By now, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) attempts to spin the story of Jawaher Abu Rahmah — the Palestinian woman who died last week following a protest in the West Bank village of Bil’in, by all indications due to exposure to tear gas fired by the IDF at the protesters — have fallen to pieces. (See [...]
On Monday, Politico‘s Ben Smith ran a long piece that was advertised as a “view from the Middle East” about the Obama administration’s failures in the Middle East peace process. Andrew Sullivan quickly criticized the article for its extensive and credulous reliance on members of the Netanyahu government and other assorted Likudniks. Smith
The reaction of Israeli political leaders to the news of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 anticipated that the American public, as well as its policymakers, would now be better able to empathize with Israel’s vulnerability to random terrorist attacks against civilians. But a spate of Israeli pronouncements also drew upon a decade of Israeli assertions of Iranian complicity in terrorist attacks, and warnings of an imminent Iranian nuclear threat. A war of civilizations had begun, in which Islamic fundamentalist forces had launched what was just their first strike on September 11. The next might be a nuclear attack by Iran.
The Hudson Institute‘s Anne Bayefsky in an article on Pajamas Media, attempts to link the Cordoba Initiative’s fund-raising for the planned community center at 45-51 Park Place in New York (rebranded the Park 51 Community Center) to the secretary-general of the High Council for Human Rights in Iran. Her argument represents a noticeable [...]
News and Views Relevant to U.S.-Iran relations for August 9th, 2010:
The Washington Note: Steve Clemons says that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has become a conflict that matters, “…far beyond the Israeli and Palestinian populations and is a screaming, right now challenge.” As the United States remains committed to remaking Afghanistan and Iraq the urgency [...]
As discussed by Ali on Wednesday, attempts to deny a linkage between the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and broader U.S. strategic interests in the Middle East seem to be an ongoing theme of right-wing Israeli politicians and their supporters. But the “2010 Arab Public Opinion Poll” released by the Brookings Institution and Zogby International on [...]
With regard to Iran, Efraim Karsh’s Sunday op-ed in the New York Times is an important example of what analyst Tony Karon called “recycl[ed] really tired Israeli PR lines.” Indeed, in his conclusion, Karsh, with gaps in his logic bigger than the Grand Canyon, suddenly busts out with one of Israeli Prime Minister [...]
The New York Times: Efraim Karsh repeats the argument that the Arab and Muslim world has ceased to care about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the sooner the Palestinians realize they’re alone, the sooner they’ll make peace with Israel. Tony Karon, of Rootless Cosmopolitan, offers an excellent critical response to Karsh’s questionable argument and [...]
To follow up on yesterday’s post about Lee Smith and frivolous charges of anti-Semitism, it appears that Jeffrey Goldberg — while conceding that Smith’s article, for which he served as the sole source, was completely lacking in substance or evidence — is continuing his rather creepy and pathetic vendetta [...]
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News and Views Relevant to U.S.-Iran relations for August 26th, 2010:
Reuters: John Irish reports that French President Nicolas Sarkozy has warned Iran that, “If a credible agreement [over its nuclear program] cannot be reached, Iran’s isolation would only worsen.” Sarkozy continued, “And in the face of worsening threat, we would have to organize [...]