The Sunday Times of London has this to say:
Administration officials say privately that Obama has given himself two years for a diplomatic breakthough on a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians, despite the opposition of Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, to America’s minimum demand for a freeze on all settlement [...]
There are many who believe (or are worried) that Obama will follow the path of some of his predecessors and talk in public about stopping the settlements (and by implication the settlers) but do nothing about it in private. Aluf Benn argues that Obama is serious and has Congressional support on this issue:
United States President [...]
In Ha’aretz the other day they had this article which had me laughing out loud:
“Obama’s people brief their Israeli counterparts in advance much less about security and Middle East policy activities than the Bush administration used to,” the officials said. In addition, when they do brief Israeli officials, they don’t consult with them or coordinate [...]
Continue reading about Jerusalem is Worried – Obama isn’t a Frier!
In the subtitle to her book about the Eichman trial, Hannah Arendt coined this phrase. Essentially she meant to point out that true evil is not necessarily commited by psychopaths or “sick” people. Rather, quite ordinary human beings can commit monstrous acts when they put their faith in the values and norms of the state [...]
With the world economy continuing its nosedive and what with torture memos and pirates, Israel doesn’t seem to be in the news much these days. But it couldn’t last too long. CQ broke this story yesterday, and it even hit the New York Times today! What makes this story particularly interesting is the revelation that [...]
This sentence became the rallying cry for George Bush’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and his support for the war crimes of Arik Sharon and his successors. Except the United States is far more authoritarian than many of its citizens and certainly its politicians care to admit. A shining exception is Senator Jim Webb:
Let’s start [...]
There has been a good deal of chatter regarding Mr. Freeman withdrawing his candidacy for the post of chairman of the National Intelligence Council, including the man’s own comments blasting the “Israel Lobby.” He was attacked by both the “right” and the “left” to the point where he could not serve effectively. The best commentary [...]
Yesterday’s post focused on the change in the White House. This article in Ha’aretz by Gershom Gorenberg, discusses change on Capital Hill:
Congress’ attitude toward the Arab-Israeli conflict has begun to shift. The conservative line of AIPAC, the veteran pro-Israel lobby, is no longer the only understanding of how to support Israel. The principle of two [...]
An interesting analysis by Simon Tisdall of the Guardian, discussing Obama’s options:
If in four years’ time, military confrontation with Iran has been avoided, the Iraq withdrawal has been managed honourably and without internal collapse and some kind of half-credible peace process between Israel and its Arab neighbours is in train, Obama’s people will probably call [...]
Zadie Smith is a terrific writer. Reading her novels can be exhausting. Her creative mind is hyper-active, running in a thousand directions at once. She always manages to pull it altogether in the end, but sometimes, as a reader, I just can’t keep up. Which is why I prefer her essays. The short format forces [...]