NGO Human Rights Watch is saying that fighting on both sides of the November 2012 Gaza-Israel conflict violated the laws of war. In two different reports with data and information collected post-fighting, Human Rights Watch (HRW) says that militants in Gaza targeted civilian, non-enemy combatants. They also say that Israel made unlawful attacks on Palestinian […]
The Syrian rebels, or opposition, or the Syrian National Coalition (the name this motley assembly of Sunnis, Salafists, jihadists, and foreign insurgents) agreed to take on in Doha as a prerequisite for U.S. support (money PLUS guns), successfully launched a surface to air missile (SAM) about ten days ago, bringing down a Syrian government aircraft. […]
On November 27 the Associated Press published a diagram it received from officials, “of a country critical of Iran’s atomic program.” It allegedly calculates the explosive force of a nuclear weapon, which the sources have labelled, “a key step in developing such arms.” It has been touted as proof of Iran’s nuclear aims and purportedly […]
Alan Dershowitz made a profound statement Wednesday night at an event I attended in New York City. He said Israel could never rely on another country for its defense and security. He was, of course, talking about the situation with Iran and the United States. The last year and a half has been full of […]
With the uneasy ceasefire in Gaza holding (for now), there is opportunity to reflect on the controversial and closely scrutinized Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) social media campaign which accompanied Operation Pillar of Defense. The IDF has used Twitter prolifically in the days since November 14th, when an Israeli airstrike killed senior Hamas military wing commander […]
I have been off the blogosphere this month because of foreign travel and poor internet connectivity. Ironically, two of the countries I visited were Egypt and Israel. The current crisis broke out a couple of days after I returned home. As I write this blog a ceasefire announced last week by Egyptian Foreign Minister […]
Operation Pillar of Defense appears to be over, thanks to a ceasefire brokered by Egypt. There have been flareups in the few days since the ceasefire was agreed upon, but for now it seems to be holding. There were significantly less Israeli and Palestinian casualties from this conflict then there were in the last full […]
Editor’s Note: The following is a guest opinion piece by Roz Rothstein and Roberta P. Seid. Roz Rothstein is the CEO of StandWithUs and Roberta P. Seid, PhD is Director of Research at StandWithUs. It is an op-ed response to Ms. Ayesha Vahidy’s recent op-ed piece. _____________________________________________________________ Ms. Vahidy’s outrage should be with Hamas, not Israel. […]
Editor’s Note: The following is a guest opinion piece by Ayesha Vahidy. Ms. Vahidy is currently working towards her Masters degree in International development at the University of British Columbia in Canada. She holds a BA in Political Science from York University in Toronto, Ontario. Ms. Vahidy works as a consultant in diversity at public […]
Currently an attempt to maintain a cease-fire between Israel and the Gaza Strip is taking shape, with conditions based on the halt of rocket fire and artillery from both sides. An obvious conclusion to create a cease-fire is to stop shooting, but the roots of a cease-fire comes from a balance of diplomacy and the […]
Israel’s attack on Hamas in the Gaza Strip has not elicited a strong response from the Arab world. It is as if the Arab Spring has not yet brought an intense focus on one of the core issues of Arab politics, as many assumed it would. While Egyptian president Mohammad Morsi and his Tunisian […]
Over the decades the opportunistic Turkey has dictated its Middle Eastern relations based on shifts in the regional balance of power. In the early 1990s up until around 2006, Turkey was finely enmeshed in Western sentiments and policies. But beginning in 2006 it recognized a leadership vacuum in the Middle East and began attempting to […]
As most media outlets are reporting, over the last month several errant mortars have been fired into Israel’s Golan Heights from Syria. The IDF has determined many of them can be traced back to forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Showing restraint the Jewish state chose not to respond believing that the shells were […]
Despite the fact that it’s only the 9th of November, election day is far behind us. There’s no option of a lame duck for any officials. The glaringly obvious and ever-pressing question is, of course, what now? Or, to put it another way, where? Some of the “whats” have snuck their way into kitchen table […]
Iran has been a major foreign policy issue for all U.S. administrations over the past three decades. In tonight’s last Presidential debate before the elections, Iran is bound to come up as one of the key foreign policy challenges that needs to be tackled. Will there be a change in the Iranian government’s policies as […]