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Michael Livschitz
@MikeLivschitz
Writer. Israeli. IDF combat veteran with a counterterrorism background. Author of the novel Storm in the Shadow.
Joined January 2012
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I finally created a place where my fiction can live. I spent a long time wondering whether I really needed an author website, and came to the conclusion that it certainly wouldn’t hurt. I tried to make it carry the atmosphere of my work, and I paid special attention to the reading experience: I wanted the text to be read almost like a book, page by page, rather than as an endless scroll where you lose your place the moment you stop.
At the moment, the site features an excerpt from my novel Storm in the Shadow, first published in Judith Magazine, and my new short story, The Lost Watch, which I’m happy to share with you. The story is available in full. I built it almost like a miniature novel, filling it with both the protagonist’s philosophical reflections and events that unfold in Maryland. It was important to me to show what a person’s inner struggle looks like when he tries to rewrite his own fate, and I hope I managed to do that fully — and that this story will find a place in your heart.
While I continue waiting for the novel to find its home, I’ll be focusing on shorter fiction, and from time to time new stories will appear on my author website. I’d be glad if you bookmarked it and shared it with friends. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on The Lost Watch, and I hope you enjoy the reading.
I’ll leave the link to the website in the next comment. 🔗
This looks like an unequal partnership. How else can the double standards be explained? The priorities have already been set, and we can see them in action.
Donald Trump has announced that Iran was responsible for shooting down a US helicopter last night, stating that the United States must respond to the attack.
I'm confused. Just two days ago, Trump demanded that Israel refrain from retaliating against Iran because their attack resulted in zero casualties. Why is there a sudden double standard when it comes to a US response?
First and foremost, Israel is defending itself, and that is an entirely natural response to ballistic missiles launched by Iran. Everything else is secondary. Iran never intended to accept a deal in which it would have to make concessions. That is exactly why we see it sticking to the same course, one that by itself rules out any supposedly approaching peace agreement.
It was a major mistake from the start to negotiate with Iran during a ceasefire and allow it to catch its breath. Iran was given two months to recover, and during that time the sides did not move a single step closer to a deal that would satisfy the United States and Israel. Concessions from the Iranian regime can be achieved only through force and pressure. Any other method, as reality clearly shows, brings no result.
Then why even start talking about a memorandum of understanding, an MOU, when it never looked even remotely like an agreement in the first place? Everyone is well aware that after losing its top leadership, Iran will continue to play for time while rebuilding internal links and searching for solid ground. How exactly do you negotiate with a terrorist regime obsessed with obtaining nuclear weapons, a regime that has spent 47 years cultivating its proxies, waging war against Israel through them, and now actively participating itself while no longer hiding its intentions?
Iran prepared for this moment for a very long time. Its enormous arsenal of ballistic missiles speaks clearly about its intentions. If it had managed to create even one nuclear warhead, it would undoubtedly have been mounted on one of those thousands of ballistic missiles and launched at Israel. The desire to become a nuclear power is not always about gaining immunity. The Iranian regime must either capitulate or accept a deal that completely strips it of its nuclear ambitions and dismantles its ballistic missile program, which was created not for defense, but for attacking its neighbors.
Iran views peace negotiations as a sign of weakness from the West. It senses that everyone is exhausted and uses this, while also playing the Strait of Hormuz card and forcing the entire world to doubt the wisdom of a military operation against it. And as we can see, it is working, since the situation has reached this point. Now that Iran has violated the ceasefire and struck Israel with ballistic missiles because it wanted to protect its own creation, Hezbollah, do you still believe it is ready for peace?
Iran thinks in completely different categories, categories inaccessible to Western thinking. That is why there is no point in treating it as a rational party to dialogue. The starting point must be one fact alone: it is a direct and relentless threat not only to the entire region, but also to basic human values.
The Iranian regime is far too fanatical to simply sit quietly and leave everyone alone. And as you rightly pointed out, money is not what drives it. It will always find new sources of funding for its activities. Trump, meanwhile, is trying to negotiate with the Iranian regime as though it were a business partner. But the regime is not in the business of making deals. It is in the business of building an empire of evil.
Israel does not merely have the right to respond to an Iranian attack; it has a duty to do so. If Trump believes that an attempt to murder civilians with ballistic missiles can simply be swallowed in the name of diplomacy, then to hell with such diplomacy. You cannot make a lasting deal with a regime whose stated goal is the destruction of Israel. Yet some people seem to believe otherwise.
Stop “shooting”? Does this really sound like some kind of children’s game?
And on what basis is Israel being equated with Iran? Israel is acting in self-defense and protecting its people from Iranian attacks. If you want to put someone in their place, address the side with thousands of ballistic missiles and itching hands to use them because it has nothing else left. That side is Iran, and Iran alone.
