President Barack Obama’s appointee to lead administration efforts to combat anti-Semitism is still unsure of how her new role with involve responding to anti-Israel comments. Hannah Rosenthal, the State Department’s Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, began federal service today and purports views in-line with J Street, the pro-peace pro-Israel lobby (she sits on the […]
Living in Washington D.C., New York, or Tel Aviv might lead you to sometimes forget that misconceptions about Jews and anti-Semitism still run rampant in the U.S., Europe, and -shockingly- in the Arab world. A new You Tube video is going viral that depicts a clearly anti-Semitic man questioning the loyalty of British Jews. His […]
If you thought Hamas and the Israelis couldn’t be any more divergent in their views, guess again. The way each society deals with one particular issue is relatively indicative of the mentality of both. That issue is mind altering substances, and yes, the results of the disagreement could be deadly. As the prevalence of alcohol in Israel continues to […]
Media reports indicate a prisoner swap between Israel and Hamas is currently underway, with abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit already in Egypt awaiting transfer to Israel. Meanwhile, Palestinian prisoners held in Israel were told to gather their belongs in anticipation of a swap. However, it is unclear if Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti will be included […]
The European Union, with Sweden holding the rotating presidency until the end of the year, will consider a draft resolution put forth by Sweden that would express support for the division of Jerusalem and refers to “Palestine” officially for the first time. Israeli leaders condemned the proposed resolution as heavily biased towards the Palestinian narrative. The […]
In a follow-up to last week’s Washington Post On Faith interviews on J Street, the column’s authors took to the other side of the debate, speaking with Weekly Standard editor Michael Goldfarb who is an outspoken critic of the group. Watch the interview here and read the discussion here. Separately, Americans for Peace Now is sponsoring […]
Foreign Policy released a list of the world’s top 100 Global Thinkers, with only a minimal number of Israel-related public figures appearing. Many of the lists thinkers clearly represent revolutionary views in foreign affairs and economists; other list members, however, are simply not among them. Notably, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, a former IMF official […]
In the midst of a global recession, drastic unemployment, and a non-existent peace process that could turn into an intifada, Israeli home prices are skyrocketing. Home prices are over 10-percent higher today than they were at this time last year, thus the Israeli housing market recently increased in price more than any other country’s housing […]
The Israeli government approved a 10-month settlement freeze tonight, with U.S. officials relatively tepid on the proposal that also drew criticism from Palestinians for failing to end settlement construction outside Jerusalem. U.S. Special Envoy George Mitchell echoed concerns of the effort for neglecting to freeze Israeli expansion around Jerusalem. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton released a statement saying: “Today’s announcement […]
In an interview with Middle East Progress, Quartet Envoy Tony Blair provides his input on the “institution building” debate currently undergoing in the Palestinian Authority and the peace process with Israel, urging for political -and not just economic- reconciliation first. Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad called on Palestinians to begin developing the economic, security, and state building […]
A short British film attempts to recreate Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank by using London as an analogy. The film is worth watching but should be viewed with a pound of salt because it is rife with bias and shares only a small sliver of the truth. Nonetheless, check it out:
A three year saga may finally be over. Abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit may finally return home in exchange for hundreds of imprisoned Palestinians. After years of negotiations over the individuals on the exchange list and the terms for the release of some of the prisoners, such as whether they should be exiled, news reports […]
CNN’s Christiana Amanpour interviewed “pro Israel, pro peace” lobby J Street’s Executive Director Jeremy Ben-Ami and American Jewish Committee Executive Director David Harris. J Street recently held a controversial conference in DC that had unexpectedly high turnout. However, critics of the group contend J Street’s agenda and supporters do not have Israel’s best interests in […]
For once in discussions on the Middle East, ‘rats’ actually refer to rodents, or more specifically, hamsters and similar species. A new study finds Israeli rats are more cautious than their Jordanian cohorts. Even though rats can freely cross the border between Israel and Jordan (humans are limited to three border crossings and Israelis can actually use […]
He announced he’s quitting. He halted the peace process. He condemned Israel for not stopping settlement activity. He criticized Hamas for not using popular resistance. He wants to unilaterally declare statehood. He still says he wants peace. He kind of backtracked on quitting. He rejected a U.S. peace negotiations effort. That’s right, Palestinian President Mahmoud […]