By Barry Rubin HERZLIYA, Israel –In almost 40 years of studying these issues, I’ve never seen a better case study of mass media bias and knee-jerk narrowness than an aspect of the current flap about what presidential candidate Mitt Romney said during his trip to Israel. I’m going to focus on a single point because […]
Media adopts Palestinian talking points as their own Read More »
Middle East
By David Brin ENCINITAS, California –Mitt Willard Romney now informs us that he did pay taxes during the last ten years. Thus he attempts to staunch – despite his own refusal to provide proof in the form of tax returns – the assertion of critics like Democratic senator Harry Reid that Romney paid no taxes
Why shouldn’t voters see Romney’s tax returns? Read More »
USA
By Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. –Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called cavalierly for the people of Aleppo to rise up against the Assad regime. When they did — as when President Bush (41) called on the Shi’ites and Kurds of Iraq to rise up against Saddam in 1991 — the U.S. declined to support the rebels, and
Clinton signals, but doesn’t make the turn Read More »
Shoshana Bryen, USABy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–“Anybody but Peres” was the slogan in the Knesset when the Members were choosing between presidential candidates Shimon Peres and Moshe Katzav in 2000. Katzav received 63 votes to Peres’ 57. Some MKs who had promised their support to Peres voted for Katzav. Seven years later, it was clear that “Anybody but
Did Peres anger Bibi, or are they play-acting? Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Yaakov Lappin WASHINGTON, D.C. — Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi delivered a severe blow to the Egyptian military’s political ambitions this week, and sent clear message to Egypt and beyond: his civilian Islamist government is now in charge. Taking advantage of widespread shock in Egypt over the brutal gunning down of 15 Egyptian soldiers by
Morsi shows Egyptian military he’s in charge Read More »
Middle East
By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California —Irony I feel, is a very high form of morality. — JEAN STAFFORD This morning I received an email about how the Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh turns to Israel when his family needs medical attention. I know of very few countries that live by the ethic
Hamas chief’s brother-in-law went to Israel for treatment Read More »
Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky BERGEN, Norway — Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu has decided to file away last month’s report by a committee headed by retired Supreme Court Justice Edmond Levy, which endorsed an Israeli view of international law that Yehuda and Samaria (the West Bank) are not “occupied territories,” insofar as they never were the possession of
Israeli policy makers preoccupied by other nations’ opinions Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East
By Isaac Yetiv, Ph.D. LA JOLLA, California — Even before the presidential debates, the lines separating the worldviews of the candidates present a sharp picture of clear distinctions; and that is good for the electorate and for democracy. The incumbent, President Obama, by his words and deeds, situated himself far to the left of mainstream
Democrats desperate to change subject from economy Read More »
USABy Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. –Americans are jaded by the size and shape of the financial crisis that ripped through banking in 2008. Bernie Madoff, AIG, “too big to fail,” Goldman Sachs, subprime lending, unfathomable derivatives, and underwater mortgages make it hard to work up much steam on yet another banking story. And you could
Standard Chartered Branch, Deloite & Touche accused of conspiring with Iran Read More »
Shoshana Bryen, USA
By Danny Bloom CHIAYI CITY, Taiwan– When ETTV reporter Claire Su [舒夢蘭] of Taiwan flew to Israel last June with a camera crew and producer in tow, she had no idea what to expect from her first visit to the Holy Land, but she returned to Taipei with fond memories of the people she met
Taiwan TV does a first travel documentary on Israel Read More »
Middle EastBy Morris J. Amitay WASHINGTON, D.C — The specter of the January 2, 2013 sequestration has created rare unanimity here in Washington. Just about everyone both in the defense establishment and Congress maintains it would have disastrous consequences if implemented. This new round of budget cuts was mandated by the U.S. Budget Control Act
Partisan gridlock jeopardizes U.S. military readiness Read More »
USABy Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — The recent attack upon the Sikh Temple in Wisconsin dredged up some old memories I thought I had buried. My story began not long after 2001. At that time, I was a rabbi in Glens Falls, New York, when the incident occurred. After the terrible 9/11
Attack on Sikh Temple stirs memories of Glen Falls Read More »
Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, USABy Ira Sharkansky OSLO–Neither Varda nor I are Holocaust mavens. We know what happened. Varda lights candles each year for her uncle and grandmother, whose name she carries and who last wrote to the family from Theresienstadt on her way elsewhere. Neither of us have visited Yad Vashem in decades, since the site added several
Norway’s Holocaust museum symbolically located Read More »
International, Ira SharkanskyBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–Israeli politics is currently more a muddle than usual. Leaving aside the knotty problem of defining the “left,” two newspapers identified with the Israeli and American Jewish left have published reports that define the problem of the left. Ha’aretz headlined a survey of Israelis finding that about half the adult population identify
Israeli left unable to capitalize on Netanyahu’s flaws Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East