The deadly threat posed by the Iranian regime is not a game. If American civilians were the ones under attack, the rhetoric would be very different, wouldn’t it?
It was a major mistake from the start to negotiate with Iran during a ceasefire and allow it to catch its breath. Iran was given two months to recover, and during that time the sides did not move a single step closer to a deal that would satisfy the United States and Israel. Concessions from the Iranian regime can be achieved only through force and pressure. Any other method, as reality clearly shows, brings no result.
Then why even start talking about a memorandum of understanding, an MOU, when it never looked even remotely like an agreement in the first place? Everyone is well aware that after losing its top leadership, Iran will continue to play for time while rebuilding internal links and searching for solid ground. How exactly do you negotiate with a terrorist regime obsessed with obtaining nuclear weapons, a regime that has spent 47 years cultivating its proxies, waging war against Israel through them, and now actively participating itself while no longer hiding its intentions?
Iran prepared for this moment for a very long time. Its enormous arsenal of ballistic missiles speaks clearly about its intentions. If it had managed to create even one nuclear warhead, it would undoubtedly have been mounted on one of those thousands of ballistic missiles and launched at Israel. The desire to become a nuclear power is not always about gaining immunity. The Iranian regime must either capitulate or accept a deal that completely strips it of its nuclear ambitions and dismantles its ballistic missile program, which was created not for defense, but for attacking its neighbors.
Iran views peace negotiations as a sign of weakness from the West. It senses that everyone is exhausted and uses this, while also playing the Strait of Hormuz card and forcing the entire world to doubt the wisdom of a military operation against it. And as we can see, it is working, since the situation has reached this point. Now that Iran has violated the ceasefire and struck Israel with ballistic missiles because it wanted to protect its own creation, Hezbollah, do you still believe it is ready for peace?
Iran thinks in completely different categories, categories inaccessible to Western thinking. That is why there is no point in treating it as a rational party to dialogue. The starting point must be one fact alone: it is a direct and relentless threat not only to the entire region, but also to basic human values.
House M.D. was extraordinary, from the casting to how carefully every character was written. You could break it down into timeless quotes, and there still wouldn’t be enough room for all of them. Charisma alone is not enough, and House M.D. had plenty of it, especially in its main character. By the way, I later came to appreciate your performance in The Night Manager from a new angle. Brilliant. But charisma alone would still not have been enough, which is why I see it as remarkable teamwork.
Of course, criticism has always existed and always will. Just as a brilliant novel is not to everyone’s taste. And as was rightly said, it simply wasn’t for you.
It was a major mistake from the start to negotiate with Iran during a ceasefire and allow it to catch its breath. Iran was given two months to recover, and during that time the sides did not move a single step closer to a deal that would satisfy the United States and Israel. Concessions from the Iranian regime can be achieved only through force and pressure. Any other method, as reality clearly shows, brings no result.
Then why even start talking about a memorandum of understanding, an MOU, when it never looked even remotely like an agreement in the first place? Everyone is well aware that after losing its top leadership, Iran will continue to play for time while rebuilding internal links and searching for solid ground. How exactly do you negotiate with a terrorist regime obsessed with obtaining nuclear weapons, a regime that has spent 47 years cultivating its proxies, waging war against Israel through them, and now actively participating itself while no longer hiding its intentions?
Iran prepared for this moment for a very long time. Its enormous arsenal of ballistic missiles speaks clearly about its intentions. If it had managed to create even one nuclear warhead, it would undoubtedly have been mounted on one of those thousands of ballistic missiles and launched at Israel. The desire to become a nuclear power is not always about gaining immunity. The Iranian regime must either capitulate or accept a deal that completely strips it of its nuclear ambitions and dismantles its ballistic missile program, which was created not for defense, but for attacking its neighbors.
Iran views peace negotiations as a sign of weakness from the West. It senses that everyone is exhausted and uses this, while also playing the Strait of Hormuz card and forcing the entire world to doubt the wisdom of a military operation against it. And as we can see, it is working, since the situation has reached this point. Now that Iran has violated the ceasefire and struck Israel with ballistic missiles because it wanted to protect its own creation, Hezbollah, do you still believe it is ready for peace?
Iran thinks in completely different categories, categories inaccessible to Western thinking. That is why there is no point in treating it as a rational party to dialogue. The starting point must be one fact alone: it is a direct and relentless threat not only to the entire region, but also to basic human values.
Israel has always been at war with varying states of intensity since its inception as a country. Always. Every generation of Israelis has lost some of their children for their national survival.
