Author Archives: Jeffrey Blankfort

What is not as important as Rashid Khalidi’s restrained, but nonetheless perceptive critique of Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.’s trip to Israel, courtesy of AIPAC, is the fact that the Chicago Tribune elected to run it. Jackson Jr. has been one … Continue reading →

I am not inclined to make predictions, at least publicly, but three months ago at a breakfast in Berkeley, I predicted that Barack Obama was likely to respond positively to the widespread support within the Jewish community for the release … Continue reading →

From the JTA: Kirk Douglas, 94, is honored for breaking the Hollywood blacklist 50 years ago by hiring the screenwriter Dalton Trumbo for his film Spartacus. Trumbo had been blacklisted.

From a real estate site, yesterday. This would make it appear that the Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces owns NY real estate and since it is a 501(c)3, does that mean all its profits are tax-exempt? Despite the sharp … Continue reading →

Lately this site picked up a letter in the New York Review of Books from establishment types including Lee Hamilton, Thomas Pickering and Sandra Day O’Connor urging a return to the 1967 lines as the basis for making a viable … Continue reading →

A few months shy of 20 years ago, on Sept. 12, 1991, Pres. George HW Bush held a nationally televised press conference to announce that he was asking Israel to delay its request for $10 billion in loan guarantees for … Continue reading →

Yesterday Weiss had breakfast in Berkeley with Jeff Blankfort, who laid out the following scenario. Weiss’s notes. I generally do not make predictions. Though I do have a check from a former CIA guy for $10 because I said there … Continue reading →

Here is a JPost piece on the changing Middle East and the constant that is Israel . It is an important article describing how Israel, thanks to its friends in the US, have been able to entwine its Military Industrial … Continue reading →

It would be nice if just once we could have an ambassador to Israel that represented exclusively US interests. ZOA Welcomes Nomination of Daniel Shapiro as U.S. Ambassador to Israel:

Benny Morris, “Losing the Middle East” in the National Interest: Prediction is always risky or plain silly, but my guess is that when the dust settles, which it will, in a month or two or three’s time, one will see … Continue reading →

Bloomberg Business Week: “US Lawmakers cheer Mubarak exit, urge secular rule:”

The Israeli firsters in Congress are running scared but the chutzpah remains. From JTA:

Justin Amash, a Tea Party Republican candidate, won the 3rd CD in Michigan by a 60-37 margin according to Wikipedia, taking positions on political and economic issues that would bring a smile to the shade of Ayn Rand. The JTA … Continue reading →

Ynet piece by Hagai Segal: “George W. Bush issued his two-state vision only after Ariel Sharon voiced a similar vision. Until that point, the Americans believed (just like Israel’s governments) that a Palestinian state would be a disaster. Secretly they … Continue reading →

JPost. It won’t be as dramatic as Lee handing his sword to Grant at Appomattox–after all, Lee and his men put up a fight–but if Obama hands Pollard to Netanyahu, as now I think he will, it will be a … Continue reading →

This seems to be one of the rare instances where the open collusion/consultation between AIPAC and the Israeli government is so clearly stated. From Ynet: The West Bank construction freeze of all things should not be a problem: Firstly, because … Continue reading →