By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — There is an old rule of politics, which you can find in one or another textbook, that a ruling party or a coalition that is too big is bad. Small is better, insofar as its members are afraid of losing the whole game if they wander off the reservation. When […]
Bibi’s coalition has many fault lines Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East
By Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — Few things ought to be as urgent as keeping Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, yet the West – led from the front by the United States – has fallen into the “peace process” trap that considers talk to be progress and, once a conversation has begun, that there is
Iran’s talk-talk strategy is working Read More »
Middle East, Shoshana BryenBy Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — It can’t be said that the U.S. is doing nothing about Syria. The administration created the “Atrocities Prevention Board,” which failed the test at Houla. It is supporting the feckless Kofi Annan, who is adding to a resume that includes the genocide in Rwanda and massacres in Bosnia. It
Why is the U.S. doing military exercises with Lebanon, Pakistan and Egypt? Read More »
Middle East, Shoshana Bryen
By Morton A. Klein NEW YORK — Following last week’s Egyptian first round of voting in the country’s presidential election, which has seen the Muslim Brotherhood candidate, Mohamed Mursi, win a plurality of the vote (44%), the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has pointed to continuing, alarming developments in Egypt. The ZOA is urging the
U.S. brushes off Muslim Brotherhood’s anti-Israel rhetoric Read More »
Middle East
By J. Zel Lurie DELRAY BEACH, FLORIDA — Bilingual education has always attracted me. I built the first bilingual Hebrew-Arabic primary school for citizens of Israel a quarter century ago. Now there are five bilingual schools in Israel and more on the drawing boards. I have a great-grandson in Palo Alto, Calif. He attends a
Bilingual schools in Israel celebrate Arab and Jewish narratives Read More »
Middle EastBy Gabriel Max Scheinmann WASHINGTON, D.C — A week ago, 28 NATO leaders gathered in Chicago for the first NATO summit in the United States since 9/11. While global attention was focused on the Alliance’s impending withdrawal from Afghanistan, the summit also exposed underlying tensions, most notably the new French president’s campaign promises
U.S. must stop backing Turkey over Israel Read More »
Middle East
By Barry Rubin HERZLYIYA, Israel –While the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt claims victory, the election was actually a defeat—at least temporary and possibly less important than it seems—for the Brotherhood and Islamism. Here’s why. The Islamist Camp Note that only about 44 percent of voters backed an Islamist candidate, compared to 75 percent in the parliamentary
Islamists’ percentage dropped in Egypt’s voting Read More »
Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Israel has learned from more than 60 years in a difficult neighborhood not to solve problems. In case you are wondering, that is a compliment. It is a sign of political maturity. The most important lesson came in the Lebanon war that begin in 1982 and lasted until the troop
Coping is Israel’s great political skill Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East
Photos and story Sandy Golden SAN DIEGO — Israeli Scouts from San Diego’s Carmel Valley, miniature plants of sunflower seeds from Israel, a San Diego middle-school student writing names in Hebrew for passers-by, the results of a Dream House Competition begun on “Yom Ha’atzma’ut”, a strolling, Yiddishe minstrel/ accordionist, young children and adults from local
Enthusiastic HOI lawn program spreads good will Read More »
Middle East, San Diego CountyBy Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — Senator Mark Kirk (R., Ill.) has offered an amendment to the FY 2013 funding bill for the State Department that would require the Department to provide two numbers to Congress: 1) the number of Palestinians physically displaced from their homes in what became Israel in 1948, and 2) the
Sen. Kirk seeks true census of Palestinian refugees Read More »
Middle East, Shoshana BryenBy Barry Rubin HERZLIYA, Israel — According to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, the almost complete vote counting for president looks like this: Mohamed Mursi (Brotherhood) 28.4% Ahmed Shafiq (Mubarak era general) 24.6% Abdul Moeim Abul Fotouh (so-called “moderate Islamist” but supported by radical Islamist Salafists) 18.1% Hamdeen Sabahi (radical anti-American “left” Nasserist) 17.1%
Muslim Brotherhood claims victory in Egypt voting Read More »
Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — An uptick in loud concern about illegal immigration is currently riling Israeli media and politics. By “loud concern” I mean shouting on a prime time discussion program set off when moderators do not accept as appropriate the answers to questions they have asked, against the background of anti-immigrant riots in
Israelis’ rhetoric about illegal immigration sounds like Americans’ Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — In the great mystery of What will Israel do? there is another item that may help to resolve the problem. Ha’aretz is the paper of Israel’s intellectual establishment. And befitting that status, it is left of center, and generally critical of government policy. The posture of its editors affects their
Ha’aretz ridicules Obama’s do-nothing approach on Iran Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Morton A. Klein and Daniel Mandel NEW YORK — Since the toppling of the Hosni Mubarak regime last year, matters in Egypt – and thus in the Egyptian/Israeli relationship and in the surrounding Middle East – have steadily gone from bad to worse. Strangely, few are taking notice. The Obama Administration actively encouraged the
Egyptian candidates seek end to peace with Israel Read More »
Middle East