By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Is Palestine history? That is, have its various leaders lost the opportunity to make their place name into a country? Most likely yes, but it will not disappear soon from agendas of international politics. In other words, the idea will hang on, and provide stimulus to Palestinians and others feeling […]
Have Palestinians lost opportunity for state of their own? Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — There is concern here not only for Obama vs Romney next Tuesday, or Netanyahu vs who knows on January 22nd, but also for the more difficult choices facing French Hill in the election for a neighborhood committee (מנהלת) November 22nd. You’ve heard about a storm in a tea cup. This is a
Ultra-Orthodox culture clash factor in neighborhood elections Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Mati Tuchfeld/JNS.org The Likud Central Committee on Monday, Oct. 29, officially approved by a large majority the merger with Yisrael Beiteinu ahead of the coming Knesset election. Before the open vote, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the committee delegates, who had gathered at the Tel Aviv Exhibition Grounds. In his speech, Netanyahu referred to recent assertions
Bibi: Merger with Yisrael Beiteinu won’t change Likud Read More »
Middle East
By Bruce S. Ticker PHILADELPHIA–Most Americans no doubt spend little time thinking about Israel. Not that they have anything against it, but its fate is not high on their priority lists. Yet Israel figured prominently into the Oct. 22 foreign policy debate between President Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Obama broached it first,
Sorting out Israel post-debate Read More »
Middle EastA mistakenly headlined pseudo-poll published by Haaretz has caused a great deal of damage outside Israel, where this farce was used to further the campaign of anti-Israel political warfare and demonization, writes NGO Monitor President Gerald M. Steinberg. By Gerald M. Steinberg/JNS.org There is now broad agreement in Israel that the pseudo-poll and headline
The Haaretz poll travesty Read More »
Middle East
By Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — The government of Israel traded 1,700 Palestinian terrorists for Sgt. Gilad Shalit, an IDF soldier kidnapped and held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The Israelis have been known to trade live terrorists for the bodies of its soldiers held by its enemies. That’s what it means to have your soldiers’ collective back. And
Americans in Benghazi abandoned by their country Read More »
Middle East, Shoshana BryenBy Paul Foer and Chananette Pascal Cohen/JNS.org Sonya Loya’s path of rediscovery aligns with the journey potentially millions of other “Crypto-Jews” take back to their Jewish roots. Her story, and the stories of others with similar backgrounds, is also still unfolding—with legal action against the Catholic Church as the possible next chapter. Loya—a Hispanic-American woman
B’nei Anousim consider Spanish Inquisition lawsuits Read More »
Jewish Religion, Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Richard Falk is again in the headlines. The professor emeritus of political science, after a long career at Princeton, now the Special Rapporteur to the UN Human Rights Council on Occupied Palestinian Territories, has called for a boycott of companies that do business with Israeli settlements in the West Bank
Falk’s approach to Israel-Palestine utterly one-sided Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel –How we got onto the topic of education about the Holocaust I don’t quite know, but in a recent conversation with some friends I happened to say that I didn’t think it appropriate or beneficial for Israeli high-school students to go on school trips to Poland to visit concentration
Should Israeli kids skip concentration camp visits? Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle East
On September 13, inFOCUS editor Matthew RJ Brodsky interviewed Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut. Over the course of his four terms in the U.S. Senate, Senator Lieberman became known as one of Congress’ most influential voices on security issues. He has been at the forefront of efforts to increase American investment in defense and transform
Lieberman wants Islamist extremism to be identified Read More »
Middle EastBy David P. Goldman WASHINGTON, D.C. — Syria’s two million Kurds have become a wild card in the country’s crisis, after the Assad regime encouraged Kurdish autonomy as a ploy against its Sunni opposition in the ongoing civil war. The importance of the small Syrian Kurdish zone extends far beyond its possible role as a
Syria’s withdrawal from Kurdish areas worries Turkey Read More »
Middle East
By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — It’s a pity that gentiles don’t study Talmud. While there are a number of arguments in the Talmud that are pedantic and unexciting, the study of this ancient rabbinic work teaches people how to critically examine a text. During the second debate, President Obama called the
Transcripts tell story of White House and Benghazi Read More »
Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, Middle EastBy Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. –There are two reasons for the U.S. to seek the demise of Bashar Assad’s regime — for what it would mean to Syria and for what it would mean to Iran. The first is insufficient reason for the U.S. to involve itself directly. The second raises the elephant-in-the-room question: “Would
In Obama’s chess game, Israel, Syria and Turkey just pawns Read More »
Middle East, Shoshana BryenBy Evelyn Gordon WASHINGTON, D.C. — One of the most disturbing of many disturbing developments in the Middle East recently is the growing fear among America’s traditional Arab allies that Washington’s support can no longer be relied on. Whether this fear has any valid basis is irrelevant. Last month, for instance, Reuters reported on
Arab allies doubt U.S. steadfastness Read More »
Middle East