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SOTU Follow Up on Mid East Peace
January 29, 2010 5 min. read

The Obama administration responded twice on the Middle East peace process, a day after the State of the Union that omitted any reference to Israel, the Palestinians or the peace negotiations, an issue the administration has spent considerable effort and time on over the last year. A state department spokesperson was asked about the omission […]

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HRW Refutes Hamas
January 28, 2010 1 min. read

Human Rights Watch has long criticized Israel for violations, including actions related to Operation Cast Lead and the imprisonment of certain Palestinians. And this criticism has led some to criticized the group for one-sidedness. However, the group just refuted an assertion from Hamas that the terror organization’s rocket targeted soldiers only and inadvertently struck civilians. […]

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State of the Union Nix
January 28, 2010 1 min. read

What was missing in President Barack Obama’s first State of the Union address? Any mention of Israel, the Palestinians or the peace process. Even though the administration expended significant energy and political capital on Middle East peace, the administration and Special Envoy George Mitchell have had minimal success. Shocked about the omission? Not entirely. but […]

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Mixed Messages From Israel
January 27, 2010 3 min. read

As tensions between Hizballah and Israel continue to put Lebanon on edge, the rhetoric coming from Israel is decidedly mixed. Recently, a senior Israeli minister commented that another war with Hizballah is “inevitable” but that he didn’t know when it would happen. On the surface, this may sound unnecessarily inflammatory given the situation, but then […]

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Anti-Semitism and Threats Persist
January 27, 2010 4 min. read

Perhaps there is no greater event in history that perpetuated -and some claim grant legitimacy to- the creation of the State of Israel than the Holocaust. While Jews began trickling back into the Holy Land a the end of the 19th century, the slaughter of Jews in Europe propelled thousands of more Jews into the […]

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Iran and the Arab World: An Update
January 27, 2010 2 min. read

It is no secret that Arab governments have long worried about Iran’s growing influence in the region and they are trying to limit Iranian influence among its population.  Here are some of the current news stories that highlight this tense relationship between Arab countries and Iran: Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) reported that Arabsat, leading […]

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Israel To Be The First Country to Adopt Electric Cars
January 27, 2010 1 min. read

An Israeli-American company, Project Better Place,  has plans to create the first electric-car grid, which would allow electric cars to be introduced in large numbers on the road. Project Better Place is  a sillicon valley start-up that will operate the recharging grid to support the electric cars.The electric car will dramatically reduce carbon emmissions and […]

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Mitchell Trips
January 27, 2010 2 min. read

U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Amb. George Mitchell recently completed his latest round of shuttle diplomacy. As of right now, the trips seem to have accomplished virtually nothing, with Israeli and Palestinian officials still not negotiating. However, a recent State Department statement emphasizes that Palestinian institution building is prioritized by the administration. This […]

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Israel's Broken PR Machine
January 27, 2010 1 min. read

The Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barack announced that The government of Lebanon would be a “target” in case the situation on the ground deteriorated. Few hours later former Prime Minister of Israel Tsivi Livni announced “Iran is as much of a threat to Arabs as it is to Israel”. I wonder what scientific poll did […]

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The Iran Question in Iraqi Upcoming Elections
January 26, 2010 4 min. read

On March 7, 2010 Iraq will hold parliamentary elections. One of the main issues on the campaign trail is just how close Iraq’s ties to Iran should be. The candidates are divided along nationalist and pro-Iranian lines, with nationalists raising concerns about becoming a puppet state of Iran. The situation was highlighted by the standoff […]

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A Blow to the Reformist Movement?
January 26, 2010 2 min. read

Two of Iran’s opposition leaders, Mohammed Khatami and Mehdi Karroubi, have apparently dropped their demand for a new presidential election, saying that while they still believe the vote in June was fraudulent, they accept Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the head of state. Mehdi Karroubi is a former presidential candidate, who has been very vocal in his […]

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Iran’s Internal Nuclear Option
January 26, 2010 5 min. read

Disappointment over the Islamic Republic’s intransigence in its nuclear policy has given further credence to Western suspicions that Iran may be buying time to develop a nuclear military capability to blackmail regional states of the Persian Gulf and/or Israel. But at present, Iran’s deeply paranoid and insecure leadership is contemplating its other nuclear option: this […]

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