Israel provoked the latest round of rocket attacks from Gaza when it overreacted to the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teens by a rogue element of Hamas. The moral responsibility for provoking a war that has led to nearly 650 deaths in Gaza rests mainly with Israel. Hamas does indeed share some responsibility for the war.
Times of Israel reporter Avi Issacharoff reported on Friday that he had been attacked by a Palestinian lynch mob as he was covering Nakba Day protests in the West Bank town of Beitunia. Issacharoff claims he was "seconds away from being beaten to death" and only the fast action of two Palestinian Authority security personel saved him. Read his report now.
If there is ever a Third World War, there is a good chance it will start at the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif complex in Jerusalem.
King Solomon built the First Temple on this spot 3000 years ago. This Temple was destroyed and the Jews were exiled to Babylonia in 586 BCE. After Cyrus the Great of Persia conquered Babylon he encouraged the Jews to return to their homeland and rebuild the Temple. This they did, but the Second Temple was destroyed and the Jews were once again sent into exile by the Romans, in 70 A.D.
Benjamin Netanyahu is demanding that the Palestinians recognize Israel not just as a state that has a right to exist in peace, but as a "Jewish State". Netanyahu insists that this is a red line--if the Palestinians refuse to recognize Israel as a Jewish State then there will be no peace deal. Abbas, so far, appears to be staking out a position against recognizing Israel as a Jewish State.
The Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act was introduced in the Senate on December 20, 2013. It gained steam rapidly and by January 14 the bill had 59 co-sponsors--43 Republicans and 16 Democrats. Then something funny happened. Outsiders actually read the bill and it became apparent that the bill was "designed to torpedo the Nov. 24 first step nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1".
In my last post I discussed how Israel's supporters tried to get a bill passed in New York State that would stomp on the free speech rights of those who supported the BDS (Boycott, Divestment Sanctions) movement.. In this post I will show that this bill is just part of a pattern amongst Israel's supporters to stifle debate about Israel's illegal occupation in the West Bank and the BDS movement that has arisen in response to it.
There is a very special form of bullying used to attack those who question Israel's right to exist as a "Jewish State", or its policies in the West Bank, or AIPAC's role in getting U.S. legislators to unquestioningly support Israel, even if doing so jeopardizes American security interests. These bullies roll all these criticisms into one category and accuse Israel's critics of being Anti-Semitic.
On January 28, 2014, The New York State Senate overwhelmingly passed a bill that would cut all state funding to any university whose faculty used taxpayer money to attend American Studies Association (ASA) meetings or seminars or to pay for membership in the American Studies Associaton. Why would the State Senate do this?
Huffington Post just ran an article about a wave of French Jews who are migrating to Israel becuase of rising anti-Semitism in France. This is exactly why we need Israel. We need a state where Jews can migrate to when anti-semitism raises its ugly head, as it has done so many times in the past. We need a state designed for the protection of the Jewish people. That does not necessarily mean though, that Israel should always be a Jewish State in the future. There is a difference between "a Jewish State" and "a state designed for the protection of Jews". The first is racist, the sec
Every once in a while I run across someone on the internet who insists that Muslims are out to exterminate Jews. Or they insist that someone who has a "demonic view of Israel" is anti-Semitic. This is nonsense. Being against the policies of the Israeli government--even being against Israel as a Jewish State-- is not in itself anti-semitism.
