Vicentka vs Garbage Water

The accompanying illustration from Helen Oyeyemi's recently published short story Vicentka vs Garbage Water. The story describes a chance encounter between two individuals at a tram stop on a cold winter night in Prague.

Lehel Kovács

Boulevard de la Madeleine in Winter

Late 19th century Parisian winter scenes as depicted by Fuato Giusto. A Morris column on the left can be seen along Boulevard de la Madeleine as pedestrians on foot and horse drawn passengers pass by.

Fausto Giusto

Christmas Eve in Milan - 12/24/21

Christmas revelers stroll along Milan's Corso Vittorio Emanuele II with the iconic Duomo gothic cathedral in the background. 

Luca Bruno/AP

Old City J'lem - 12/23/21

Jerusalemites congregate in the Christian Quarter of the Old City as the holiday season kicks into gear and Christmas approaches. 

Amit Elkayam/NYT

Night Shift, Binyamin Regional Council - 12/22/21

IDF forces on the scene after an attempted shooting attack in the Binyamin regional council just outside of Ramallah in the late hours of the evening of December 22nd. The attacker was neutralized with no Israeli injuries.

Kan

Kamianets-Podilskyi Castle

The medieval fortress at Kamianets-Podilskyi in western Ukraine. The former Ruthenian-Luthuanian castle was also a prominent Polish fortress. It is located in the historic region of Podolia. This picture just represents everything I love about winter. The history is particularly fascinating as well.

Стара_фортеця

Stormy J'lem 12/20/21

Pedestrians cross Rehov Yafo in Jerusalem amidst heavy rainfall during winter storm Carmel. The Golan Heights received over 81 mm in rainfall as well as some snow on Mount Hermon.

Kan

Chez Tartar

Night stroll in Les Batignolles, 17th arrondissement, Paris.

October '21

 JGZ

Tube 12/13/21

 Commuters on the tube in London.

Daniel Leale/AFP/Getty-Images

London 12/11/21

Restaurant patrons and pedestrians in London's Leadenhall Market. The British government has announced increased Covid measures and an expedited vaccine booster campaign aimed to tackle the spread of the Omicron variant during the winter holiday season.

Alex Ingram/NYT

Tmol Shilshom

Below is a photo from the current exhibition at Tmol Shilshom, one of Jerusalem's most iconic and atmospheric cafes. The curators of the exhibit designed and created cut out photos, objects, scribblings, and other objects to display the history of the cafe and Jerusalem's intertwined wider literary culture. Tmol Shilshom is located in the Nahalat Shiva neighborhood of West Jerusalem, tucked away in a small alleyway off bustling Rehov Yafo. It has long been home to many prominent writers and artists in the city. Among them, Aharon Appelfeld, Yehuda Amichai, and S.Y Agnon. Like former long forgotten cafes such as Cafe Atara, Cafe Alaska, and Nitzan Cafe, there still exists the recreated atmosphere of European coffeehouses that were so influential to past Jewish writers. The exhibit will be in place until December 31st.

Jessica Steinberg/Times of Israel

Ukraine Defends - 12/9/21

Soldiers of the Ukrainian army's 25th Airborne Brigade patrol in the eastern city of Avdiivka in Donetsk Oblast. In recent weeks, Ukraine's armed forces have been on the highest alert as Russian military units have mobilized in mass on the border, sparking fears of an imminent invasion. For nearly eight years, Ukrainian soldiers have fought insurgency battles with Russian backed separatist forces in the eastern region of the country.

Brendan Hoffman/NYT

Yuri Felsen - Republished

Yuri Felsen (born: Nikolai Freudenstein), pictured on the top row, sixth from the left, is seen with a group of literary colleagues from the Paris-based émigré journal Chisla. Felsen, who died in 1943 at Auschwitz, will be published in English for the first time ever. His work, which had been long forgotten and is still essentially unknown, will now be shared with a wide international audience. 

Felsen's 1930 novel, Deceit, which was originally published only in Russian, details the unnamed narrator's experiences in Paris during the inter-war period in diary form. It largely centers on his troubled relationship with his love interest, Lyolya. Felsen has been praised as "The Russian Proust."   