Since 1979, Iran has been an enemy. Since the early 2000s, it has been their main enemy. Everything happening since 7 October is linked to Iran. Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis, Iraqi Popular Mobilisation Forces, all of it. The category error too many people make is looking at each front in isolation due to the obsession with Gaza.
Iran’s network has been severely weakened in one regional war since 7 October. That is why Hezbollah is Tehran’s red line. They are the jewel in the crown of Iran’s network.
Whilst Israel strikes Hezbollah in Lebanon, Iran will not negotiate a permanent ceasefire because it is all one conflict. Israel cannot stop striking Hezbollah, because Hezbollah keeps firing into N Israel and those communities cannot live in safety.
Therefore: either Trump secures concessions from Hezbollah not to fire at Israel, which will be linked to the US/Israel not firing at Iran, there is no way out of this. If the US escalates back to striking Iran directly, Iran will resume strikes on the Gulf states. This is a near impossible circle to close, and in the meantime, the world economy circles the drain as global oil prices skyrocket when reserves run out.
If Trump can only get a ceasefire by ordering Israel to stop strikes in Lebanon, then Jerusalem has an existential decision to make.
There is no good or easy way out of this, but if you don’t see Gaza, Lebanon and Iran as all linked for the last two years, you cannot understand the whole problem.
@AkaLazarus If American citizens were the ones under attack, Trump would crush the enemy without hesitation.
If ballistic missiles from Iran were regularly falling on Washington or Los Angeles, Trump would not be calling for patience or urging everyone to return to the negotiating table. The response would be swift, harsh, and uncompromising. Yet when it comes to Israel, suddenly patience becomes an option.
What kind of good deal can there be when the Iranian regime directly supports Hezbollah and enables its attacks on Israel? That support has now culminated in the launch of ballistic missiles against Israel.
Israel does not merely have the right to respond to an Iranian attack; it has a duty to do so. If Trump believes that an attempt to murder civilians with ballistic missiles can simply be swallowed in the name of diplomacy, then to hell with such diplomacy. You cannot make a lasting deal with a regime whose stated goal is the destruction of Israel. Yet some people seem to believe otherwise.
@joelpollak Israel must respond. Iran launched ballistic missiles, yet Trump seems to be treating it like a game.
Israel does not merely have the right to respond to an Iranian attack; it has a duty to do so. If Trump believes that an attempt to murder civilians with ballistic missiles can simply be swallowed in the name of diplomacy, then to hell with such diplomacy. You cannot make a lasting deal with a regime whose stated goal is the destruction of Israel. Yet some people seem to believe otherwise.
As long as Iran possesses a stockpile of ballistic missiles, it will remain a threat. The latest missile attack on Israel is proof enough of that. No one should be under any illusion that the Iranian regime is seeking peace.
🚨 Israel intercepts Iranian ballistic missiles currently being launched towards its borders as sirens blare throughout the northern regions of the country
When an Arab from the territories carries out a terrorist attack, the army demolishes the family home as a deterrent, to make sure others think twice before following the same path. At the same time, the terrorist’s family often takes pride in his actions, while payments for attacks have historically been provided through PLO-linked mechanisms.
But when the terrorist is an Israeli Arab citizen, as happened today, the picture becomes far less clear. The family is unlikely to face any direct consequences for what happened. Yet it is obvious that a person who commits such an attack did not become radicalized in a vacuum. More often than not, the environment in which he was raised played a role in shaping his worldview. This raises a difficult question that goes directly to the security of Israeli citizens: how should a society confront domestic terrorism, and how should it deal with citizens who use the rights and protections of the state while rejecting its legitimacy and supporting violence against its people?
https://t.co/AgPN6pD5SP
This story is set not in Israel this time, but in Maryland. Still, it is filled with personal experience and returns to some of the same questions I explored in Storm in the Shadow. To enter the world of the protagonist and see reality through his eyes is a different kind of journey, one that may allow familiar things to appear from a new angle.
Opening of The Lost Watch:
The second hand crawled slowly across the face of the battered alarm clock, once entirely black, sometimes pausing for an unreasonably long time before the next loud click in the silence, a sound that seemed to embody both the moment that had just passed and the one about to begin. The echo spread through the darkened room. Thick, dusty curtains barely let in the predawn light from the window, down whose surface raindrops slid with a barely visible will of their own, as if compelled by universal gravity, leaving crooked, half-drawn trails behind them.
