On June 29, the Foreign Policy Assocation hosted U.S. State Department official, Richard J. Schmierer, for their John B. Hurford lecture in New York. Mr. Schmierer is the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State at the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs and the top State Department official for Iraq policy. So with no further ado, here’s […]
Israel’s Channel Two ran a news segment on Peace Now advocates detailing settlement development in Israel. The most interesting point in the segment comes when a settler and an activist argue over who is the true friend of Israel. The activist claims that by informing Israelis about the settlements, they are serving the country. The […]
In order to thwart Iranian nuclear ambitions, the Israeli secret service may be considering the use of cyber-warfare, according to a recent report. The Mossad could plant malicious software into the computer systems of nuclear facilities that would trigger explosives according to a predetermined criteria. The cyber-attack could include crashing certain systems or even rerouting […]
Two recent instances in Egypt dismissed the peace treaty signed with Israel in order to protect Egyptian national security or censure individuals with moderate views towards the Jewish state. Egyptian courts revoked the citizenship of Egyptians that married Israelis, citing the children as potential security risks. Because the offspring of the couple would carry Israeli […]
Shaul Arieli, former commander of the northern brigade in the Gaza Strip, candidly reject the Israeli governments insistence that natural growth in the settlements must continue, he said in an interview with Middle East Progress. He stated that hundreds of unoccupied apartments remain in the settlements and that these housing units should be occupied before […]
Israelis on both sides of the political spectrum always lament that high Arab birth rates represent an existential threat to Israel that dwarfs any terror strike or Iranian nuclear weapons program. These pessimists (of which I’m one) contend that non-Jewish Arabs procreate at much higher rates than Jews. Due to the semi-democratic nature of Israel, […]
Middle Eastern nations are rapidly revolutionizing their fuel cycles to focus on nuclear power, according to a new INSS report. The author contends that countries in the region prefer to use nuclear facilities in order to curb their long-term domestic energy costs. By using nuclear power, these countries can export fossil fuels, a commodity whose […]
As the protests in Iran seem unlikely to fuel regime change, the prospects of the radical Shi’ite regime obtaining a nuclear weapon returns to the forefront of international debate. Notably, comments made yesterday by Vice President Joe Biden and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen signal the lack of an internal […]
Saudi King Abdullah and Syrian President Bashar Assad are expected to meet Monday in Damascus to discuss regional affairs. The two nations are rivals in the Middle East and are often at odds with each other. Last week Saudi Arabia sent two lower level envoys, including the King’s son Prince Abdul Aziz, to Syria with […]
Israel appears to have an unusual bedfellow- Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Arabian government agreed to permit the Israeli air-force to flyover the Islamic nation in order to attack Iran, according to reports. An official old the Sunday Times that if Israel quietly performed the operation, Saudi Arabia would not object to the flyover. Notably, former U.S. Ambassador to […]
Iraqis were partying in the streets on Tuesday last week, celebrating the withdrawal of U.S. Troops from Iraqi cities. As Newsweek reported, U.S. military operations have moved to nonurban areas and “belts” around major cities such as Baghdad, Basra and Mosul. American troops will still be at the disposal of Iraqi security leaders, preparing to […]
President of France Nicholas Sarkozy’s new initiative – to outlaw the wearing of a burqa in public in France – has sparked quite a debate over the past week. Adding to it on the New York Times op-ed page is self-identified Muslim feminist Mona Eltahaway, agreeing earnestly with Sarkozy that the burqa in fact constitutes […]
Israel should attain full membership in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development by May 2010, according to reports following a meeting between Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz and OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria. By the end of the year, Israel will undergo a series of hearings regarding economic development before OECD releases a report assessing […]
Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolten intensified the call for an Israeli strike on Iran in an editorial today in the Washington Post. The post-election uprisings in Iran increased sentiment that regime change could result in a halt to the Iranian nuclear program. Bolten criticizes the new administration’s approach that would likely […]
As a follow-up to yesterday’s post, another Israeli citizen received notice from the IDF to report immediately to military service. This time, the citizen in question resides in the United States and is obtaining his medical degree at Colombia University. Even though the student request deferment of his military service and offered to serve in […]