Prototype Publishing

Jessica McClintock

 1930 - 2021

Roger Ressmeyer/Corbis/VCG/Getty Images

Arc de Triomphe

Panoramic view from the top of Paris's Arc de Triomphe looking southwards towards the Eiffel Tower in the distance.

Andrea Mantovani NYT

TLV 2021

For the first time, Tel Aviv was named as the world's most expensive city according to The Economist. Tel Aviv has long been known for its high cost of living, especially within that past decade plus, however it had yet to take the top spot on annual rankings until now. Much of the city's high cost, as well as that of Israel overall, can be chalked up to the country's "island economy" and the increased prices of groceries and transportation as well as continuously high import costs.

Photo: Aerial view of a section of the Ayalon Highway, which runs between Tel Aviv and Ramat Gan.

Matanya Tausig/Flash 90

Champs-Élysées 2030

The new-look Avenue des Champs-Élysées under the proposed Green development plan for the city of Paris to be completed by 2030.

PCA - Stream

Green Plan - Paris

Paris is gearing up to become one of the world's greenest cities by 2030. As it stands, green spaces make up just over 9% of municipal Paris. By comparison, green spaces in London cover 33% of the city's territory. However, under mayor Anne Hidalgo's ambitious plan, Paris will see the development of 'urban forests' and new green spaces that will transform historical landmarks such as the Hotel de Ville, as seen below, as well as the Avenue Champs-Elysees. While Paris still has incredible parks such as Parc des Buttes-Chaumont and Parc Monceau, this development plan will radically enhance the city's livability and bring allow it to claim the title of one of the world's greenest major cities.

Apur/Celine Orshinger

Birobizhan

Birobizhan train station

Rosella Tercatin/Times of Israel

Les Batignolles - 10/30/21

Early evening scene in the heart of Les Batignolles in Paris's 17th arrondissement. This photo was taken outside L'Endroit just across from the Église Sainte-Marie des Batignolles. Even after a long and exhausting day having gone on little sleep, I managed to spend a good portion of the evening hours exploring the neighborhood before heading back towards the flat off Rue de Levis. There is an invisible boundary between Plaine Monteau and Les Batignolles, which becomes increasingly hard to delineate as you walk up from the Villiers metro and move into the pedestrianized market of Rue de Levis. It was only when I walked eastward on Rue Legendre and crossed over the railway tracks did I finally realize I was now in Les Batignolles. The area still has the feel of being somewhat like a village, which has retained a quiet and local pace. Given its location in the upper west quadrant of the city, I genuinely felt like I was away from the hustle and bustle of central Paris while still being in the heart of a distinctly Parisian neighborhood. Given that I'm still in need of catching up on sleep, I'll add more in a bit more detail about some of my recent Parisian wanderings and explorations throughout October and November. 

J Ginz (Yours truly)

Paris November '21

It's been nearly two weeks since I returned from Paris, and not surprisingly, I am already missing everything about being there. The cafes, the night walks, the heaps of autumn leaves, the list goes on. I'll have more to write soon, but here is one recent photo taken along Boulevard Pereire in the 17e.

J Ginz

Poland - Belarus Migrant Crisis

The actions of Belarussian leader Alexander Lukashenko, the last dictator in Europe and the Kremlin's closest ally, should not be a surprise. The scenes of desperate Middle Eastern migrants, including women and children, huddling in the cold in the heavy forests along the Belarussian and Polish borders are hard to witness. However, this is an entirely manufactured and cynical human trafficking ordeal that is being done for the most cynical political reasons by Alexander Lukashenko in his attempts to destabilize the EU. For all of the conflict that Poland has had with EU bureaucrats in Brussels over the past few years, it is telling that the EU is nonetheless standing behind Poland in support of the nation's own territorial integrity and border security. The days of open borders into the EU such as was essentially the case during the great migrant wave of 2015 is now over. Poland is a sovereign nation and has the right to defend itself and to ensure its own border security.

