Hamas

There they go again. The old John McCain would just admit he changed his position and move on. But the new John McCain campaign is incapable of that. Instead, they are reverting to an attack on the messenger.

The question and answer I released yesterday was a full...

The storm over President Bush's "appeasement" remarks in Israel misses the point. No, we should not appease, engage, or give shoulder rubs to Islamist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah. But wishing they would go away, while arming their enemies has gotten us nowhere.

Plus, haven't we, to some degree,...

Most of the time, George W. Bush displays a merely middling level of breathtaking stupidity. Roughly the level of those who need Rush to tell them how to vote or Ann to tell them who they hate. But once in a while, as he did today in the Knesset, he...

George Bush was in Jerusalem today doing what he and his fellow Republican operatives do best -- fear-mongering for crass political gain at a time when the Mid East fires are skipping their fire lines from all that hot air Bush is blowing across its parched landscape.

Instead of...

On a flight home from a lecture at the University of Arizona on the eve of the Jewish holiday of Passover, I happened to sit next to an elderly woman whose accent, along with the Hebrew prayer card in her hand, suggested she was Israeli.

Our conversation during the flight...

If there were ever a perfect example of the Bush administration's utterly bankrupt, and provably impotent, foreign policy, it would have to be the State Department's reaction to events in Beirut over the last few days. The laughably weak U.S.-backed Lebanese government, in what can only be described as...

Many Jews around the world are celebrating Israel's 60th birthday this week. Mazl tov!

Let us recall this week a wonderful Jewish tradition, shared by other faiths and nations around the world throughout history. Those who have been blessed share their blessings with the less fortunate.

Fans of Yiddish...

Israel celebrates its 60th anniversary of independence this week, and this surely is a milestone of biblical proportions given the relentless challenges Israel has faced since its birth. The celebration also represents an ideal opportunity for Israel to reward itself with a gift that may, just may, keep on giving.

When I was a U.S. government prosecutor during the Carter Administration, the first thing we came to understand is that the rule of law requires the equal application of the law. Today, in the wake of former President Carter's unauthorized talks with Hamas leaders, the issue is whether our laws...

Most Recent News: Brad Whitford and Richard Schiff corroborate my post in Friday's New York Times piece by Elisabeth Bumiller.

Second Update: McCain and Me: Hero Worship Dies Hard (But When It Does...)

Update: Through a spokesperson with the colorful name Tucker Bounds, McCain has denied telling me...

A week ago, I wrote about Jimmy Carter's meeting with representatives of Hamas. Carter had a simple idea: you only make peace with your enemies and you can only make peace when you talk to your enemies. Today, Carter explains his position more fully in public.

He...

When approaching a conflict, any world statesperson would consider trying to break up the logjam. A Christian leader who has always stood for justice and human rights and who takes the issue of the sancity of life seriously has no choice but to try and see what he or she...

According to a recent interview, John McCain believes that Hamas wants Barack Obama to be president. In McCain's words:

All I can tell you Jennifer is that I think it's very clear who Hamas wants to be the next president of the United States. So apparently has Danny Ortega and...

This week featured the through-the-looking glass moment when Bill Clinton accused Barack Obama of having "played the race card on me," then denied saying it just a few hours later -- even though he'd said it on the radio. I know Toni Morrison called Clinton the first black president, but...

Every day that Jimmy Carter continues his works of peace and humanitarian outreach justifies the day that I cast my first vote in a presidential election for him some... okay, a lot of years ago. His recent foray to establish another line of communication with Hamas is another act of...

Former President Jimmy Carter, speaking in Cairo, stated the obvious: the blockade of Gaza is a "crime" and an "atrocity," Reuters reports.

"It's an atrocity what is being perpetrated as punishment on the people in Gaza. it's a crime... I think it is an abomination that this continues to...