1) To nobody’s surprise, Somalia is the most corrupt country on earth—followed closely by Iraq and Afghanistan. Transparency International wrote in its report, “When essential institutions are weak or non-existent, corruption spirals out of control.” The task, then, for America is institution building—but is it willing to spend the time and effort to create civil […]
Human Rights Watch has landed back in the news, though not in the way that it likes. For the last few months the organization has endured controversy over its coverage and position on Israel. First, news broke in July of a fundraising trip that Human Rights Watch undertook to Saudi Arabia where the representatives allegedly highlighted […]
On the road of being a journalist, there is one important lesson I have learned–never abandon your notebook. By notebook, I mean reporter’s notebook–those kind that are long and skinny and allow you to flip the pages as you furiously take notes. For a journalist in the digital age, this might seem an archaic way […]
If you are in New York City and have time for an intelligent conversations–with guaranteed humor intertwined–look into tomorrow night’s interview with Israeli writer, Etgar Keret. Keret, who is author of several books and two screenplays, will be interviewed by This American Life’s Ira Glass for NPR. Wednesday, October 28, 2009 at 7:00 PM Celeste […]
JERUSALEM–When journalists go out on the streets to report, it is usually to record a newsworthy story. But what about when reporters search for violence? Look at the recent events in Jerusalem surrounding Al-Aqsa mosque. Rumors that extremist religious Jews were planning to enter Al-Aqsa and pray there sparked widespread calls for Muslims to take […]
JERUSALEM–The past few days in Jerusalem have been uneasy ones. In a city that teeters on the verge of violence on a fairly regular basis, the height of the week long Jewish holiday season of Sukkot added an element of unrest. The holiday draws a large number of Jewish visitors from around the world and […]
Looks like this year Qaddafi will be the center of attention at the UN. While Ahmadinejad’s speech had some classic “blame West” moments, it just did not match the diatribes found in Qaddafi’s speech (For more on Qaddafi’s speech, check out the Foreign Policy Association’s Human Rights Blog). Ahmadinejad’s speech was more subdued, but that […]
The debate over Israeli and Palestinian conduct during the 2008-2009 Gaza War continues, this time with the release of the UN Human Rights Council report on the issue. Commonly referred to as the Goldstone Report after the head of the special commission, South African jurist Richard Goldstone, the 575 page report found that both sides […]
The Newsweek has published an article revealing that Iran has not restarted its nuclear-weapons development program. According to the article: U.S. intelligence agencies have informed policymakers at the White House and other agencies that the status of Iranian work on development and production of a nuclear bomb has not changed since the formal National Intelligence […]
The Arctic Sea, officially carrying a cargo of timber worth $2m, disappeared en route from Finland to Algeria on July 24. The vessel vanished into thin air after sailing through the English Channel, a curious case that engaged the attention of Finnish police, Swedish investigators, Interpol, and the Russian Navy. Before people could really jump […]
Clinton tried it, but failed miserably. Similarly Bush gave it a shot and was unable to get any results. Now it is Obama’s turn. But this time the U.S. administration is taking a different approach on the Israel- Palestine conflict. The Guardian reported that the Obama administration’s strategy is to use Iran as a bargaining […]
Iran allowed inspectors from the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to inspect the nuclear reactor at Arak for the first time in a year and has also granted them greater monitoring of uranium-enrichment facility at Natanz. The accord breaks a months long impasse between Iran and the IAEA. As reported in the Wall Street […]
Guest Blog by Gidon Belmaker—visit his blog, The Jerusalemite, here. Too much ink has been wasted in newspapers around the world about the row between Israel and the US, caused by the Shepherd hotel building permits. A permit to build 20 new housing units in East Jerusalem was issued to a Jewish-American entrepreneur, that’s the […]
The recent flurry of media coverage on a town in the West Bank called Nablus has a definite positive ring to it. Things are changing for the better there, in an area that has been described by the media as a “former ghost town.” It is also described as a “former militant strong hold”. Most […]
Last week, award-winning journalist Amira Hass was arrested after returning from four months of reporting in the Palestinian Authority. Hass, who reports for Ha’aretz newspaper, was not held long after being arrested, but her case highlights a major problem for journalists in the region: access. Or lack of. It’s illegal for Israeli journalists to go […]