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Middle East

Israel Plagued By Jewish Extremism

Israel’s crackdown on Jewish terrorists has yielded tangible results of late, but Israel continues to be plagued by the troubling phenomenon of Jewish extremism. On November 30, a district court in Jerusalem found two Jewish teenagers guilty of murder in the kidnapping and murder of Muhammed Abu Khdeir, a 16-year-old Palestinian whose bludgeoned and burned […]

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Middle East

Canada’s Role In The War Against Islamic State

Justin Trudeau, Canada’s new prime minister, should reconsider his hasty election campaign promise to pull six CF-18 jets out of the combat mission in Iraq aimed at pulverizing the Islamic State organization. At a time when Canadian allies like the United States and France are ramping up military pressure on Islamic State following its murderous […]

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Middle East

Unjust And Outrageous

Unless they’re physically or mentally unfit, young, able-bodied men in Israel are duty bound to serve in the Israeli armed forces for a fixed period. When they’re older, they’re obliged to discharge their military duties in the reserves. It’s a fair system, given the fact that Israel has been on a virtual war footing since […]

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Middle East

Netanyahu’s Political Opportunism

Shortly after Islamic State terrorists finished their deadly rampage in Paris on November 13, a black Friday in the annals of the City of Light, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent a message to France. “The terrorists who attack us have the same murderous intent as those in Paris,” he said, adding that Israel stands […]

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Middle East

A Tipping Point In The War Against Islamic State

Friday, November 13 was a black day for France as nine Arab terrorists ruthlessly killed 129 people in Paris in the deadliest attacks in the French capital since World War II. But is there a silver lining in this tragedy? The bloodshed may well spell the beginning of the end of Islamic State. Perhaps a […]

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Middle East

The European Union Labelling Problem

Israel’s official reaction to a European Union ruling that Israel can no longer attach made-in-Israel labels to some goods produced in the occupied West Bank, Golan Heights and East Jerusalem is nothing less than overblown and self-serving. On November 11, the European Commission — the EU’s executive body — issued guidelines mandating that certain products […]

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Middle East

Russia Pays A Price for Intervention In Syria

In one of its biggest gambles in decades, Russia has plunged headlong into the raging civil war in Syria. The price it is paying for its armed intervention is already staggering and may yet grow worse. On September 30, the Russian Air Force began bombing rebel strongholds in western Syria, its planes taking off from […]

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Middle East

Netanyahu And Obama Meet To Mend Fences

Benjamin Netanyahu was on his best behaviour when he met Barack Obama on a fence-mending mission at the White House on November 9. It was an important meeting, given the United States’ status as Israel’s chief ally and benefactor. Netanyahu, who last met Obama more than a year ago, had his work cut out for […]

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Middle East

The Legacy of Yitzhak Rabin

I remember that day as clearly as yesterday. Twenty years ago on November 4, on a typically cool autumn afternoon in Toronto, I greeted my Israeli friends, Arie and Ida, at my front door with terrible news. They had been out shopping and hadn’t heard what had happened just hours earlier. Yitzhak Rabin, the prime […]

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Middle East

A Bleak Moment In The Middle East

Mark Rosenblum, the founder of Americans for Peace Now, used to be cautiously optimistic about the prospect of peace between Israel and the Palestinians. The Olso peace accords in 1993 and 1995 gave him reason to be hopeful. But yesterday in Toronto, Rosenblum sounded a pessimistic note. Speaking at a Canadian Friends of Peace Now […]