From the category archives:

Editorials

East Jerusalem in a Jewish stranglehold

March 11, 2010

Isn’t it time that the “two-state solution” be regarded as an object of the imagination no more real than the Tibetan kingdom of Shambala?
At the heart of this Middle Eastern fable is another Shangri-La: Jerusalem, capital of the Jewish state and a Palestinian state.
In reality, Jews in an unremitting march of expansion are taking over [...]

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The price tag for Israeli intransigence

March 9, 2010

The day before Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Israel — supposedly on a mission to help kick-start peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians — the Netanyahu government made its contempt for the Obama administration clear by approving new settlement construction.
They were quick to take offense — they being the Israelis!
“While we welcome Vice President [...]

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Obama wants to expand America’s military reach

March 2, 2010

As President Obama prepares to present his first Nuclear Posture Review, the news is that he’s about to announce plans to eliminate thousands of nuclear weapons from the United States arsenal. So good so far — but it gets worse from here on in.
If a smaller arsenal might look like a step towards the elimination [...]

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At what point will the West dump Israel?

March 1, 2010

For those of us who view the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as being an issue of injustice, there’s plenty of reason to believe no resolution is in sight simply because justice is one of the weakest among the principles governing world affairs. To this extent, Israeli leaders can feel confident in their sense of impunity.
But there is [...]

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Can the US afford not to help in the Dubai murder investigation?

February 28, 2010

On Thursday, the US State Department spokesmen P J Crowley was called on to break the US silence regarding the murder of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh:
QUESTION: …has there been any comment on the apparent assassination in Dubai? Is that something the U.S. has weighed in on?
MR. CROWLEY: I don’t think we’ve weighed in on it. It is [...]

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The attrition of bravery

February 27, 2010

In Shakespeare’s Henry V, as the Battle of Agincourt is about to commence, the king addresses his men — “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers” — heavily outnumbered by the French and facing the risk of imminent slaughter.
Henry — a king who fights with his men and doesn’t simply issue commands — [...]

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Mossad tries to restore its images

February 26, 2010

Even among Israelis who welcomed news of the assassination of the Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, there must have been growing disquiet that the faces of so many Mossad operatives would have since become so widely known. So much exposure for a clandestine operation has to be bad, doesn’t it?
It now appears that Mossad has enrolled [...]

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Is Israel a small penis or a limp penis?

February 22, 2010

Having thought a lot about Israel, I’ll confess I’ve never pictured it as a penis – of any particular size.
But on second thoughts, that’s not actually true. The wars on Lebanon and Gaza did evoke a sense that the Jewish state regards war as a type of Viagra, so I guess if war is Viagra [...]

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Israel cruises into a diplomatic storm

February 21, 2010

Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, speaking on Saturday, suggested that Israel will not face a diplomatic crisis with Europe over the killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai “because there is nothing linking Israel to the assassination.”
“Britain, France and Germany are countries with shared interests with Israel in countering terrorism,” Ayalon said.
Not so fast. The [...]

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Are we living in the post-moral age?

February 20, 2010

Rafi Eitan, an Israeli elder statesman and former intelligence officer is perhaps best known for having led the Mossad operation that captured Adolf Eichmann, architect of the Holocaust, and brought him back to face trial and execution in Israel in 1962.
In an interview with Haaretz this week, Eitan summed up the Zeitgeist in which we [...]

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Has Israel been helping supply weapons to Hamas?

February 19, 2010

The idea that Israel could be involved in supplying weapons to Hamas might sound like a preposterous conspiracy theory, but let’s look at some connections — the theory might not be as wild as it sounds.
In undisputed reports, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh has been described as the top Hamas commander responsible for coordinating the flow of arms [...]

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Five Israelis had their identities stolen – apparently by Mossad!

February 17, 2010

Anyone who is Jewish but doesn’t have a Jewish sounding name and who has been considering emigrating to Israel might soon be having second thoughts.
To the extent that Israel provides a safe haven to Jews, it turns out your religious identity might count for less than your name.
The Israeli government has yet to acknowledge that [...]

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Was the arrest of the Taliban’s second-in-command a strategic blunder?

February 17, 2010

Updated below
The capture of the Taliban’s second in command, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, has been hailed as a huge blow to the Taliban but it may turn out to deliver an even bigger blow to President Obama’s hopes for an early withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.
Hajji Agha Lalai, former head of the Afghan government-led [...]

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