IPS Writers in the Blogosphere

Currently viewing the tag: "Operation Cast Lead"

Iron Dome, “Iron Dumb”?

From On March 14, 2013 · Leave a Comment

via Lobe Log

by Marsha B. Cohen

Americans will soon get to see their taxpayer dollars at work when Israel’s Iron Dome anti-rocket system, funded largely by the US, is deployed during President Obama’s Israel visit.

Unless the inauguration of Pope Francis I causes an abrupt change in his itinerary , Obama will land in [...]

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Gaza and Iran’s Security Policy

From On November 28, 2012 · Leave a Comment

via Lobe Log

You will not hear me say this often, but Hossein Shariatmadari — Iran’s irascible and intractable editor of the hardline Kayhan daily — makes one important point in this editorial. Although a few months ago Iran’s leader Ali Khamenei referred in general terms to the fact that Iran had been [...]

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Tomgram: Oded Na’aman, Is Gaza Outside Israel?

From On November 26, 2012 · Leave a Comment

via Tom Dispatch

On returning from his first trip to the Gaza Strip, Noam Chomsky told Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman, “It’s kind of amazing and inspiring to see people somehow managing to survive as caged animals subject to constant, random, sadistic punishment only to humiliate them, no pretext. Israel and the United States keep [...]

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Adam Shatz on Israel’s Losing Battle

From On November 25, 2012 · Leave a Comment

via Lobe Log

From the London Review of Books:

But the price of war is higher for Israel than it was during Cast Lead, and its room for manoeuvre more limited, because the Jewish state’s only real ally, the American government, has to maintain good relations with Egypt and other democratically elected [...]

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Israel, Gaza and Iran: “The Rockets’ Red Glare, the Bombs Bursting in Air”

From On November 21, 2012 · 1 Comment

via Lobe Log

The Gaza Strip, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, Egypt and the State of Israel, is 25 miles long. At its narrowest point it is less than 4 miles wide, and at its maximum width, it’s 7.5 miles wide — a total area of 141 square miles. With a population of 1.7 million [...]

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Gaza Fallout Weakens Israel, Strengthens Nationalists

From On November 21, 2012 · 1 Comment

By Nadia Hijab

via al Shabaka

Whenever Middle East tensions rise, observers wonder whether the Camp David accords between Israel and Egypt will weather the storm. It is no different this time. Asked at last Friday’s daily briefing if the peace treaty was “in jeopardy”, State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland, assured correspondents that the [...]

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Gaza, Iran and Israel’s Never-ending War with Reality

From On November 21, 2012 · Leave a Comment

via Lobe Log

Okay, it seems I spoke too soon. Hamas is now back in the “Iranian-supported” camp according to this editorial in the New York Times, which identifies Hamas as both “backed by Iran” and pathologically “consumed with hatred for Israel.”

President Shimon Peres has also refocused on Iran, as [...]

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Israel Uses Social Media To Defend Its Assault on Gaza

From On November 21, 2012 · Leave a Comment

via Lobe Log

The current Israeli onslaught against Gaza contains many echoes of the assault four years ago. In one regard, however, it is clear that Israel learned some lessons from its experience with “Operation Cast Lead” and is applying it to “Operation Pillar of Defense.” Those lessons are reflected in Israel’s use of [...]

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The Proportionality Of A 33-To-1 Casualty Ratio

From On November 19, 2012 · Leave a Comment

via Lobe Log

The House of Representatives, the State Department, and various pro-Israel organizations in Washington have all issued statements expressing support for Israel’s recent actions in the Gaza Strip and reaffirmed Israel’s right to act in “self-defense.”

Indeed, Israel’s right to self-defense is important to remember and [...]

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Israel vs. Gaza: The Grim Bottom Line

From On November 19, 2012 · Leave a Comment

via Lobe Log

If current diplomacy fails, pent up rage on both sides, a cycle of tit-for tat-retaliation, Hamas’ hopes for greater Arab assistance, and a yearning to emerge from this latest round of heavy fighting on better footing than either side did from the last face-off in 2008-2009 could sustain Israeli-Hamas violence for quite a while. Without [...]

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