Middle East
October 10, 2023 — Lloyd Billingsley
“Israel’s 9/11” and “Israel’s Pearl Harbor” are common description of the Hamas invasion, but another take may be every bit as valid. This is the Islamic jihadists’ latest attempt at a “final solution,” the elimination of Israel as a nation. “Our strategy is to erase Israel from the global political map,” said Hossein Salami, deputy leader of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, in 2019. “We announce that if Israel does anything to
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October 7, 2023 — John Hinderaker
The Palestinians who invaded Israel have focused on kidnapping civilians, mostly young women. This was facilitated by the fact that there was a “rave for peace” going on near Gaza that many young people attended. The Palestinians no doubt knew this, and planned to attack the event. They took a number of young women captive there. This video has been seen millions of times. There is a naked young woman
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October 7, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Who is behind the Palestinians’ attack on Israel? Iran, for one. The London Times minces no words: The British government believes that Iran is linked to the Hamas attack on Israel and that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is likely to have played a role in training and the supply of weapons (Dipesh Gadher writes). A Whitehall source said: “The Revolutionary Guards have their fingerprints all over this multifaceted
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October 7, 2023 — John Hinderaker
The Jerusalem Post has live updates on the Palestinians’ invasion of Israel. It is worth checking back frequently. When a country is attacked, the only appropriate course is to respond with massively disproportionate force, as we did against the Japanese in World War II. Israel should treat Gaza as the Allies treated Dresden and other German and Japanese cities to end that war. Israel made a mistake in withdrawing from
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October 7, 2023 — Steven Hayward
As I write it is the middle of the night in the U.S., but morning here in central Europe, where we are awakening to the shocking and barbaric attack Hamas has launched inside Israel from the Gaza strip. Some of the early videos and news accounts are horrific. This is no minor raid. Hamas is targeting civilians, clearly aiming at mass casualties. According to one TV report, Hamas has taken
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November 29, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Middle East Forum’s Gregg Roman sent out this message last night in advance of Giving Tuesday today. Whether or not you are considering giving to your alma mater today, the message is of interest. I am posting it below without its numerous links. Roman writes: Dear Friend: The Middle East Forum keeps a close watch on North American universities, seeking to end anti-Western, anti-Israel, and pro-Islamist biases. That keeps us
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June 19, 2022 — Steven Hayward
It is very likely the case that the next major war has started. No—I don’t mean the Russia-Ukraine War, which could yet spread to the rest of Europe if we’re unlucky. I mean the Israel-Iran War. It has been said that Israel and Iran have been at open war for some time now. (Actually, Iran and the U.S. have likewise been at war since 1979, though don’t tell John Kerry.)
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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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April 21, 2022 — Steven Hayward
I’m slowly working up to a long piece about the parallels between the hapless Jimmy Carter Administration and the Biden Clown Show that go beyond inflation, energy market disruptions, foreign policy cluelessness, and other totems of the dismal 1970s. Carter, we tend to forget today, was the Democratic establishment’s necessary and acceptable choice to outflank George Wallace, who had a real shot of winning the Democratic nomination in 1976. In 2020,
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May 20, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
The Washington Times reports that Israel has announced a cease fire in its battle against Hamas: Israel on Thursday announced a cease-fire in the bruising 11-day war against Hamas militants that caused widespread destruction in the Gaza Strip and brought life in much of Israel to a standstill. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced the cease-fire after a late-night meeting of his Security Cabinet. It said the group had unanimously
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May 16, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
Trump haters at the Washington Post, the New York Times, and elsewhere portray the latest conflagration in Israel as evidence that former president Trump’s Middle East deals — the Abraham Accords — weren’t worth celebrating, after all. In my view, this line misapprehends what the Accords were about. Trump may have overstated what the Accords meant. Like many a politician, and to a greater degree than most, he oversold nearly
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May 15, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
This week, the Arabic-language social media sites of two English Premier League football teams voiced support for Hamas in its latest confrontation with Israel. The two clubs are Wolverhampton Wanderers (Wolves) and West Ham United. The Wolves’ tweet stated, in Arabic: You don’t need to be Palestinian to speak, you just need to be human. Our hearts and prayers are behind Palestinians. God save the people of Jerusalem & Palestine.
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April 12, 2021 — Steven Hayward
When we look out on the world scene and how the Biden Administration is positioning itself, everyone should keep in mind the summary statement of former Defense Secretary and CIA director Robert Gates (no one’s idea of a partisan firebrand, as he’s been serving presidents of both parties since the Carter Administration): Joe Biden, Gates said, “has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the
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September 8, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
The Clarion Project reports that Harvard University has selected Saeb Erekat — who serves as secretary general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) — to be a fellow at the Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Erekat’s duties will include mentoring students and giving seminars in the school’s “The Future of Diplomacy Project.” Erekat is rabidly anti-Israel, as one would expect from a
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August 16, 2020 — Steven Hayward
This week’s Power Line Three Whisky Happy Hour finds Charles Lipson bellying up to the bar for a flight of whiskys that begins with a tale of his mis-spent youth discovering the “bootleggers and Baptists” hypothesis in the course of violating numerous federal and state laws, as well as his legendary Henry Kissinger impression. We take up three topics to go with three shots of whisky: the rapid transition from
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August 14, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
In a deal brokered by the Trump administration, Israel and the United Arab Emirates have agreed to normalize relations. In exchange for normalized relations, Israel agreed to suspend its West Bank annexation plans. The two sentences above point to an obvious problem with the deal. Normalized relations between two states are normal, and usually benefit both states. Why should one — and only one — of the two states have
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August 13, 2020 — John Hinderaker
Today the United States, Israel and the United Arab Emirates jointly announced an agreement whereby Israel and the UAE have fully normalized their relationship. President Trump tweeted: Joint Statement of the United States, the State of Israel, and the United Arab Emirates pic.twitter.com/oVyjLxf0jd — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 13, 2020 The communique paints an optimistic picture: Delegations from Israel and the United Arab Emirates will meet in the coming
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