The refugee crisis presently convulsing Europe owes its origins, in part, to the ongoing civil war in Syria, which has claimed the lives of some 250,000 Syrians since 2011 and may go on for years. The war itself is the fault of the dictatorial Syrian regime, which opened fire on peaceful demonstrators demanding long overdue […]
In the early 1980s, Israel lodged vigorous protests with West Germany over its plan to sell state-of-the-art Leopard tanks to Saudi Arabia, claiming the sale would threaten its security. But in 2011, when unified Germany announced its intention to sell the Saudis 200 Leopards in a deal worth $2.5 billion, Israel did not object, calling […]
When Islamic State seized Palmyra in May, it announced it had no plans to bulldoze the Syrian city’s wonderful ancient ruins, a UNESCO World Heritage site. But according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights — a British-based organization which has documented the four-year-old civil war in Syria in minute detail — Islamic State recently […]
The Rototom Sunsplash Reggae Festival in Spain has apologized for having dropped the Jewish American singer Matisyahu from its program. Matisyahu had been scheduled to perform at the Valencia-based festival on August 22, but was disinvited when he declined to endorse Palestinian statehood. Pressure was brought to bear on the festival — an advocate of […]
Susan Rice, President Barack Obama’s national security advisor, put it bluntly. “We look to the next Israeli government, and the Palestinian Authority, to demonstrate — through policies and actions — a genuine commitment to a two-state solution,” she said in April, shortly after Benjamin Netanyahu won reelection as Israel’s prime minister. Wendy Sherman, the U.S. […]
Describing Islamic State as “nimble” and “opportunistic,” President Barack Obama recently warned that the struggle to defeat it will be lengthy and replete with setbacks. “This will not be quick,” he said. “This is a long-term campaign.” Obama, of course, is right. Islamic State, a Sunni jihadist organization intent on forming a caliphate, has cut a […]
Syria supposedly destroyed its stock of chemical weapons, all 1,300 tons of it, under an agreement reached by the United States and Russia two years ago. But there are strong indications that Syria, embroiled in a civil war that has claimed the lives of some 250,000 combatants and civilians since 2011, has not relinquished its […]
Proceeding on the assumption that the best defence is a good offence, President Barack Obama has launched an aggressive public relations campaign to sell the Iran nuclear agreement to the divided U.S. Congress. Congress has until September 17 to review the controversial accord and decide whether it should be approved or rejected. The Republican Party, […]
John Kerry, the U.S. secretary of state, had a clear message for Egypt, a key Arab ally, when he visited Cairo on August 1. Warning the authoritarian Egyptian government that it could lose its battle against domestic terrorism unless it shows far more respect for human rights, he said, “The success of our fight against […]
Israeli leaders have universally condemned the brutal murder of 18-month-old Palestinian toddler Ali Saad Dawabsha, who was killed on July 31 when terrorists firebombed his home in the West Bank village of Duma, near Nablus. The firebombing injured his parents and four-year-old brother as well. This ghastly incident evokes memories of the kidnapping and murder […]