While Abbas crashes and burns

While everyone is busy grilling Mahmoud Abbas these days over the Palestinian Authority’s decision (i.e. his decision) to let the Goldstone Report die, and preparing to eulogize him for all the rage that is being directed at him for it, let’s not forget who benefits from this circus — Hamas. After all, the more intense [...]

If Mahmoud were Menachem…

Ok, so, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad might have been born Jewish, as a report in the Telegraph claims.
The knee-jerk reaction to this is to snicker at the irony of the situation. After all, what could be funnier than the greatest single enemy of the Jewish people currently living having Jewish roots?
(Now that these allegations have surfaced, they’ll [...]

Reaching the endgame

It isn’t often that I agree with the Jordanians and Saudis, but they’ve gone and forced my hand.
On Monday, after meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington, Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh articulated his country’s complaint against the plodding pace of the peace process.
“In the Middle East,” Judeh said, “there has been [...]

Subs in the Suez

Is Israel’s decision to send a Dolphin submarine through the Suez Canal — overtly — a message to Iran, as this Jerusalem Post report suggests?
Well, duh.
Let’s review why. As I wrote back in 2006:
Israel’s long-range Dolphin-class submarines are reportedly able to launch nuclear-tipped Popeye Turbo cruise missiles…
Since the distance from Israel to Iran is far [...]

Durban II? Yawn…

For the record, I don’t care one whit about Durban II. What I do care about is Bushehr, Natanz and Isfahan. Everything else is just a sideshow, and a waste of time.

The pen is mightier…

Uh-oh. The ADL is hysterical about this political cartoon by Pat Oliphant that depicts Israeli soldiers as headless Zio-Nazis, rolling over innocent women and children in Gaza. Prepare for the usual “You can’t criticize Israel without being labelled an anti-Semite” nonsense.
The ADL is right, obviously. This cartoon is terrible. But I’ve seen this kind of thing [...]

1,001 Arabian nights

It was with much skill and cunning and more than a little charm that young Scheherazade entertained Sharyar, weaving enchanting stories whereby, for 1,001 consecutive nights, she bought herself a reprieve from the jealous sultan’s pledge to lop off the pretty maiden’s head.
As Gilad Schalit approaches his own 1,001st night in captivity in Gaza, one wonders what tales [...]

So long, Salaam

The joy that Fatah and Hamas share at the news of Salaam Fayad’s resignation makes so much sense. I mean, which sane Palestinian would want an independent, internationally recognized economist, unbeholden to either of the parties that have systematically destroyed any chance of a viable Palestinian state, in charge of the billions of dollars in financial aid that foreign donors have lavished on his people?

Child’s play

Video games are the newest front in the Israeli-Arab conflict

Homeward bound?

Maybe you really can’t go home again. But for a few former Gush Katif settlers now serving in the IDF, Operation Cast Lead is a long-awaited opportunity to return to the Gaza Strip.