The horrific suicide attacks on the airport and subway system in Brussels was a case of terrorism coming home to roost. They were ideologically symbolic — the Brussels international airport is less than five kilometers away from NATO headquarters, and the Maelbeek subway station is close to the main institutions of the European Union. […]
The area on the Mediterranean coast known as Lebanon has been a battleground for thousands of years, long before it became a sovereign state in 1943, with Beirut as its capital. But only since the 1970s has it become a victim of almost permanent violence between its various religious factions, who have often enlisted […]
Chinese President Xi Jinping recently visited Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iran. The central object of his trip was to promote the Belt and Road Initiative, which will revive the ancient Silk Road. “Since China and Saudi Arabia forged diplomatic ties 26 years ago, our relationship has developed by leaps and bounds, with mutual political trust […]
Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, the two “outsiders” contesting, respectively, the Republican and Democratic nominations for the American presidency, each seem to regard the two Roosevelt presidents as models. Trump is an economic nationalist who advocates a robust and nativist foreign policy — a platform very similar to that of President Theodore Roosevelt, the Republican […]
Bernie Sanders is the first Jew to mount a credible campaign for the White House. Yet the American Jewish community has not rallied around him, nor has there been any Jewish groundswell of public pride. There are no calls for Jews to support their fellow Jew. It’s because Sanders has almost nothing to do […]
Germany’s love affair with the seemingly endless numbers of refugees from Syria and other nations entering the country seems to have reached its limits, and Chancellor Angela Merkel has come under mounting criticism for her asylum policies. Opponents of Merkel’s decision last year to allow more than one million asylum seekers into the country have been […]
Toronto’s York University has not been a particularly hospitable place for Jewish students for the past few years. Many feel that a climate of antisemitism, masquerading as “anti-Zionism,” pervades the university. Some students have feared for their physical safety at times. Things took an even uglier turn last month. A pro-Palestinian acrylic mural that […]
Five years on, the Arab Spring has turned to winter, its bright hopes dashed in all but Tunisia, and the Arab world is worse off than ever. Egypt has come full circle, once again chafing under an authoritarian-military dictatorship, while Libya, Syria and Yemen have fared even worse, descending into chaos and civil war. […]
When it comes to women’s rights, Saudi Arabia is arguably the most repressive society on earth. Most of the kingdom’s subjects are members of the Wahhabi branch of Sunni Islam, often described as “ultraconservative” or “puritanical.” Known as Muwahhidun, they adhere to the strict Hanbali school of jurisprudence. This form of Islam particularly affects the position […]
As pro-Palestinian groups proliferate at American colleges, student protesters have taken to shouting down invited Israeli guest lecturers at various campuses and disrupting other events organized by Jewish students. Late last year, Assi Azar, an Israeli television personality and LGBT rights advocate, was interrupted during a discussion of his film, Mom, Dad, I have […]