Acre, a historic port in northern Israel, sits on the remnants of the world’s only fully preserved Crusader city. Visitors who spend a few hours in its old quarter, designated as a World Heritage site by the United Nations, can feast their eyes on subterranean Crusader ruins that were uncovered by archaeologists in the 1950s and […]
It’s hard being anything but a particular kind of Sunni Muslim in Pakistan these days. Christians, Hindus, Shia Muslims and members of the Ahmadiyya sect — considered heretical by many other Muslims — are wise to remain circumspect. Even adherents of Sufi orders, most of them Sunnis, are considered idolaters by Salafist fundamentalists. All these […]
It probably will come as no surprise that American Jews formed a binding relationship with Israel through culture and food rather than through politics. During the first two decades of Israel’s existence, they bonded with the new state by reading books about it, buying Israeli crafts, paintings and apparel, attending concerts by Israeli musicians and […]
One of the busiest thoroughfares in Tel Aviv, Kaplan Street, leads to a host of nearby destinations — the Azrieli towers, the Arlozoroff railway station, the Ayalon expressway, the Israeli government media center and one of the city’s newest and most historically interesting attractions, the Sarona market, an upscale complex of more than 90 shops, […]
There has arguably never been a president like Rodrigo Duterte, even in a country used to sometimes outrageous political personalities. To call him undiplomatic is putting it mildly. He is uncouth, goes into tirades, and breaks all the rules of statecraft, even using profanity to criticize other world leaders, as he did in 2016, when […]
With Britain having been bloodied by three terrorist incidents in the past two-and-a-half months, British Prime Minister Theresa May may be finally coming to grips with a problem that has been festering for years. Speaking less than a day after Muslim terrorists rammed their van into a crowd of pedestrians on London Bridge and then […]
Denying the undeniable, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed on May 30 that the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad had nothing whatsoever to do with the recent spate of deadly chemical weapon attacks in Syria. “According to our information, there is no proof that chemical weapons were used by Assad,” Putin told the French newspaper Le […]
Though it’s been called America’s longest war, that’s not exactly accurate. Actually, it’s the longest of its colonial wars. That’s different. The United States and some of its allies have been battling the Taliban in Afghanistan since 2001, following the al-Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington that September 11. It was intended to punish the […]
Much to the disappointment of the right-wing nationalist camp in Israel, U.S. President Donald Trump may yet turn out to be something a dud. Israeli right-wingers, buoyed by his staunchly pro-Israel statements and comments during the presidential campaign, expected him to grant Israel carte blanche in its dealings with the Palestinians, display a tolerant attitude […]
Diverging from his predecessor’s policy, U.S. President Donald Trump has adopted a tougher approach to Iran, a position that pleases major American allies in the Middle East. Israel and Sunni Arab states were upset by Barack Obama’s advocacy of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the nuclear agreement signed by the six major powers and […]