House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman sharply condemned Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for preconditioning peace talks by mandating a settlement freeze. Berman’s comments could mark a divergence between House Democrats and the official Obama Administration position that calls for an immediate halt to all settlement activity. Acknowledging recent discussion on settlements between Israeli and U.S. […]
Israeli authorities recently arrested former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney aboard an aid ship headed for the Gaza Strip (see previous blog entry here). After her capture, the former B-rate Congresswoman compared her imprisonment to that of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I think not. Her career as a public servant in the United States gained little […]
When speaking of the Arab-Israeli conflict, we generally conjure images of Hamas in Gaza or a potential war with Syria. However, another group of Arabs constitutes a considerable issue for Israel- the Bedouins in the Negev. Prior to the creation of Israel in 1948, small Bedouin tribes (or clans called hamullahs) travelled throughout the Negev […]
Today marks the start of the 18th annual Maccabiah games that pits Jew against Jew in various sporting events. Jews from around the world descended on Tel Aviv for futsal (indoor soccer), tennis, cricket and various other competitions for what some deem “the Jewish Olympics.” This year, approximately 5,700 athletes from 60 countries intend to participate. […]
This Sunday will mark the third anniversary of the start if the 2006 War between Israel and Lebanon, and it’s still unclear what was accomplished. Lebanon suffered tremendous damages, both economically and in terms of lives lost. Israel didn’t suffer nearly the same damages, but the brief war tarnished the image of the IDF as […]
See the below film review of Waltz With Bashir from fellow FPA blogger Sean Patrick Murphy. The film, while focusing on the 1982 invasion of Lebanon, captures Israelis’ struggle with war. The Israeli government financially supported production for the film. The details of Israel’s actions during the war were subject to significant criticism, both internal […]
The Economist profiles Fouad Ali el Himma, the former leader of Morocco’s new Authenticity and Modernity Party. It is an anti-Islamist party primarily comprised of those loyal to the King. (The magazine calls its platform “centrist and non-ideological). El Himma leveraged his close relationship with the King himself to generate interest in the recently formed […]
The United States and Israel may have agreed to a solution on settlement construction that would appease both governments as well as the Arab world, the Israeli media reported. Israel reportedly agreed to end all new settlement construction for a few months while the United States would not condemn the completion of certain settlement projects. […]
On June 29, the Foreign Policy Assocation hosted U.S. State Department official, Richard J. Schmierer, for their John B. Hurford lecture in New York. Mr. Schmierer is the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State at the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs and the top State Department official for Iraq policy. So with no further ado, here’s […]
Israel’s Channel Two ran a news segment on Peace Now advocates detailing settlement development in Israel. The most interesting point in the segment comes when a settler and an activist argue over who is the true friend of Israel. The activist claims that by informing Israelis about the settlements, they are serving the country. The […]
In order to thwart Iranian nuclear ambitions, the Israeli secret service may be considering the use of cyber-warfare, according to a recent report. The Mossad could plant malicious software into the computer systems of nuclear facilities that would trigger explosives according to a predetermined criteria. The cyber-attack could include crashing certain systems or even rerouting […]
Two recent instances in Egypt dismissed the peace treaty signed with Israel in order to protect Egyptian national security or censure individuals with moderate views towards the Jewish state. Egyptian courts revoked the citizenship of Egyptians that married Israelis, citing the children as potential security risks. Because the offspring of the couple would carry Israeli […]
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