Posted on: April 13, 2021 Posted by: Mitchell Plitnick Comments: 0

How hawkish Democrats are impeding Biden’s Middle East policy

I will absolutely admit that Joe Biden has far exceeded my expectations in his domestic policies, and only justified some of my fears. But on foreign policy, it’s a very different matter. Prioritizing his domestic agenda is understandable, but it’s extremely dangerous and short-sighted. Biden’s clear concern that foreign policy not undermine his domestic agenda is a weakness that hawks have been exploiting. And those hawks are Democrats, and they…

READ MORE
Posted on: March 31, 2021 Posted by: Mitchell Plitnick Comments: 0

A new effort to sell Israel to American liberals

Yet another new group has been formed to try to sell Israel and its oppressive policies to liberals who are, slowly but surely, waking up to the fact that Israel’s practices and apartheid policies are incompatible with their professed values. In my latest piece for The New Arab, I look at a new group, called Heart of a Nation, which tries to promote Israel by giving some space to criticize its…

READ MORE
Posted on: March 31, 2021 Posted by: Mitchell Plitnick Comments: 0

Here’s a Reminder: The Iran Nuclear Deal Was a Very Good One

When people say “The Iran Deal isn’t perfect, but…” they undermine efforts to defend the deal. No deal is ever perfect. It’s a general rule that nothing is. This statement is defensive and extremely misleading. In fact, the JCPOA, or Iran Nuclear Deal, was an astonishing feat of international diplomacy. It was an agreement that the US, Russia, China, France, Germany, AND Iran could all sign on to. That, in…

READ MORE
Posted on: March 22, 2021 Posted by: Mitchell Plitnick Comments: 0

Israeli elections: The view from Washington

Another Israeli election is upon us. Election day in Israel, though, is only the beginning of a long process of political jockeying and deal-making in the hopes of emerging with a stable governing coalition. It’s been quite a while since such a thing existed, and it doesn’t seem very likely that this election will yield one either. More likely, Benjamin Netanyahu will be at the head of a caretaker government…

READ MORE
Posted on: March 16, 2021 Posted by: Mitchell Plitnick Comments: 0

US lawmaker Gregory Meeks shows his true colours on Palestine

When Jamaal Bowman defeated Eliot Engel in a NY primary last year, there was some hope that the leading Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee might be less hawkish on Israel-Palestine. Unfortunately, Gregory Meeks, Engel’s successor as chair of the HFAC, has made statements and taken positions that fit squarely with those of his predecessor. The implications are grim, as the Senate’s Chair of its Foreign Relations Committee, Bob…

READ MORE