Israel
October 1, 2013 — Scott Johnson
I don’t trust and don’t want to rely on news accounts of important speeches such as Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s and President Obama’s at the UN last week, or Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s at the UN today. I linked to the full text version of both Rouahani’s and Obama’s speeches last week and took a look at them here (Rouahani) and here (Obama). The Office of the Israeli Prime Minister
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September 30, 2013 — Scott Johnson
You may have missed the news over the weekend that Israeli intelligence authorities apprehended an Iranian spy of Belgian nationality as he was departing the country two weeks ago. Haaretz reports the story here and the Washington Post here. What was he scoping out on behalf of his paymasters in Tehran? He apparently hadn’t received word that it is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius in Tehran: On his
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September 29, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is here in the U.S. for a three-day visit. On Monday, he will meet with President Obama. The Jerusalem Post describes the visit as an attempt to offset Iranian Prime Minister Rouhani’s “charm offensive.” Unfortunately, anyone clueless and/or anti-Israel enough to be charmed by Rouhani will be immune to the charm of Netanyahu which, to the extent it can be detected, consists of speaking truth to
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September 26, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
The point of Hassan Rouhani’s presidency is not to persuade people that Iran can be dissuaded, through the easing or lifting of sanctions, from continuing its quest for nuclear weapons. No one, not even President Obama, seriously believes in that scenario. In my view, the point of Rouhani is to persuade people that Iran is now “normal” enough that we shouldn’t fear it having nukes. It’s not clear that Obama
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September 23, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
“Troop deaths put strain on Mideast peace talks.” So states a Washington Post headline (print edition) this morning. The headline refers to the fact that Palestinians killed two Israeli troops this weekend, including an unarmed 20-year old whose dead body was tossed into a well by his murderer. The armed wing of Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party has claimed responsibility for both killings. Its actual responsibility, if any, is less significant,
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September 17, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
One of the strongest-sounding arguments against U.S. action that might lead to the overthrow of the Assad regime is the claim that such an overthrow would produce a victory for al Qaeda. I discussed this argument here. Israel has a border with Syria. Iran and al Qaeda are both sworn enemies of Israel. Does Israel want Assad to remain in power? No it does not. Michael Oren, the outgoing Israeli
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September 13, 2013 — Scott Johnson
In every area of modern life Israel boasts a genius that on a per capita basis must be unrivaled. Yet on the world stage its politicians seem almost bereft. The only statesman equal to the challenges it has faced over the past 20 years, so it seems to me, has been Benjamin Netanyahu, and the crucial chapter of his story is yet to be written. It is a remarkable fact
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September 1, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
President Obama’s surprising decision to seek congressional authorization to attack Syria has caused considerable concern in Israel, according to David Horovitz, founding editor of the Times of Israel. Horovitz says the Israeli political and military leadership “is now fearful that, in the end, domestic politics or global diplomacy will ultimately lead the US to hold its fire altogether.” Moreover: It is worried at the ever-deeper perception of Obama’s America in
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August 24, 2013 — John Hinderaker
We have had fun at the expense of John Kerry, who only aspires to be a Frenchman. It turns out that the real article–in this case, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius–can match Kerry’s myopia. Agence France-Presse reports: A successful outcome to the US-brokered negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians would be like a “thunderbolt” for peace in the crisis-ridden Middle East, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Saturday. “Even if we
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August 24, 2013 — John Hinderaker
…has long been Bar Rafaeli, for reasons that require no explanation. When a woman looks like Bar you can forgive anything, even dating Leonardo DiCaprio. But Rafaeli has not been terribly popular in her native Israel, mostly because she dodged service in the IDF and later explained, in a moment of ill-advised candor: I don’t regret not enlisting, because it paid off big time. That’s just the way it is;
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July 28, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
No good can come from John Kerry’s push for negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. In all likelihood, the negotiations will produce no deal. In any event, they will produce no real peace. But Kerry’s lark has already produced harm. To keep Kerry’s peace fantasy alive, and thus curry his favor, Israel has agreed to release 104 Palestinian terrorists. According to Prime Minister Netanyahu, the release will be carried out
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July 17, 2013 — Scott Johnson
It would be a mistake to lose lose sight of the mad mullahs’ steady progress toward nuclear weapons. IPT News has a good roundup by Yaakov Lapin here. This Jerusalem Post article on John Bolton’s assessment is also worth a look. Daniel Nisman’s Wall Street Journal column on Israel’s history of long-shot attacks puts developments in an Israeli historical context: Last week, Israel’s outgoing ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren,
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July 12, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Oday Aboushi is an O-lineman who was drafted by the New York Jets in April of this year. Aboushi is also a Palestinian-American. Joe Kaufman at FrontPage Magazine contends that Aboushi has engaged in pattern of “radical” anti-Israeli behavior in recent months. In April, just before the NFL draft, Aboushi tweeted favorably about a fundraiser sponsored by Islamic Relief (IR), a charity that the Israeli government has labeled a front
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July 3, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
The Egyptian protests that threaten the power of Mohammed Morsi, the nation’s Islamist president, are a very welcome development. But lest anyone conclude that all opposition to Morsi is benign, check out the photo accompanying yesterday’s New York Times article about the demonstrations, in which Morsi’s face appears inside the Star of David on the Israeli flag. Given Egypt’s parlous economic situation and inherent instability, is it far-fetched to hypothesize
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July 2, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
I thought that Dennis (“fool me a dozen times, shame on all of us”) Ross had retired that title. But Jamie Weinstein makes a strong case for awarding it to John Kerry. In his pre-Secretary of State days, Kerry made a strong bid when he decided, along with Nancy Pelosi, that Bashar al-Assad was not only a potential ally but the key to peace between Israel and the Palestinians. With
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June 23, 2013 — Scott Johnson
60 Minutes performed a classic hit job on Israel in a 14-minute segment on April 22, 2012. Titled “Christians of the Holy Land,” video of the segment is here; transcript is here. Bob Simon “reported” the story. I wrote about the segment in a series of posts titled “Who ya gonna call?” (and in a few others as well) for reasons that will become apparent below. The gist of the
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June 11, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Michael Gerson becomes the latest member of the Republican establishment to dive into the tank for Samantha Power, President Obama’s anti-Israel nominee for U.N. Ambassador. Like others in this category, Gerson apparently has been charmed by his personal interaction with Power. It appears to be Power’s passion and fire that charmed Gerson. Gerson initially found her to be an unfair, partisan critic of the Bush administration in which Gerson served.
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