Perhaps someone forgot that Rothschild blvd used to be Rehov Ha'Am: The People's Street, before it was renamed after the tycoon, an irony that seemed to come full circle in that humid summer.
What Israel badly needs is genuine political leadership of the sort that doesn’t shy away from speaking truth to power. So how did it do in the elections?
As of December 2012, there were over 4,000 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli custody. The year ended in frustration for many prisoners as interest in their plight has waned, both in the international media and in Palestinian society.
As Israelis go the polls on 22 January, Israeli democracy is in real trouble. At least that’s the message from a group of Israeli security mandarins at the centre of the Oscar-nominated documentary film The Gatekeepers.
To really make schools safe, we’d have to turn them into fortified enclaves, with perimeters of concrete, sandbags at the entrance, and a well trained team of alert, heavily-armed, and strongly-defended infantry.
The peace process has become the number one enemy of a just and lasting solution.
The United States and Israel see armed drones as a valuable tool of "remote control". But Iran, China and Russia - and non-state actors - are working to achieve their own capacity. The emerging era is one of drone proliferation.
The latest war over Gaza leaves unchanged the underlying roots of conflict, even as regional changes are narrowing the potential for a long-term settlement.
The agreement has left out some issues essential for ending the suffering of the Palestinians.
