Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu demanded that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state as a precondition for returning to talks. President Obama wasted little time in dismissing that demand. The demand is absurd on its face. No one demands that a country be recognized as anything but a sovereign nation by anyone else. The Palestinian Authority has recognized Israel as a sovereign nation, and that is enough. Netanyahu…
One would like to say that this is a bad joke, but sadly for Israel, it is reality. None other than Avigdor Lieberman has issued Israel’s statement regarding the Durban II conference. Obviously, this is part of the job of Foreign Minister, and it’s why Lieberman is such an absurd choice for the job. But to see Lieberman, who has risen to a position of power based on a campaign…
31-year old Bassem Abu Rahmeh was killed in Bil’in on Friday. He was killed because an Israeli soldier fired a long-range tear gas canister at his abdomen, from a distance of a few yards. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) calls this the result of “unauthorized fire.” Fine. But the question is what will be done about it. The result of this instance of “unauthorized fire” was the death of a…
The much-anticipated Durban Review Conference gets underway next week. While a lot of people seem to have very powerful and set opinions on this event, it strikes me as one that is difficult to choose sides about. The cases made both for and against the conference often seem weak and lacking in consideration of contradictory factors. A great case in point appeared in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution just today. Two op-eds,…
It shouldn’t have taken this long, but finally two men with world-renowned credibility (and, I might add, also two men with a strong pro-Israel background, uncompromised by their balanced view of things) have taken up the argument (Article in Hebrew only) against the notion that Israeli soldiers are more important than Arab civilians. Blogger Jerry Haber raises the question (English translation of the article is at that link) that Michael…