In a precedent-setting decision which may yet have ramifications in parts of Europe with a significant Muslim population, Holland’s Ministry of Education recently rejected a request by a Muslim school in The Hague to open a branch in Amsterdam. The undersecretary of the ministry, Sander Dekker, cited Islamic radicalization within the Association of Islamic Studies […]
Israeli opposition leader Isaac Herzog was right to mock Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent assertion that he’s ready to take “brave steps” to achieve peace with the Palestinians. Netanyahu made this claim in a speech to the Knesset on the eve of appointing Avigdor Liberman, a hawk, as Israel’s new defence minister. Commenting on this […]
Shortly after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cavalierly relieved him of his duties as minister of defence last week, Moshe Yaalon took to the podium to deliver a remarkable speech peppered with ominous references to the growth of extremism in Israel. Yaalon’s comments should be regarded by Israelis as a wakeup, reinforcing widespread fears that Israel is […]
Israel is haunted by the specter of Palestinian attack tunnels. During Operation Protective Edge, the 50-day Gaza war in the summer of 2014, the Israeli army found and destroyed 34 such tunnels, which the Palestinians regard as a strategic weapon in the face of Israel’s overwhelming military superiority. Israel’s search-and-destroy mission took place after the Israeli […]
Israel and the Palestinians should create a new template to resolve their dispute, says Israeli analyst Yossi Alpher. Both sides, having failed to achieve peace through protracted negotiations, must build a new framework for bilateral talks. If they fail to do so, he warned, they will find themselves on a “slippery slope” toward a one-state […]
Benjamin Netanyahu is a big proponent of “economic peace” with the Palestinians. In 2009, shortly after becoming Israel’s prime minister for the second time, he talked about the need to develop the Palestinian economy in the West Bank, claiming that job creation would benefit both parties. He formed a special committee to improve the Palestinians’ […]
In the wake of this week’s terrorist attacks in Brussels, for which Islamic State claimed responsibility, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pointed out, quite correctly, that the international community is now engaged in “a global war against terror.” Having made this pertinent observation, Netanyahu careened off course by making a causal link between Islamic State […]
It goes without saying that a peaceful resolution of the Arab-Israeli dispute will be fiendishly difficult to achieve unless both sides are psychologically prepared to make meaningful compromises. Israel must accustom itself to the idea that its occupation of the West Bank is unsustainable and counter-productive. How can there be peace when the Palestinians are […]
Islamic State and its 34 affiliates have launched terrorist attacks in countries ranging from France to Turkey, but the Sunni jihadist organization has yet to strike one of its arch enemies, Israel. It seems strange that IS, based in Iraq and Syria, has not targeted Israel, the object of hatred and revulsion in the Muslim world. […]
Much to its credit, the International Criminal Court in The Hague has set an important precedent, having laid charges against a jihadist accused of destroying historic properties in a legendary African town on the edge of the Sahara desert. It’s the first time the ICC has addressed the issue of cultural destruction as a war […]