Informing
Policy
for Progress
December 2010

Israel Conqures Space

Shlomo Maital

Look up at the night sky. Though you cannot see it, amid the stars is a small satellite circling the earth every 90 minutes, peering down through clouds and darkness. Called Ofek 9.

December 2010

Blame the Fed

Shlomo Maital

There’s none so blind as a maestro who will not see a bubble.

December 2010

Mideast Marshall plan

Shlomo Maital

Israeli and Palestinian leaders are trying to negotiate a peace deal. They use threat tactics – “stop building in the settlements or I will break off talks” (Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas), or “accept Israel as a Jewish state, or else” (Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu).

September 2010

Whom do we work for?

Shlomo Maital

“Good night, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are!” That’s how American comedian Jimmy Durante (The Shnozzola) signed off his radio and TV programs for many years. He never explained why.

July 2010

Three Good Things

Shlomo Maital

“There are three good things that happened today!” This is how Anat Dolev, bubbly Voice of Israel broadcaster, opens her weekday afternoon program on Reshet Bet, “At Three with Anat Dolev.”

June 2010

Light Bulb Unto the Nations

Shlomo Maital

A recent BBC World Service poll completed in February reveals a painful fact- Israel is regarded by much of the world as illegitimate, a pariah, a social reject. 

May 2010

Housing Bubble? Babel? Or Babble?

Shlomo Maital

Is Israel in the throes of a risky housing bubble- inflated prices that rapidly collapse? Will cheap mortgages and overly expensive apartments replicate America’s bubble and ensuing financial crash?