JERUSALEM (WJC)–Tamir Pardo, a former deputy director of Israel’s foreign intelligence agency Mossad, has been tapped by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as successor to current Mossad Director Meir Dagan. Pardo has worked in the organization for much of his career. In a statement Netanyahu praised the new director’s “decades-worth of rich experience in the Mossad”. […]
Tamir Pardo new Mossad chief Read More »
Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–Wikileaks’ collection of American diplomatic cables has been on public display for several days. It is not easy obtaining direct access to the raw material, but enough has reached the media to get a feel for the content. If there is a great revelation that should surprise me, it has
Thus far, Wikileaks seen as more embarrassing than harmful Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, USANEW YORK (Press Release) — Leaders of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations on Tuesday, Nov. 30, welcomed the strong condemnation by the Obama Administration of a report issued by a senior Palestinian official claiming that the Western Wall is an Islamic Waqf and refuting Jewish claims to the Western Wall. The
Obama administration denounces Palestinian claims of no Jewish connection to Kotel Read More »
Middle EastWASHINGTON, D.C (Press Release) — In response to the release on Tuesday, Nov. 30, of the Pentagon study on the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, Religious Action Center Director and Counsel Rabbi David Saperstein issued the following statement: “The release today of the Pentagon’s long awaited report from the Task Force charged with investigating
Reform Jews call for immediate end of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Read More »
USA
By Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — “Weak servers, weak logging, weak physical security, weak counter-intelligence, inattentive signal analysis… a perfect storm.” So said Private First Class Bradley Manning in a series of online chats with Adrian Lamo regarding his ability to download massive amounts of classified data and send it to Julian Assange at
Wikileaker Bradley Manning tells how he did it Read More »
USANEW YORK (Press Release) — The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) mourns the passing of former New York Rep. Stephen Solarz, a tireless champion for human rights, advocate for democracy, and guardian of the safety and security of the State of Israel. Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, who worked closely with the nine-term Brooklyn congressman on
Former Congressman Stephen Solarz mourned in ADL statement Read More »
USABy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM –The latest session of my seminar on public policy was devoted to “Israel in Comparative Perspective.” After noting that Israel is the lone country with a majority of Jews and the western democracy with outlays on security more than twice those (as a proportion of national resources) of the next most
BDS, though annoying, an improvement over Palestinian violence Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. –Stipulating that we are not at all sanguine about this and acknowledging that the fact of the leaks may ultimately be more important than the result of the leaks, the first headlines from Wikileaks mainly confirm what we think we already knew, and some things we’re happy to think the
Some information from the Wikileaks Read More »
Shoshana Bryen, USA
TEL AVIV (Press Release)–Over 150 Olim, including over 20 Lone Soldiers, came together to celebrate Thanksgiving at the annual Nefesh B’Nefesh Thanksgiving dinner in Tel Aviv this past Thursday night. During the dinner, participants enjoyed a short trivia game and music, while dining on turkey and stuffing, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and other traditional Thanksgiving
American immigrants to Israel celebrate Thanksgiving Read More »
Middle EastWASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release) — J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami released the following statement in response to an online paper by a Palestinian Authority official that denies any Jewish connection to the Western Wall: J Street condemns this week’s denial by an official of the Palestinian Authority of any Jewish connection to the Western Wall. This
J Street condemns Palestinian efforts to deny Jewish connection to the Kotel Read More »
Middle East
By Barry Rubin HERZLIYA, Israel — What is the United States and the world going to do about an act of aggression by North Korea on South Korea, the deliberate unprovoked firing of mortars at civilians? And what are the lessons of this situation for other world problems? First, nobody is going to do anything
Korean crisis illustrates why bullying works in international politics Read More »
International, Middle East, USABy Barry Rubin HERZLIYA, Israel –It should be getting pretty hard even for Western leaders to ignore the Turkish regime’s growing alliance with their enemies. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s visit to Lebanon included a very dangerous statement that must not go unnoticed. Lebanon, of course, is now a virtual satellite of Iran, another strategic factor
West should—but doesn’t—react to Erdogan’s provocations Read More »
International, Middle East, USABy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–There is a lesson for the Middle East in the latest incident on the Korean peninsula. The lesson is indirect, and deals more with general principles than the details of what seems to have happened. I begin with the admission that I am a confused outsider on Korean issues. So–with respect to
Outsiders who don’t understand Korea should be similarly modest about Israel Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Barry Rubin HERZLIYA, ISRAEL — Security checks at American airports have become the most controversial topic in the United States. This debate is so full of mistaken assumptions and misleading ideas that it is hard to know where to start in analyzing it. Let’s consider the terrorist threat within the United States. The opening
Why American airport security is really so horrendous Read More »
International, Middle East, USA