Uri Avnery's Column

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Reluctant Prophet
On Monday, I was honored to receive the Leibowitz Prize for “life’s work”, the prize established by the Yesh Gvul soldiers' peace organization. I was unable to prepare a speech, so I spoke off the... • 04/02/12 • More...

Hurrah for Egypt!
THE IMPOSSIBLE has happened. The Egyptian parliament, democratically elected by a free people, has convened for its first session. • 28/01/12 • More...

The Blockbusters
“ISRAEL HAS no foreign policy, only a domestic policy,” Henry Kissinger once remarked. • 21/01/12 • More...

The Shining Torch
“SHINING TORCH” sounds like the name of a Red Indian (or should I say Native American?) chief. In Hebrew, it is the literal meaning of the name of our latest political sensation: Ya’ir Lapid. • 14/01/12 • More...

The Stolen War
IS THERE no limit to the villainy of Hamas? Seems there isn’t.

This week, they did something quite unforgivable.

They stole a war. • 07/01/12 • More...

Shukran, Israel
IF ISLAMIST movements come to power all over the region, they should express their debt of gratitude to their bête noire, Israel. • 31/12/11 • More...

The Duke of Nablus
THE NAME of Munib al-Masri has recently come up as a possible candidate for Prime Minister of a Palestinian national unity government. Not being a member of either Fatah or Hamas, he is acceptable... • 24/12/11 • More...

“With Friends Like These…”
MY GOD, what a bizarre lot these Republican aspirants for the US presidency are!

What a sorry bunch of ignoramuses and downright crazies. Or, at best, what a bunch of cheats and cynics! (With the... • 17/12/11 • More...

The Fearmongers
ON THE anniversary of David Ben-Gurion’s death, the usual memorial meeting was held at his graveside in Sdeh Boker, the Negev desert village where he lived in his retirement. There is no cemetery... • 10/12/11 • More...

The King’s Speech
IN THE middle of the '80s, a German diplomat conveyed to me a surprising message. A member of the Jordanian Royal family would like to speak with me in Amman. At the time, Jordan was still... • 03/12/11 • More...

A Day in November
THIS TUESDAY will be the 64th anniversary of a fateful day for our lives. • 26/11/11 • More...

Weimar Revisited
“YOU AND your Weimar!” a friend of mine once exclaimed in exasperation, ”just because you experienced the collapse of the Weimar Republic as a child, you see Weimar behind every corner.” • 19/11/11 • More...

“YOU are Fed Up?”
“YOU CAN lie to all of the people some of the time, and to some of the people all of the time, but you cannot lie to all of the people all of the time.” • 12/11/11 • More...

“Hold me back!"
EVERYBODY KNOWS the scene from school: a small boy quarrels with a bigger boy. “Hold me back!” he shouts to his comrades, “Before I break his bones!” • 05/11/11 • More...

A View from the Villa
THE KILLING of Muammar Gaddafi and his son Muatasim was not a pretty sight. After seeing it once, I looked away when it was shown again and again on TV – literally ad nauseam. • 29/10/11 • More...

Everybody’s Son
THE MOST sensible – I almost wrote “the only sensible” – sentence uttered this week sprang from the lips of a 5-year old boy. • 22/10/11 • More...

The Second Herzl
ON YOM KIPPUR eve last week, when real Jews were praying for their lives, I sat on the seashore of Tel Aviv, thinking. • 15/10/11 • More...

The More Enemies, The More Honor
AN OLD photo from World War I shows a company of German soldiers getting on the train on their way to the front. On the wall of the car somebody had scribbled: “viel Feind, viel Ehr’” (“The more... • 08/10/11 • More...

We, the Traitors
"THERE ARE situations in which a real patriot has no alternative but to be a traitor," wrote the distinguished German journalist, the late Rudolf Augstein, in a review of one of my books in the... • 07/10/11 • More...

Mutiny on the Titanic
HERE IS a story that has never been told before:

When the Titanic was well out into the Atlantic, its crew mutinied. • 01/10/11 • More...

Abu Mazen’s Gamble
A WONDERFUL SPEECH. A beautiful speech.

The language expressive and elegant. The arguments clear and convincing. The delivery flawless. • 24/09/11 • More...

Sad and Happy
“WILL THIS be the happiest day of your life?” a local interviewer asked me, referring to the approaching recognition of the State of Palestine by the UN. • 17/09/11 • More...

Daphne and Itzik
• 10/09/11 • More...

Dogs of War
Such terrifying dogs have not been seen since the Hound of the Baskervilles. • 03/09/11 • More...

To The Shores of Tripoli
• 27/08/11 • More...

The Return of the Generals
SINCE THE beginning of the conflict, the extremists of both sides have always played into each other’s hands. The cooperation between them was always much more effective than the ties between the... • 20/08/11 • More...

Dichter's Law
“THE PEOPLE Demand Social Justice!” 250 thousand protesters chanted in unison in Tel Aviv last Saturday. But what they need – to quote an American artist - is “more unemployed politicians”. • 13/08/11 • More...

“How Goodly Are Thy Tents”
FIRST OF all, a warning.

Tent cities are springing up all over Israel. A social protest movement is gathering momentum. At some point in the near future, it may endanger the right-wing government. • 06/08/11 • More...

The New Anti-Semitism
The Nazi Propaganda Minister, Dr. Joseph Goebbels, calls his boss, Adolf Hitler, by hell-phone. • 30/07/11 • More...

The Charge of the New York Times
or - Baksheesh for the Doorkeeper • 23/07/11 • More...