Despite New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman being always happy to defend Western terrorism in the name of freedom and democracy, don’t get on the wrong side of Rabbi Shmuley Boteach: Friedman certainly is entitled to his view. But he is not entitled to slander Israel, and last Sunday he did so with relish. In…
Showing all posts tagged Syria
Obama soon to put serious pressure on Israel (let’s wait and see)
Oh my: The lifting of the blockade on the Gaza Strip and permission for Palestinians to leave the Gaza Strip freely through Israeli border crossings. These are the unequivocal demands that President Barack Obama is expected to make during his meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in the White House in two weeks. If anyone…
Read, read and wait a little (back soon)
I’ll be on the road for a few days so posting will be light. In the meantime, check out this, this, this, this, this, this, this and this. Back shortly.
How Obama betrayed the rights of a tortured man
A New York Times editorial of necessary clarity: The Supreme Court’s refusal to consider the claims of Maher Arar, an innocent Canadian who was sent to Syria to be tortured in 2002, was a bitterly disappointing abdication of its duty to hold officials accountable for illegal acts. The Bush administration sent Mr. Arar to outsourced…
Syria, Iran and Turkey are now calling the shots
The major role of Turkey in the Middle East is shifting fast, damn fast. Old alliances, always formed around convenience over principle (that’s foreign affairs, I hear you say) are moving. Paul McGeough outlines what’s going on but a stronger analysis is by Pepe Escobar in Asia Times. Poor, little Washington just can’t control the…
So you love Israel but are you being paid to think that?
Where to begin with this story? So here’s what we now know. Anybody, repeat anybody, who may be speaking on behalf of Israel or supporting its policies may well be on the payroll of the Jewish state. Just brilliant. Yet another way to completely shoot down whatever credibility Tel Aviv may still have: The Foreign…
Assad and Meshaal speak (and we should listen)
The idea of journalists speaking to our “enemies” happens so rarely that it’s refreshing to see the exception to the rule. Too many media hacks fear being labeled as unpatriotic. Surely blindly backing the state, any state, is unhealthy. So, here’s Charlie Rose interviewing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal and gives…
ABC TV broadcast on internet freedom and anti-censorship
I recently debated in Sydney on the motion that governments shouldn’t censor the internet. ABC TV broadcast the discussion and our team included a robust explanation on the principles of free speech. An edited version of the debate was broadcast tonight on ABC Radio National Big Ideas:
Israel and Iraq questions provide double whammy in Auckland
I’m currently at the Auckland Writer’s Festival. Wonderful event. Speaking to hundreds of people every day – mainly about the Middle East but also on the importance of alternative voices online – and the one message that keeps on coming up is how rarely dissenting Jewish perspectives or those critical of Israel appear in the…
Why internet censorship is a fool’s paradise
My following article is published today by the Sydney Morning Herald/Age online: We live under the illusion that governments can protect us from the evils of the world. Paedophilia, extreme violence, lessons in self-harm and suicide, race hatred and terrorism. We have every right to expect governments to monitor hate and terror sites and arrest…