Israel
July 17, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
French President Emmanuel Macron hosted yet another prominent leader when Benjamin Netanyahu came to Paris this weekend. Netanyahu’s visit struck a more serous note than President Trump’s. The Israeli Prime Minister wasn’t in Paris for a parade. Instead, the occasion was the 75th anniversary of a Holocaust roundup in Paris in which thousands of Jews were arrested and deported to Nazi concentration camps in Eastern Europe. The occasion was also
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June 8, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
President Trump has made some outstanding appointments (although one of the best, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, recently offered to resign in the face of criticism from the president). Right now, my favorite Trump appointee is U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley. In the tradition of our best U.N. ambassadors — Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Jeane Kirkpatrick — Haley has been a powerful voice against U.N. hypocrisy. Most notably, she has denounced U.N.
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June 7, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
Last week, the Washington Post dedicated an entire section of the paper to airing Palestinian grievances and talking points. The section was called “Occupied: Year 50.” This week, the Post was back with more, turning the first five pages of its Sunday “Outlook” over to Dan Ephron so he could whine about Israeli settlements. I don’t recall anyone ever getting five pages in “Outlook” to write, or in this case
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May 30, 2017 — Scott Johnson
Michael Oren is the prominent historian, former Israeli ambassador to the United States, member of Israel’s Knesset and deputy minister for public diplomacy. He recently sat for a 90-minute interview with Times of Israel editor David Horovitz (audio below). Much of the discussion is devoted to President Trump’s visit to Israel last week. Raoul Wootliff reports on the interview here with video clips. Wootliff’s account selects highlights and pulls newsworthy
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May 28, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
Today, the Washington Post dedicated an entire section of the paper to airing Palestinian grievances and talking points. The section is called “Occupied: Year 50.” One of the stories is about a Palestinian cancer patient whose children can’t get into Israel to visit her. Another shills for a Palestinian real estate developer who is building a planned city on the West Bank but fears the Israel Defense Force will thwart
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May 26, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
The Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF) commands $842 million in assets. The Rockefeller name, coupled with RBF’s financial clout, make this institution a pillar of American philanthropy. Thus, it’s disappointing, though perhaps not altogether surprising, to learn that RBF is a substantial contributor to the boycott Israel movement. According to this superb article by Armin Rosen in Tablet, since 2013, RBF has contributed at least $880,000 to groups working to advance
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May 25, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
No, not as a general matter. But when it comes to Middle East, he may be. Consider this statement by the Secretary of State: We solve the Israeli Palestinian peace dilemma, we start solving a lot of the peace throughout the Middle East region. We’ve been railing against this sort of nonsense for almost the entire 15 years (as of this weekend) of Power Line’s existence. Tillerson’s statement is a
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May 24, 2017 — Scott Johnson
Dartmouth President Phil Hanlon recently named Bruce Duthu to the exalted position of Dean of Faculty from his position as associate dean and professor of Native American Studies. In his professional capacity Duthu had co-authored an extremely distasteful organizational statement supporting a boycott of Israel academic institutions. He is a supporter of the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement that conflicts with Dartmouth policy. Professor Alan Gustman eloquently dissented from Duthu’s
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May 18, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
In March 2016, addressing the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference, Donald Trump said that, as president, he would move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. Trump called that city “the eternal capital of the Jewish people.” Now, however, President Trump has decided to keep our embassy in Tel Aviv. A senior White House official explained: “We don’t think it would be wise to [move] it at this time”
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May 14, 2017 — John Hinderaker
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson confirms that, as previously reported, President Trump is re-thinking his campaign pledge to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Israel’s capital, Jerusalem: President Donald Trump is assessing whether moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem would help or hurt prospects for clinching an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said, revealing Trump’s criteria for a decision that could
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May 9, 2017 — Scott Johnson
Dartmouth’s prospective Dean of Faculty Bruce Duthu has responded to the furor his appointment has created in light of his support of the BDS movement. We posted Professor Alan Gustman’s message to the Dartmouth board and faculty here over the weekend. Dean Duthu has now circulated a letter to the faculty. Algemeiner has posted a blurry PDF of the letter here along with this summary: “I continue to believe in
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April 28, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
Anti-Israel groups on college campuses have come up with a new tactic in their effort to pass BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) resolutions. They are manipulating the voting to exclude Jews from the process. At Tufts, a group called Students for Justice in Palestine decided to place an anti-Israel divestment resolution on the school senate’s agenda on the evening before the Jewish holiday of Passover, at a time when many Jewish
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April 23, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
The Israel Defense Forces struck a base controlled by a pro-Syrian government militia on Sunday killing three and wounding two others, according a statement by the militia — the Syrian National Defense Forces. This militia fights alongside the Syrian army in support of Assad. The Israeli attack occurred in the province Quneitra. Rebels hold portions of Quneitra; the army and pro-Assad forces control other portions. The Sunday attack by the
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April 19, 2017 — Scott Johnson
Our friend Hugh Hewitt invited Michael Oren to appear his radio show this morning to discuss the New York Times op-column by Marwan Barghouti that I noted yesterday in “How low can the Times go?” Oren is the Israeli historian, author, politician, former ambassador to the United States, and current member of the Knesset for the Kulanu party as well as the Deputy Minister for Diplomacy in the Prime Minister’s
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April 16, 2017 — Scott Johnson
Lee Smith is a Weekly Standard senior editor and Hudson Institute fellow. He also writes a weekly column for the online site Tablet. He is a sober and serious analyst of the foreign policy scene and related matters. Smith’s April 5 Tablet column hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves. In it Smith asks: “Did the Obama administration’s abuse of foreign intelligence collection start before Trump?” Smith argues that the Trump/Russia
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March 28, 2017 — Scott Johnson
AIPAC’s annual Policy Conference opened Sunday in Washington, D.C. and concludes today. The conference home page is here. AIPAC has posted videos here. The posted videos include speeches by Prime Minister Netanyahu, Vice President Pence, former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Senate Majority Leader McConnell, House Speaker Ryan and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy as well as leading Democrats. AIPAC promotes American support of Israel on a bipartisan basis. Yesterday
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March 25, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
The news obviously wasn’t good for conservatives this week on the Obamacare front. On the spy vs. spy front, the news was mixed and confusing. However, there was plenty for conservatives to be happy about. First and foremost, Neil Gorsuch was terrific at his Senate hearing, and the Democrats seem determined to maximize the damage his confirmation will inflict on them. In addition, President Trump’s approval of construction of the
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