Islamic World
In November, the Arabs Said “No”Monday, November 21, 2011 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
There are no uneventful months in the tortured history of the Arab-Israel conflict. November is no exception. It was on November 2, 1917 that British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour sent Lord Rothschild a letter—the Balfour Declaration.
Israeli Intransigence? Try Palestinian RejectionismThursday, November 17, 2011 by Aryeh Tepper | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The conventional wisdom in diplomatic and media circles concerning the Israeli-Arab conflict is that Israeli intransigence—especially on the building of West Bank settlements—is the dead weight that prevents the achievement of a two-state solution.
Finally, a Palestinian “Peace Now”?Monday, November 14, 2011 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
What if a group of youthful Palestinian activists, fed up with Hamas and Fatah for leading the Palestinian Arabs over and over down bloody, self-defeating dead ends, were to emerge as a new political and social force—something like a Palestinian "Peace Now"?
In Egypt, with LiberalsWednesday, October 19, 2011 by Michael J. Totten | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
American relations with the Arab world have been strained for decades; Israel's relations with the Arab world barely exist. But the Arab world itself is not all of a piece. The outright enemies of Israel and the West—preeminently, Syria and Iran—are political totalitarians.
Political ContrailTuesday, October 11, 2011 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
This month marks the 30th anniversary of an emotionally fraught and bitterly waged political confrontation between the Reagan administration and the organized Jewish community.
The Wages of DurbanWednesday, September 21, 2011 by Arch Puddington | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
In the days just prior to the assault on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) was very much in the news, and for reasons that are altogether relevant to the mass murder that took place on September 11, 2001.
Settling for StatehoodMonday, September 19, 2011 by Diana Muir Appelbaum | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The 66th session of the United Nations General Assembly has just begun. Unless a diplomatic miracle happens, that body will soon be asked to approve what amounts to a unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood. Palestinian spokesmen say they had no choice but to make their end run around serious negotiations with Israel.
Israel’s Isolation ProblemThursday, September 15, 2011 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Aryeh Golan, the morning news anchor for Israeli public radio, summed up the feelings of Israelis on Sunday when he said, "In Turkey the government is against us, in Egypt the mob is against us, and at the UN the majority is against us."
West Bank BluesWednesday, September 14, 2011 by Aryeh Tepper | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Few groups are as demonized in public discourse as "the Jewish settlers" of the West Bank. To listen to the pundits, these international outlaws are single-handedly preventing the achievement of a utopian peace in the Middle East.
Israel, America, and the Lessons of 9/11Friday, September 9, 2011 by Abe Greenwald | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Two heads belonging to the same monster: This is the way a significant portion of the world saw America and Israel on September 11, 2001. On television that day, we watched people jump to their deaths to escape the flames engulfing the World Trade Center.
Editors' Picks
Wagner the Dog Jonathan S. Tobin, Contentions. What does it say about Jewish sensibilities that a month after Tel Aviv University hosted a "Nakba Day" commemoration, it judged a concert of Wagner's music to be beyond the pale?
Refugees Forever Asaf Romirowsky, Alexander Joffe, Haaretz. UNRWA says that grandchildren of Palestinian refugees remain "refugees." No other refugee group gets this treatment—but, then, no other group supplies the majority of UNRWA's staff.
Missing Mubarak Jacky Hougy, Globes. As Egypt passes sentence on Mubarak, some in Israel are mourning an ally. But Mubarak was no friend of Israel—and the military dictatorship which he led still holds the levers of power.
Not Just Peace Barry Gewen, New Republic. Citing various instances of individual reconciliation, a new book questions the so-called clash of civilizations between Islam and the West. But personal anecdotes are no guide to statecraft.
The Other Olympics David E. Sanger, New York Times. The U.S. cyberwarfare program (likely working with an Israeli partner) has frustrated Iran's nuclear project for six years. But now that the virus is loose, America must be braced for retaliation.
Jews of Yemen, Get Out! Lyn Julius, Times of Israel. The few dozen Jews who remain in Yemen—many incentivized against aliyah by the Satmar movement—insist that Jewish life is good in Tzanaa despite a death toll attesting to the contrary.
Hezbollah's Newest Threat Lee Smith, Tablet. The culture of resistance crafted by Hezbollah is on the wane, as many Shiites aren't eager to serve as human shields in the next round of warfare.
Cyrus the Unappreciated Great Daniel Johnson, Standpoint. No Gentile is treated with such reverence in the Bible as Cyrus. But his example shows just how alien Iran's recent rulers are to the long history of Persia and its people.
A Fatwa against Nuclear Arms? Tariq Alhomayed, Asharq Al-Awsat. After three decades of Iran's using religion, sectarianism, and even the Palestinian cause for its own ends, are we really expected to trust Tehran on the basis of . . . a religious fatwa?
Arab Fairy Tales Lyn Julius, Times of Israel. In countries that ethnically cleansed their Jews, the media now hail the restoration of Jewish buildings as somehow indicative of pluralism and tolerance.