Israel
September 19, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said of President Trump’s speech at the U.N today, “In over 30 years in my experience with the UN, I never heard a bolder or more courageous speech.” Netanyahu’s speech to the U.N. wasn’t bad either. You can read it here. Netanyahu began by celebrating Israel’s vastly improved standing in the world: We’re in the midst of a great revolution, a revolution in Israel’s standing among
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September 14, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
Yesterday, PJ Media published a disturbing report about H.R. McMaster, President Trump’s national security adviser. It said that at a meeting during the week of August 27 at the White House, McMaster brought with him Mustafa Javed Ali, NSC Senior Director on Counter-Terrorism. According to PJ Media’s report, Ali has been described by a senior administration source as being “opposed to Hezbollah’s designation as a terrorist organization.” The Israelis reportedly
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September 11, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson reportedly has been pushing the Trump White House to demand that Israel give back to the United States millions of dollars in military aid. The Trump White House reportedly is pushing back on this demand. So are members of Congress, including our friend Sen. Tom Cotton. Here’s the back story, as I understand it. Last year, President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu signed a Memorandum
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September 3, 2017 — Scott Johnson
Conan O’Brien has been touring Israel over the past week for a Conan Without Borders episode of his late night show on TBS. In Israel he acted like a tourist. He hit the highlights. He approached Israelis in an ingenuous spirit of appreciation and the appreciation was mutual. If you’ve been to Israel, you know that Israelis are grateful to be seen in the same light as the rest of
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August 13, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster was asked three times today by Chuck Todd whether he can work with Steve Bannon, President Trump’s chief strategist. Three times McMaster refused to say that he can. Each answer was more embarrassing than the last — to McMaster, to Bannon, and ultimately to their boss. You can read the details here. It is the job of every member of a president’s staff to work
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August 5, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
National Security Adviser Gen. H.R. McMaster came in or criticism after he fired three staff members, all of whom are strongly pro-Israel and forceful opponents of the Iran nuclear deal. I gave voice to some of that criticism here. McMaster’s supporters are pushing back. Among them, at least for the time being, is President Trump. Hugh Hewitt characterizes McMaster’s critics as “a tiny slice” of “the alt right” and a
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August 3, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster has fired three staff members in recent weeks. The three are Ezra Cohen-Watnick, senior director for intelligence; Derek Harvey, the NSC’s top Middle East adviser; and Rich Higgins, director for strategic planning. All three were aligned with Steve Bannon. Michael Warren of the Weekly Standard discusses the purge here. Glenn Thrush and Peter Baker of the New York Times discuss it here. Neither the Standard
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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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