Arab Israel conflict
May 12, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Alisa Flatow was murdered in 1995 by an Iranian sponsored suicide bomber who plowed his car into a public bus near the Israeli settlement of Kfar Darom in the Gaza Strip. Seven Israeli soldiers were killed along with Alisa. They were all under age 21. Fifty-two passengers were wounded in the attack. Alisa was remembered by her friend Alan Mitrani in a moving letter posted here at Brandeis University’s memorial
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March 19, 2023 — John Hinderaker
We last saw Sarah Idan when she was Miss Iraq in the 2017 Miss Universe pageant. She made international news when Miss Israel posted a photo of the two of them on Instagram, with kind words about Ms. Idan. That caused predictable blowback in the Arab world, causing Idan to issue an apology in Arabic. It wasn’t enough; her Iraqi citizenship was revoked and her family fled to another country.
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February 13, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Israel Bitton engaged ChatGPT to get its take on the continuing Palestinian terrorism against Israeli men, women, and children. He asked about Palestinian support for terrorism and the supposed ancient roots of Palestinian people. He found the responses documented in a long Twitter thread “eye-opening.” The thread is accessible here. Seeking to replicate Bitton’s exchange this morning, I started off with his opening request: “Explain why Palestinians celebrate terrorist attacks
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December 11, 2022 — John Hinderaker
Israeli and Jewish groups are protesting Netflix’s showing of a film called Farha, which slanders Israel: Last week, a group of activists from World Herut, one of the most active Zionist movements worldwide, protested at the Netflix offices in London, demanding they cancel the screening of the Anti-Israel propaganda film “Farha.” The fictional movie slanders Israel and the IDF, in a way considered likely to raise the already high levels
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September 8, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Reporting from the terrorist enclaves surrounding Israel is pathetic. It is also pathetic in countries with a free press, but for slightly different reason. Toby Dershowitz picks up one visible thread from Gaza in the National Interest column “Hamas Tells Media to Lie: What Should the Media Tell its Readers?” Here is how Dershowitz frames her inquiry: In a stunning exposé, a recent Associated Press article revealed a Hamas directive
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July 17, 2022 — Scott Johnson
President Biden offered a weak and tired set of remarks following his “meetings in Saudi Arabia,” as the White House transcript puts it. Biden talked up his supposed accomplishments. “First, as you saw this morning,” he said, “the Saudis will open their airspace to all civilian carriers. That is a big deal. A big deal.” I’ll give him that one, but is it a big deal? Jacob Magid reports for
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May 8, 2022 — John Hinderaker
International attention has been focused on Ukraine since Russia’s invasion of that country. Meanwhile, events in the Middle East have been depressingly true to form. In Israel, at least 19 Israelis have been killed in attacks by Palestinians since the middle of March. The attacks appear to be mostly uncoordinated, but are being inspired and cheered on by Hamas. As a result, the London Times reports that Israel is contemplating
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December 8, 2021 — Scott Johnson
Students of ancient history may recall that the Associated Press was holed up in a Gaza high-rise building that Israeli intelligence identified as hosting Hamas assets and offices, unbeknownst to the news hounds using the building when the IDF bombed it during the hostilities last May. The AP story on the bombing vehemently denied that the AP knew anything, in the best Colonel Klink Sgt. Schultz style. Today the AP
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December 6, 2021 — Scott Johnson
You may have read about the six Palestinian charities Israel has designated as terrorist fronts, to more or less universal opprobrium. The Washington Free Beacon’s Adam Kredo and Matthew Foldi have now obtained what appears to be the Shin Bet dossier, as they call it — I would suggest another term! — on the “charities.” Kredo and Foldi remark on the dossier: The 74-page dossier, obtained and reviewed by the
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December 2, 2021 — Scott Johnson
Within tacit limits, President Biden attacked anti-Jewish bigotry in his remarks “During a Menorah Lighting in Celebration of Hanukkah.” Nary a word, however, about the genocidal Iranian regime, which the administration seeks avidly to appease and accommodate, or about the anti-Jewish and anti-historical “Jerusalem” resolution passed by the United Nations General Assembly yesterday. The Jerusalem Post covers the “Jerusalem” resolution here. The UN covers it here. UN Watch covers it
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July 6, 2021 — Scott Johnson
Alex Safian is research director of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA). BESA Center has published his study of Gaza Palestinians killed by errant Hamas rockets fired in the recent hostilities. Here is the executive summary: Much of the coverage and commentary surrounding the fighting in May between Hamas and Israel has focused on numbers, especially the much larger number of Palestinians than Israelis killed.
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May 21, 2021 — John Hinderaker
Support for Israel used to be a bipartisan element of American foreign policy, but as our nation has grown more divided, bipartisanship is rare on any issue. As many have noted, politics in the U.S. has become largely a team sport–many of us cheer for our “team,” more or less regardless of the facts. And it has now become clear that Hamas is part of the Democratic Party’s team. This
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May 19, 2021 — John Hinderaker
On a number of issues, it is getting hard to tell the difference between the Chinese Communist Party line and the Democratic Party line. As, for example, the current conflict in the Middle East and America’s historic support for Israel. The Jerusalem Post quotes a Chinese government English-language outlet: Israel is a US military proxy that enjoys US support because of the influence of wealthy Jews, Chinese government-affiliated English-language news
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May 17, 2021 — John Hinderaker
The current round of violence that was initiated by Hamas firing thousands of rockets into Israel is depressing on a number of fronts, not least because we are once again hearing brain-dead shibboleths from the White House. After a four-year respite under President Trump, ignorance again reigns. Today Jen Psaki was pressed by White House reporters on why President Biden had not yet called for a cease fire. She bobbed
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May 13, 2021 — Scott Johnson
The message is brief but effective: “Share the truth.” Netanyahu asks viewers to put themselves in the place of Israelis subjected to the rocket attacks from Gaza. It shouldn’t be difficult, but somehow…it seems to be impossible for some. You know who they are. Via Michael Doran on Twitter. Share the truth pic.twitter.com/GYD8SZu2jS — Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) May 13, 2021
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May 13, 2021 — Scott Johnson
Democrats such as Minnesota Fifth District Rep. Ilhan Omar have become advocates of terrorists and murderers. To borrow the cliché, the silence here — the silence of the Star Tribune — is deafening. In his current Spiked column Brendan O’Neill poses the persistently relevant question about the peculiar double standard Omar and her ilk apply to Israel: The judgement and treatment of Israel by a double standard is one of
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May 12, 2021 — Scott Johnson
Jewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff drives me nuts on most days, but this morning it leads off with a useful summary of the latest from Israel (links omitted below): Violence between Gaza and Israel intensified last night, with Hamas shooting hundreds of rockets towards the Tel Aviv metropolitan area for the first time since 2018. More than 1,000 rockets have been fired at Israel since the latest round of clashes began.
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