Analysis & Commentary
‘Begin Military Plans to Thwart Iran Nukes’
Iran is working to obtain a nuclear weapon, a former CIA chief said Wednesday while visiting Israel, and the US should begin military preparations to block the Islamic Republic from reaching that goal.
‘Quiet’ Arab Coalition Supports Attack on Iran
“In the lead-up to the 2003 Iraq War, Arab countries said across the board that they were against the invasion, then one by one each crumbled and fell in behind the US,” said Jonathan Schanzer, vice president of research at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
2012: It Could be a Year of Middle East Uncertainty
In addition, Jonathan Schanzer, vice president of research for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, agreed that the "Iranian nuclear crisis will be the number one security concern of 2012."
3,000 Years of Mass Murder: Jerusalem’s Bloody History, and How It Shaped Us All
Seen by tourists, Jerusalem is a city of wonders. Seen by historians, it is a city of agonies. Reading through the 3,000-year chronology presented in Simon Sebag Montefiore’s newly published Jerusalem: The Biography (excerpts from which will appear all this coming week on the Issues & Ideas pages of the National Post),
47% of Germans Think Israel Exterminating Palestinians’
Study shows a strong presence of “anti-Semitism that is linked with Israel and is hidden behind criticism of Israel" in Europe.
A Case of Leftist ‘McCarthyism’?
One of the most notorious newspapers ever published in America was The Spotlight, founded in 1975 by white supremacist Willis Carto. For many years the country's premier hate rag, it peaked at 330,000 subscribers in the early '80s.
A Chance for Peace?
There were no televised debates, an underwhelming turnout and charges of serious ballot stuffing. But the election of Mahmoud Abbas as the new Palestinian leader is one of the first promising signs Palestinians and Israelis have seen in many a Mideast moon. Abbas, aka Abu Mazen, is a well-educated, decidedly uncharismatic millionaire businessman with a pragmatic mind of his own. He was one of the few top-ranking Palestinians to publicly call for an end to violence. And while he may invoke his predecessor's name (as an election gimmick, say his defenders), he openly defied Yasser Arafat - even resigning from the Palestinian premiership rather than toeing the Arafat line.
A Court in the Service of Terrorism: Playing Arafat’s Propaganda Game
The decision by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to condemn the Israeli security barrier has dealt a serious blow to the credibility of international law. The ICJ decided that the barrier is illegal, that Israel should pull it down and that the U.N. General Assembly and Security Council should consider what further action ought to be taken. A U.N. General Assembly vote, demanding that Israel accept the ruling, is expected today. The likely passage of another anti-Israel motion in the General Assembly, along with the ICJ decision will only serve to further stoke the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict and do nothing to bring it to an end.
A Guide for the Perplexed Fareed Zakaria
Fareed Zakaria is wearing his “I’m perplexed” face. On his weekly CNN program, he is noting that Saudi Arabia did not go nuclear in response to “Israel’s buildup of a large arsenal of nuclear weapons.”
A Modest Proposal For Israel
Here's the latest in our occasional series of how-to memos on global diplomacy. Memo: To Israel From: Big Brother Consulting Service, Washington, D.C. Executive Summary: In the midst of the current crisis in U.S.-Israeli relations, we set ourselves the brainteaser of trying to figure out what Israel could actually do that would both allow it to survive as a nation--and at the same time get along with the Obama administration. It took some blue-sky thinking. But after reviewing President Obama's foreign policy trends and maneuvers to date, along with some older items on the record, we came up with a number of possibilities, listed below. They have the drawback that they would be utterly unpalatable to Israel's free and democratic society. But they have the upside that they might allow Israel to at least blend in among a number of countries the Obama administration treats with relative tolerance, patience and restraint--reaching out, seeking dialogue or, if necessary, bearing witness while waiting for history to complete its long arc of justice.
A New United Church Report Shows How Israel-Haters Have Lost the Argument
According to a new report from the United Church of Canada, “the deepest meaning of the Holocaust was the denial of human dignity to Jews.” Oh, really? Actually, I’d say that the “deepest meaning of the Holocaust” was the slaughter of six-million human beings.
A New View of the Arab Spring
Everyone knows that if you ask three Israelis what they think, you’ll get 10 opinions. Yet on a recent trip to Israel, I heard everyone from government officials to academics and cab drivers deliver the same refrain: “What Arab Spring? This is the Arab Winter.”
A Palestinian State Means War
With the U.S.-led peace process looking increasingly moribund, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has begun enlisting foreign leaders in a dangerous effort to recognize a Palestinian state without Israel's agreement. Abbas and his prime minister, Salam Fayyad, began this effort earlier this year to strengthen the Palestinian negotiating position, and it is bearing more fruit than even he could have expected. Abbas, however, should be careful what he wishes for. A declaration of statehood without Israeli approval could start a war in which the Palestinians themselves would pay the highest price.
A Proper Welcome
To: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President Islamic Republic of Iran Tehran
A Refugee has Lessons for Arabs
An amazing reunion took place in Tel Aviv the other day. After being separated for 52 years, 79-year-old Salima Moshe Nissim of the southern Iraqi city of Basra embraced her 83-year-old sister, Marcel Madar. Madar had immigrated to Israel in 1951, when more than 130,000 Jews fled Iraqi anti-Semitism. Nissim stayed behind. Now, finally, there she was in Israel, one of six aging Iraqi Jews flown there this week in a top-secret exodus coordinated by the U.S. Army, the Jerusalem-based Jewish Agency and New York's Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.
A Still-Open Nuclear File
Syria's violations would be grave enough if al-Kibar reflected a Syrian attempt to build nuclear weapons for itself. They would be graver if Syria did it to share plutonium with Iran.
A Time for Middle East Peace
Resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict would be a wonderful thing. But the reality is that for more than a half century, every American president has attempted to find a magic formula that would bring peace to the tiny territories between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. And every American president has seen his efforts come a cropper.
A Tunisian Islamist Looks to the Future
Earlier in the week Israel Hayom reported that the new Tunisian constitution may include “a section condemning Zionism and ruling out any friendly ties with Israel.”
A U.N. Vote: A Loss for Israel and a Humiliation for the U.S.
I spoke this morning with Jonathan Schanzer of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, who testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday. Before his testimony he went to the Middle East to glean information about the upcoming vote and the reaction of Palestinians to the potential for U.N. recognition of Palestinian statehood in some form.
A War Crime at Qana?
The Qana tragedy has intensified accusations that Israel's actions in Lebanon violate international law. Every death of an innocent person is extremely regrettable; but there is no evidence Israel has committed any war crimes. In contrast, Hezbollah, Iran and Syria have clearly violated international law in this conflict.
