By Aryeh Savir JERUSALEM (TNA) – Operation ‘Protective Edge’ has generated various financial challenges for Israel’s economy, as the financial activity slowed down during the operation and the costs of the military campaign will weigh heavily on Israel’s upcoming annual budget. One of the Israel’s most known financial segments, its tourism, has taken a big […]
Israel tourism takes a hit during Gaza war Read More »
Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — As I look around me this mid-August morning in 2014 I see a number of crap shoots, or games of chance. We can argue what historical events they reflect. Among the candidates are the establishment of Israel in 1948, the Arab Spring that began toward the end of 2010 with
In defense of Middle Eastern cynicism Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastNEW YORK (Press Release)–The Foreign Press Association in Israel including almost 500 members from all parts of the media from 32 countries, issued a statement protesting “in the strongest terms the blatant, incessant, forceful and unorthodox methods employed by the Hamas authorities and their representatives against visiting international journalists in Gaza over the past month.”
Foreign journalists denounce Gaza’s press tactics Read More »
International, Middle EastNEW YORK (WJC) –Former American Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is identifying anti-Semitism as an important motivation for the international criticism of Israel’s incursion in Gaza, according to a new interview. “It is striking … that you have more than 170,000 people dead in Syria. … You have Russia massing battalions—Russia, that actually annexed
Hillary Clinton: Anti- Semitism motivates Israel critics Read More »
Middle East, USABy Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — As Hamas resumed rocketing Israel on Friday, August 8, one surety was that Israel’s office of “Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (West Bank and Gaza Strip)” [COGAT] would continue operating as it has through gruesome acts of terror against Jews, “intifadas,” rocket attacks and kidnappings through tunnels.
Gazans’ economic well-being requires peace Read More »
Middle East, Shoshana Bryen, USABy Steve Kramer ALFE MENASHE, Israel — I began my previous article with the statement that “Operation Protective Edge appears to be winding down… .” So I’m not completely surprised that the three-day ceasefire was just one of several that Hamas has used to regroup without fear of Israeli interference. The situation Prime Minister Bibi
Ceasefires play into Hamas’s hands Read More »
Middle East, Steve KramerBy Aryeh Savir JERUSALEM (TNA) — In a TV interview on the Lebanese Mayadeen TV channel, Muhammad Zeidan, the recently resigned head of the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee in Israel and an Israeli citizen, came out in support of Hamas, saying: “The missiles fired from Gaza constitute self-defense,” according to MEMRI’s (Middle East Media
Zeidan supports Hamas attacks on Israel Read More »
Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — One should applaud, perhaps with one hand, the wisdom shown by Barack Obama in his efforts to withdraw the United States from active involvement in the Middle East. At the same time, we should note that he is at least partly responsible for the present chaos. That Nobel Peace Prize
U.S. tries to clean up its Middle East messes Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USABy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM –There are limits of what military might can accomplish. It’s a lesson well known to Americans as well as Israelis. Israel can kill a million Gazans, but if there are a few thousand Muslim fanatics among those left it won’t matter. Fanatics elsewhere will do what they can to provide them
Israel can’t eliminate all Islamist extremists Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East
SAN DIEGO (Press Release)– Larry Wilske, California Congressional candidate and retired Command Master Chief of SEAL Team Seven, issued a statement on Friday, August 8, calling for solidarity in support of Israel. Wilske is a 30-year veteran of the U.S. Navy SEAL Teams. He served with distinction on SEAL Teams SDV-1, Three and Seven and oversaw
Wilske calls for strong U.S. support for Israel Read More »
Middle East, USA
By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal SAN DIEGO — This week we have a have guest columnist, my daughter, Margalit Rosenthal. Margalit wrote an excellent column about her recent experience staffing Birthright in Israel during Israel’s war with Hamas. It is reprinted below with her permission. {Margalit Rosenthal works for The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles,
Birthright trip leader tells of wartime travel Read More »
Middle EastBy Jeremy Ben-Ami WASHINGTON, D.C. — For 72 hours, the guns, rockets and bombs fell silent, and the people of Gaza and southern Israel finally had a brief respite from the horrific violence of the past month. With the resumption of rocket fire from Gaza at the very moment the cease-fire expired Friday morning, August
Let’s not manage conflict, let’s resolve it Read More »
Middle EastATHENS (WJC) – The Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece, KIS, condemned the bristling anti-Semitism that has washed into the Greek press since the beginning of Israel’s operation “Protective Edge” in Gaza. “We are deeply concerned about the unexpected outburst of historical-like articles, inspired by the age-old traditional racist propaganda, that are purely
Greek Jews condemn anti- Semitism in media Read More »
International, Middle EastBy Aryeh Savir JERUSALEM (TNA) – The 72 hour ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is scheduled to end Friday morning at 8 a.m., and Hamas is threatening to renew its rocket fire on Israeli civilian targets at its conclusion. Hamas spokesman Moussa Abu Marzouk stated that “there is no agreement on the extension of the
Will Gaza ceasefire hold? Read More »
Middle East