Israel Shamir

Israel Shamir was born Izrail Schmerler in Novosibirsk, Siberia, in 1947, to Jewish parents. Later on he taught mathematics and law at Novosibirsk University. He moved to Israel in 1969, served as paratrooper in the Israel Defense Forces, and fought in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. After the war he returned to his study of law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, but then abandoned this in favour of a career in journalism. In 1984 Shamir left Israel and moved to Sweden, where he was naturalized in 1992. Ever since he has been at various times a resident of Russia, Israel and Sweden. In 2004 Shamir was baptized into the Greek Orthodox Church.

Shamir’s writing focuses on the plight of the Palestinians, hence he is by necessity a devoted anti-Zionist. He has also frequently spoken out in defense of revisionism and the revisionists’ right to freedom of expression.

The Teheran Holocaust Conference caused quite a storm in the world media. One might ask: what's so special about that? There are so many holocaust events and holocaust museums and holocaust festivals, sometimes attracting presidents and prime ministers galore, so why did the Teheran (or Tehran) conference draw so much …

March 14, 2001 Folk stories about vampires provide readers with various remedies to the calamity of a ghoulish attack. A fistful of graveyard dirt is favoured, garlic is beneficial, and the cross is most efficient. But these remedies don't always work. In Roman Polanski's hilarious horror comedy, "The Fearless Vampire …

February 4, 2001 "If the Jewish media lords cheat you about Palestine, why do you think they are honest in any other way?" —Israel Shamir, "Joseph Revisited," March 3, 2001 While walking by the Tel Aviv seashore promenade, I was approached by a slick blond guy who invited me to …

March 3, 2001 "If the Jewish media lords cheat you about Palestine, why do you think they are honest in any other way?" —Israel Shamir, "Joseph Revisited," March 3, 2001 It is not easy to visit Joseph these days. Roadblocks manned by nervous Israeli soldiers have surrounded his city of …

February 25, 2001 When in 1543, the typhoon-blown Portuguese schooners approached the shores of Japan, the astonished sailors could not believe their eyes: on a warm spring day, the tropical island ahoy was buried under snow. They were witness to one of the real Seven Wonders of the World, the …

Jaffa, 17.2.2001 After the last episode of the 'Fateful Elections', the actors amiably shared the trophies backstage. The muse of Israeli politics, like Coca-Cola, wishes to please everybody. Whoever thought that Barak was the best candidate, will be pleased to have him back in power as the Minister of Defense. …

January 27, 2001 The touching words of Elie Wiesel (Jerusalem in My Heart, NYT 1/25/2001) painted a beautiful portrait of the Jewish people, yearning for Jerusalem, loving and praying for it over the centuries and cherishing its name from generation to generation. This potent image reminded me, an Israeli writer …

In the merry nights of Tel Aviv, amid the colorful idlers at Allenby, in overflowing restaurants, where crowds of content Israelis leisurely take their relaxation, I see the camouflaged angel writing three words on the wall: "Mene tekel ufarsin." My Angel-Russian dictionary translates these words as follows: "We have tried …

Vampire Killers Folk stories about vampires provide readers with various remedies to the calamity of a ghoulish attack. A fistful of graveyard dirt is favored, garlic is beneficial, and the cross is most efficient. But these remedies don't always work. In Roman Polansky's hilarious horror comedy The Fearless Vampire Killers, …

Children of a Lesser God In Berlin, the high and mighty, including U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, German President Johannes Rau and Israel's president, Moshe Katsav, gathered for a Conference of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) dedicated to the struggle against anti-Semitism. They proclaimed that …