American, Jewish journalist Jeffrey Goldberg provides a helpful definition of what kind of Jews are acceptable to Zionists: It is unfair to call a Jew a self-hater simply because he’d rather see Hebron under Arab rule than an Israel that, in keeping Hebron under Jewish rule, betrays other Jewish values. How nice. In fact, people…
Showing all posts in June 2019
War-monger declares Ariel Sharon a peace-maker
The Daily Beast on Ariel Sharon’s legacy in the Middle East. Comment of the piece from a woman who only knows how to start wars: If Sharon hadn’t suffered a stroke? “I think we would have a Palestinian state,” says former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Social networking interests Washington’s elite
Web users, the US government is watching you: America’s spy agencies want to read your blog posts, keep track of your Twitter updates — even check out your book reviews on Amazon. In-Q-Tel, the investment arm of the CIA and the wider intelligence community, is putting cash into Visible Technologies, a software firm that specializes…
Should Jews watch their speech around J Street?
The disappointments mount. J Street believes in dissent, just not dissent that may upset conservative, hardline Zionists: Five days ahead of the leftist pro-Israeli lobby J Street’s first National Conference in Washington, D.C., the controversies continue to mount. The Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren refuses to attend the conference, despite the open letter issued by the…
J Street, a positive perspective
The upcoming J Street conference in Washington DC (which I’ll be attending) will be a fascinating bringing together of Middle East realists, two-staters, one-staters, bloggers, activists and God knows who else. Bernard Avishai is optimistic about its chances: The key to AIPAC’s emergence was a Manichean view from America; the fight against the Evil Empire,…
Will Iran be tolerated as a regional power?
Founder of Conflicts Forum Alastair Crooke on the real challenge Iran poses to the world order: It was pure drama: The leaders of the United States, Britain, and France stepped onto the stage at the Pittsburgh Group of 20 meeting recently to unveil Western intelligence that showed that Iran had a second nuclear fuel enrichment…
Kicking Palestinians when they’re down
Israeli pressure on Palestinians in East Jerusalem has largely fallen off the media radar. Here’s the latest: Most days, Sharihan Hannoun and her family sit along the sidewalk on dusty white plastic chairs watching the East Jerusalem home from which they were forcibly evicted, watching as the strangers who took it over come and go.…
Aceh: the only Jew in the village
My following article appears in today’s edition of Crikey: The small sign in my bare hotel room in Banda Aceh was clear. “It is forbidden to bring a woman/man who are not husband or wife into the hotel.” I saw similar messages in Iran, Saudi Arabia and Gaza. I was in Aceh [Indonesia] as a…
Australian commentator loves terrorism trials to prove his point
Sydney Morning Herald’s Gerard Henderson loves tough terrorism laws. He feels protected from terrorists. Governments would never exaggerate that threat. God, no. Their primary aim is to protect citizens from harm. They believe in the rule of law (except, of course, if America breaks that law and then Australia clearly has no choice but to…
Israeli hypocrisy over Lebanon
Israeli incursions into Lebanon show, for the umpteenth time, that Israel is a rogue state unafraid to breach international law.