The Cynical Horror of Assad and Aleppo - Foreign Policy | December 16th 2016
I just returned from the Syrian-Lebanese border, a mere 150 miles from Aleppo, where unspeakable savagery is underway. The Assad regime is committing horrific war crimes — from mass murder and industrial-style torture to forced starvation and barrel bombs, even the systematic rape of women, children, and men in detention centers. Thus far, 500,000 Syrians have been slaughtered, 6 million people displaced internally, and another 5 million forced to flee as refugees across the border. This is the textbook definition of genocide. Aided by the Russian army and Iranian militias, th...What President Obama Must Tell Israel Before January Henry Siegman - The National Interest | November 4th 2016
There has been much speculation during the electoral campaign season whether there is still something President Obama could do before the end of his term to change the course of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Most of this speculation has focused on the possibility President Obama would finally support a UN Security Council resolution that spells out terms of reference for a two-state agreement, ending Israel’s occupation of the West Bank. The critical moment of decision for such a presidential intervention is now, as Israel is about to cross a line with its illegal settlement project ...Now is the moment for us Palestinians to renew our national movement Salem Barameh l The Guardian | November 30th 2016
Anti-establishment sentiment has just produced two shockwaves: Brexit and the election of Donald Trump. Millions used the polls to protest against their economic marginalisation and political alienation. Elites were firmly told: no more business-as-usual. The Palestinian national movement is similarly on its deathbed, and the symptoms that are leading to its demise run parallel to events taking hold in the rest of the world. Palestinians feel marginalised by their broken political system, feuding political parties and lack of economic opportunities. They are frustrated by the Palestinian el...Netanyahu's New and Dishonest Vision of Peace: Without the Palestinians - Haaretz | August 1st 2016
Appearing before a meeting of the Knesset State Control Committee on the Foreign Ministry and Israel’s public diplomacy last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that Israel's international standing is on an upward trajectory. For understandable reasons the Prime Minister may have been somewhat embellishing his track record, but his claims should not be too quickly dismissed or belittled. In just the last few weeks, Netanyahu can list an impressive trip to Africa, the Egyptian Foreign Minister visiting Jerusalem alongside that country’s efforts to renew peace talk...Does America really ‘share values’ with today’s Israel? - Haaretz | December 30th 2015
In the late sixties or early seventies, when I served as the executive head of the Synagogue Council of America, the coordinating body for certain social action and interreligious activities of the Orthodox, Conservative and Reform national rabbinical and congregational organizations in the United States, I had a private conversation—one of many—with Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, who was considered the leader of modern Orthodoxy in the United States, if not the world. Rabbi Soloveitchik had just completed a high-level seminar attended by a select group of rabbis and Christian mi...No Gaza War This Summer — A Sign of Progress? - Newsweek | September 9th 2016
The Gaza Strip, a 365 squared km sliver of Palestinian territory nestled, or more normally squeezed between Israel and Egypt has been out of the news this summer. And that should prompt a sigh of relief. It can also be considered something of a surprise.The regularity of flare-ups between Israel and Hamas, leading to devastation for Gaza's civilian population of 1.9 million, most recently in 2012 and 2014 meant this summer was anticipated as a potential flashpoint. Concern was further heightened when a notorious hardliner, Avigdor Lieberman, was named as Israel's ...