Islamic World
The Persian PuzzleWednesday, January 12, 2011 by Aryeh Tepper | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
A synagogue in today's Jerusalem bears the name "Hajji Yehezkel." Yehezkel is Ezekiel, and Hajji is the Persian term for one who has fulfilled the Islamic precept of going on pilgrimage to Mecca. Who was this Ezekiel, and how did he earn his improbable honorific?
Land of the Crescent Moon?Tuesday, December 21, 2010 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
When an Islamist suicide bomber accidentally detonated two of the three explosive devices he had brought to a bustling Stockholm shopping district in early December, Sweden's Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt urged his fellow citizens in the "Land of the Midnight Sun" not to jump to hasty conclusions about any jihadist connection. But that may prove tricky.
The Discreet Coyness of Salam FayyadFriday, December 3, 2010 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
In a recent short article, Salam Fayyad, the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, has reported on his program of building the civic and economic infrastructure of a Palestinian state, a program now into its second year of creating "facts on the ground."
Israel vs. the International Criminal CourtMonday, November 29, 2010 by Anne Herzberg | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
For more than six decades, Israel has been subjected to violence, warfare, and a relentless campaign of terror attacks deliberately targeting civilians. This "hard-power" war is bolstered by a corresponding "soft-power" war aimed at delegitimizing and demonizing the Jewish state.
The Brothers LurkMonday, November 22, 2010 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
November is election month not just in the United States but also in Jordan and Egypt. On November 9 Jordanians voted overwhelmingly to fill their parliament with loyalists of King Abdullah II. Egyptians will go to the polls on November 28 to elect the People's Assembly, and there is little doubt that Hosni Mubarak's ruling National Democratic party will remain in control.
Under IslamThursday, October 21, 2010 by Aryeh Tepper | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
In the two decades following the establishment of the state of Israel, approximately 850,000 Jews were forcibly driven out of Arab lands. Their expulsion marked the beginning of the end of 2,500 years of Jewish life in North Africa, the greater Middle East, and the Persian Gulf. Until recently, their story has been largely unrecognized and untold in the English-speaking world.
Bi-Polar EuropeTuesday, October 19, 2010 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Last month, Western intelligence services uncovered a plot by Arab men holding European citizenship to carry out simultaneous shooting strikes in France, Germany, and Britain. The United States apparently thwarted the attacks in a targeted killing campaign using drone aircraft against suspected Taliban- and al-Qaeda-backed terrorists along the Pakistan-Afghan border.
Hamas LoomingMonday, September 20, 2010 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Mahmoud Zahhar, a senior Hamas figure, was being ever so slightly disingenuous when he told the BBC that his movement would not attempt to halt the talks between Mahmoud Abbas and Benjamin Netanyahu because in any case they are bound to die a natural death on their own.
A Tale of Two LobbiesWednesday, September 8, 2010 by Ruth R. Wisse | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The problem of the Arab-Israel conflict begins with the term itself, which misrepresents the unilateral Arab war against Israel as a bilateral dispute. Unilateral aggression is not unheard of—when did Poland ever aggress against Germany or Russia?—but nothing in United Nations history compares in intensity or fixity with Arab belligerence toward Israel, a UN member state.
RamadanMonday, September 6, 2010 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Three near-certainties accompany the Muslim holy month of Ramadan: in Islamic countries, the stock market climbs; in Jerusalem, the already amplified pre-dawn adhān, or call to prayer, becomes even more piercing than usual; and there is a steep rise in Muslim bloodletting.
Editors' Picks
Jerusalem Syndrome Michael J. Totten, City Journal. The world's diplomats have convinced themselves that dividing the city of Jerusalem is the key to peace in the Middle East; they are deluded.
Cairo's Peace Dividend Amir Taheri, New York Post. An honest public debate would show that the peace with Israel has been beneficial to Egypt, and in fact an essential first step toward freedom from despotic rule.
Second Exile Lucette Lagnado, Wall Street Journal. Gamal Abdel Nasser's Egypt had no room for Jews. Longing for change, and even for return, the daughter of a family who fled in 1963 sees her hopes dashed.
Egypt's Israel Obsession Eric Trager, New Republic. Egyptians hate Israel for their own reasons, which have nothing to do with the Palestinian cause.
Egypt's Botched Revolution Michael J. Totten, Pajamas Media. Washington and Jerusalem would prefer to do business with the military rather than with the Muslim Brotherhood; what if they will have to contend with both? (With photos)
Cold Autumn Elliott Abrams, Weekly Standard. No one knows what will follow President Abbas's gambit at the UN, but Palestinian officials have not budged on the rights of "refugees" or on recognizing Jews as a people.
Shia Setback Jonathan Spyer, Guardian. While the Arab Spring has weakened the "Shia crescent," another threat to Israel looms: Sunni Islamist forces.
Egypt's Israel Problem Yasmine El Rashidi, New York Review of Books. An Egyptian journalist reports on the recent wave of anti-Israel demonstrations and the virulent attitudes toward the Jewish state on display everywhere in the new Egypt.
Statehood Temptations Louis René Beres, Haaretz. Any new state of Palestine would be carved out of the still-living body of Israel, with an obviously injurious impact on Israel's security as well as on U.S. strategic interests.
The Arch-Historian Daphna Berman, Moment. At ninety-five, Bernard Lewis, the commanding scholar who foresaw and warned about the return of Islamic extremism, remains an ardent student of the religion—and of much else.