recently released from prison after executing an incapacitated Palestinian stabbing suspect, gets a hero’s welcome at the scene of the crime. Ultimately, however, he is not to blame. We are. By David Sarna Galdi Watching news footage of Elor Azaria visiting Hebron feels like watching O.J. Simpson partying in…

By +972 Magazine July 5, 2018

Muslim men seen leaving the Al Aqsa Mosque Compound in Jerusalem's Old City after their prayers during the muslim holy month of Ramadan at Al Aqsa mosque, in Jerusalem on June 7, 2017. (Hadas Parush/FLASH90)

Jerusalem isn’t only Jewish, and that’s what makes it beautiful

Jerusalem is Jewish and Israeli, but there is an uncomfortable truth Israelis must come to terms with: the city is equally Arab — inherently, inescapably, and wonderfully Arab. By David Sarna Galdi President Donald Trump has officially recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, leaving out mention of Palestinian ties to the place – implying…

By +972 Magazine December 26, 2017

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives to the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem, March 16, 2017. (Marc Israel Sellem/Flash90)

Netanyahu’s Alt-Zionism has no need for American Jews

Instead of firmly speaking out against the more than 190 anti-Semitic threats and attacks over the past few weeks, Netanyahu has decided to throw the American Jewish community under the bus of right-wing Israeli fanaticism. By David Sarna Galdi Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week told a delegation led by Reform Movement head Rabbi Rick…

By +972 Magazine March 16, 2017

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at an election rally, accompanied by his daughter, Ivanka, September 13, 2016. (Michael Vadon/CC BY-SA 4.0)

Help! My father is voting for Trump

Trying to understand, and explain, the troubling electoral choice of the man who raised me. By David Sarna Galdi Election day is a week away, and barring a revelation akin to Paul’s on the road to Damascus, I am fairly sure my father will be voting for Donald Trump. My educated assumption about my father’s decision,…

By +972 Magazine November 1, 2016

A Polish woman walks by Prozna Street in Warsaw, a part of the former Jewish quarter that escaped destruction during World War II. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90)

An assault on storytelling: The other sides of Poland

A new law in Poland criminalizing Holocaust-related speech presents an offensive, distorted narrative about the nation’s wartime history and its coming-to-terms with the past. But that’s far from the whole story. By David Sarna Galdi The Polish cabinet last month approved a law that will punish (including imprisonment) anyone for claiming that Poles killed Jews…

By +972 Magazine October 19, 2016

Palestinian women cross the Qalandiya checkpoint outside Ramallah, West Bank, into Jerusalem to attend the first Friday of Ramadan prayers in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, July 12, 2013. (photo: Activestills.org)

Is Israel ‘evil?’

Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy, who in the past has called Israel Air Force pilots a ‘death squadron,’ condemned Israel as ‘pure evil.’ But is he right this time? By David Sarna Galdi Israeli media’s reigning provocateur, Gideon Levy, is an intellectual hooligan hanging around the neighborhood pub just waiting to cause some trouble. Levy insists…

By +972 Magazine August 10, 2016

‘Balfour at Jewish colonies’, 1925. (Photo by American Colony, Jerusalem)

The colonialist skeletons in Israel’s closet

Modern believers in the meaning, importance and necessity of Israel as a safe home for Jews had best come to terms with its less-than-organic birth — it did not magically appear on the sands of an empty landscape. By David Sarna Galdi A day before the Paris peace summit last month, director general of Israel’s…

By +972 Magazine July 3, 2016

Illustrative photo by Shutterstock.com

Jewish education’s sin of omission

Despite years of Jewish education, much of which focused on Israel, this young American Zionist was still ignorant of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank. By David Sarna Galdi The Israeli occupation of the West Bank will mark its 50-year anniversary next year. For five decades, since 1967, that occupation has been a central theme…

By +972 Magazine May 16, 2016

Thousands of Israelis demonstrate in support of Elor Azaria, a soldier who was indicted for shooting an incapacitated Palestinian stabbing suspect, April 19, 2016. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Hebron shooter indicts all of Israel

No need for a trial. Sergeant Elor Azaria is already innocent in the eyes of the Israeli public By David Sarna Galdi The trial of Sergeant Elor Azaria, a soldier indicted for the killing of an incapacitated Palestinian knife-attack suspect in Hebron last month will mostly likely begin soon, but it isn’t really necessary. If…

By +972 Magazine April 21, 2016