The Fifth Question - Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper

by Mira Sucharov

Confronting the psychological costs of the occupation

Psychoactive, a group of Israeli mental health professionals, seeks to increase awareness around topics that are often seen as taboo, such as the mental health effects of occupation on Israeli soldiers and the psychological barriers to peace.

By Mira Sucharov | May 17, 2013 | 09:03 PM | 6

A portion of the wall that runs parallel to route 443, near Maccabim-Reut

Israel U.S. Jewish Americans May 22, 2011

Diaspora Jews can love Israel, and also help right its wrongs

This Rosh Hashanah, let’s whisper not only the many sweet nothings we’re moved to utter when we think about the Tel Aviv surf, the sun glinting off the Jerusalem stones, the music of Shlomo Artzi and Idan Raichel, and the heady kibbutz memories that many of us treasure, but also the hard truths that need to be told.

By Mira Sucharov | Sep 6, 2012 | 10:04 AM

Yiddish-style curses as a tool for political debate on U.S. elections

The creators of the new Yiddish Curses for Republican Jews website hope to invoke serious political debate against the background of the Jewish experience.

By Mira Sucharov | Aug 31, 2012 | 12:49 AM

In Israeli and Jewish politics, turning love and hate on their heads is just what we need

How Internet-meme campaigns are reshaping Jewish discourse in Israel and beyond.

By Mira Sucharov | Aug 25, 2012 | 05:56 AM

Marvin Hamlisch, a Broadway composer with a Hasidic soul

Hamlisch taught us that beauty can be discovered if we shut our eyes and listen closely.

By Mira Sucharov | Aug 10, 2012 | 08:51 PM

Debunking the Palestinian claim that a moment of silence for Munich victims is 'racist'

The Palestinian refusal to support a moment of silence for the 11 slain Israeli athletes from the 1972 Munich Olympics under grounds that it is 'racist' prompts laughter of the tragic sort.

By Mira Sucharov | Jul 27, 2012 | 08:14 PM | 10

BDS supporters can’t decide on what the endgame is

The settlement boycotters have to speak up more clearly and forcefully, with more liberal Zionist organizations jumping aboard.

By Mira Sucharov | Jul 13, 2012 | 01:41 PM | 6

Want to forget the occupation? End it

It’s easy to forget about the occupation, when we pass right by the new housing units designated for the members of the Ulpana evacuation, just down the hill from their old apartments, the emerald green adhesive wrapping on the prefab walls still intact.

By Mira Sucharov | Jun 29, 2012 | 10:01 AM | 4

Mudslinging over Israel's 'pinkwashing' obscures the real solutions

Activists should be fighting for LGBTQ equality as if there was no Israeli occupation, and fighting the occupation whether or not officials use Israel’s LGBTQ record as a public relations tactic.

By Mira Sucharov | Jun 14, 2012 | 11:20 PM

We are all the American Jewish establishment

If you still don’t think you are part of the Establishment, maybe it’s time to take the Establishment back. These are not smoky back rooms with secret membership lists.

By Mira Sucharov | May 31, 2012 | 04:59 PM | 28

Israel should listen to Shimon Peres - and look in the mirror

'You know when civilization began?' President Peres asked guests gathered in Ottawa. 'With the invention of the mirror.'

By Mira Sucharov | May 17, 2012 | 08:00 PM

About this blog

Mira Sucharov is Associate Professor of Political Science and Assistant Dean, Faculty of Public Affairs, at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. A child of the 70s and 80s in two tight-knit Canadian Jewish communities, Mira wrestles with the role of tradition in light of contemporary values, the links between narratives and identity, and the Diaspora relationship with Israel. She is the author of The International Self: Psychoanalysis and the Search for Israeli-Palestinian Peace (SUNY Press), and is a 2010 recipient of a Rockower Award for Excellence in Jewish Journalism. She is currently writing a book on nostalgia and political change.