By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM –Again Israel was front and center on the web site of the New York Times, along with a picture and a headline: “Israel Plans 1,000 Housing Units in East Jerusalem.” Read the article. The content is more modest by far than the headline or the prominent placement. It reports that the area […]
New York Times headline overplays Jerusalem construction story Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastNEW YORK (Press Release)–The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has criticized reported plans being pushed by the Obama Administration for the creation of a Palestinian state on all of Judea and Samaria with parts of eastern Jerusalem and the strategically vital Jordan Valley to be “leased” by Israel from it. Media reports are discussing a
ZOA: Palestine-Israel lease-back plan a ‘non-starter’ Read More »
Middle EastWASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release)–J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami on Monday, Nov. 8, released the following statement upon the Israeli Government’s announcement of the construction of 1,300 new apartments in East Jerusalem: “J Street is profoundly disappointed that the Israeli government has chosen this moment to announce yet another large round of construction in East Jerusalem.
J Street ‘profoundly disappointed’ by new construction in East Jerusalem Read More »
Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–Living alongside the Arab neighborhood of Issawiya has its moments. Items from the weekend’s news: Israelis accompanying an Australian tourist made a wrong turn into the neighborhood, and narrowly escaped a lynching. In another incident, neighborhood folks stoned an ambulance that entered the area to tend a resident who had been injured
Life on the boundary of a Jewish neighborhood and an Arab one Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Barry Rubin HERZLIYA, Israel — Christians in Iraq have been, and not for the first time, deliberately targeted in a major terrorist attack. Indeed, from Indonesia to Pakistan to Iraq, from the Gaza Strip to Egypt to Sudan to Nigeria, Christians are being assaulted, intimidated, and murdered by militant Muslims. Yet virtually never do
Attack on Baghdad Church part of pattern of Muslim hostility towards Christians Read More »
Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — We have had worse days. The not so friendly United Nations published its Human Development Index, ranking Israel number 15 among 169 countries. Norway is number 1 and the United States number 4. Israel scores higher than such decent places as Finland, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Austria, and the United
Israel may be in for a period of international calm Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East
By Lloyd Levy LONDON– The early Zionists were intent on creating a new Jew, one who would not be beholdento the non-Jewish majority. The new Jew would be free of the Diaspora mentality, which was perhaps most famously described by the Zionist poet Bialik, in his poem “The City of Slaughter .” The poem describes how
Hail Lieberman and Netanyahu, self-confident Jews Read More »
Lloyd Levy, Middle East
By Barry Rubin HERZLIYA, Israel (Press Release)–What effect will the congressional elections have on U.S. foreign policy generally and Middle East policy in particular? It isn’t a matter of the individual candidates, since nobody lost or won who will have some big influence on U.S. policy in the next couple of years. The important factor
Will Obama be pragmatic or an idealogue in second half of term? Read More »
Middle East, USAJERUSALEM (WJC)–Israel’s Foreign Ministry has suspended trips of government officials to Britain out of fear that they might be arrested there for alleged war crimes. The news was announced during a visit by UK Foreign Secretary William Hague in Jerusalem. Despite assurances, successive British government have not yet repealed universal jurisdiction laws allowing private war
Israel suspends official travel to the United Kingdom Read More »
Middle EastJERUSALEM (WJC)–A Knesset committee has made it possible for a civil marriage law to be implemented in Israel. The Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee on Wednesday, Nov 3, approved a registration fee of about US$ 165 for couples to obtain a civil marriage. The law, passed in March and set to be implemented next
Civil marriages in Israel for non-Jews approved by Knesset committee Read More »
Middle EastBy Barry Rubin HERZLIYA, Israel — There is a struggle for power in Lebanon of the greatest importance. Yet it is a battle that the West, for all practical purposes, has already ceded the country to the Iran-Syria bloc. Lebanon has a unique political system. It is what might be called a communal democracy, with
The West abdicates to Syria and Iran in Lebanon Read More »
International, Middle East, USANEW YORK (Press Release)–The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has praised Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) for his recent speech taking the Obama Administration to task for fixating on Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria as constituting an obstacle to peace when the truth is that Jews living and building homes there poses no obstacle to
Schumer criticizes Obama on his policy on Jewish settlements on the West Bank Read More »
Middle EastCHICO, California (Press Release) — Led by Nobel Laureates Roger Kornberg, Stanford University, and Steven Weinberg, University of Texas at Austin, 38 Nobel colleagues have endorsed the following statement written under the auspices of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME) regarding worldwide attempts to boycott, divest from or sanction Israeli academics, institutions, and
NEW YORK (Press Release)–Participation in semester or year programs in Israel is directly linked to stronger Jewish affiliation and leadership – regardless of the Jewish background growing up, a study commissioned by Masa Israel Journey finds. Masa, a joint project of the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Israeli government which serves an umbrella for
Study: Longer experiences in Israel lead to greater Jewish identification Read More »
Middle East