Ron Kronish, at The Blogs

Apr 17, 2024, 10:27 AM

Sanity must prevail: Restraint is needed now, more than ever

Iranian missiles launched against Israel, courtesy of Wikicommons images

Only a few days after the miracle of the defense against more than 300 Iranian drones and missiles shot into Israel, accomplished by the Israel Air Force in coordination with the USA, France, England, Jordan and other countries, I...

Apr 15, 2024, 1:23 PM

Envisioning freedom this year on Passover

Matzo Crackers with chalice. Still Life with copy space

This is the bread of poverty and persecution that our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt. Let all who are hungry come and eat. Let all who are in need come and share the Pesach meal. This year we are still...

Mar 27, 2024, 9:15 AM

Bibi’s bedfellows in sacrificing the hostages and pursuing “total war”

wiki commons images. The Kidnapped and Missing Square in the plaza of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art

The war of the Israel Defense Forces against the mini-army of Hamas has been going on for more than five months in the Gaza Strip. It was launched on the day after massive attacks and atrocities committed by Hamas...

Mar 20, 2024, 7:25 PM

Ten reasons for a cease-fire and a deal for the return of the hostages

We need a cease-fire to get the hostages home right away (in exchange for lots of Palestinian prisoners!) This is the highest priority in Israeli society today. However, the current government favors the ongoing war rather than a...

Mar 12, 2024, 6:19 PM

Is Peace between Israelis and Palestinians Possible?

Last month I gave three talks in the USA about the situation in Israel and Gaza and I was often asked: Is there any hope for peace between Israelis and Palestinians? I was also asked: why talk about peace,...

Jan 24, 2024, 1:03 PM

The Dilemma of the Double Narrative in Israel and Palestine (and beyond)

Photo of olive branch for cover of Profiles in Peace by Ron Kronish. Courtesy of Sari Kronish

Several years ago — in the days when I was still working at the Director of the Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel — I was responsible for many dialogue groups that took place between Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs...

Jan 7, 2024, 2:31 PM

Have the hostages been sacrificed in favor of the war (and other questions)?

More than five weeks have gone by since the last hostage exchange. During the week of November 24 - December 1, 2023, 105 Israelis, Jews and Muslims (Bedouin) and foreign nationals working in Israel (mostly from Thailand), were redeemed...

Dec 13, 2023, 6:53 PM

Not by might and not by power: Is there another way?

לֹ֤א בְחַ֙יִל֙ וְלֹ֣א בְכֹ֔חַ כִּ֣י אִם־בְּרוּחִ֔י אָמַ֖ר יְהֹוָ֥ה צְבָאֽוֹת׃ Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit —said GOD of Hosts. Zecharia 4:6 This past shabbat we read this verse from the prophet Zechariah on Shabbat Hanukkah. It seems...

Nov 29, 2023, 7:24 PM

Reconciliation in the Torah and in our time

Rubens, Reconciliation of Jacob and Esau, wikicommons

The violence which we are witnessing between the Israel Defense Forces and the militias of Hamas in recent weeks is not new to the land of the Bible. The book of Genesis is full of such violent stories. On...

Nov 21, 2023, 1:10 AM

Did Hamas kill the peace process? Or maybe it will restart after this war?

In memory of Vivian Silver Last Thursday, my wife and I attended the funeral of friend, colleague and peace activist Vivian Silver at Kibbutz Gezer in central Israel, along with over one thousand other friends, family and well-wishers. I dedicate...

About Me

Rabbi Dr Ron Kronish is the Founding Director the Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel (ICCI), which he directed for 25 years. Now retired, he is an independent educator, author, lecturer, writer, speaker, blogger and consultant. He is the editor of 5 books, including Coexistence and Reconciliation in Israel--Voices for Interreligious Dialogue (Paulist Press, 2015). His new book, The Other Peace Process: Interreligious Dialogue, a View from Jerusalem, was published by Hamilton Books, an imprint of Rowman and LIttelfield, in September 2017. He recently (September 2022) published a new book about peacebuilders in Israel and Palestine entitled Profiles in Peace: Voices of Peacebuilders in the midst of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, which is available on Amazon Books, Barnes and Noble and the Book Depository websites,