epoqueepique > Recent Status Updates

The postulate:
Israel has attained her status as a regional power, —let’s say it proudly: a world power—, through very very hard work.
It has achieved « the miracle », yes it has.

Wilf: Israel has been resting on its laurels; it is now opting for lazy policies.

Ideas for solutions in chapter 9 (60 last pages).

I am reading this so slowly… Wilf’s references in her notes are a gold mine, and all worth the time to search them, read them and all the other notes in those reads… Unfortunately, so many Israeli archival sources haven’t been translated, nor put into book format like the trove of oral testimonies from early Great Aliyah settlers (National Library of Israel)…

« The citizens and soldiers of the State of Israel performed phenomenally for two years, but their accomplishments could easily vanish if the leadership (…) continues to behave as if they had just finished another « round in Gaza » (…) from which we could CONTINUE TELLING OURSELVES PLEASANT LIES ABOUT A DETERRED POPULATION AT OUR BORDER, THAT ONLY WANTS MORE MONEY AND A GOOD LIFE. » (p. 23, my caps)

Very interesting to read this short book as Einat Wilf’s political manifesto, just as she was about to launch her party, Oz, in November 2025.

Considered the definitive reference work on Doña Gracia Nasi, whose immense fortune was coveted by the kings of Spain, Portugal, the Roman Empire and the Papal states.
Her power, her life as a threatened converso helping other Jews flee to the more « tolerant » Ottoman Empire.
Her determination not to relinquish her Jewish faith.
Brooks and her team spent years of research in archives… Amazing work.