Middle East

Gaza flotilla seeks to demonize Israel, not to help Gaza

SAN DIEGO  (Press Release)– The American-flagged ship, The Audacity of Hope, is part of an international flotilla organized to violate Israel’s legal blockade of the Gaza Strip, allegedly to deliver humanitarian aid.   StandWithUs condemns the flotilla as a hypocritical  and dangerous publicity stunt, and joins international leaders who have urged the flotilla organizers to send goods

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Middle East

The shameful western ‘don’t botherhood’ of research

By Barry Rubin HERZLIYA, Israel — In 2003, I and the publication I edit, the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal, became the world’s biggest story for two or three days. Last week I became a “story” without knowing it until later. First, the 2003 experience. An Iraqi-American author submitted a good article

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International, Middle East

Red Cross takes a stand on Shalit; CNN, NYT taking sides for Gaza

By Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — Following the Flag & General Officers Program in Israel, the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) asked the Israeli government why it gives Hamas a “free ride” from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). We wrote, “You let/enable/assist the Red Cross in doing its humanitarian work in the

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Middle East, Shoshana Bryen

Environmentalists say high birth rates, immigration leading Israel to overpopulation

JERUSALEM (Press Release)– Ben-Gurion University of the Negev’s (BGU) Prof. Alon Tal presented the most comprehensive report to date on Israel’s environmental movement. It details the movement’s lack of training, involvement of experts and public support, as well as its perilous dependence on foreign donations. The report, “Israel’s Environmental Movement: Trends, Needs and Potential,” was

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Middle East

Enemy missiles? (Yawn) U.N. vote on Palestine (Yawn) What about the high price of cottage cheese?

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–Israel aspires to be a normal country, but can’t make it.   Two issues dominant in recent news are the price of cottage cheese, and a prolonged labor dispute between physicians working in the public sector (the vast majority of the country’s medicine) and several governmental agencies about salary, working conditions, and

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East

Jordan at the crossroads

By Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C.  — The Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) is generally sympathetic to the difficulties faced by Jordan’s King Abdullah II. He is a Hashemite ruling a mostly Palestinian and Bedouin country; an excellent security partner to Israel because Israel ensures that he will not be overthrown by Palestinians who believe

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Middle East, Shoshana Bryen

Touring congressman decries Hamas participation in Palestinian government

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release)- Congressman Steve Chabot (OH-1) is traveling in the Middle East. Congressman Chabot is the Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia and is visiting Israel, Egypt and Jordan.  He released the following statement regarding his meetings with the Israeli and Palestinian Prime Ministers: “I was deeply disturbed

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Middle East

U.S. using Palestine independence vote in U.N. to gain leverage on Israel

By Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C — It seems the countries of the United Nations have begun to have second thoughts about trying to “create” a Palestinian state through the General Assembly, or – since the Palestinians declared their state independent in 1998 – accepting “Palestine” as a member of the UN without the imprimatur of the

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Middle East

Israeli ‘agent’ Grapel failed to grapple with Egyptian realities

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM –Last weekend the Egyptian government announced that it had arrested an agent of the Mossad who had been sent to Cairo to provoke demonstrations against the regime.   The culprit is Ilan Grapel, since featured in a number of media reports.   Descriptions by those who knew him are of an

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East

Palestinian vote could set precedent for secessionist movements throughout world

By Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — For more than 60 years, the United Nations has worked mightily to prevent the Arabs from paying the price of their rejection of the independence of Israel in 1948 and to stoke the fires of Palestinian irredentism: denying resettlement to Arabs who fled the Arab war against Israel; five

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Middle East, Shoshana Bryen