Jack sat frozen on the edge of the bed, his legs hanging down, unable to tear his eyes from the clock on the nightstand half a meter away. He looked like an ungainly mannequin, a silhouette that might have terrified an outside observer had one suddenly found himself in that godforsaken, cramped room. Jack had no idea why the stupor would not pass. His thoughts tangled, slipped away, and a hopeless emptiness filled his eyes. His spine jutted like a knotted rope from his scarred, lean, hunched back, while his thin arms pressed their palms into the mattress, which his fingers gripped with a nervous, convulsive force.
A sharp knock at the door made him come to and turn his head toward the sound. Only after the knocking grew more insistent and impatient did he reluctantly pull his gaze from the alarm clock—the hands pointed to 4:14 a.m.—and rise to his feet with an unhealthy crack in his knees. Without making a sound, he moved toward the front door, automatically grabbing the gray sleeveless T-shirt hanging over the back of a chair and pulling it on as he walked. The tall mirror in the hallway snatched from the darkness the red lips and extended tongue emblazoned across his chest before he touched the key in the lock.
The full story is available through the link in the next comment.
All the observations you made in your open letter to Elon Musk are valid. More than that, you exposed only the tip of the iceberg. The saddest part is that followers no longer have a real chance to regularly see posts from the people they follow. As a result, engagement has fallen to a record low.
Creating on X and sharing your views with your own audience now feels like writing in a private diary: no one will see it, and no one will read it. We are being told to accept a different explanation — that we simply need to write better, produce higher-quality posts, or create more engaging content. But that sounds absurd when we are talking about serious analytical publications. It was different before. Discussions used to erupt under every post.
@AkaLazarus He deserved such a farewell, and his memory will live on in the hearts of many.
I am sharing the words of my brother, who attended Pavel’s funeral today:
“I was at the military cemetery today.
The funeral was conducted with full military honors. There were many soldiers present, as well as numerous high-ranking officers. At least 20 to 25 conscript soldiers were brought in to organize the ceremony. All were wearing their dress uniforms, Alef uniforms, with their berets on.
As it turned out, Pavel was doing reserve duty in the same brigade where I served with him during our mandatory service — the 460th Armored Brigade. The entire site was decorated with the brigade’s insignia and flags.
At military ceremonies, burial is customarily done in coffins. The coffin was draped in the Israeli flag and carried on the shoulders of six soldiers.
About ten more soldiers stood in formation in two rows with rifles, commanded by the unit’s Rasar, a senior NCO. Speeches were delivered and prayers were recited. At the end of the ceremony, soldiers carried wreaths. The soldiers standing in formation fired several ceremonial volleys into the air.
May his memory be blessed. He was a very kind man, ready to help at any moment. Everyone loved him.”
We have lost a friend. It is hard to believe he is gone. He was only 47. In our time, that is no age at all. He was on reserve duty when he suddenly felt unwell. Sadly, by the time he was brought to the hospital, they could no longer save him.
Pavel was kind, cheerful, and always ready to help. One of his defining qualities was his selflessness, which quietly won over everyone who knew him. He served with my brother, I worked side by side with him, and I am proud to have known him and to have had him in our lives.
My sincere condolences to his family. May his memory be blessed. 🕯️💔
@MummyisT Thank you!
We have lost a friend. It is hard to believe he is gone. He was only 47. In our time, that is no age at all. He was on reserve duty when he suddenly felt unwell. Sadly, by the time he was brought to the hospital, they could no longer save him.
Pavel was kind, cheerful, and always ready to help. One of his defining qualities was his selflessness, which quietly won over everyone who knew him. He served with my brother, I worked side by side with him, and I am proud to have known him and to have had him in our lives.
My sincere condolences to his family. May his memory be blessed. 🕯️💔
I am sharing the words of my brother, who attended Pavel’s funeral today:
I am sharing the words of my brother, who attended Pavel’s funeral today:
“I was at the military cemetery today.
The funeral was conducted with full military honors. There were many soldiers present, as well as numerous high-ranking officers. At least 20 to 25 conscript soldiers were brought in to organize the ceremony. All were wearing their dress uniforms, Alef uniforms, with their berets on.
As it turned out, Pavel was doing reserve duty in the same brigade where I served with him during our mandatory service — the 460th Armored Brigade. The entire site was decorated with the brigade’s insignia and flags.
At military ceremonies, burial is customarily done in coffins. The coffin was draped in the Israeli flag and carried on the shoulders of six soldiers.
About ten more soldiers stood in formation in two rows with rifles, commanded by the unit’s Rasar, a senior NCO. Speeches were delivered and prayers were recited. At the end of the ceremony, soldiers carried wreaths. The soldiers standing in formation fired several ceremonial volleys into the air.
May his memory be blessed. He was a very kind man, ready to help at any moment. Everyone loved him.”
@AkaLazarus Thank you, Leslie! I truly appreciate your support.
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