Lebanon shouldn’t take Washington’s backing

An interesting editorial in Arab News that highlights the growing desire in the Middle East to shake off American bullying: The Lebanese government is absolutely right to have turned down $100 million of US arms aid because of the malign conditions that were attached to it at the last moment by the House of Representatives…

Fingering Israel for Hariri’s death

Trouble is brewing and a number of reliable sources in the Middle East fear that another round between Hizbollah and Israel is almost inevitable. After all, Israel was beaten badly in 2006 and doesn’t want to get too used to failure. I was in Lebanon the days before the Hariri assassination and remain fascinated with…

Iraq may be like Lebanon, if US and Israel have their way

When failure is your middle name, why not copy the masters? The US may be using Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon as a model for its supposed draw-down in Iraq. In other words, expect America to hassle and monitor Iraq for years to come, violating Iraqi sovereignty. Like Israel does in Lebanon.

Israel should not wonder why few people love her

A wonderful column by Larry Derfner in the belly of the Zionist beast, the Jerusalem Post: Given the way Israel behaves now, it’s pretty sad to remember that it was envisioned as a country where the Jews ran their own national affairs – but nobody else’s. Now it’s not enough for Israel to have its…

Israel is drifting and the future looks bleak

The US Presbyterian Church continues to gently push for effective change in Palestine and the New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof rehashes the tired line of finding a Palestinian “Gandhi” (do these Western commentators simply feel the need to repeat predictable talking points over and over again?) Max Blumenthal finds increasing Israeli violence at Sheikh…

Urging Israel to bomb Lebanon and soon

Smell the disappointment from the neo-con class: In Washington the assumption is that it’s only a matter of time before Israel and Hezbollah will be at war again. But what’s worse is that, according to policymakers and analysts I’ve spoken to, the United States is sharply opposed to Israel finishing the work it failed to…

Leading IDF lawyer explains how Israel justifies its action

My following article appears in today’s Crikey: On Tuesday lunchtime the Australian Human Rights Centre and the UNSW International Law and Policy Group (with assistance from the Israeli embassy) hosted a seminar on “The Fight against Terror: Practical Dilemmas in applying the Laws of War.” The two speakers were Professor Abraham Bell of Israel’s Bar-Ilan…

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