Lukashenko was behind what was in essence a state-sanctioned hijacking in May when a dissident was seized after a RyanAir flight was forced to divert to Mink, and now we are seeing state-sanctioned human trafficking on large and organized scale. I feel terribly for the innocent people caught up in this mess, but there will likely be no simple or easy solution to this crisis.

Below: Migrants warm themselves by a fire in the border region near Grodno, Belarus.

 Leonid Shcheglov BelTA, AP

Square des Batignolles

Square des Batignolles in Paris's 17th arrondissement. The square, which is more a public park than anything, is similar to Parc Monceau in its unique and traditional "English garden style."

 

Alamy

Une soirée au Pré Catelan

An Evening at Pre-Catalan by Henri Alexandre Gervex. 1909.

Painted to depict an evening scene within Paris's Bois de Boulogne. 

Wikicommons

Silverview

Nearly ten months after his death, John le Carre's final posthumous novel is being published. He left his devoted readers one last gem. Can't wait for this.

Kyiv - Sept '21

 A couple is seen on the steps of a building outside the Grails Bar in the Podil District of Kyiv.

Rosa Lyster/NYT

St. Isaac's Cathedral

 St. Isaac's Cathedral in the heart of St. Petersburg, Russia.

Anton Vaganov/Reuters

Autumn in Moscow

A street car passes through Sokolniki Park in northeastern Moscow.

October 3rd, 2021

Valery Shalifulin/TASS

: Valery Sharifulin/TASS

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Arc de Triomphe

The Arce de Triomphe in Paris last week. The world renowned landmark was illuminated and draped in silver wrapping as part of the the current art exhibition by Christo and Jean-Claude.

JD Autessier/Avalon

Giants - Saints, 10/3/21

That was a quality win. After another roller coaster game to start the season, it's quite satisfying when the pendulum finally swings your way. Daniel Jones, Barkley, and the entire team for that matter, deserve all the credit for staying composed and pulling out such a great comeback win.

Below: Saquan Barkley celebrates after scoring the game winning touchdown against the Saints in overtime.

Getty Images

Le Meurice, Paris

Rooftop view from Le Meurice hotel on Rue de Rivoli in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. Directly across from the hotel is the Jardin de Tuileries.

Standard

Granta 156

 Kaitlin Maxwell self-portrait on the cover of Granta 156.

PSG - Man City 9/28/21

 Can't lie. Seeing this trio together on the pitch is still just really exciting.

Alain Jocardi/AFP

Messi PSG

Champion's League nights are now feeling a little bit different in Paris.

Ian Langson/EPA via Shutterstock

48 Years On

Leonard Cohen performs for IDF troops in the Sinai Peninsula during the Yom Kippur War of October 1973. After the initial surprise attack on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar by the combined Arab armies of Egypt and Syria, IDF forces struck back on both the northern and southern fronts to turn the tide of the war. After heavy initial losses, Israeli forces crossed the Suez Canal and had reached within 100 km of Cairo. On the northern front, after advancing past the Golan Heights, the IDF also reached within 30 km of Damascus and had begun to shell the outskirts of the Syrian capital. 

Ron Ilan/IDF

NH

Hippy squats. Notting Hill, West London.

1975

Victor de Schwanberg/Alamy

Never Forget

Twenty years on. Still at a loss of words to describe my feelings from that day when I woke up as a teenager in the suburbs New York to a world that would be forever changed. We will never forgot.

Ruth Fremson/NYT

Game Over

Four out of the six escaped terrorists who escaped from Gilboa prison in Israel this week have now been captured, this includes the notorious Zakaria Zubeidi. Israeli security forces have concluded that they did not receive outside assistance in their escape from prison. 

Israel Police/AP

The Manhunt Continues

Just by chance, I have been thinking a lot about the Second Intifada lately and the traumatic collective memory it has left on countless Israelis who lived through it, myself included. I chalk this up to having finished one of the last chapters in Ronen Bergmen's Rise and Kill First about the IDF and Shabak's efforts to destroy the Palestinian terror infrastructure during the Second Intifada in the early 2000s. The events since the beginning of this week have demonstrated that even old memories are still never far behind.

