Michael Oren is one of my favorite writers. A great historian, he manages to compile long and complicated histories in a fairly simple, and easily digestible way. Despite it having sat on my shelf for a number of years, I finally read “Six Days of War,” fairly recently. It is a history textbook, inundated with [...]
Archive for the ‘Gaza’ Category
Michael Oren – Thoughts
Posted in Gaza, Israel, Middle East, Politics, Talks on April 22, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Is a Boycott Just? Who Cares – Does it Work?
Posted in Gaza, Israel, Media, Middle East, Politics on March 17, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
To Boycott or Not to Boycott, That Is the Question No it’s not. Stanley Fish, law professor, and NY Times blogger, appears reasonable in debating whether or not an academic boycott of Israel is a good idea. However reasonable, though, he does not come to a concrete conclusion about such a boycott until the very [...]
JCC Promoting Antisemitism
Posted in America, DC, Gaza, Media, Ridiculous on March 16, 2009 | 5 Comments »
Antisemitic plays in the guise of legitimate criticism of Israel are nothing new. In 2005, there was the British polemic about the “activist” Rachel Corrie. The most recent of these artistic expressions of racism, Seven Jewish Children, does not even make an honest attempt to mask its antisemitism.
Antisemitism will probably persist as long as the [...]
Khaled Abu Toameh on “The Situation”
Posted in Gaza, Israel, Media, Middle East, Politics on February 2, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Michael Totten has long been required reading if one wants to keep up with international affairs, in my view. Recently he posted the transcript of a briefing with Khaled Abu Toameh. Of course, I don’t agree with Abu Toameh on everything, but his analysis is the best thing I’ve read in a while.
The West, either [...]
Martin HaMesaper
Posted in America, Gaza, Israel, Middle East, Politics on January 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Those of you who grew up in Israel, might remember a children’s TV show, Yosef HaMespaer, starring a bald, heavyset man who sat on lots of pillows, Alladin style, and told fairytales. I actually don’t remember much of the show itself, but reading Jeffrey Goldberg’s interview with Martin Indyk, I felt like I was reading [...]
Things Never Really Change
Posted in Gaza, Israel, Knesset, Middle East, Politics on January 19, 2009 | 2 Comments »
The Realist summarizes Cast Lead, and I agree with much of what he said, including his conclusions about what needs to be done next. He says that the political situation needs to be stabilized before we know what will happen, of course – but unfortunately I do not see a real routing of Hamas happening [...]
What Now?
Posted in Gaza, Israel, Jewish, Middle East on January 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I’m still trying to figure out how enormous of a mistake was committed by entering into this “unilateral truce.” I’m afraid that in our neighborhood, where image sometimes matters more than the facts on the ground, the politicos may have undone any good the IDF worked so hard to achieve.
Apart from all of the lives [...]
Truce? What Truce?
Posted in Gaza, Israel, Jewish, Knesset, Media, Middle East, Politics, Stupidity on January 17, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Ynet reports: “Israel declares unilateral Gaza truce.” Wrong. A truce cannot be unilateral. A truce is agreed upon. This a capitulation, yet another mistake in a long line of errors, collectively known as Olmert’s policies.
Regardless of why this operation was initiated, or why now, Hamas is an enemy that doesn’t only need to be “hit [...]
Sharon on Gaza, 1989
Posted in Gaza, Israel, Middle East, Ridiculous on January 15, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Jeffrey Goldberg cites a particularly poignant passage.
What will we do once we withdraw from Gaza?…. What will we do when the Katyusha fire starts hitting Sderot, four miles from the Gaza district, and Ashkelon, nine miles from Gaza, and Kiryat Gat, fourteen miles from Gaza….Or what shall we do if the U.N. or multinational forces [...]
Changing Hamas?
Posted in Gaza, Israel, Media, Middle East, Politics on January 14, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Although I disagree with his conclusion regarding Fatah, Jeffrey Goldberg does a good job of explaining why Hamas’ position is intractable, why “Hamas cannot be cajoled into moderation.”
Normally I refrain from addressing anything Thomas Friedman says. His foolish theories, backed by his immature optimism, are rarely worthy of comment. His basic assumption is that everyone [...]
