Stephen M. Flatow

Flotillas and falsehood:

When “humanitarian" means political warfare

This is a reality Israel understands all too well. Opinion.

Syria’s new reality: power consolidated, dangers unleashed

The jury is still out on Ahmed al-Sharaa. And it is not a theoretical question, because developments inside Syria matter far beyond its borders. Opinion.

How the media turns terror militias into ‘elite’ armies

When Israel calls a unit elite, it refers to demonstrated capability, rigorous selection, and a decades‑long record of operational performance - not political branding by a fawning media. Opinion.

Cluster bombs frrom Iran:

The double standard of the skies

In 2008, 120 countries signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions, grounded in a simple idea: some weapons are so dangerous to civilians that their use cannot be justified. Where is the outcry now that Iran is launching them at Israel? Opinion.

Syria’s power shift: consolidation without trust

Revolutions are judged first by what they overthrow. Governments are judged by what they protect. It does not look promising for Syria's minorities. Opinion.

Jews are not a monolith:

The dangerous erasure of Jewish diversity

Jews, in all our magnificent diversity, have the right to define ourselves. Or is that a right denied us? Opinion.

CAIR-Austin Day:

Islamists don’t need guns when they have proclamations

Terror-supporting organizations do not need explosives when they can secure endorsements, proclamations, and civic honors from Western governments so as to receive legitimacy step by step. Opinion.

Martin Luther King Jr. stood with the Jews-and with Israel

MLK Jr.'s strong partnership with Jews and support for Israel was grounded in mutual responsibility and moral discipline, not ideological conformity. Attempts to minimize his pro-Jewish stance are ignorant at best, lies at worst. Opinion.

Iran’s violence is not new - and it is not accidental

This is not a government losing control. It is a regime behaving exactly as it always has. Opiniion.

Syria after Assad:

A first report card on Ahmed al-Sharaa

Revolutions are judged by what they overthrow; governments are judged by what they protect. And here, the record grows troubling. Opinion.

The Bazaari revolution:

Iran’s mullahs chose ideology over people - now the bill is due

Tehran’s leadership made the same calculation throughout: maintain ideological posture abroad, invest everythiing in war, absorb the economic pain at home. The result was predictable. Opinion.

We must not forget their names

Looking back at 2025's terror victims, and those who came before, we realize that we must make a concerted effort to keep their names alive. Opinion.

Erdoğan’s Turkey has declared war on Israel

Turkey's Jews are paying the price

Human rights monitors have documented what Turkey’s Jews already feel daily: discrimination against religious minorities is no longer episodic but systemic. Opinion.

When CodePink’s rainbow flag turns against the Jews

Their current favorite line claims Israel is an enemy of LGBTQ people - that the Jewish state hides its “crimes” behind rainbow flags and Tel Aviv pride parades.

How to prevent the next attack:

More restrictive gun laws won't stop terror

Australia can respond by tightening screws on people already following the rules. Or it can respond by dismantling the networks and ideologies that produce terrorists. Opinion.

From Cairo to Texas:

The Muslim Brotherhood’s war on Israel comes into focus

Texas and Florida have realized that the Muslim Brotherhood is not a misunderstood “social movement.” It is the ideological mothership of some of the most dangerous anti-Jewish and anti-Western groups on earth. Opinion.

Israel’s survival instinct has become the world’s shield

What began as Israel’s survival instinct has become a global security asset, with nations far from the Middle East now safer because of technologies born in Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Jerusalem. Opinion.

Trump met Zohran Mamdani-should American Jews be worried?

The American Jewish community has just watched a rising political figure who targets Israel and mainstream Jewish institutions receive credibility at the highest level of government-without a single concession to moderation. What now? Opinion.

From clinics to command centers:

When doctors and professors lead terror

They heal patients and teach students to gain legitimacy - then send other people’s children to die. They are the ultimate professional hypocrites. They do not need welfare, they need defeat. Like the Nazi doctors. Opinion.

President Trump:

Partnership, yes - guardianship, no

America can stand With Israel - but it must not stand inside Israel. Opinion.

A $500 Million Mistake:

Why a U.S. Military Base inside Israel is bad for both countries

One of the most effective responses to critics of American military aid to Israel has always been simple: the U.S. does not fight Israel’s wars. A US military base in Israel is a bad idea for many reasons. Opinion.

The Heritage Foundation's black hole:

When fighting Antisemitism requires moral clarity

Pro-Israel groups are abandoning the Heritage Foundation because no antisemitism initiative can defend people who platform antisemites-and expect Jews to stay. Opinion.

NYC Mayoral Elections:

Hey, Chuck Schumer, where are you hiding?

The self-titled ‘guardian of Israel’ has gone missing and while Zohran Mamdani spews poison and rallies activists, Chuck Schumer is nowhere to be found. No statement. No pushback. Not even a polite rebuke. Opinion

Treating Israel Like a Banana Republic?

Here’s how Israel stops being treated that way

Begin did it with quiet firmness; Netanyahu can, too, making sure that when a U.S. president seeks to “call the shots,” Israel still holds the trigger. Opinion.

Watch out for that threatening Star of David

A society that treats Jewish symbols as “provocative” is one that has shifted the burden from the perpetrators of hatred onto the targets of it. Opinion.

Trump helped end the war. Israel made that deal possible

US Diplomacy could succeed only because it was backed by Israel's courage, sacrifice, and a leadership that refuses to blink. Opinion.

Empty ships, empty promises:

The Gaza aid flotilla that wasn’t

Who pays for all this? Chartering ships, crews, logistics, international media coordination — it doesn’t come cheap. Opinion.