The prisoners who escaped from Gilboa Prison in Northern Israel on Monday are still on the run. The connection to the Second Intifada is direct. The incident is hugely embarrassing for Israel's security services, especially considering that there are rumors of complicity among prison staff at Gilboa.

Zakaria Zubeidi in the West Bank in 2004. AP/Nasser Nasser

Among the escapees are Zakaria Zubeidi, the former leader of Fatah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group. The remaining six suspects are members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad. All have been convicted of leading and taking part in terror attacks that murdered innocent Israeli women, children, and men. 

Zubeidi was an infamous figure during the Second Intifada, but his name has long faded from the headlines. Until now. If anyone can be considered a folk hero among Palestinians, it is him. It's too early to say how the rest of this incident will unfold and what may happen in the West Bank, Jerusalem, and Gaza over the coming days and weeks. However, one thing is clear, support for popular Palestinian resistance is strong. The PA is being forced to walk a very tight line between standing in solidarity with the escapees and refusing to work with Israel to help capture them. This is at risk of upsetting the Palestinian street, who are strongly behind the escaped fugitives. However, as much as the PA does not want to be seen as collaborating with Israel, any widespread unrest or increase in violence in the West Bank will likely not work to their favor. For the Israeli government, they can only hope to recapture the escapees as soon as possible.

Old City Walls

A view from outside of the Old City walls along the way towards Jaffa Gate.

Sharon Gabay

Magav Officers in Nu'ara 9/7/21

Israeli Magav officers take part in the search for six Palestinian prisoners in the village of Na'ura in northern Israeli. The prisoners escaped from Gilboa prison on Monday, which has resulted in the largest manhunt in the country in recent years. Among the escaped prisoners are convicted terrorists including Zakaria Zubeidi, the former leader of Fatah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, and members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Magav officers in Nu'ara. Flash 90

 

Operation Defensive Shield 2002

IDF soldiers operate in the back alleys of Tulkarem during Operation Defensive Shield in April 2002. The operation was launched to in the aftermath of a series of horrific Palestinian suicide terror attacks aimed to destroy terror networks and infrastructure in the West Bank.

 רענן כהן/דובר צה"ל

Romain Gary

Romain Gary, novelist and former fighter pilot, is pictured in the uniform of the Free French Air Forces during the Second World War.

Les Piaules

 Les Piaules rooftop view over Place de la Nation in Paris.

Booking

The Last American in Afghanistan 8/30/21

This is the image capture released by US Central Command of Maj. Gen Chris Donahue, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, XVIII Airborne Corps, boarding a C-17 cargo plane at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. He is the last American soldier to leave Afghanistan after nearly twenty years of war.

US Cent Com/AP

Moshe Dayan

 Moshe Dayan as IDF Chief of Staff.

Getty Images

Afghanistan 8/24/21

Soldiers guard the perimeter of Hamid Karzai airport in Kabul as rescue flights continue to take off from Afghanistan. President Biden announced today that over 70,000 people have been airlifted out of the war-torn country since the complete Taliban takeover on August 15th. However, President Biden doubled down and declared that the United States was ready and on pace to meet the August 31st withdrawal deadline from the country.

NY Times

Ghazni City

A Taliban fighter stands outside the Governor's House in Ghazni City following the capture of the area earlier this month.

EPA

Nightfall in Kabul 8/22/21

 Nightfall in Kabul at the end of one of the longest and most arduous weeks in recent memory.

Victor J Blue/NYT

Jerusalem Fire 8/16/21

An Israeli firefighting plane douses the surrounding hillside of Jerusalem after a major forest fire engulfed the area. Numerous homes have been evacuated and the Israeli government has reached out to European partners for assistance in controlling the massive blaze. Fire and Rescue commissioner Dedi Simchi described the fire as largest in Israel since the 2010 Carmel forest fires. Nearly 5,000 acres of forest have been engulfed within the past 48 hours. Arson or human neglect are the suspected causes of the blaze.

Olivier Fitoussi/Flash 90