In the daily news coverage, as they say, if it doesn't bleed, it doesn't lead. The larger story of Israel, therefore, is rarely told.
And the steady barrage of anti-Israel assaults -- from the UN's Arab-led automatic majority to the boycott-sanctions-divestment crowd; from some PR-savvy NGOs to the red-green...
(287) Comments | Posted April 15, 2012 | 9:59 PM
What's so special about a country's 64th birthday?
Well, in the case of most nations, perhaps not all that much, unless the country happens to be Israel, which celebrates its birthday this year on April 25 and 26.
Israel has the dubious distinction of being the only U.N. member state...
(132) Comments | Posted March 19, 2012 | 8:08 PM
Here we go again.
First, it was the various "Freedom Flotillas" that tried to enter Hamas-controlled Gaza by sea.
Now it's the "Global March to Jerusalem" (GMJ), slated for March 30.
Whether by sea or land, the goals are the same: to provoke confrontations with Israel, give Israel a...
(59) Comments | Posted March 7, 2012 | 8:06 AM
The name Avi Shlaim may not be widely known on the street, but in the United Kingdom, and particularly in academic settings, it is.
An emeritus professor of international relations at Oxford University, he has been a prodigious writer on the Middle East.
When it comes to Israel, where...
(1) Comments | Posted February 20, 2012 | 11:26 AM
Let's begin with the tweets themselves.
From Narayan Lakshman, Washington-based correspondent for The Hindu, a prominent Indian left-of-center newspaper, to his foreign affairs editor in New Delhi, R.K. Krishnan, citing an article he wrote for the paper last week:
"India can seek oil elsewhere in West Asia: American...
(74) Comments | Posted February 13, 2012 | 11:30 AM
When it comes to Israel, advice is never in short supply.
It's doled out steadily by diplomats, scholars, editorial writers, columnists, you name it.
The onset of the so-called Arab Spring -- in actuality, it more closely approximates an Islamic Winter -- has unleashed...
(393) Comments | Posted January 30, 2012 | 8:43 AM
When it comes to the Middle East, the former president never ceases to amaze.
In an interview published in Time, he was asked: "What do you think it means that Iran seems to have its first nuclear fuel rod?"
His complete answer:
Well, of course, the religious...
(107) Comments | Posted January 17, 2012 | 11:02 AM
I sat down to read the New York Times Travel section, which this week featured a major piece on Jerusalem. By the second paragraph, I was shaking my head in disbelief.
The author, Matt Gross, declared up front that "I will go pretty much anywhere, anytime" as...
(205) Comments | Posted January 8, 2012 | 2:48 PM
These words are destined for the history books.
They were uttered by Ahmet Davutoglu, the Turkish foreign minister, during a recent visit to Tehran.
Other than such brilliant luminaries as Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez, and North Korea's...
(212) Comments | Posted December 31, 2011 | 3:44 PM
Here's a recent headline in The Guardian: "Gaza Christians long for days before Hamas cancelled Christmas."
As a non-Christian, I'm curious about the reaction.
Or when the media reports on attacks on Coptic Christians, an estimated ten percent of the Egyptian...
(24) Comments | Posted December 18, 2011 | 1:39 PM
Tom Friedman, the New York Times columnist, crossed a line in his recent op-ed, "Newt, Mitt, Bibi and Vladimir."
Shockingly, he wrote: "I sure hope that Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, understands that the standing ovation he got in Congress this year was not for his politics....
(5) Comments | Posted December 12, 2011 | 9:22 AM
As I've written before, I have a problem with my name.
It's not that there's anything inherently wrong with it. It's just that, unlike Bon Jovi, Lady Gaga, Barack Obama, or Newt Gingrich, mine is anything but distinctive, so much so that I keep running into namesakes,...
(36) Comments | Posted November 27, 2011 | 11:00 AM
One of the three spaces on the prestigious New York Times op-ed page in the November 23rd edition was given to a rather odd piece.
Amidst all the turmoil going on in the world today, the editors chose to publish a column entitled "Israel and 'Pinkwashing.'"
In...
(101) Comments | Posted November 15, 2011 | 7:39 AM
Last week's report from the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) -- a UN body -- sent a chilling message.
Here is the central finding:
The IAEA has serious concerns regarding possible military dimensions to Iran's nuclear program. After assessing carefully and critically the extensive information available...
(781) Comments | Posted October 21, 2011 | 2:01 PM
I've been reading the Times pretty much every single day since I was ten-years-old. That's more than a half-century by now.
Along the way, I've been informed, inspired, and occasionally infuriated.
This week, there was cause for infuriation.
First, it came on Monday, in the form of four photographs...
(3) Comments | Posted October 17, 2011 | 4:13 PM
He passed away in 2000, at the age of 86.
The more time goes by, the more I miss him. Precisely when his voice is needed more than ever, he is no longer among us.
In 1914, Jan Karski (né Kozielewski) was born to a Catholic family in Poland. The...
(91) Comments | Posted October 9, 2011 | 9:07 PM
You recently wrote a column in The New York Times entitled "Is Israel Its Own Worst Enemy?"
Asserting that yours is "an act of friendship," you unleashed a torrent of criticism against Israel, claiming, among other angry accusations, that the Jewish state is "endangered most by its...
(14) Comments | Posted September 25, 2011 | 5:36 PM
On Friday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addressed the UN General Assembly. He was enthusiastically received by many in the hall.
This should come as little surprise. Look at the make-up of the body: For starters, 22 Arab League members, 56 Organization of the Islamic Conference members, and approximately...
(49) Comments | Posted September 18, 2011 | 2:10 PM
The 27 members of the European Union have become the key battleground in the current Palestinian UN gambit.
Britain, France, Germany and Portugal sit on the UN Security Council. They would be among the 15 nations acting on a Palestinian request for UN membership.
Moreover, the General Assembly is...
(118) Comments | Posted August 28, 2011 | 9:16 PM
Once again, the Palestinians, with the help of their international enablers, are about to shoot themselves in the foot -- or worse.
Barring unforeseen circumstances, the Palestinian leadership will soon turn to the UN to seek support for unilateral recognition of statehood.
Since Washington has indicated it will veto any...

(127) Comments | Posted May 28, 2012 | 11:44 AM