Barry Rubin, a true scholar and wonderful man, passed away this morning after a battle with cancer. He was 64.
Barry was a staunch defender of Israel. His writings were accurate, clear and powerful. He didn't mince words.
Rubin was also the director of the Gloria Center in Israel. Last year, I believe after his diagnosis, Rubin did the unthinkable - he placed 13 of his books on the website of the Gloria Center to be freely downloaded.
Just looking over some of the older articles I've quoted from him on this blog over the years shows that they haven't aged at all - they are all still spot on in their analysis.
I had the privilege of meeting Barry a few years ago in Tel Aviv, and he was just as nice a man in person as he was formidable in his writings.
A long time ago, I wrote what I thought was a piercing analysis of Syria. After I posted it, I sent a copy to Barry, since he has written a book I admired on the topic. Within a half hour, he responded with a devastating fisking of my piece - a fisking that was so good that I appended it to my post.
Another time, Barry thought I should write something for the Jerusalem Post, so I wrote up an op-ed. Again, within less than an hour, he completely rewrote my piece and made it orders of magnitude better.
People might compliment me, but whenever there is a danger of those compliments going to my head, I think of Barry - because he was in a different league.
Barry Rubin's clarity of thought and encyclopedic knowledge was unmatched. He dedicated his life to pursuing and spreading the truth, no matter how politically incorrect or uncomfortable it may be. We should all follow in his footsteps.