Posted on: April 30, 2023 Posted by: Mitchell Plitnick Comments: 0

Israel Says It Should Mediate Peace in Sudan, the Sudanese People Disagree

Israel has offered to mediate the conflict raging in Sudan. This piece at Mondoweiss explains its interest, why Sudan finally and fully joining the Abraham Accords is so important to Israel, and how this whole episode is about sidelining the will of the Sudanese people, both in their fight for democracy and their solidarity with the Palestinians.

Posted on: April 22, 2023 Posted by: Mitchell Plitnick Comments: 0

What’s So Funny About Peace for Ukraine?

My first Substack piece for this year revisits a theme I’ve written about before, which is the lack of serious debate about the war in Ukraine. This time, I take on the unfair and false characterization of those of us who question the Biden administration’s and NATO’s refusal to consider diplomacy rather than a victory at arms. Please subscribe to the newsletter, which you can do straight from the article…

Posted on: April 22, 2023 Posted by: Mitchell Plitnick Comments: 0

The one-state reality goes mainstream

Writing in the journal Foreign Affairs, four noted, quite mainstream scholars of U.S. policy in the Middle East–Michael Barnett, Nathan Brown, Marc Lynch, and Shibley Telhami–describe “The One-State Reality” that exists in Palestine and Israel today. The piece is meant to promote their book, The One-State Reality: What Is Israel-Palestine? I should note, the book features a collection of essays from many prominent thinkers and is worth reading. In my latest piece…

Posted on: April 16, 2023 Posted by: Mitchell Plitnick Comments: 0

Yair Lapid conducts damage control with wavering allies: Democrats and American Jews

It was easy to miss, but Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid was in the U.S. last week, visiting with American Jewish leaders and a couple of members of Congress. Lapid is himself not in a great political position right now as the notable plummet Benjamin Netanyahu has taken in the Israeli polls has benefited Benny Gantz, not, as one might expect, Opposition Leader Lapid. Still, he tried to reassure pro-Israel…

Posted on: March 29, 2023 Posted by: Mitchell Plitnick Comments: 1

Biden’s disdain for diplomacy in Ukraine is a deadly mistake

The folks over at Responsible Statecraft published an interesting piece last week from a former U.S. analyst and adviser, George Beebe. He made a persuasive case for why it is becoming more and more of a priority for Joe Biden to change his course of eschewing diplomacy and favoring instead a quixotic military victory. Beebe points to three main factors to explain why it is more important than ever that…