A Daily Analysis
By Marc Schulman

August 14 , 2007 Miscalcultzia a New Hebrew Word

Once again, the major topic of discussion in Israel was the possibility of war with Syria. Both Olmert and Barak visited the Northern command today. Both made it clear that nothing should be done that might lead the Syrians to think Israel was planning to attack. On the other side, the Syrian Foreign Minister stated today that his government has no intention of trying to regain the Golan Heights by military means. Despite all this talk, observers are now saying that after tensions went down in July, now they have gone up.

Frankly, itŐs hard to tell what is real and what is not. The only thing I know for sure is that a new word was added to the Hebrew language "Miscalcultzia" ... meaning a war that could be started by miscalculation.


Today, former Prime Minister Netanyahu won the Likud Primaries against Moshe Feiglen. While he won, with nearly 73% of the vote, the entire primary process and NetanyahuŐs last minute frantic campaign against Feiglen has only weakened Netanyahu. Netanyahu precipitated the primary in order to strengthen himself. However, the process has led many observers to question NetanyahuŐs political judgment. Often in his political career Netanyahu has been his own worst enemy.