Alan Dershowitz: Alice Walker’s Bigotry

Posted on: June 20th, 2012

There is an appropriate response to Walker's bigotry. The publisher who sought to publish Walker's book in Hebrew should simply go ahead and do it—without her permission and over her objection. Walker could then sue for copyright infringement, and the issue would be squarely posed: can copyright laws, which are designed to encourage the promotion of literature, be used to censor writings and prevent certain people from accessing it, based upon the language they read.

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Rubin Reports: Thoughts on Iran, Nuclear Weapons, and Tehran’s Regional Role

Posted on: June 20th, 2012

Iran’s moment in the region as a whole is over, though it can still do much damage in the Persian Gulf area. But we are now about to enter a new era in which Egypt, under Sunni Islamist leadership, has the option of assuming the leading role again. The last round of Egyptian ascendancy began almost 60 years ago with the Arab nationalist coup of July 23, 1952. Today it;s revolutionary Islamism that is sparking efforts to make some futile new effort to wipe out Israel.

Why there are Palestinians

Posted on: June 20th, 2012

Suddenly, sometime after the 1973 war and succeeding oil price spike, there was an explosion of concern for the Palestinians. The UN has since then established what seem like dozens of agencies and functionaries relating to their ‘plight’, despite the fact that Arab citizens of Israel and those “under occupation” have fared much better economically and have more individual freedom than Arabs anywhere else in the Middle East.

Why the Peace Process is Dead

Posted on: June 20th, 2012

Recently, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas added two more conditions for resuming the stalled peace talks: first, that Israel allow him to import more weapons for his police forces in the West Bank, and second, the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. Abbas is in fact searching for any excuse not to return to the negotiating table with Israel.

Culprit in 1973 Tragedy Receives Israel’s Presidential Award

Posted on: June 20th, 2012

As the peace he helped engineer with Egypt is on the verge of complete collapse, Kissinger acknowledged that the Arabs must also offer concessions when it comes to peace with Israel.

Jewish Press Radio with Yishai Fleisher: We Won’t Let It Happen Again

Posted on: June 20th, 2012

Yishai is joined by Shai Ish-Shalom, former member of Sayeret Matkal, the most elite unit in the Israel Defense Forces. They discuss Ish-Shalom's personal experience in Entebbe, Uganda and also talk about Jewish defense in both Israel and the Diaspora.

Tal Brody: Now’s the Time for Financial Zionism

Posted on: June 20th, 2012

Many abroad think that there is little that can be done to silence the BDS movement. They rightfully assume that these campaigns are being instigated by callous hate-mongers who are unwilling to recognize Israel’s contribution to the world out of their ignorance of the realities of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Those same people think that it is best just to ignore BDS and it will go away.

Jew-Hunting Season Open in France

Posted on: June 19th, 2012

Since the killing of three children and a rabbi in the courtyard of a school in Toulouse on March 19 by Mohamed Merah, the number of attacks against Jews in France has exponentiated. French Jews feel very isolated and very vulnerable. They now know that simple things can be dangerous: wearing a skullcap in the street, going to the synagogue alone, placing a mezuzah on a door frame.

Letter from Imprisoned Turkish Journalist Baris Pehlivan

Posted on: June 19th, 2012

My dear colleagues, due to my activities as a journalist, I am unfortunately deprived unlawfully of freedom in my own country. I have been sitting in prison for 17 months without any final verdict. Journalism is a universal profession. Wherever a journalist is arrested and thrown into prison for doing his or her job, all of the world's journalists are under threat.

The U.S. Politics of the Eurocrisis

Posted on: June 19th, 2012

If Obama and other world leaders want Merkel to keep propping up the euro with German taxpayers' money, they will have to share some of the burden. Soon, the world will have to come to the rescue of Europe, and help to bail out the eurozone. So until November, the euro's problems are Obama's problems, too.

Jewish Press Radio with Yishai Fleisher: Light to the World

Posted on: June 19th, 2012

Yishai and Malkah talk about their recent trip to the Jerusalem Light Festival and the lack of Jewish themes that were presented throughout the festival.

Muslim Brotherhood Wins Presidency; Egyptian-Islamist/Hamas Jihad Against Israel (Apparently) Begins

Posted on: June 19th, 2012

We are now at the beginning of Egypt’s involvement, directly or indirectly, in a new wave of terrorist assault on Israel. If the Muslim Brotherhood takes over Egypt, a likelihood made less probable perhaps by the military’s dissolution of parliament, this offensive will enjoy official support. Even if the army remains in control, the Brotherhood and Salafists will use their considerable assets to back this new insurgency war.

Rabbi Yosef Mendelevitch, Pioneering Russian Refusenik

Posted on: June 18th, 2012

On his attempt to hijack an airplane in 1970 to bring attention to the struggle of Soviet Jewry: "Sometimes it happens in your life that you simply feel it’s the right thing to do."

Khaled Abu Toameh: Is the Palestinian Authority Losing Control in the West Bank?

Posted on: June 18th, 2012

In the short term, the Palestinian Authority may succeed in restoring law and order to areas under its control in the West Bank. But in the long term, its current clampdown will increase bitterness and frustration among a large number of Fatah gunmen and security officers who feel betrayed by Abbas.

Balkanizing Israel

Posted on: June 18th, 2012

Turkey is trying hard to carve out a new international role, attempting to leverage the unrest generated by the Arab Spring to garner wider influence throughout the Mideast and beyond. The larger story, the part that transcends the Turkish thrust/counter-thrust, is far more intriguing. Shifting regional alignments offer a wealth of possibilities for savvy Israeli initiatives in a wider sphere of ripening influence. Indeed, a true sea change is imminent for the Israel in the heart of the Balkans.

So What To Do? A Year After the Fogel Family Massacre

Posted on: June 18th, 2012

Notice that in every culture a cheated husband is a laughing-stock. This attitude to a cuckold shows not only a nasty cruelty towards weakness, but also a reasonable contempt to a voluntary blindness, a reluctance to see what is going on under one’s own nose.

Jews, Gays, Rights Activists Protest Ahmadinejad in Rio

Posted on: June 18th, 2012

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s welcome on the sunny Ipanema beach in Rio was less than warm from an eclectic group of Jews, human rights activists, and homosexuals, who arrived Sunday to protest the Iranian president’s attendance at a UN summit on sustainable development.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach: Congressman Pascrell, Repudiate the Gaza 54 Letter

Posted on: June 18th, 2012

I am mystified as why you broke with close to 90% of Congress, voting to condemn Israel for imposing a blockade on Gaza. Surely you do not want to see Israeli children with their limbs blown off. Surely you do not want to see Hamas possessing the instruments to execute suspected Palestinian “collaborators” without trial. But without Israel stopping war materials from entering Gaza, more innocent Israelis and Palestinians will be murdered in the most gruesome way.

Rubin Reports: Egypt – Things to Think About as We Await the Presidential Election Outcome

Posted on: June 17th, 2012

While one can certainly sympathize with the idea of letting an elected parliament being allowed to take office, that's not necessarily such a clear call in strategic terms. The Egyptian parliament--which will write the constitution and thus define the powers of the president--is almost 75 percent rabidly anti-American and antisemitic.

Alan Dershowitz: J Street Undercuts Obama Policy on Iran

Posted on: June 17th, 2012

President Obama recently invited me to the Oval Office for a discussion about Iran. The President reiterated to me in private what he had previously said in public: namely, that he would not allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons; that containment of a nuclear Iran was not an option; that sanctions and diplomatic pressures would be applied and increased first; but that, as a last recourse, the military option would not be taken off the table.