Donors take note:

Doctors Without Borders: Saving lives, spinning narratives

When MSF ignores Hamas terror, it stops being neutral and starts being political. Donors should take note. Every dollar given supports not only surgeries and field clinics, but also MSF’s public voice. Opinion.

The deportation of Mahmoud Khalil

There are security risks America must act upon. Deportation orders mean little if the U.S. lacks the resolve to carry them out. Opinion.

The entertainment world’s selective conscience

From Emmy speeches to boycott pledges, outrage at Israel comes easy while silence reigns on real tyrannies. Opinion.

America’s professors have declared war on Israel

The AAUP has humiliated itself. Its president calls Israel’s self-defense “genocide,” while cozying up to fringe anti-Zionist groups. Opinion.

Fatah’s summer camps of Martyrdom

Children march in military formation, wear uniforms, and are taught to handle weapons. Op-ed.

Critiquing Bono’s Gaza Statements

When humanitarian outrage risks moral equivalence

Bono does have street cred when it comes to humanitarian issues, but when it comes to Gaza, he's morally equivocating. Opinion.

No hashtags for the Druze: The world’s shameful silence

This hypocrisy is intolerable. Opinion.

Stop Paying for Terror:

End U.S. aid to Palestinian Arab Forces that worship killers

Why should U.S. taxpayers be forced to bankroll those who hail our children’s murderers as martyrs?

Netanyahu’s Washington visit:

A diplomatic balancing act of hope and peril

History will judge Trump and Netanyahu not by their handshakes and public camaraderie, but by whether they secured Israel’s future while upholding the values that have long defined its alliance with the United States. Opposition.

Here’s a new one - tossing Molotov cocktails is not terror

What would we do without the “experts"? Opinion.

Listen to the French? Non!

It’s still not time for a Palestinian state

While the creation of an Arab Palestinian state now would be dangerous for Israel with an indefensible border being the main reason, a Palestinian state would be bad for America, too. Opinion

Jewish tragedy did not start on October 7

Why, when and what can be done about it, especially in the USA. Opinion.

Enough is enough; responding to Houthi missile attacks

We have been very lucky. It was just a matter of time before a Houthi or Iranian missile or drone would get through IDF defenses. We have to take the initiative. Opinion.

There’s a war being waged in Judea and Samaria

Is rock-throwing harmless, “non-violent resistance?” It most certainly is not. Opinion.

The “quiet” war

Since October 7th not all is well in Judea and Samaria. Opinion.

From Pagers to Nasrallah, complain all you want; this is war

When we in Israel got the news that the wicked wizard of the north, Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah, was flattened like a pancake in an IDF attack on his command center in a Beirut neighborhood, they drank Lechaim on TV. Opinion.

It’s time for America to enter the war against terror

How can the Biden administration and Ms. Harris continue to stand by with their hands in their pockets? Opinion.

Fighting against terror in court:

Two anti-terror lawsuits, but only one is a groundbreaker

Americans have been working for more than 25 years to obtain justice for the murder and injuries suffered by loved ones in Mideast terror attacks. Op-ed.

Some reflections on Yom HaZikaron

American victims of Palestinian Arab terror should be looked at a bit differently than other terror victims because their government has let them down. Although I have suffered from that injustice, Yom Hazikaron calms me down. Op-ed.

Reflections on a yahrzeit

You can ask any parent who has lost a child, one never forgets the time and circumstances of his child’s death. In memoriam.

“We were wrong on Arafat,” Dennis Ross admits.

For decades, State Department officials, past and present, have been offering bad advice. Years later, they admit they were wrong. Op-ed.

How to squeeze Israel without anybody noticing

Double standards, coddling the PA, and squeezing Israel have all become routine. Op-ed.

Biden’s “even-handedness” toward Israel is wrong

Pro-American democracies and anti-American dictatorships are not the same. The Biden administration shouldn’t act as if they are.Op-ed.

N.Y. Times gets it (mostly) right on Gaza

They finally got the reason for the partial blockade on Gaza right, but erred on its scope. Still better than their usual. Op-ed.

680 terrorist attacks each day

The average of twenty terror attacks every day in Israel is the equivalent of more than 680 terrorist attacks in America daily. Op-ed.

Thomas Friedman has a Herzog problem

Herzog stood up before the US Congress this week and proceeded to shred Friedman’s cherished beliefs about Israel and the Arabs. Op-ed.

The speech Abbas should have made in Jenin

The Palestinian Arab leadership never 'misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity', to quote Abba Eban. And that was said in 1973. Op-ed.

Why the Palestinian authority hates archaeologists

Those pesky archaologists keep turning up proof that Jews lived in Israel in ancient times, but have found nothing on 'Palestinians.' Op-ed.

Op-Ed:

A rare opportunity to honor a victim of terror

Every visitor to Joan Davenny Lake would be reminded of the horrible actions to which racist attitudes can lead. Op-ed.

A checkpoint that could have saved a life

Americans have to endure security checkpoints in every airport and countless buildings in the USA. Why pressure Israel about theirs? Op-ed.

Islamic Jihad attacks, the Jewish left blames Israel

The sequence of events in Israel and Gaza created a headache for the critics of Israel who reflexively blame Israel for everything, Op-ed.

Why is Biden killing Muslims during Ramadan?

After the US warned Israel to de-escalate during Ramadan, Biden retaliated for Iran'attack on US contractor in Syria with F-15E jets. Op-ed

US professors speak at terrorist's conference

Obama deported him to Turkey after he completed his US prison sentence.Why are US and UK professors at his "academic conference"? Op-ed.